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Xiaohong Liu Editor

Environmental
Sustainability
in Asian
Logistics and
Supply Chains
Environmental Sustainability in Asian Logistics
and Supply Chains
Xiaohong Liu
Editor

Environmental Sustainability
in Asian Logistics
and Supply Chains

123
Editor
Xiaohong Liu
Business School
Central University of Finance and Economics
Beijing
China

This book is supported by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (9162015) and Central
University of Finance and Economics.

ISBN 978-981-13-0450-7 ISBN 978-981-13-0451-4 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0451-4
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018940632

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Preface

With the increasing global awareness of the significance of environmental protec-

tion, Asia has witnessed a significant trend toward greening logistics and supply
chains. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent in the world, and in
recent years, it has enjoyed the fastest economic growth. Nevertheless, although
economic progress has brought prosperity to Asian economies and societies, it has
created concomitant environmental problems. To date, the byproducts of this
booming economy include a notable contribution to the greenhouse effect, con-
siderable air and water pollution, the overuse of natural resources, and the pro-
duction of hazardous waste, resulting in substantial widespread environmental
degradation in Asia. Moreover, as the most significant production and consumer
base in terms of economic globalization, Asia plays a crucial role in global supply
chain management (SCM). Thus, the development of environmentally sustainable
supply chains is in high demand, to preserve the local and global environment.
Inspired by this observation, this book, entitled “Environmental Sustainability in
Asian Logistics and Supply Chains”, addresses issues relating to logistics and
supply chains from the perspective of Asian environmental sustainability. It brings
together selected presentations from the 12th International Congress on Logistics
and SCM Systems (ICLS2017) held in Beijing, China, August 20–23, 2017. The
congress was organised by the Business School, Central University of Finance and
Economics and the International Federation of Logistics and SCM Systems (IFLS).
It included submissions from researchers covering a variety of topics relating to
green and sustainable logistics and supply chains in the Asian context, such as
green logistics and environmental impact, green SCM and firm performance, green
operations and optimization, the sustainability of supply chains, carbon measure-
ment of logistics, and corporate social responsibility. To effectively disseminate the
most significant findings from this successful symposium and stimulate further
research in this field, the authors of key presentations were invited to contribute full
chapters for inclusion in this book. The research contained within utilises both
empirical studies and math modeling research. It is anticipated that the book will
prove a valuable resource for both academics and practitioners wishing to deepen

v
vi Preface

their knowledge in the field of Asian logistics and supply chains in respect of
environmental sustainability.
The preparation and publication of this book would not have been possible
without the support of the Central University of Finance and Economics and the
International Federation of Logistics and SCM Systems (IFLS). Therefore, I would
like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to them both. In
particular, I am grateful to the board of the IFLS for their valuable contribution to
the book:
Honorary Chairman: Prof. Karasawa, Yutaka, Kanagawa University, Japan
Chairman: Prof. Kachitvichyanukul, Voratas, Asian Institute of Technology,
Thailand
Senior Vice Chairman: Prof. Wu, Yen-Chen Jim, National Taiwan Normal
University, Taiwan
Vice Chairmen: Prof. Lai, Kin Keung, City University of Hong Kong, China;
Prof. Liu, Xiaohong, Central University of Finance and Economics, China; Prof.
Rim, Suk-Chul, Ajou University, Korea; Prof. Wakabayashi, Keizo, Nihon
University, Japan; Prof. Tsai, Kune-Muh, National Kaohsiung First University of
Science & Technology, Taiwan
I would like to thank all the authors for submitting their full chapters as
requested, and to express my gratitude for their valuable contributions to the book.
I also wish to gratefully acknowledge and recognise the important contribution
of the reviewers of the manuscripts. Finally, special thanks go to the staff at
Springer for their kind support of the editorial work.

Beijing, China Xiaohong Liu

January 2018
Contents

Part I Empirical and Conceptual Research

An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions from
China’s Logistics Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Xiaohong Liu, Alan C. McKinnon and Ning Wei
Identifying Green Assessment Criteria for Shipping Industries . . . . . . . 21
Taih-Cherng Lirn, Christina W. Y. Wong, Kuo-Chung Shang
and Ya-Ting Li
Logistics Network Design for Rice Distribution in Sulawesi,
Indonesia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Rosmalina Hanafi, Muhammad Rusman, Mark Goh and Robert de Souza
A Basic Research for Delivery Price Yardsticks for the 3PL
Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Angela Y. Y. Chen and Yutaka Karasawa
A Systematic Literature Review on Sustainability and Disruptions
in Supply Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Ilias Vlachos, Luisa Huaccho Huatuco, Guljana ShakirUllah
and Adriana Roa-Atkinson
Exploring Innovation and Sustainability in the Potato
Supply Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Gyan Prakash
The Impact of Green Supply Chain Management Practices on
Competitive Advantages and Firm Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Xiaojing Jia and Meng Wang
Studying the Effect of Ambient Temperature Exposure on
Refrigerated Food Quality and Safety for Sustainable Food
Cold Chains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Kune-muh Tsai and Kuo-shin Lin

vii
viii Contents

Managing Uncertainty Through Sustainable Re-engineering

of the Value Chain. An Action-Research Study of the Aquaculture
Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Ilias Vlachos and George Malindretos

Part II Math Modeling Research

A Simulated Annealing Heuristic for the Heterogeneous Fleet
Pollution Routing Problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Vincent F. Yu, A. A. N. Perwira Redi, Parida Jewpanya, Artya Lathifah,
Meilinda F. N. Maghfiroh and Nur Aini Masruroh
A Multi-objective Model for Location-Allocation Problem with
Environmental Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Malika Nisal Ratnayake, Voratas Kachitvichyanukul
and Huynh Trung Luong
Efficiency of Crew Assignment in Truck Freight Operation
from the View of Logistics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Kuninori Suzuki, Yoji Murayama, Keizo Wakabayashi
and Akihiro Watanabe
Combined Forecasting Method Based on Water Resources
Risk Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
Hai Shen, Kin Keung Lai and Qin Liu
A Multi-objective Model for Integrated Planning of Selective
Harvesting and Post-harvest Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Thanaphorn Sornprom, Voratas Kachitvichyanukul
and Huynh Trung Luong
Multiple-Trip Vehicle Routing with Physical Workload . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261
Tarit Rattanamanee and Suebsak Nanthavanij
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
 Part I
Empirical and Conceptual Research
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2
Emissions from China’s Logistics
Industry

Xiaohong Liu, Alan C. McKinnon and Ning Wei

Abstract China’s logistics industry has developed rapidly in recent years. As the
level of logistical activity has grown so has the sector’s carbon footprint. The
measurement and control of these logistics-related CO2 emissions is of vital
importance to the nation’s energy and climate change strategies. This paper reports
the results of an analysis of these emissions over the period 2000–2015 using two
decomposition techniques, i.e. Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and the
Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI). In absolute terms, the amount of CO2
emissions from China’s logistics industry rose sharply and exhibited a cubic rela-
tionship with GDP rather than the more typical EKC curve. On the other hand, the
ratio of CO2 emissions to energy consumption for China’s logistics industry was
found to be declining. From the perspective of energy usage, two factors, energy
intensity and energy structure, are identified as being the main contributors to the
decrease in CO2 emission intensity, with energy intensity dominating. On the basis
of these research results, the paper discusses ways of further reducing the CO2
emission intensity of China’s logistics industry.

Keywords Logistics industry CO2 emission intensity Energy intensity



Energy structure Environmental Kuznets curve Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index

X. Liu (&)
Business School, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China
e-mail: xliu@cufe.edu.cn
A. C. McKinnon
Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany
N. Wei
Horizon Research Consultancy Group, Beijing, China

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 3

X. Liu (ed.), Environmental Sustainability in Asian Logistics and Supply Chains,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0451-4_1
4 X. Liu et al.

