15
14
How can kind-hearted people assist them? It is not difficult for them to become beggars, but even as beggars, they have no means of getting a livelihood. What can they do but be compelled to give in? Thus, they are forced to go, either in consequence of the beating which they received or through the great pressure which is brought to bear on them.
8
Sometimes in each village, the dialect is different. For in China, even in the same prefecture and district, the dialect varies. It may happen that these people are taken before a Foreign Officer to be examined, and the interpreter does not understand what they are saying, and confuses the meaning. Thus, a great injury is done to the men. Perhaps the interpreters have received a bribe from the coolie catcher.
28
Perhaps there are some coolie catchers who purposely lead money to ignorant country people to gamble with. This is called "gambling for coolies." If the man wins, no interest is required; the capital only has to be returned. If he loses, he has to sign a paper making over his body to the coolie catcher. The manager of the gambling house is an accomplice of the coolie catcher. They league together to deceive and use every effort to make the poor countrymen fall into their trap.
9
There are some who, after they have decoyed the people and reached their destination, make them give I.O.U. for one or five hundred dollars. If they refuse to give it, they are beaten till they do. If they have already given the I.O.U. and refuse, the coolie catcher produces the I.O.U. as a proof and prosecutes them and gets them put in prison.
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In the world, there are those who make use of a hundred artifices to obtain money. When they see the prospect of gain, they forget every sense of right. Men of this kind are not few. The coolies who each year go to foreign countries, calculated in total number, are some tens of thousands; each man is worth a few hundred dollars. For each man, three or five dollars have to be given as bribes and hush money. The amount given away is very large. Even right-principled officials, when they exert themselves to the utmost to guard against any evil practice, cannot...