The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 7, 1897, Page 18

THE SA FRANCISCO CTALL, SUNDAY NOVEMBER 7, 1897 jod many writers o, have solved of of this they e fact th hinese empire s re ka ernal strife. of sand brigands, mpts to overthrow the rarest occurence. | WHERE he social fe to remain is condition is due to the social c 1tions of the country is a D cussion, but ti the ve which solved some of the prob- modern civi atic ve doubted after a ot the communi- Marin Co: Rafael, where co- ation is woi down to a nicety and where many of the theories of Be e in daily opera- men | use | this, but the have been i | rest and take things easy. | word man THE CHINESE in China for several centuries. Th tundamental principle of this com- munity is equzlity. And the principle is carried out. 1an gets the same pay as his fello man | does the same amount of work as tne others. When there isan abundance ali Furthermore, the community entails no obligation ona mean’s private life. Each lives as he pleases. In other words the community plans are purely industrial and co-opera- tion stops ai each man’s doorstep. The is used bere becanse there are isvlizge. Butit 1s said no women 1n t that the same plans are carried outas sue- | p where there are women, and that | the same ends are attained. All this may sound hke a Utopian dream, but there is no drenm about it, and the conciusion to be reached after a | visit to the village is that co-operation is a failure. And a dead failure at that, for it has accomplished nothin valing man’s condition. In fact, in this instance it has lowered and dezraded it by masking tbe individual content to piod so econom for part of s worked out a wou!d be called It mus o apparent to cd v that e people of the t had some plan of co-vperation by were enab! Iy di- of their labor. All are zaged in the s:me work day after how do they even thines up sc ch shall receive an equable compen- to ieave no roo m tion for his work? To arrive at such facts is not an easy matter, for it is well known that the then Chinee is peculiar” and deeply resents any ation of his way of working or living. But it occasionally happens that such things come about 2n they are not exyected. nat is what transpired a few days ago toward ele- | SHRIMP-CATCHERS <] “No my day to work; e | low. | when I bhappened in the vicinity of the | village. When not loeking jor informa- tion it came without the asking. That the man who gave the information was tell- ing the truth there can be little doubt, for | the facts he revealed scem just whatare | . | wanted to explain a good many things. And besides one would hardiy give a Chinese of his intel.igence the credit of imagination enough to evolve such a per- fect array of economic facts. Strolling through tke village and look- ing 11y about I saw an old fellow sitting lin front of the door cof a tumble-down | shanty. He was smoking a villainous ipe, but seemed contented and bappy. A tesutiful lortoise-shell cat was purring at his feet. “Fine cat you have there,’” I said after he had nodded pleasantly to me. ima good one?” the old fellow asked. “Qn, yes, very good; where did you get him?” “‘He no mine; b'long to us,” and theo d | fellow waved his hand around asif to take | e whole world. Why don’t youwork to-day?” I asked. MAKE ; me work t'mol- ] v, no work t’mol- Some work to: low. Some work t'mollow, no work t'da | some.work nex day, no work other day." this point of the conv-rsation it At | aawred on me that the old fellow was trying to explain something. By long | and ficult work I managed to get a number of acts that told the whole story. ) By putting them together ail the intrica- cies of the Chinese plan of co-operation | were made clear. The old man did not | explain things in the proper order nor | did he use good Englisu. It was also nec- | es<ary in a number of instances to ask a number of questions to bring out a cer- | tain fact, so it will be impossible to tetl the story of the plan of co-operation in his language. But from the information which he gave it is only too apparent that the plan | of co-operation is very much like what | another Bellamy and a host of others calling themselyes his followers have advocated for a long time. Instead of being an ad- vancement theretore those ideas must be conceded to belong to a past age. As has been stated, the idea of the Chi- nese co-operation s equality. It is natural that in such a community there should be a large number of aifferent occupa- tions, but all of the kind that would be cailed “lapor,” To equalize this each man has to work at all of them at differ- ent times. So carefully have these been studied out that a man could tell months ahead just what his occupation would bs on acertain day. The different depart- ments are divided and subdivided over and over again until there is a job for each man on each day. At the village in question there are about 200 men and as many different