1 Introduction

Logistics is concerned with the movement, storage and handling of materials as

they move from raw material source, through the production system to points of
final consumption. It is widely recognised that logistics plays a vital role in eco-
nomic development and corporate strategy. In China, the expansion of logistics has
been closely coupled with economic growth. According to the report released by
China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) on China logistics annually,
in 2016, the total revenue of China’s logistics industry reached 7.9 trillion RMB
Yuan, an annual increase of 4.6%, and representing a 10.6% share of GDP. Some
estimates put its share as high as 15% [4]. Given its major contribution to the
growth of the country’s economy and society, China’s logistics industry has been
regarded by the Chinese government as one of the ten ‘restructuring and revital-
ization industries’ since 2009.
The exceptionally rapid growth of logistical activity in China, particularly the
movement of freight, has placed a heavy burden on the environment. For example,
the number of commercial road vehicles grew by 49% between 2009 and 2016 and
the amount of freight moved (expressed in 2389.1 billion tokm) by 64%. The huge
increase in road freight traffic has been responsible for much of the exacerbation of
air quality and congestion problems over this period. The focus of this paper,
however, is on another externality-namely CO2 emissions from the fossil fuel
consumed by logistics operations.
The Chinese government made a commitment in 2009 to cut national CO2
emissions per unit of GDP, (i.e. carbon intensity), by 40–45% of 2005 levels by
2020. Numerous studies have analysed trends in China’s carbon emissions and the
potential for reducing them (e.g. [18, 22, 23, 28, 33, 38, 41, 42]), though, none has
as yet attempted to calculate emissions from the logistics industry. This has been an
important omission as the logistics sector accounts for 10–15% of Chinese GDP, is
energy intensive, a major emitter of CO2 and expected to make a significant con-
tribution to meeting the 2020 national carbon intensity target. The omission can be
partly explained by the heterogeneity of logistics services and the lack of clear
boundaries between “logistics” and other industries. In addition to those businesses
whose main activity is logistics, for many others, such as manufacturers and
retailers, it is an ancillary activity and so, in national accounting, often subsumed
within other sectors. This complicates the measurement of logistics-related emis-
sions. Indeed, to date only one attempt has been made to carbon footprint logistical
activities at a global level [40] and, to our knowledge, none at a national level. Data
limitations have confined the analysis discussed in this paper to emissions from
businesses classified as having ‘transportation, storage and postal services’ as their
primary activity. These businesses will be referred to collectively as the logistics
sector or logistics industry.
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 5

The present study has four objectives:

(1) To quantify total CO2 emissions from China’s logistics industry;
(2) To analyse the relationship between these logistics emissions and economic
development and energy consumption;
(3) To examine the structure and intensity of the CO2 emissions from China’s
logistics industry;
(4) To identify the main ways of reducing the carbon intensity of Chinese logistics.
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 reviews relevant
literature, on the inter-relationship between logistics activities, energy use and CO2
emissions. Section 3 describes the research methodology employed in this study. It
outlines the data sources and the two measurement techniques used, one con-
structing the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) and the other calculating the
Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI). Section 4 presents the research results,
including estimates of the total energy consumption and CO2 emissions of China’s
logistics industry and the corresponding energy- and carbon-intensity values.
Section 5 offers suggestions for cutting logistics-related emissions in China and
summarises the main conclusions.

2 Literature Review

2.1 Logistics Activities, Energy Use and CO2 Emissions

The nature of the environmental impact of logistics is related to functional opera-

tions (e.g. transport, warehousing), energy consumption, emissions and the
infrastructures over which they operate.
The implementation of logistics activities requires a proportional amount of
energy. The consumed energies are used in logistics operations, such as transport,
warehousing, and material handling. Among these activities, transport is the largest
contributor to energy consumption. It is reported transport accounts for approxi-
mately 25% world energy demand for about 61.5% of all the oil used each year
[29].
While consuming large quantities of energy, logistics activities generate
numerous pollutants such as CO2, SO and noise, which have substantially damaged
ecological systems. According to World Economic Forum [40], logistical activities
account for roughly 5.5% of total global GHG emissions. Of those logistics
activities, the fundamental function, i.e. freight transport, accounts for 80–90% of
logistics-related carbon emissions and is regarded as one dominant source of
emission of most pollutants [26]. At the corporate level, as reported by Davis [8],
80–90% of the emission savings comes from transport and the remainder comes
from warehousing. The sustainability of logistics has become one core issue in
logistics service provisions.
6 X. Liu et al.

2.2 Carbon Assessment of Logistics

Much of the research on this subject has focused on the carbon auditing of indi-
vidual companies’ logistics operations. Different approaches and methodologies
have been used for measuring CO2 emissions from freight transport (e.g. [5, 27])
and warehousing operations [30]. As freight transport typically represents around
85–90% of total logistics-related CO2 emissions [40], emissions from this source
overwhelmingly dominate the calculation. At the corporate level, efforts have been
made to harmonise data collection and analysis methodologies, emission factors
and reporting standards [13].
Less attention has been paid to the measurement of carbon emissions from
logistical activities at a national level. Most studies conducted at this level have
been confined to freight movement and, in some cases, particular modes of freight
transport (e.g. [11, 35]). In a study of the carbon footprinting of road haulage
operations in the UK, McKinnon and Piecyk [27] found that many different
approaches could be adopted, each yielding widely varying estimates.
National-level assessments of CO2 emissions from freight transport in other
countries have used differing data sources and methods of calculation (e.g. [10,
21]). An important distinction can be made between top-down and bottom-up
approaches.
The top-down approach uses high-level input-based measures, in this case
macro-level estimates of the fuel/energy purchased by or supplied to companies in
particular sectors. It then applies energy-based emission factors to these aggregated
estimates of energy consumption. However, as noted by McKinnon [25], the
classification of energy use by sector and sub-sector can make difficult to differ-
entiate logistics-related energy consumption with sufficient accuracy. Failure to
differentiate vehicle type at the point of fueling in statistical accounting often makes
it difficult to split energy consumption between freight and passenger vehicles.
The bottom-up approach uses output-based measures derived from estimates of
the actual amount of work done by the logistics sector. In the case of freight
transport, this work can be measured by physical units such as tonne-kms or
vehicles-kms, metrics which, in some countries are regularly tracked by govern-
ment transport surveys. Average conversion factors can then applied to translate
these transport variables into energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Kamakaté
and Schipper [19] and Eom et al. [11] adopted this bottom-up approach in their
analyses of trends in the energy intensity of trucking operations in various countries
including Australia, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, United States and Korea,
but not China.
Ideally, where sufficient data exists, both top-down and bottom-up analyses
should be conducted to permit cross-validation.
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 7

3 Research Methodology

3.1 Top-Down Approach and Data Sources

Given data availability in China, this study adopts the top-down approach to assess
CO2 emissions from logistics industry. The data used in this study are mainly from
two sources:
(a) China Statistical Yearbook
(b) China Energy Statistical Yearbook
Although the Chinese government and various non-governmental organizations
have been steadily increasing the amount of data collected on logistical activities
over the past decade, the National Statistics Yearbook does not separately identify
logistics as business sector. It does, however, publish data on ‘transportation,
storage and postal services’ which can be considered to roughly approximate to the
‘logistics industry’. For example, Song et al. [34] used data from this statistical
category to measure the amount of energy consumed by the ‘logistics service
industry’. The latest published energy data for this category relates to 2015. Energy
data was also obtained for this category from the National Statistics Yearbook for
2000, as allowing this to be used as the base year for the analysis.

