11
Team Work in the Flowery Republic
(Continued from Page 6)
SEMI-MONTHLY MAGAZINE
China every year, smashes into one of
the guilds and when this happens for
eign trade usually emerges from the
conflict with no honors and mighty
glad to make peace. A New York
firm with Far Eastern headquarters
at Shanghai had built up a large busi
ness by the only successful method
of studying the demands of the na
tive trade and conforming to them,
without regard to the violation of
American Ideas. After the Shanghai
manager had spent several years in
building up the business and appar
ently had it on a sound basis, he re
ceived a year's leave of absence, and
one of the partners in New York came
out to fill his place.
As soon as he got in touch with
office detail and learned enough
pidgin English to make himself un
derstood, the partner began to dom
inate the business just as he had
done in the New York office. The
Chinese manager's authority became
less every day, for the New Yorker
insisted on dealing with his custo
mers directly. One day a Chinese
merchant came in with a claim for re
bate, because of damaged goods. The
claim was refused and as the new
manager was in a hurry to catch a
mail steamer and post an important
letter, he was more abrupt than diplo
matic. The following day a request
from another customer for an exten
sion of credit met with a similar re
fusal. IT was a week or more before he no
' ticed that there was a sudden falling
off in sales. He asked the Chinese
office force about it, and received po
lite but misleading replies to the ef
fect that it was because of the state
of the local market. Continued ab
sence of orders compelled him to look
further for the cause, and he found
that the guild to which his customers
belonged had decided to boycott his
firm. They had reached the conclu
sion that his refusal to comply with
the requests made by two of their
members presaged a new manage
ment, which would be unfavorable
to them.
It is through their guilds that the
Chinese have always enjoyed a rath
er democratic administration of a
very autocratic government. Under
the Manchu rule, the local magis
trates, taotais, or prefects, possessed,
in theory, almost unlimited powers.
In practice, they had at all times to
be very careful not to run afoul of the
guild regulations, or to arouse public
opinion to the point that all the guilds
would combine against them. In the
latter case, the guilds inaugurated a
"cessation of trade," which is a com
bined strike, lockout and boycott.
Workmen quit work and employees
closed their doors. No one bought
anything and the shop-keepers put up
their shutters. The whole city took
a holiday, or several of them, if the
official was unusually stubborn.
The self-governing guilds natural
ly bred a democratic spirit and dur
ing the recent revolution many of
them gave valuable aid to the Repub
lican cause. The first contribution
to the funds of the revolutionists
was made by a merchant guild at
Hankow, and similar contributions
from many other guilds enabled the
republicans to keep on fighting and
finally win against the monarchy.
The guilds were well able to do this,
for some of them are fabulously rich,
owning carved and lacquered guild
houses and boasting of millions of
taels in their treasuries In many
cases their funds have been accumu
lating for centuries, for most of them
have on their membership rolls the
names of men whose fathers and
grandfathers were members before
them in an unbroken line for a dozen
generations, and a few audaciously
date their records from about 2000
B. C. In a country as yet untroubled
by statistics, it would be impossible
to do more than guess at the aggre
gate wealth of the guilds, but' all
guesses would be expressed in hun
dreds of millions. However, this is
a false measure of the guilds, whose
importance lies, not in their wealth,
but in their power to regulate all the
commerce and. industries of one
fourth of the world's population.
Business failures are rare In China,
for the guilds usually assume the obli
gations of the bankrupt, thereby pre
venting a disturbance of credits. It is
seldom that a civil suit comes up for
trial in a Chinese court, for business
disputes are almost invariably settled
by the guilds. A Chinese silk deal
er would laugh at the suggestion that
anyone but a guild of silk merchants
could decide a dispute- in the silk
trade, and when one sees the celerity
with which such cases are settled in
the unofficial guild courts, and the
cheerfulness with which the verdicts
are accepted, he is inclined to agree
with the Chinese point of view.
The Chinese utilize the guild idea
of co-operation in dozens of ways un
dreamt of by the westerner, a good
example of this being in the forma
tion of the small "loan guilds."
When Chang Wong finds himself in
urgent need of $500, he does not seek
out some prosperous friend and ask
him to go security on a note at the
bank. He knows a better plan, which
is the organization of a "loan guild
among his friends. For a loan of this
size, he will probably try to secure
twenty members, including himself,
and each member will pay a first in
stallment of $25 on his membership
fee, thereby giving Chang his needed
$500. Thereafter each member of the
club pays $25 monthly and each
month lots are drawn for the lump
sum of $500. When a member has
once drawn the lucky number, he is
barred from further drawing, so that
at the end of twenty months, every
one will have paid in $500 in monthly
installments and will also have re
ceived that amount in one lump sum.
Not Nut Meats
Though the taste is like toasted nuts.
These are simply whole grains Rice grains in this case puffed to
eight times normal size.
We sealed the grains up in guns. We kept the grains rolling, for
one whole hour, in 550 degrees of heat.
That heat turned the moisture in the grains to steam, and created
tremendous pressure. Then we shot the guns.
And these grains came out steam-exploded filled with a myriad
cells. Airy and crisp and nut-like walls as thin as tissue.
Like fairy wafers with a fascinating flavor.
And millions of dishes are now served mornings, with cream and
sugar, or mixed with any fruit.
Puffed Wheat, 10c
Puffed Rice, 15c
Except in Extreme West
17 VERY Chinese cook in Manila be--
longs to the Chinese cooks' guild,
yet the chief purpose of this very
strong labor organization is not to
force up wages. It is primarily a pur
chasing agency. Each morning all the
cooks meet at the guild house with
their orders for the day. These are
added together and then the agents
for the guild .go into the market to
purchase for their entire membership.
As the largest buyers, they are able to
get the pick of everything, and are
also able to secure better prices than
would be quoted to the individual
buyer. The supplies are collected at
the guild house and are then divided
among the different members. In
this way the needs of all the em
ployers of Chinese cooks become well
known, and if your cook leaves, he
can immediately be replaced, through
the guild, by another who Is thor
oughly familiar with your meal
hours, your pet dishes, and your in
come. The guild idea flourished in Europe
in the Middle Ages, when many were
formed. But they became too pow
erful, abused their privileges and
were abolished by governmental au
thority. In Germany they remained
active until 1869, and a great deal
of the recent industrial development
of Germany may be attributed to the
activities of the many commercial or
ganizations which are really guilds,
through working under more modern
names. In America the ancient guild
idea is daily growing more popular.
The rapidly lengthening list of as
sociations, wherein all in a certain
industry are combined, is evidence of
the fact that co-operation is needed.
When these associations are as com
pletely organized and as efficient as
those in China, we, like China, will
need no anti-trust laws.
Competition is usually a buccaneer,
and only when curbed by co-operation,
is it the life of trade.
Advertlttlnff, commercial activity, good literature and individual benrfltH are interdependent.
They Float
Countless homes now serve them also as a dairy disli for suppers.
Serve them in bowls of milk.
They get whole grains with every granule exploded, so digestion
can instantly act. Toasted, bubble-like wafers, four times as porous as
bread. Fragile, crisp and dainty the most inviting morsels ever made
from grain.
And they use them like nut meats use them in candy, use them to
garnish ice cream. Children eat the grains like peanuts in the hungry
hours between meals.
These are really food confections.
Tell your grocer to .send you a package of each and see bow your
folks enjoy them.
The Quaker Qals (pmpany
Sole Makers'
Made by the process of Prof. A. P. Anderson
(444)