jobs. For instance there is the work in the boats, the cocking of the shrimps, 1he collecting and spreading out to dry, the work of drying and the final sorting and sending to market. Besides this tnere is the work of caring for the boats and nets, e e, THEIR HEADQUARTERS. tenaing to the chickens and ducks and looking after the accounts, Each of these different jobs is divided again and again. The work in the boat is divided into the different positions. One man casts the nets and anotiier pulls them in. One manages the sail and steers. One sorts the fish from the shrimp and znother puts them into the ba ket. Even the work of drying the shrimp is divided, <o that one day a certain man will work on a certain plat and a week hence on another. But he will never cet back to the first plat until every other ! man in the villaze has worked on it. And so it is with every other occupation. When it comes to a certain man’s turn to look after the chickens and ducks and he finishes the job he will not have 1t again until it has gone the rounds. And the work is spread around in the wildest manner. One day a certain man i will be cooking the shrimp at one of ‘the | caldrons, the next day be may be out in !one of the boats, and the next cay he may be attending to the chickens and ducks., And so it zoes on with every pos- | s'ble position in the village. his neighbor. Although some ot the jobs are easier or harder than some others, every man has a chance at them and consequently must do an equal amount. There are plenty of men to do the work, so ihat nobedy bas to work too hard. As each man has done an equal amount of work it must follow that each shou!d enjoy an equal amount of the return This 13 accomplished easily by aividing community after puying the bilis for nets and such things as cannot be made on the ground. How is all this accomplisbed? It might seem to be a complicatec jub to keep track | of so many men and equally divide the work between them. But the Chinese i find it an easy matter. No calcuations for them. A wheel is better. This affair is in the josshouse, which is also the account building and lottery. It consists only of a flat wheel, somewhat like the kind that boys saw from boards to be used on small wagons, only it is nearly six feet the building, On the outer rim of the wheel are fasiened a number of characters repre: senting the names of the men. There a character for each man. On the wall close to the rim of the wheel are fastened a number of characters representing the different occupations of all the men in the village. By (urning the wheel character tiie names and occupations are changed for every man on the wheel. Of course the characters are stationary and the wheel movable. Aiter the wheelh been moved for a certain day it is loc and the key given into the custody man whose duty it is to take charge of it for the day. The turning of the wheelis done each evening for the day following, | so that there is plenty of time for all to find out what their duties will b2 on the morrow and prepare for them. The act of changing the wheel is done in the presence of everybody who chooses to be on nand to see it done. In the circle of characters representing | the occupations there are a number of | cbaracters just exactly alike. These are | to represent the days when certain men of lhei equally all the money that comes :nto the | in diameter ana fastened to the wall of | oue | of tne | (it It will be thus apparent that in every 207 | days each man has done as much work as | | | | 1 | do not work. There is no such thing as a ay of rest, except when there is | un abundance on hand and nobody works. In this instanco the wheel is not turned. The other rest days come to each man | about once in five days. The times when the men get money for | theirshare of the work come around rather | irregularly, it all dependin - on the catch. | After the money is uivided the men do | with it as they pleese. Lach vays$2 a year into the general fund. Half of thi~ goes to land rent and half for money to | buy nets, eie. The other sourcs of profit }is from the sale of ducks and chickens. | These bave to be bought from iue com- munity the same asif they were bouzht | from anv business house. When there is | a surplus of money from such sources it | is equally divided. This, Lowever, does | not occur very ofien. | Themany residents of the village live in 1small houses that they own themselves, | do their own cooking, and otherwise go along as they please. When a man de- | sires to leave the village he gives a week’'s Z There are dozens ready anc Few leave except notice. ious to take bis place. to go to China. There is but one reason why such a plan of co-operation and division of profits siould not result in iarge gains to all of the men, and that is gambling. In the josshouse of this village tnere is a large lottery-wheel that is running nearly every night. All those who wish to play put certain sums into what poker-players call a ‘‘pot.’’ Numbers are tnen putinto the wheel, and the game proceeds in the usual manner. It often happens that large sums are at stake, the re-uit of those win- ning previously staking their piles. Of course they have all the charnces, and usually win, but at the same time their large sums are an inducement to men of small means. And so it happens that the good of the co-operation is defeated. But perhaps it is just as well, for all of the big winners are sure to go to China as soon as their p le is big enough—that is, after toey have settled with the Six Companies. WiLL SPARKS | BOILING THE SHRIMPS FOR MARKET. arcy hav mornin a post of fast table; coffee poured eact n urn that once occupied or on an emperor’s break- £ drinking it out of a china cup tWo centuries old; having your meat served on a platter and the gravy in a boat, saved from the wreck of a shattered | kingdom and ornamented with the king’s | own coat-of-arms, and eating it off plates of old Sevres, and drinking your cham- | pagne—if your tastes incline to drink champagne at all—from glasses that were | made into things of beauty over 150 years agol Then again, imagine having time meas- ured out to you by a sweet-toned ciock that once performed the same useful office | for en imperial ruler; reading by the soft light of wax candles borne in candelabra | that formerly lighted the bedchamber of the first Napoleon, and using a queen’s crown to ornament one’s walls! | It does not to the ot of many of us | osets and side-tatles d over in part with relics of de- Ia the home of W Sutton, the weli- artist, however, things are ar- tifferenily. An enthusiastic and most enviably successful collector of rare and valuable curios of almost every kind, he does not relegate any of his treasures which can by intimate association add | anything to the solely artistic happiness | of possession to the shelvesof his crowded | cabinet. H So it is that the coffeec-urn, the clock, snd an exquisite china plate, which once belonged to the unfortunate Maximilian, the candelabra of the “Little Corporal,” | and part of the china service of KingKal- perform their accustomed offices | And to honor he | serves with viands upon d sch are | far more **lordiy’’ than thatin which the | Hebrew y of old brought buiter to the captain of the host . The coffee-urn of Maximilisn is a mas- | uive creation of solid silver. It isshaped | like a globular fiask with a long und | slender neck, and on its sides are en. | graved the monogram of Maximilian and | Ohe coat-of-arms of Austria, surrounded oy the iaurel wreath of victory. The urn iwings between two upright shafts orna- | mented with an intricate floral pattern in irelief work, which springs from an oval delight SILVER ONCE USED BY ROYALTY atform, in the center of which is a smali couol stove. At the port is an imperial dragon witn moutn, gracefully curved neck and high- raised wings. The piate is of ivory-white china, simply ornamented with a narrow base of each sup- URN FROM WH)CH MAXIMILIAN’S COFFEE WAS POURED. open | | an’ exquisitely modeled figure of Ceres | <urrounced by embems of those indus- tries under her special cat . These three mementos of the happy | days of the young royal couple whose sad | fate won them the sympathy even of o ’lxght shade and forms a resting-place for | then residents ol the City of Mexico. band and a small reproduction 1 mul- | thoss who would not help to further their berry of the Emperor’s coat of arms, | ambvitions passed at the fall of the empire while the clock is of gold bronze of a |into the possession of'a Spanish family, Tor nearly a quarter of acentury, in spite of vicissitudes and wanderings, this family maintained its ownership of these valued relics, put at last the time came when lack of money outweighed senti- ment and pride of posses-ion and a | “gringo,” alb it a very appreciative one, became their owner. Almostthe same story, with a change of nationality, could be told of the Nanoleonic treasures. A meat-platter and gravy-bpat and sau- cer and a pair of gold sleeve-buttons, all of which once belonged to King Kalakaua, are of more recent interest, but under ex- isting circamstances rouse a train of thought more than tinged with sadness and foreboding. Quite different feelings are aroused by an nspection of the comb said to bave been once worn by Isabella, consort of Ferdi- nand. This wonderful piece of carving is formed from one solid piece of tortoise- shell eighteen inches from the tip of the | teeth to the top of the gracefuily curved ferns which, surrounded by a rose vine in which the flowers, buds and foliage are carved with almost fairy-like minuteness and delicacy of detail, forms the design of this most beautiful accessory to the toilet of Spain’s most gracious and far-seeing sovereign. In sharp contrast to this is the crown of aqueen of the Marquesas lslands. This curious and, indeed, very ornamental