3.2 Techniques of Measurement

As explained earlier, logistics emission trends over the period 2000–2015 were
analysed using two techniques, Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis
and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI).
The EKC hypothesis, which was proposed by Grossman and Krueger [14],
indicates a strong statistical relationship between environmental quality and
per-capital income. According to the EKC hypothesis, environmental quality ini-
tially worsens with the increases in per-capita income but then improves after an
Income Turning Point (ITP); at high income levels economic growth leads to
environmental improvement. The EKC is shaped like as an inverted U shape.
The EKC hypothesis implies that it is possible for countries simultaneously to enjoy
higher income and improved environmental quality. For example, by using a
reduced-form approach, Schmalensee et al. [31] found clear evidence of an “inverse
U” relationship with a within-sample peak between CO2 emissions (and energy use)
per capita and per-capita income. Through the estimation of EKC, López-Menéndez
et al. [24] analysed the impact of economic growth on CO2 emissions by using data
from 27 EU countries during the period 1996–2010. The EKC hypothesis applied in
the present study aims to indicate the inter-relationship between CO2 emissions from
China’s logistics industry and economic development.
8 X. Liu et al.

LMDI is a refined decomposition method which ensures decompositions with

identically null residual terms. LMDI was first introduced by Ang and Choi [2] and
further developed by Ang and Liu [3]. Given its theoretical and practical advan-
tages, it has become one of the most popular decompositional methodologies in the
last decade. A growing number of studies have used the LMDI method to
decompose energy and CO2 emissions trends in the transport sector. For example,
Wang et al. [39] used it to analyse total transport-related CO2 emissions in China
while Sorrell et al. [35] applied the technique to decompose energy use in the UK
road freight sector. The LMDI method used in this paper is to assess the contri-
bution made by different factors to changes in CO2 emissions from China’s logistics
industry.

4 Empirical Results and Discussion

4.1 Growth of China’s Logistics Industry, Energy Use

and CO2 Emissions

Table 1 and Fig. 1 show in absolute terms the annual growth of value-added,
energy consumption and CO2 emissions in China’s logistics industry between 2000
and 2015.

Table 1 Growth of China’s logistics industry, energy use and CO2 emissions
Year Value added (Billion Energy consumption CO2 emissions (Million
Yuan) (Million TCE) Tonnes)
2000 616.19 112.42 58.13
2001 687.13 116.13 59.63
2002 749.43 123.13 63.47
2003 791.48 141.16 71.93
2004 930.65 166.42 85.36
2005 1066.88 183.91 95.11
2006 1218.63 202.84 104.42
2007 1460.51 219.59 113.46
2008 1636.76 229.17 116.10
2009 1652.24 236.92 118.68
2010 1878.36 260.68 130.16
2011 2184.20 285.36 140.85
2012 2376.32 315.25 156.13
2013 2604.27 348.19 168.65
2014 2850.09 363.36 174.11
2015 3048.78 383.18 182.18
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 9

550

500

450

400

350

300

250

200

150

100
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Value added Energy consumption CO2 emission

Fig. 1 Changes of annual growth of China’s logistics industry, energy consumption and CO2
emission. Notes The vertical axis shows index values with the 2000 values set at 100. Data sources
China Statistical Yearbook; China Energy Statistical Yearbook

It is noted that the CO2 emissions are calculated building upon the energy
consumption. The calculation is divided into two steps: the first step is to estimate
the amount of CO2 emissions based on each energy source consumed by China’s
logistics industry in terms of the final energy consumption, coal equivalent coef-
ficient and the carbon emission coefficients. The second step is to estimate the total
amount based upon the individual energy source. It is exhibited in Eq. (1):
X X
C¼ Ci ¼ ai bi Ei ð1Þ
i i

where C denotes the total CO2 emissions annually, i denotes energy source i; Ci
denotes the amount of CO2 emissions related to energy source i; ai denotes the CO2
emission coefficient of energy source i, namely, CO2 emissions per unit of energy
consumed; bi denotes coal equivalent coefficient of energy source i, namely, the
amount of coal equivalent converted by per unit of energy. Ei denotes the energy
consumption by energy source i annually. The amount of CO2 emissions by con-
suming per unit of energy source i is the CO2 emission coefficient of energy source i
multiply coal equivalent coefficient of energy source i. The China Energy Statistical
Yearbook contains statistics on eight types of energy consumed by China’s logistics
industry: coal, gasoline, kerosene, diesel, fuel oil, liquefied petroleum gas, natural
gas and electricity. Total CO2 emissions are therefore calculated based upon the
sum of the eight energy sources. The CO2 emission coefficients (ai) and the coal
equivalent coefficient (bi) are collected from the IPCC [17] and China Energy
Statistics Yearbook respectively.
10 X. Liu et al.

Table 1 and Fig. 1 show how the value-added, energy consumption and CO2
emissions for the logistics sector changed between 2000 and 2015. Over this period,
the value of outputs from the Chinese logistics sector grew 4.9 times, significantly
faster than the sector’s 3-fold increase in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
All three trends increased steadily over this period. The global recession of 2008–
2010, which dampened the level of activity across the Chinese economy, tem-
porarily interrupted the strong growth trend that the logistics sector was exhibiting.
The growth of logistics-related energy consumption and CO2 emissions also
slackened over this period.

4.2 Relationship Between Logistics-Related Carbon

Emissions and Economic Growth

This relationship was examined using a regression analysis:

Y ¼ a þ bX þ cX 2 þ dX 3 þ e ð2Þ

where Y denotes the amount of CO2 emissions emitted by China’s logistics

industry, X denotes per capita GDP, a, b, c, d are parameters of the model, e is
stochastic error. The relationship between CO2 emissions from China’s logistics
industry and per capita GDP is defined by the values of a, b, c, d. Table 2 presents
the tested results of the analysis showing the degree of fit with three different
functions: linear, quadratic and cubic.
The different shapes of curve correspond to differing values for the a, b, c, and d
parameters [9]:
(1) b 6¼ 0, c = 0, d = 0, linear relationship;
(2) b > 0, c > 0, d = 0, quadratic curve, a U shaped curve;
(3) b > 0, c < 0, d = 0, quadratic curve, an inverted U-shaped curve;
(4) b 6¼ 0, c 6¼ 0, d 6¼ 0, cubic curve, N-shaped curve.
The coefficient of determinations (R-square values) of the three models (0.981,
0.982, 0.993) are close to 1, which indicates the goodness if fit is good. Of the three

Table 2 Model summary and parameter estimates

Equation Model summary Parameter estimates
R Square F df1 df2 Sig. Constant (a) b c d
Linear 0.981 735.689 1 14 0.000 2869.519 43.075
Quadratic 0.982 359.729 2 13 0.000 2182.241 51.127 −0.019
Cubic 0.993 580.953 3 12 0.000 -4224.204 165.877 −0.616 0.001
Notes The independent variable is per capital GDP; the dependent variable is CO2 emission from China’s
logistics industry
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 11

models, the adjusted R2 of the cubic equation model is the largest one (0.993),
which shows the best fitness. Apart from this, the p-values of the parameters the
cubic equation models are less than (sig.) 0.01,passing t-test, namely, all these
parameters are statistically significant. The constant of the quadratic equation curve
does not pass the t-test and hence is not statistically significant. The parameters of
the linear equation model are significant, but its R2 is smaller than that of the cubic
equation mode. Therefore, of these three models, the cubic equation model is
significant and best fitness.

Y ¼ 4224:204 þ 165:877X  0:616X 2 þ 0:001X 3

ð3Þ
R2 ¼ 0:993 F ¼ 580:953 Sig: ¼ 0:000

X represents per capital GDP; Y corresponds to CO2 emissions per capital

GDP. A fitted diagram between CO2 emissions and per capital GDP is presented in
Fig. 2, in which the curve shows a general upward trend though fluctuation.
Based on the fitted result, the relationship between CO2 emissions from China’s
logistics industry and per capital GDP followed a cubic curve between 2000 and
2015 and not the classic inverted U-shaped curve postulated by the EKC model.
The growth of logistics emissions appears to be accelerating relative to GDP per
capita growth. This suggests that China is at a stage in its development when the
level of logistics activity is rising sharply and the pressures on the logistics sector to
curb energy use and CO2 emission are relatively weak. The main priority is to

Fig. 2 Logistics CO2 and per capita GDP (Cubic curve)

12 X. Liu et al.

expand the capacity of the sector to handle the rapid increases in the volume of
goods transported, handled and stored. There is a danger, however, that in this rapid
growth phase, opportunities to install more energy- and CO2-efficiency systems and
practices are possibly being missed and may prove to be expensive to retrofit at a
later stage in the logistics development process.
The relationship between economic growth and logistics-related CO2, however,
provides only a crude indicator of the sector’s environmental performance. To gain
a better understanding of its CO2 generating properties, it is necessary to analyse
two other ratios: (i) logistics carbon emissions to added value by the logistics sector
and (ii) logistics CO2 to logistics energy consumption. Trends in these intensity
values are discussed in the next section.

