where a number of men are working at different desks in a large room,

and marvels at the quiet and systematic" target="_blank" title="a.有系统的，成体系的">systematic manner in which
they perform their tasks; or one goes to a big bank and is amazed

at the large number of customers ever going in and coming out.
It is difficult to calculate the enormousamount of business

transacted every hour, yet all is done with perfect organization
and a proper division of labor, so that any information required

is furnished by the manager or by a clerk, at a moment's notice.
I have often been in these places, and the calm, quiet, earnest way

in which the employees performed their tasks was beyond praise.
It showed that the heads who organized and were directing the institutions

had a firm grasp of multiplex details.
We Chinese have a reputation for being good business men.

When in business on our own account, or in partnership with a few friends,
we succeed marvelously well; but we have yet much to learn

regarding large concerns such as corporations or joint stock companies.
This is not to be wondered at, for joint stock companies and corporations

as conducted in the West were unknown in China before the advent
of foreign merchants in our midst. Since then a few joint stock companies

have been started in Hongkong, Shanghai, and other ports;
these have been carried on by Chinese exclusively, but the managers have not

as yet mastered the systematic" target="_blank" title="a.有系统的，成体系的">systematic Western methods of conducting such concerns.
Even unpractised and inexpert eyes can see great room for improvement

in the management of these businesses. Here, I must admit,
the Japanese are ahead of us. Take, for instance, the Yokohama Specie Bank:

it has a paid-up capital of Yen 30,000,000 and has branches and agencies
not only in all the important towns in Japan, but also in different ports

in China, London, New York, San Francisco, Honolulu, Bombay, Calcutta
and other places. It is conducted in the latest and most approved

scientific fashion; its reports and accounts, published half-yearly,
reveal the exact state of the concern's financial position

and incidentally show that it makes enormous profits. True,
several Chinese banks of a private or official nature have been established,

and some of them have been doing a fair business, but candor compels me to say
that they are not conducted as scientifically as is the Yokohama Specie Bank,

or most American banks. Corporations and joint stock companies
are still in their infancy in China; but Chinese merchants and bankers,

profiting by the mistakes of the past, will doubtless gradually improve
their systems, so that in the future there will be less and less cause

to find fault with them.
One system which has been in vogue within the last ten or twenty years

in America, and which has lately figured much in the limelight,
is that of "Trusts". Here, again, it is only the ingenuity of Americans

which could have brought the system to such gigantic proportions
as to make it possible for it to wield an immense influence over trade,

not only in America but in other countries also. The main object of the Trust
seems to be to combine several companies under one direction,

so as to economize expenses, regulate production and the price of commodities
by destroying competition. Its advocates declare their policy to be

productive of good to the world, inasmuch as it secures regular supplies
of commodities of the best kind at fair and reasonable prices.

On the other hand, its opponents contend that Trusts are injurious to
the real interests of the public, as small companies cannot compete with them,

and without healthycompetition the consumer always suffers.
Where experts differ it were perhaps wiser for me not to express an opinion

lest I should show no more wisdom than the boy who argued
that lobsters were black and not red because he had often seen them

swimming about on the seashore, but was confuted by his friend
who said he knew they were red and not black for he had seen them

on his father's dinner table.
The fact, however, which remains indisputable, is the immense power of wealth.

No one boycotts money. It is something no one seems to get enough of.
I have never heard that multi-millionaires like Carnegie or Rockefeller

ever expressed regrets at not being poor, even though they seem more eager
to give money away than to make it. Most people in America are desirous

for money, and rush every day to their business with no other thought
than to accumulate it quickly. Their love of money leaves them scarcely time

to eat, to drink, or to sleep; waking or sleeping they think of nothing else.
Wealth is their goal and when they reach it they will probably be

still unsatisfied. The Chinese are, of course, not averse to wealth.
They can enjoy the jingling coin as much as anyone,

but money is not their only thought. They carry on their business
calmly and quietly, and they are very patient. I trust they will

always retain these habits and never feel any temptation
to imitate the Americans in their mad chase after money.

There is, however, one American characteristic my countrymen
might learn with profit, and that is the recognition of the fact

that punctuality is the soul of business. Americans know this;
it is one cause of their success. Make an appointment with an American

and you will find him in his office at the appointed time.
Everything to be done by him during the course of the day has its fixed hour,

and hence he is able to accomplish a greater amount of work in a given time
than many others. Chinese, unfortunately, have no adequate conceptions

of the value of time. This is due, perhaps, to our mode of reckoning.
In the West a day is divided into twenty-four hours, and each hour

into sixty minutes, but in China it has been for centuries the custom
to divide day and night into twelve (shih) "periods" of two hours each,

so that an appointment is not made for a particular minute,
as in America, but for one or other of these two-hour periods.

This has created ingrained habits of unpunctuality which clocks and watches
and contact with foreigners are slow to remove. The time-keeping railway is,

however, working a revolution, especially in places
where there is only one train a day, and a man who misses that

has to wait for the morrow before he can resume his journey.
Some years ago a luncheon -- "tiffin" we call it in China --

was given in my honor at a Peking restaurant by a couple of friends;
the hour was fixed at noon sharp. I arrived on the stroke of twelve,

but found that not only were none of the guests there,
but that even the hosts themselves were absent. As I had several engagements

I did not wait, but I ordered a few dishes and ate what I required.
None of the hosts had made their appearance by the time I had finished,

so I left with a request to the waiter that he would convey my thanks.
Knowing the unpunctuality of our people, the conveners of a public meeting

will often tell the Chinese that it will begin an hour or two before
the set time, whereasforeigners are notified of the exact hour.

Not being aware of this device I once attended a conference
at the appointed time, only to find that I had to wait for over an hour.

I protested that in future I should be treated as a foreigner in this regard.
As civilized people have always found it necessary to wear clothes

I ought not to omit a reference to them here, but in view of what has already
been said in the previous chapter I shall at this juncture content myself

with quoting Mrs. M. S. G. Nichols, an English lady who has written
on this subject. She characterizes the clothing of men as unbeautiful,

but she principally devotes her attention to the dress of women.
I quote the following from her book:* "The relation of a woman's dress

to her health is seldom considered, still less is it contemplated
as to its effect upon the health of her children; yet everyone must see

that all that concerns the mothers of our race is important.
The clothing of woman should be regarded in every aspect if we wish to see

its effect upon her health, and consequently upon the health of her offspring.
The usual way is to consider the beauty or fashion of dress first,

its comfort and healthfulness afterward, if at all.
We must reverse this method. First, use, then beauty, flowing from,

or in harmony with, use. That is the true law of life" (p. 14).
On page 23 she continues: "A great deal more clothing is worn by women

in some of fashion's phases than is needed for warmth,
and mostly in the form of heavy skirts dragging down upon the hips.

The heavy trailing skirts also are burdens upon the spine.
Such evils of women's clothes, especially in view of maternity,

can hardly be over-estimated. The pains and perils that attend birth
are heightened, if not caused, by improper clothing.

The nerves of the spine and the maternalsystem of nerves
become diseased together." And on page 32 she writes:

"When I first went to an evening party in a fashionable town,
I was shocked at seeing ladies with low dresses, and I cannot even now