Coolies Themselves Never in It:
'Owners' Retort to Police Regulations The Shanghai riesha men were all back on the streets of Shanghai on Saturday afternoon after approximately 48 hours absence.
'The movement, which inaceurately was called a strike, was accord-ting to authentic reports, no strike ft all, for the coolies, anxious to make their living, did' not care to leave their vehicles, but were foreed to do so cither by their employers, it is alleged, or by ruffians and hooligans, we understand, employed by riesha owners.
All information leads one to! believe that the small owners and some of the larger contractors, were in league against the police for what they considered undue ferity in their condemnation of rieshas unfit for proper use. The Shanghai public may remember that some months ago restrictions were taken off by the Municipal authorities as to the number of public rieshas permitted on the streets; and instend of 8,000 of these, there are now many thousands more, among them all sorts of old crocks, hastily put together and repaired' and shoved into the hire business.
Acting on instructions the police have, it is alleged by the proprietors, acted too harshly in taking away licence plates and condemning vehicles, and it is! stated that for these reasons the owners ordered the ricshas to remain off the Settlement roads, as a protest.
'There appears no question but that the acts of violence against the few pullers, who did go out, were not caused by the coolies at all, but rather by' ruffians set by' the proprietors. For instance the pullers were so afraid of bodily harm, that on Friday evening' foreigner returning " home from the Public Gardens from the concert could not get any one of 12 men to take him.
It is also quite a mistake to' believe that the coolies were guilty' of the attacks on pedicabs. There may have been instances in which a ricsha coolie took part, but in general such attacks were undoubtedly the work of roughs.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.