4.3 CO2 Emission Intensity of China’s Logistics Industry

In the present study, CO2 emission intensity is defined as CO2 emissions per unit of
value added in China’s logistics industry and calculated as in Eq. (4):

Ct
Kt ¼ ð4Þ
Yt

where
Kt represents the level of CO2 emission intensity of China’s logistics industry in t
year (unit: kg CO2 per RMB Yuan);
Ct represents the CO2 emissions from China’s logistics industry in year t (unit:
hundred thousand tons);
Yt represents the value added of China’s logistics industry in year t (unit: billion
RMB Yuan)
Figure 3 shows the changes in the CO2 emission intensity of China’s logistics
industry during the period 2000–2015. Overall, it fell by roughly a third having
experienced a temporary reversal of the downward trend between 2002 and 2004
and in 2009. The earlier reversal may be associated with China’s accession to the
WTO in 2001 and macro-economic policies released around this time to stimulate
domestic demand and investment. The 2009 reversal, which was relatively minor,
may be attributable to the effects of the global recession on the China economy in
general and logistics sector in particular. In recessions, declining demand for
logistics services typically reduces the average utilisation of freight vehicles and
warehousing.
In order to identify the factors affecting the downward trend in logistics’ carbon
intensity, an LMDI analysis was used. The focus of this analysis was the rela-
tionship between CO2 emissions and energy consumption in the Chinese logistics
sector. Two factors are therefore considered: energy structure and energy intensity.
Energy structure measures the relative dependence of the logistics sector on
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 13

Kg/Yuan
1.0

0.9

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Fig. 3 CO2 emission intensity of China’s logistics industry (2000–2015)

different types of energy which vary in their carbon content. The structure effect
takes account of the change in the proportions of different types of energy con-
sumed. The energy intensity is a measure of energy consumed per unit of value
added. The intensity effect measures changes in the ratio of total energy used to
total value added. The LMDI model investigating the change of CO2 emission
intensity is given as the following in Eq. (5):

X X C i E i Et
Ct ¼ Cti ¼ t
 t   Yt
i E
ð5Þ
i i
Et t Yt

Ct represents the total CO2 emissions from China’s logistics industry in year t
(unit: million tons);
Cti represents the CO2 emissions from the use of energy source i by China’s
logistics industry in year t (unit: million tons);
Eti represents the amount of the energy source i consumed by China’s logistics
industry in year t (unit: million tce);
Et represents the total energy consumed by China’s logistics industry (unit:
million tce);
Yt represents the value added by China’s logistics industry in year t (unit: hundred
million).
The equation can be further rewritten as the following:

Ct X Cti Eti Et
¼   ð6Þ
Yt i
Eti Et Yt
14 X. Liu et al.

Combing Eqs. (5) and (6):

Ct X Cti Eti Et
Kt ¼ ¼   ð7Þ
Yt i
Eti Et Yt

Ci
Assume Mti ¼ Eit , Mi represents the CO2 emissions from the consumption of per
t
unit of energy source i., namely, the CO2 emission coefficient for energy source
Ei
i (ai). Assume Sit ¼ Ett , then Si represents the percent of the consumption of energy
source i accounting for the total energy consumption by China’s logistics industry,
reflecting the change of energy structure. Assume It ¼ EYtt , Ii represents the energy
consumption of China’s logistics industry per unit of output, reflecting the energy
intensity.
Equation (7) can therefore be rewritten as the following:
X
K t ¼ It M i Si ð8Þ
i

We use the LMDI approach to decompose CO2 emissions changes of China’s

logistics industry into carbon emission coefficient, energy structure and energy
intensity. Assuming K0 represents CO2 emission intensity in the base year, with the
LMDI method, we divide the cumulative changes in CO2 emissions in year t into
the summation of different factors’ cumulative changes:

DKt0 ¼ Kt  K0 ¼ DKM þ DKS þ DKI þ DKrd ð9Þ

Kt
DHt0 ¼ ¼ HM  HS  HI  Hrd ð10Þ
K0

In Eq. (9), DKt0 represents the total change of CO2 emission intensity for China’s
logistics industry for the year t compared to the base year 0; DKM, DKS, DKI and DKrd
represent individual factors influencing the change of CO2 emission intensity for
China’s logistics industry; DKrd is a residual term. In Eq. (10), DHt0 represents the
ratio of CO2 emission intensity for logistics industry for the year t compared to the base
year 0; HM, HS, HI and Hrd represent the extent to which individual factors influence
the change of CO2 emission intensity, Hrd is a residual term. Overall, DKM and HM
represent CO2 emission intensity factor of energy; DKS and HS represent energy
structure, while DKI and HI represent energy intensity. As Mti denotes CO2 emissions
per unit energy consumption in year t, it is a constant, hence DKM = 0, HM = 1.
Given that China Statistics Yearbook doesn’t provide the values for 1999, the
present study assumes 2000 as the base year for calculation. The result is presented
in Table 3. The following Fig. 4 exhibits the contribution of energy structure and
energy intensity to CO2 emission intensity of China’s logistics industry.
As shown in Fig. 4, overall, the trend of CO2 emission intensity is declining.
The change of energy intensity tends to be the same as that of CO2 emission
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 15

Table 3 Decomposition analysis of energy-related CO2 emission intensity by LMDI for China’s
logistics industry
Year DKt0 Ht0 DKS HS DKI HI
2001 −0.0755 0.9199 −0.0063 0.9930 −0.0692 0.9264
2002 −0.0963 0.8979 −0.0027 0.9970 −0.0936 0.9006
2003 −0.0345 0.9634 −0.0136 0.9855 −0.0209 0.9777
2004 −0.0260 0.9724 −0.0075 0.9920 −0.0185 0.9803
2005 −0.0518 0.9451 0.0001 1.0002 −0.0519 0.9450
2006 −0.0864 0.9084 −0.0040 0.9956 −0.0824 0.9125
2007 −0.1664 0.8236 −0.0006 0.9993 −0.1658 0.8242
2008 −0.2339 0.7521 −0.0168 0.9797 −0.2171 0.7676
2009 −0.2248 0.7617 −0.0261 0.9688 −0.1987 0.7862
2010 −0.2503 0.7347 −0.0284 0.9656 −0.2219 0.7609
2011 −0.2984 0.6837 −0.0365 0.9546 −0.2619 0.7163
2012 −0.2862 0.6966 −0.0341 0.9578 −0.2521 0.7273
2013 −0.2957 0.6865 −0.0513 0.9368 −0.2444 0.7329
2014 −0.3324 0.6476 −0.0582 0.9267 −0.2742 0.6988
2015 −0.3457 0.6335 −0.0635 0.9195 −0.2822 0.6889
Note At constant prices in 2000

0.05

0.00
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
-0.05

-0.10

-0.15

-0.20

-0.25

-0.30

-0.35

-0.40
Total Contribution of energy structure Contribution of energy intensity

Fig. 4 Contribution of energy structure and energy intensity to CO2 emission intensity of China’s
logistics industry

intensity. This result indicates that the change of CO2 emissions is primarily derived
from energy intensity. The curve of energy structure is stable, slightly fluctuating
along the horizontal axis. This also indicates that energy structure has marginally
affected the change of CO2 emission intensity. In addition, Fig. 4 also shows that,
since 2007, the influence of energy structure on CO2 emission intensity starts and
gradually increases.
16 X. Liu et al.

