Democratic Sentinel, Volume 16, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 January 1893 — CHINESE DRUMMERS IN WIGS. [ARTICLE]

CHINESE DRUMMERS IN WIGS.

Almond-Eyed California Merchants Doing Without High-Priced White Labor. The Chinese have discovered another way of competing with white men. For years the merchants in Chinatown, particularly those manufacturing cigars and clothing, have employed white men at large salaries to drum up interior trade. The merchant, realizing the strong feeling against his countrymen, knew that it would be hard for him to do business personally with white merchants. Many of the interior merchants, while they were ready to patronize the Chinese firms, did not like the fact known, and when a Chinaman dressed in his national costume called upon him he was inclined to avoid being seen with him. With the white drummer, however, the San Francisco Call says, it was different. The latter could register at any of the hotels, and, after selling a man a bill of goods, could invite the customer to drink or take dinner with him, an invitation none would accept from a Chinaman. A few months ago, however, the Chinese began to discharge their high-salaried white drummers and travel on the road themselves, or filled the vacancies with their own countrymen. Little Pete, of juryoribery fame, who is a heavy producer in Chinatown, was one of. the first to inaugurate the new custom. He fitted a Chinese employe out in American clothes, furnished him with a well-fitted wig and sent him out on the road. The venture was a success, and Little Pete soon found nis business progressing as well as when he employed the white drummer. In his American dress the general appearance of the Chinaman, which is so objectionable to the whites, was almost hidden. In this attire, and with no queue visible, the interior hotel-keeper made no objection to him, and he was therefore allowed to extend the same business courtesies to the white customers as the white drummers. Other Chinese firms soon adopted the new custom and now there are nearly fifty disguised Chinamen traveling up and down this State as drummers. The presence of numerals Chinamen wearing wigs and American clothes has been noticed Lately in this city, but few could explain a reason for it.