specimen of savage taste and skil is composed of two thousand por- poise teeth, about the size and twice the length of a grain of rice, and as purely white as pearls themselves. These teeth are each drilled with a tiny hole, and through this they are mounted on bits of cocoanut fiber and then thickly woven around an inner circle until the effect is | of a thick wreath of finest coral. Outside these stric.ly royal curios, whicl are as valuable as they are rare and interesting, Mr. Button’s collection is one to delight the heart of both amateur and connoisseur. FLORENCE MATHESON: A poor woman, whom the worldly would call a Thief, wentinto a Store, and, after fighting her way to the Bargain Counter, proceeded to fill her Pockets. But a virtuous Floor-walker, perceived her and handed her over to a Policeman who had rrowh fat on stolen Fruit. As the Woman was being led to the Po- lice Station they passed a Fruit Wagon, and the Uonscience of the Limb of the Law smote him in bis Abdomen. “I wonder,” suid he to himself, *‘if dere aHl?t' someting in dat Kleptomany, after a In a modest but comfortable home away down on Harrison street there hangs upon the white wull .a large obiong frame. Within that frame, vrotected from t aumosphere by a_polished sheet of clear- est glass, from which each day careful hands remove ail suspicion of dust and dimness, is a document at which the eves of the family occunying that home and the eyes of a!l their relatives and friends and acquaintances gaze, whenever any of them are in its vicinity, with sincere ad- miration. The family, indeed, from the rosy and rotund father to the dimpled and smiling 5-year-old “baby,” look upon that especial piece of paper, with its maze of engraved designs, flourishes and ornamental letters, its beautiful seals and its few words writ- ten in a clear bold hand, not only with admiraiion but with honest and simple {xvride. And well they may, for not an- | other family in California owns just uch a document as this, because not another family in all €alifornia owns a 9- | year-old boy who has won a diploma from | the Mechanics’ Institute. . Many of the thousands who attended the Thirtieth Industrial Exposition of the institute, which taok place this fall, no- ticed the especially large and handsome THE CLOCK A BOY MADE. black walnut clock which stood in the art gallery, but comparatively few took the time or the pains 10 inform themselves of the fact that this exceedingly elaborate and ornamental piece of work was an exhibi- tion of the tasie and skill and patient ap- plication of a child who had not yeu passed his first decade. Having mislaid the address which my, 'NINE YEARS OLD, BUT A GENIUS small informant had given me I should | have found my trip down Harrison street nothing but a diseppointment had it not occurred to me when I thought that I had waiked about far enough to ask som children playing on the pavement if they knew where Mr. Larson lived. They did not—not a blessed one of them; but when I mentioned, to make the matter clearer, that I was really in search of *‘the little boy who made the clock’ they fairly fell overeach other in the endeavor to direct mearight. In fact, they concluded, one and all, to accom- pany me to my destination, for fear that, in spite of their united and clamor- ous efforts to make me understand that “Willie's house” (it is always the children who own the houses in ‘Little Folks’ Land'’) was situated on the next corner, 1 might not be able ‘to find it readily. Wiilie himself opened the door to me and ruthlessly shut it in the faces of my retinue. And then Mrs. Larson made me welcome, while her small son stooa bash« fully at a distance and could not for some time be prevailed upon to talk either of himself or his work. His mother, how- ever, told me of them both, her blue Dan- ish eyes full of that loving maternal pride which is so beautiful wherever found, and she brought out the simple machine with which the careful childish fingers had wrought such marvels of wooden lace- work. Then the young artificer forgot himself and his bashfulness in his anxiety to show off his beloved saw properly, and he came out of his corner, and placing one stubby- | toed shoe on the treadle explained to me | just how the fine-tootked, narrow piece of | steel worked up and down, and how care- ful the operator had to be in rounding | curves and cutting out sharp corners. Then he showed me enouch pretty bric. brac—card-baskets, brackets and dol house furniture—to stock a small store, | the work of his own skillful hands, and at last he exhibited the clock itse! “Ittook me almost four months to do that, outside of school hours and studying and taking care of my little brother some,'” he said, with a note of triumph in his boyish vo 'Didn’t you get tired of it?’* T asked. ‘‘Sometimes, a little,”’ he econfessed, “but I had made up my mind to finish it and have it perfect, and J did !’ FuNeGaL McVagON. / \