5 Conclusions and Policy Suggestions

This paper analyses the CO2 emissions from China’s logistics industry during the
period 2000–2015. By employing the EKC and LMDI techniques, the results reveal
that the amount of CO2 emissions in China’s logistics industry increased contin-
uously during this phase, while CO2 emission intensity decreased. The relationship
between the CO2 emissions from China’s logistics industry and per capital GDP
exhibited a cubic curve, not the typical EKC inverted U-shape curve. The decline in
energy intensity was the main determinant of the decrease in CO2 emission
intensity, whereas energy structure contributed only marginally to the change. For
instance, energy intensity of China decreases to 57% from 2000 to 2015, however,
the extent to which energy intensity declined in the China’s logistics sector (31.1%)
was only half that of the national economy as a whole. This suggests that it may be
possible to accelerate energy efficiency improvements in the logistics sector.
China’s freight transport intensity is relatively high and will continue to rise for
the foreseeable future driven by the growth in demand from sectors such as energy
and construction and the lengthening of freight hauls in inter-province transport
[15]. SDSN & IDDRI [32], nevertheless argue that there is likely to be a substantial
reduction in freight transport intensity by 2050. They are more much pessimistic
about the prospects for achieving large reductions in the energy intensity of freight
transport (toe per ton-kilometer traveled) and the CO2 intensity of freight transport
energy (tCO2 emitted per toe) by then. In the short to medium term it is important
for China to get onto a carbon reduction trajectory that will lead to the required
level of logistics decarbonisation by 2050.
Several initiatives are already underway to cut emissions from the freight
transport sector. Although they are strongly motivated by the need to improve local
air quality, their contribution to cutting carbon emissions is also emphasised in
policy documents. These initiatives can be traced back to a World Bank-funded
green trucking project in Guangzhou in 2018 which was scaled-up to a provincial
level across Guangdong in 2011. This piloted several measures designed to cut
energy use and emissions in the trucking sector, including the use of articulated
vehicles to offer a ‘drop and hook’ capability, adopting new truck technologies and
establishing new information platforms to enhance load-matching. The success of
this project encouraged the launch of a China Green Freight Initiative in 2012
which is more broadly-based and national in scale. This initiative, which is man-
aged by China Road Transport Association (CRTA), the Research Institute of
Highway (RIOH) of the Ministry of Transport, and Clean Air Asia, promotes the
application of the avoid/shift/improve (ASI) approach to the decarbonisation of
freight movement. More recently, the Smart Freight Centre [37], the German
development agency GIZ [12] and US Rocky Mountain Institute [1] have all been
active in raising awareness of energy/emission-reducing measures and running
demonstration projects. They have shown, for example, how improved manage-
ment of tyres, driver training and load matching schemes can yield significant
reductions in the carbon intensity of Chinese trucking. Several studies have also
An Analysis of Energy-Related CO2 Emissions … 17

examined the carbon benefits of switching to lower carbon fuels [6, 20], electrifying
the vehicle fleet and powering it with lower carbon electricity [36].
The emission reduction targets for the main transport modes contained in the
12th Five Year Plan (FYP) in 2012 has given the implementation of these green
freight initiatives greater urgency, particularly as a separate reduction targets have
been set for the movement of freight by road. This FYP set a target to reduce energy
consumption and CO2 emissions per road tonne-km between 2005 and 2020 by
respectively 16 and 20% [7]. The Plan estimates that the potential exists to cut the
energy intensity of freight movements by road and water by 11%, by structural
optimisation; 12% by managerial actions and by an unspecified amount through the
application of new technology. No data is yet available on the extent to which the
FYP decarbonisation targets for these freight transport modes are being met.
In the meantime, regulatory changes and plans demonstrate a strong govern-
mental commitment to decarbonise the road freight sector. In 2014, China became
only the second country in the world to introduce fuel economy standards for new
trucks. The ICCT [16] suggests that Stage 3 of these standards will tighten ‘vehicle
consumption limits for tractors, trucks and coaches by an average of 21.7–27.2%
when using Stage 1 limits as the baseline’.
There is no doubt that, at a macro-level, there is a strong political commitment to
decarbonising freight transport operations in China and that the bottom-up efforts of
various agencies at provincial and city levels and are providing strong support. It
remains to be seen, however, if current initiatives will be sufficient to decarbonise
logistics operations as a whole by a large enough margin for the country to meet its
COP21 carbon reduction targets.

Acknowledgements This study is supported by Beijing Natural Science Foundation (9162015).

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Identifying Green Assessment Criteria
for Shipping Industries

Taih-Cherng Lirn, Christina W. Y. Wong, Kuo-Chung Shang

and Ya-Ting Li

Abstract This study empirically identifies critical assessment criteria used by

tramp shipowners and container shipowners in Taiwan, and how they perceived the
importance of the criteria to their operations. Through an extensive literatures
review, twelve green performance indicators are categorized into four underlying
assessment criteria, namely shipowners’ green policy, cooperation between green
shipping stakeholders, reverse logistics management, and green design and pro-
mise. An Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) approach was employed to pair-
wisely compare the degree of importance of these major green assessment criteria
and used by the shipping industry. Further analysis by ranking the weight of each of
the four major criteria indicated that shipowners’ green design and promise is the
most important criteria in the shipowners’ context, followed by, shipowners’ green
policy, cooperation among shipping stakeholders, and reverse logistics manage-
ment. Differences between container shipowners’ and tramp shipowners’ percep-
tions on the importance level of the twelve green performance indicators are found.
This study advances knowledge by empirically and theoretically validates the
degree of importance of green shipping assessment criteria. Institutional theory has
greater importance on shipowners’ green practices than the stakeholders theory
does.

T.-C. Lirn (&)

Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Taiwan Ocean
University, Keelung, Taiwan
e-mail: tedlirn@mail.ntou.edu.tw
C. W. Y. Wong
The Institute of Textiles and Clothing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University,
Hung Hom, Hong Kong
K.-C. Shang
Department of Transportation Science, National Taiwan Ocean University,
Keelung, Taiwan
Y.-T. Li
Taiwan International Port Corp, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019 21

X. Liu (ed.), Environmental Sustainability in Asian Logistics and Supply Chains,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0451-4_2
22 T.-C. Lirn et al.

Keywords Green assessment Green shipping Tramp shipping




Container shipping Institutional theory Stakeholders theory Resource-based
view (RBV)

1 Introduction

Although consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for green products and
they view green performance as one of the most important criteria in selecting their
service providers [51, 61], many shipowners were not keen to employ green
management practices in providing freight service before the 1990s. Environmental
costs can account for as much as 20% of corporate capital expenditures in pollution
intensive industries [26]. Olavarrieta and Ellinger [48] review resource-based the-
ory and indicate a distinctive logistics capability is a source of sustainable com-
petitive advantage and superior performance. How to view environmental
protection and green logistics as a form of corporate resource and capability to
enhance its competitiveness and efficiency is become a popular trend. Previous
literatures have indicated shipping firms allocate resources to help protect the
environment in order to gain cost, service, and environmental advantages [33, 34,
55], [6]. For example, cutting emissions by 50% may mean that dramatically less
marine bunker is needed in the shipping industry. Lu et al. [38] examine the
relationships between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and organisational
performance in container shipping in Taiwan, they found the ‘community
involvement and environment’ and ‘disclosure’ dimensions have positive effects on
financial performance of a shipping company. In short, most literatures are either
employ RBV to study the relationship between logistics performance and their
green performance. None of any previous study focused on identifying green
assessment criteria for shipping industry which is very important if ocean carriers
intend to improve their green performance and consequently their overall financial
performance.

