They can't mean shoelaces, right?
March 2, 2017 3:31 PM Subscribe
Can anyone interpret this reference I came across in my archival research today?
Today I had the chance to use the archives of a local university to further my research on several Chinese students who studied in the US in the 1910s-1920s. One such student's file contained a brief biography with this information:
"Following his graduation in 1918, Mr. Tsao's plans to study medicine at U. Chicago were thwarted when U. S. Customs officials confiscated a $2,500 shipment of laces his father had sent him. The student had estimated their value at only $2000 by guessing at the rise in value while the raw materials were in shipment. The father had sent him the laces because gold drafts were almost out of reach in the Orient."
This information was also included in a local newspaper article on the subject, the clipping of which was also in the students' file, so it is not a typo.
What does this mean? What are "laces" here? For that matter, what is a "gold draft" and why couldn't Mr. Tsao's father get one back in China?
Today I had the chance to use the archives of a local university to further my research on several Chinese students who studied in the US in the 1910s-1920s. One such student's file contained a brief biography with this information:
"Following his graduation in 1918, Mr. Tsao's plans to study medicine at U. Chicago were thwarted when U. S. Customs officials confiscated a $2,500 shipment of laces his father had sent him. The student had estimated their value at only $2000 by guessing at the rise in value while the raw materials were in shipment. The father had sent him the laces because gold drafts were almost out of reach in the Orient."
This information was also included in a local newspaper article on the subject, the clipping of which was also in the students' file, so it is not a typo.
What does this mean? What are "laces" here? For that matter, what is a "gold draft" and why couldn't Mr. Tsao's father get one back in China?
could this be the plural of lace, as in cloth?
posted by zippy at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by zippy at 3:40 PM on March 2, 2017 [1 favorite]
I think this means fabric lace
posted by Polychrome at 3:43 PM on March 2, 2017
posted by Polychrome at 3:43 PM on March 2, 2017
Best answer: Yes, it's cloth. See for instance Declared Shipments of Bristles Cotton Embroiderles Laces etc to United States [from China]
posted by zippy at 3:43 PM on March 2, 2017
posted by zippy at 3:43 PM on March 2, 2017
Response by poster: That makes a lot of sense, thank you!
Did gold-backed IOUs have to come from the government, then? You couldn't just go to a bank and send one? The student's father lived in Shanghai and I can't imagine that a gold draft was literally unattainable from the international character of the city at that time. Was the problem that he just didn't have the cash to order the draft?
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:51 PM on March 2, 2017
Did gold-backed IOUs have to come from the government, then? You couldn't just go to a bank and send one? The student's father lived in Shanghai and I can't imagine that a gold draft was literally unattainable from the international character of the city at that time. Was the problem that he just didn't have the cash to order the draft?
posted by chainsofreedom at 3:51 PM on March 2, 2017
My guess is lace for dresses. See this article in Dry Goods Economist, 1916:
Laces and Netsposted by zamboni at 3:59 PM on March 2, 2017
Better Grades, including Dainty Metal Effects, in Chief Demand
Encouraging reports as to the demand for laces are coming from some of the manufacturers and importers. The call is principally, however, for the richer and more expensive kinds. Exquisite patterns and novel effects in metal laces have the preference in a marked degree. Net tops with patterns outlined in silver or gold are expected to have extensive use throughout the coming season. In these color continues a strong note. A platinum-gray net-top lace embroidered in silver is one of the most favored novelties.
Nets continue active
There is also a strong vogue for metal nets, in plain and in point d'esprit effects. They are used in combination with laces of all sorts, including metal laces. The call for plain silk nets dyed in evening shades continues unabated. Within the last few days an unusual demand for silk point d'esprit nets in all shades has developed and their extensive use throughout the coming season is predicted. All kinds of Oriental laces are in large demand. Vals in ivory tints, real Cluny and Irish are gaining in demand.
A 1916 2nd Circuit of Appeals court case contesting the forfeiture of an imported shipment of laces
posted by zamboni at 4:06 PM on March 2, 2017
posted by zamboni at 4:06 PM on March 2, 2017
Best answer: Lace, the delicate textile similar to netting, was a luxury product for many centuries. China and Japan, in 1918 were a major source of textile products sold in the United States. I would think it likely that the product was factory machine made lace, probably in several designs intended for sale in the States, the father perhaps trusting the son more to make the sales than a middleman who would have required a profit.
