Every foreigner who has been resident for any length of time in China can cite conspicuous instances of Chinese economy. In Peking, where the Chinese are no more wasteful than in any other community, and where as little that can be used is ever thrown out, hundreds of the very poor eke out a living by poking in the municipal rubbish heaps and by recovering from them trifles which the keen eye of the Pekingese housewife has overlooked. Foreigners often wonder what these unfortunate scavengers do find.
would surprise many to know that, among other things, burnt matches and discarded match boxes are collected and find a ready market. The match factories in the North will buy matches which have been only slightly burned, redip them, repack them in boxes which have been bought up and done over, and put them on the market again. A Chinese who recently came to Peking after 16 years residence in American and entered upon a modern agricultural venture was horrified to find that his foremen were paying the farm Jabourers only seventeen coppers a day, out of which they were expected to provide their own food and lodging. '"Isn't it ghastly," said he, "to think how little the time and effort of a human being with a sound mind is worth in this country?"
Yet think what the time and effort of human beings who collect burnt matches and carry them to market must be worth when.a full box of perfectly good matches costs copper.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.