2 Green Shipping Literature Reviews

There are four major criteria in the green shipping performance criteria, including
shipowners’ green policy, cooperation between shipping stakeholders, reverse
logistics management, and green design and promise. Thus the literature reviews
section has reviewed the related previous publications in sequence accordingly.
1. Shipowners’ green policy
(1) Green business plan;
Identifying Green Assessment Criteria for Shipping Industries 23

(2) Voluntary EP certification;

(3) Regular environmental protection practice.
2. Cooperation between shipping stakeholders
(1) Green procurement;
(2) Green delivery service;
(3) Green promotion.
3. Reverse logistics management
(1) Recycling recyclables;
(2) Waste disposables.
4. Green design and promise
(1) Green operation;
(2) Emission reduction;
(3) Environmental protection participation;
(4) Complying with green regulations.
While study suggests that most of the SO2 emissions are generated by shipping
fleet rather than by the land-based sources, and it is estimated that about 15% of the
anthropogenic NOx emissions and 7% of the SO2 emissions are due to shipping [8,
20]. It is reported that tramp ships and container ships using poor quality marine
bunker are the major carbon and particulate matters emitters in the shipping
industry which are responsible for approximately 60,000 cardiopulmonary and lung
cancer deaths annually [42, 46]. By studying the European shipping industry and its
corporate social responsibility (CSR), Fafaliou et al. [21] reveal that only shipping
companies that are either subsidiaries of international conglomerates or owned by
shipowners who are personally aware of the corporate benefits of being socially
responsible would be conscious of their environmental impact. Several researches
indicate that there can be significant trade-offs between the environmental benefits
and economic benefits [35, 52]. According to the European Commission’s report in
2013, EU-related emissions from shipping are expected to increase further by 51%
by 2050 compared to 2010-levels. Thus it is important for the maritime transport
sector to reduce CO2 emissions by 40% in 2050 compared to 2005 levels in order to
reduce its environmental impact [6].
Many shipping stakeholders are increasingly worried that shipping activities
damage the environment and increase resource consumption. In the mean time, port
authorities using pricing strategies, access regulations, and concession policy as
green management tools to ask shipowners and terminal operators to ensure the
consistent improvement of their economic competitiveness and environmental
quality [36]. Acciaro et al. [1] proposes a successful innovation framework for
environmental sustainability of seaports and also indicates only those innovations
that meet stakeholders’ economic and environment requirements have chances to
succeed in the port and shipping industries. The system dynamics technique is used
to simulate the impact of efficient ship operation on the improvement of fuel
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 Abelard ... The relation of master and pupil was not long
preserved. A warmer sentiment than esteem filled their hearts
and the unlimited opportunities of intercourse which were
afforded them by the canon who confided in Abelard’s age (he
was now almost forty), and in his public character, were fatal
to the peace of both. The condition of Heloise was on the
point of betraying their intimacy.... Fulbert now abandoned
himself to a transport of savage vindictiveness ... burst into
Abelard’s chamber with a band of ruffians and gratified his
revenge by inflicting on him an atrocious mutilation....
Abelites ... denounced sexual intercourse as service of
Satan.
Abimelech I, son of Gideon by a Sheshemite concubine,
who made himself king after murdering all his seventy
brethren except Jotham, and was killed while besieging the
tower of Thebez ...
Abortion ...
No; his hands were icy and he felt a little sick from stuffing down
so many chocolates.
Abracadabra.
Abydos ...
He got up to drink a glass of water before Abyssinia with
engravings of desert mountains and the burning of Magdala by the
British.
His eyes smarted. He was stiff and sleepy. He looked at his
Ingersoll. Eleven o’clock. Terror gripped him suddenly. If mother was
dead...? He pressed his face into the pillow. She stood over him in
her white ballgown that had lace crisply on it and a train sweeping
behind on satin rustling ruffles and her hand softly fragrant gently
stroked his cheek. A rush of sobs choked him. He tossed on the bed
with his face shoved hard into the knotty pillow. For a long time he
couldn’t stop crying.
 He woke up to find the light burning dizzily and the room stuffy
and hot. The book was on the floor and the candy squashed under
him oozing stickily from its box. The watch had stopped at 1.45. He
opened the window, put the chocolates in the bureau drawer and
was about to snap off the light when he remembered. Shivering with
terror he put on his bathrobe and slippers and tiptoed down the
darkened hall. He listened outside the door. People were talking low.
He knocked faintly and turned the knob. A hand pulled the door open
hard and Jimmy was blinking in the face of a tall cleanshaven man
with gold eyeglasses. The folding doors were closed; in front of them
stood a starched nurse.
“James dear, go back to bed and dont worry,” said Aunt Emily in a
tired whisper. “Mother’s very ill and must be absolutely quiet, but
there’s no more danger.”
“Not for the present at least, Mrs. Merivale,” said the doctor
breathing on his eyeglasses.
“The little dear,” came the nurse’s voice low and purry and
reassuring, “he’s been sitting up worrying all night and he never
bothered us once.”
“I’ll go back and tuck you into bed,” said Aunt Emily. “My James
always likes that.”
“May I see mother, just a peek so’s I’ll know she’s all right.” Jimmy
looked up timidly at the big face with the eyeglasses.
The doctor nodded. “Well I must go.... I shall drop by at four or
five to see how things go.... Goodnight Mrs. Merivale. Goodnight
Miss Billings. Goodnight son....”
“This way....” The trained nurse put her hand on Jimmy’s shoulder.
He wriggled out from under and walked behind her.
There was a light on in the corner of mother’s room shaded by a
towel pinned round it. From the bed came the rasp of breathing he
did not recognize. Her crumpled face was towards him, the closed
eyelids violet, the mouth screwed to one side. For a half a minute he
stared at her. “All right I’ll go back to bed now,” he whispered to the
nurse. His blood pounded deafeningly. Without looking at his aunt or
at the nurse he walked stiffly to the outer door. His aunt said
something. He ran down the corridor to his own room, slammed the
door and bolted it. He stood stiff and cold in the center of the room
with his fists clenched. “I hate them. I hate them,” he shouted aloud.
Then gulping a dry sob he turned out the light and slipped into bed
between the shiverycold sheets.