The gold draft is a note issued by a bank with the gold reserves to back it up, as opposed to a currency draft that would only have had currency to back it up. Think of a draft as a cheque. If you write a cheque you are making a draft on the bank. Another word for a cheque is a bank draft.
China at that time was undergoing industrialization and there would not have been many banks that the father could have drawn a draft upon, especially if he lived in a rural area, and Chinese currency would not have been well recognized especially if it was not on the gold standard, eg. had gold reserves to back it up. In 1918 the United States kept gold reserves in the bank equal to the currency that it issued. This was kept in Fort Knox from which comes the expression all the "gold in Fort Knox". By now I don't think any nation has currency which is backed up with anything.
So basically the father was trying to send money to the States in order to pay for his son's education, but sent consumer goods of a value sufficient to pay for his education instead, and the US customs confiscated the goods, stating that the son had lied about their value. He probably hadn't. This is why Chinese business people normally used trusted middlemen of European descent. They were not always considered persons, the same way that women were not considered persons under law at that time. (For context, a woman could not sue in her own name; she had to sue in her husband's name or have a male sue on her behalf. At that time in commercial law a woman and her husband were one person under law and he was the only one the courts would deal with.)
The chances are that the confiscation was spurious - the Chinese family were essentially being punished for not allowing a white western person to get a cut on the transaction. Another less disturbing way to think of this was as equivalent to the Chinese family not having a business license. Imports were usually brought in by a western importer who might very well be doing business from Hong Kong or Macau or some centre where he would not have been subjected to the same kind of racism for being of European descent that the Chinese were subjected to in the United States.
There were a great many legal barriers to Chinese people working and emigrating to the US during that period. It was not until 1943 that an act prohibiting them from emigrating was repealed. The son would only have been permitted in the country to get an education or to work at heavy labour, usually mining. There was intense anti-Asian sentiment at that period. It was virulent and resembles the hatred that some Americans have now for recent immigrants from Hispanic countries. In order to prevent the Chinese from settling permanently in America, Chinese women were not allowed to enter the country. This was intended to force the Chinese men to go home to start or reunite with their families. Manufacturers were delighted to have Chinese labour but workers reviled them believing that their presence kept wages low.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:08 PM on March 2, 2017 [23 favorites]
The gold draft is a note issued by a bank with the gold reserves to back it up, as opposed to a currency draft that would only have had currency to back it up. Think of a draft as a cheque. If you write a cheque you are making a draft on the bank. Another word for a cheque is a bank draft.
China at that time was undergoing industrialization and there would not have been many banks that the father could have drawn a draft upon, especially if he lived in a rural area, and Chinese currency would not have been well recognized especially if it was not on the gold standard, eg. had gold reserves to back it up. In 1918 the United States kept gold reserves in the bank equal to the currency that it issued. This was kept in Fort Knox from which comes the expression all the "gold in Fort Knox". By now I don't think any nation has currency which is backed up with anything.
So basically the father was trying to send money to the States in order to pay for his son's education, but sent consumer goods of a value sufficient to pay for his education instead, and the US customs confiscated the goods, stating that the son had lied about their value. He probably hadn't. This is why Chinese business people normally used trusted middlemen of European descent. They were not always considered persons, the same way that women were not considered persons under law at that time. (For context, a woman could not sue in her own name; she had to sue in her husband's name or have a male sue on her behalf. At that time in commercial law a woman and her husband were one person under law and he was the only one the courts would deal with.)
The chances are that the confiscation was spurious - the Chinese family were essentially being punished for not allowing a white western person to get a cut on the transaction. Another less disturbing way to think of this was as equivalent to the Chinese family not having a business license. Imports were usually brought in by a western importer who might very well be doing business from Hong Kong or Macau or some centre where he would not have been subjected to the same kind of racism for being of European descent that the Chinese were subjected to in the United States.
There were a great many legal barriers to Chinese people working and emigrating to the US during that period. It was not until 1943 that an act prohibiting them from emigrating was repealed. The son would only have been permitted in the country to get an education or to work at heavy labour, usually mining. There was intense anti-Asian sentiment at that period. It was virulent and resembles the hatred that some Americans have now for recent immigrants from Hispanic countries. In order to prevent the Chinese from settling permanently in America, Chinese women were not allowed to enter the country. This was intended to force the Chinese men to go home to start or reunite with their families. Manufacturers were delighted to have Chinese labour but workers reviled them believing that their presence kept wages low.
posted by Jane the Brown at 4:08 PM on March 2, 2017 [23 favorites]
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