“With all the business you have, madame,” Emile was saying in a
singsong voice, “I should think you’d need someone to help you with
the store.”
“I know that ... I’m killing myself with work; I know that,” sighed
Madame Rigaud from her stool at the cashdesk. Emile was silent a
long time staring at the cross section of a Westphalia ham that lay on
a marble slab beside his elbow. Then he said timidly: “A woman like
you, a beautiful woman like you, Madame Rigaud, is never without
friends.”
“Ah ça.... I have lived too much in my time.... I have no more
confidence.... Men are a set of brutes, and women, Oh I dont get on
with women a bit!”
“History and literature ...” began Emile.
The bell on the top of the door jangled. A man and a woman
stamped into the shop. She had yellow hair and a hat like a
flowerbed.
“Now Billy dont be extravagant,” she was saying.
“But Norah we got have sumpen te eat.... An I’ll be all jake by
Saturday.”
“Nutten’ll be jake till you stop playin the ponies.”
“Aw go long wud yer.... Let’s have some liverwurst.... My that cold
breast of turkey looks good....”
“Piggywiggy,” cooed the yellowhaired girl.
 “Lay off me will ye, I’m doing this.”
“Yes sir ze breast of turkee is veree goud.... We ave ole cheekens
too, steel ’ot.... Emile mong ami cherchez moi uns de ces petits
poulets dans la cuisin-e.” Madame Rigaud spoke like an oracle
without moving from her stool by the cashdesk. The man was
fanning himself with a thickbrimmed straw hat that had a checked
band.
“Varm tonight,” said Madame Rigaud.
“It sure is.... Norah we ought to have gone down to the Island
instead of bummin round this town.”
“Billy you know why we couldn’t go perfectly well.”
“Don’t rub it in. Aint I tellin ye it’ll be all jake by Saturday.”
“History and literature,” continued Emile when the customers had
gone off with the chicken, leaving Madame Rigaud a silver half dollar
to lock up in the till ... “history and literature teach us that there are
friendships, that there sometimes comes love that is worthy of
confidence....”
“History and literature!” Madame Rigaud growled with internal
laughter. “A lot of good that’ll do us.”
“But dont you ever feel lonely in a big foreign city like this...?
Everything is so hard. Women look in your pocket not in your
heart.... I cant stand it any more.”
Madame Rigaud’s broad shoulders and her big breasts shook
with laughter. Her corsets creaked when she lifted herself still
laughing off the stool. “Emile, you’re a good-looking fellow and
steady and you’ll get on in the world.... But I’ll never put myself in a
man’s power again.... I’ve suffered too much.... Not if you came to
me with five thousand dollars.”
“You’re a very cruel woman.”
Madame Rigaud laughed again. “Come along now, you can help
me close up.”
 Sunday weighed silent and sunny over downtown. Baldwin sat at
his desk in his shirtsleeves reading a calfbound lawbook. Now and
then he wrote down a note on a scratchpad in a wide regular hand.
The phone rang loud in the hot stillness. He finished the paragraph
he was reading and strode over to answer it.
“Yes I’m here alone, come on over if you want to.” He put down
the receiver. “God damn it,” he muttered through clenched teeth.
Nellie came in without knocking, found him pacing back and forth
in front of the window.
“Hello Nellie,” he said without looking up; she stood still staring at
him.
“Look here Georgy this cant go on.”
“Why cant it?”
“I’m sick of always pretendin an deceivin.”
“Nobody’s found out anything, have they?”
“Oh of course not.”
She went up to him and straightened his necktie. He kissed her
gently on the mouth. She wore a frilled muslin dress of a reddish lilac
color and had a blue sunshade in her hand.
“How’s things Georgy?”
“Wonderful. D’you know, you people have brought me luck? I’ve
got several good cases on hand now and I’ve made some very
valuable connections.”
“Little luck it’s brought me. I haven’t dared go to confession yet.
The priest’ll be thinkin I’ve turned heathen.”
“How’s Gus?”
“Oh full of his plans.... Might think he’d earned the money, he’s
gettin that cocky about it.”
 “Look Nellie how would it be if you left Gus and came and lived
with me? You could get a divorce and we could get married....
Everything would be all right then.”
“Like fun it would.... You dont mean it anyhow.”
“But it’s been worth it Nellie, honestly it has.” He put his arms
round her and kissed her hard still lips. She pushed him away.
“Anyways I aint comin here again.... Oh I was so happy comin up
the stairs thinkin about seein you.... You’re paid an the business is all
finished.”
He noticed that the little curls round her forehead were loose. A
wisp of hair hung over one eyebrow.
“Nellie we mustn’t part bitterly like this.”
“Why not will ye tell me?”
“Because we’ve both loved one another.”
“I’m not goin to cry.” She patted her nose with a little rolledup
handkerchief. “Georgy I’m goin to hate ye.... Goodby.” The door
snapped sharply to behind her.
Baldwin sat at his desk and chewed the end of a pencil. A faint
pungence of her hair lingered in his nostrils. His throat was stiff and
lumpy. He coughed. The pencil fell out of his mouth. He wiped the
saliva off with his handkerchief and settled himself in his chair. From
bleary the crowded paragraphs of the lawbook became clear. He
tore the written sheet off the scratchpad and clipped it to the top of a
pile of documents. On the new sheet he began: Decision of the
Supreme Court of the State of New York.... Suddenly he sat up
straight in his chair, and started biting the end of his pencil again.
From outside came the endless sultry whistle of a peanut wagon.
“Oh well, that’s that,” he said aloud. He went on writing in a wide
regular hand: Case of Patterson vs. The State of New York....
Decision of the Supreme ...
 Bud sat by a window in the Seamen’s Union reading slowly and
carefully through a newspaper. Next him two men with freshly
shaved rawsteak cheeks cramped into white collars and blue serge
storesuits were ponderously playing chess. One of them smoked a
pipe that made a little clucking noise when he drew on it. Outside
rain beat incessantly on a wide glimmering square.
Banzai, live a thousand years, cried the little gray men of
the fourth platoon of Japanese sappers as they advanced to
repair the bridge over the Yalu River ... Special correspondent
of the New York Herald ...
“Checkmate,” said the man with the pipe. “Damn it all let’s go
have a drink. This is no night to be sitting here sober.”
“I promised the ole woman ...”
“None o that crap Jess, I know your kinda promises.” A big
crimson hand thickly furred with yellow hairs brushed the chessmen
into their box. “Tell the ole woman you had to have a nip to keep the
weather out.”
“That’s no lie neither.”
Bud watched their shadows hunched into the rain pass the
window.
“What you name?”
Bud turned sharp from the window startled by a shrill squeaky
voice in his ear. He was looking into the fireblue eyes of a little yellow
man who had a face like a toad, large mouth, protruding eyes and
thick closecropped black hair.
Bud’s jaw set. “My name’s Smith, what about it?”
The little man held out a square callouspalmed hand, “Plis to
meet yez. Me Matty.”
Bud took the hand in spite of himself. It squeezed his until he
winced. “Matty what?” he asked. “Me juss Matty ... Laplander Matty
... Come have drink.”
“I’m flat,” said Bud. “Aint got a red cent.”
 “On me. Me too much money, take some....” Matty shoved a hand
into either pocket of his baggy checked suit and punched Bud in the
chest with two fistfuls of greenbacks.
“Aw keep yer money ... I’ll take a drink with yous though.”
By the time they got to the saloon on the corner of Pearl Street
Bud’s elbows and knees were soaked and a trickle of cold rain was
running down his neck. When they went up to the bar Laplander
Matty put down a five dollar bill.
“Me treat everybody; very happy yet tonight.”
Bud was tackling the free lunch. “Hadn’t et in a dawg’s age,” he
explained when he went back to the bar to take his drink. The whisky
burnt his throat all the way down, dried wet clothes and made him
feel the way he used to feel when he was a kid and got off to go to a
baseball game Saturday afternoon.
“Put it there Lap,” he shouted slapping the little man’s broad back.
“You an me’s friends from now on.”
“Hey landlubber, tomorrow me an you ship togezzer. What say?”
“Sure we will.”
“Now we go up Bowery Street look at broads. Me pay.”
“Aint a Bowery broad would go wid yer, ye little Yap,” shouted a
tall drunken man with drooping black mustaches who had lurched in
between them as they swayed in the swinging doors.
“Zey vont, vont zey?” said the Lap hauling off. One of his
hammershaped fists shot in a sudden uppercut under the man’s jaw.
The man rose off his feet and soared obliquely in through the
swinging doors that closed on him. A shout went up from inside the
saloon.
“I’ll be a sonofabitch, Lappy, I’ll be a sonofabitch,” roared Bud and
slapped him on the back again.
Arm in arm they careened up Pearl Street under the drenching
rain. Bars yawned bright to them at the corners of rainseething
streets. Yellow light off mirrors and brass rails and gilt frames round
pictures of pink naked women was looped and slopped into
whiskyglasses guzzled fiery with tipped back head, oozed bright
through the blood, popped bubbly out of ears and eyes, dripped
spluttering off fingertips. The raindark houses heaved on either side,
streetlamps swayed like lanterns carried in a parade, until Bud was
in a back room full of nudging faces with a woman on his knees.
Laplander Matty stood with his arms round two girls’ necks, yanked
his shirt open to show a naked man and a naked woman tattooed in
red and green on his chest, hugging, stiffly coiled in a seaserpent
and when he puffed out his chest and wiggled the skin with his
fingers the tatooed man and woman wiggled and all the nudging
faces laughed.

Phineas P. Blackhead pushed up the wide office window. He

stood looking out over the harbor of slate and mica in the uneven
roar of traffic, voices, racket of building that soared from the
downtown streets bellying and curling like smoke in the stiff wind
shoving down the Hudson out of the northwest.
“Hay Schmidt, bring me my field glasses,” he called over his
shoulder. “Look ...” He was focusing the glasses on a thickwaisted
white steamer with a sooty yellow stack that was abreast of
Governors Island. “Isn’t that the Anonda coming in now?”
Schmidt was a fat man who had shrunk. The skin hung in loose
haggard wrinkles on his face. He took one look through the glasses.
“Sure it is.” He pushed down the window; the roar receded tapering
hollowly like the sound of a sea shell.
“Jiminy they were quick about it.... They’ll be docked in half an
hour.... You beat it along over and get hold of Inspector Mulligan.
He’s all fixed.... Dont take your eyes off him. Old Matanzas is out on
the warpath trying to get an injunction against us. If every spoonful of
manganese isnt off by tomorrow night I’ll cut your commission in
half.... Do you get that?”
 Schmidt’s loose jowls shook when he laughed. “No danger sir....
You ought to know me by this time.”
“Of course I do.... You’re a good feller Schmidt. I was just joking.”
Phineas P. Blackhead was a lanky man with silver hair and a red
hawkface; he slipped back into the mahogany armchair at his desk
and rang an electric bell. “All right Charlie, show em in,” he growled
at the towheaded officeboy who appeared in the door. He rose stiffly
from his desk and held out a hand. “How do you do Mr. Storrow ...
How do you do Mr. Gold.... Make yourselves comfortable.... That’s
it.... Now look here, about this strike. The attitude of the railroad and
docking interests that I represent is one of frankness and honesty,
you know that.... I have confidence, I can say I have the completest
confidence, that we can settle this matter amicably and agreeably....
Of course you must meet me halfway.... We have I know the same
interests at heart, the interests of this great city, of this great
seaport....” Mr. Gold moved his hat to the back of his head and
cleared his throat with a loud barking noise. “Gentlemen, one of two
roads lies before us ...”

In the sunlight on the windowledge a fly sat scrubbing his wings

with his hinder legs. He cleaned himself all over, twisting and
untwisting his forelegs like a person soaping his hands, stroking the
top of his lobed head carefully; brushing his hair. Jimmy’s hand
hovered over the fly and slapped down. The fly buzzed tinglingly in
his palm. He groped for it with two fingers, held it slowly squeezing it
into mashed gray jelly between finger and thumb. He wiped it off
under the windowledge. A hot sick feeling went through him. Poor
old fly, after washing himself so carefully, too. He stood a long time
looking down the airshaft through the dusty pane where the sun
gave a tiny glitter to the dust. Now and then a man in shirtsleeves
crossed the court below with a tray of dishes. Orders shouted and
the clatter of dishwashing came up faintly from the kitchens.
 He stared through the tiny glitter of the dust on the windowpane.
Mother’s had a stroke and next week I’ll go back to school.
“Say Herfy have you learned to fight yet?”
“Herfy an the Kid are goin to fight for the flyweight championship
before lights.”
“But I dont want to.”
“Kid wants to.... Here he comes. Make a ring there you ginks.”
“I dont want to, please.”
“You’ve damn well got to, we’ll beat hell outa both of ye if you
dont.”
“Say Freddy that’s a nickel fine from you for swearing.”
“Jez I forgot.”
“There you go again.... Paste him in the slats.”
“Go it Herfy, I’m bettin on yer.”
“That’s it sock him.”
The Kid’s white screwedup face bouncing in front of him like a
balloon; his fist gets Jimmy in the mouth; a salty taste of blood from
the cut lip. Jimmy strikes out, gets him down on the bed, pokes his
knee in his belly. They pull him off and throw him back against the
wall.
“Go it Kid.”
“Go it Herfy.”
There’s a smell of blood in his nose and lungs; his breath rasps. A
foot shoots out and trips him up.
“That’s enough, Herfy’s licked.”
“Girlboy ... Girlboy.”
“But hell Freddy he had the Kid down.”
“Shut up, don’t make such a racket.... Old Hoppy’ll be coming up.”
 “Just a little friendly bout, wasn’t it Herfy?”
“Get outa my room, all of you, all of you,” Jimmy screeches, tear-
blinded, striking out with both arms.
“Crybaby ... crybaby.”
He slams the door behind them, pushes the desk against it and
crawls trembling into bed. He turns over on his face and lies
squirming with shame, biting the pillow.
Jimmy stared through the tiny glitter of the dust on the
windowpane.
Darling
Your poor mother was very unhappy when she finally put
you on the train and went back to her big empty rooms at the
hotel. Dear, I am very lonely without you. Do you know what I
did? I got out all your toy soldiers, the ones that used to be in
the taking of Port Arthur, and set them all out in battalions on
the library shelf. Wasn’t that silly? Never mind dear,
Christmas’ll soon come round and I’ll have my boy again....
A crumpled face on a pillow; mother’s had a stroke and next week
I’ll go back to school. Darkgrained skin growing flabby under her
eyes, gray creeping up her brown hair. Mother never laughs. The
stroke.
He turned back suddenly into the room, threw himself on the bed
with a thin leather book in his hand. The surf thundered loud on the
barrier reef. He didn’t need to read. Jack was swimming fast through
the calm blue waters of the lagoon, stood in the sun on the yellow
beach shaking the briny drops off him, opened his nostrils wide to
the smell of breadfruit roasting beside his solitary campfire. Birds of
bright plumage shrieked and tittered from the tall ferny tops of the
coconut palms. The room was drowsy hot. Jimmy fell asleep. There
was a strawberry lemon smell, a smell of pineapples on the deck and
mother was there in a white suit and a dark man in a yachtingcap,
and the sunlight rippled on the milkytall sails. Mother’s soft laugh
rises into a shriek O-o-o-ohee. A fly the size of a ferryboat walks
towards them across the water, reaching out jagged crabclaws.
“Yump Yimmy, yump; you can do it in two yumps,” the dark man yells
in his ear. “But please I dont want to ... I dont want to,” Jimmy
whines. The dark man’s beating him, yump yump yump.... “Yes one
moment. Who is it?”
Aunt Emily was at the door. “Why do you keep your door locked
Jimmy.... I never allow James to lock his door.”
“I like it better that way, Aunt Emily.”
“Imagine a boy asleep this time of the afternoon.”
“I was reading The Coral Island and I fell asleep.” Jimmy was
blushing.
“All right. Come along. Miss Billings said not to stop by mother’s
room. She’s asleep.”
They were in the narrow elevator that smelled of castor oil; the
colored boy grinned at Jimmy.
“What did the doctor say Aunt Emily?”
“Everything’s going as well as could be expected.... But you
mustn’t worry about that. This evening you must have a real good
time with your little cousins.... You dont see enough children of your
own age Jimmy.”
They were walking towards the river leaning into a gritty wind that
swirled up the street cast out of iron under a dark silvershot sky.
“I guess you’ll be glad to get back to school, James.”
“Yes Aunt Emily.”
“A boy’s school days are the happiest time in his life. You must be
sure to write your mother once a week at least James.... You are all
she has now.... Miss Billings and I will keep you informed.”
“Yes Aunt Emily.”
“And James I want you to know my James better. He’s the same
age you are, only perhaps a little more developed and all that, and
you ought to be good friends.... I wish Lily had sent you to Hotchkiss
too.”
 “Yes Aunt Emily.”
There were pillars of pink marble in the lower hall of Aunt Emily’s
apartmenthouse and the elevatorboy wore a chocolate livery with
brass buttons and the elevator was square and decorated with
mirrors. Aunt Emily stopped before a wide red mahogany door on
the seventh floor and fumbled in her purse for her key. At the end of
the hall was a leaded window through which you could see the
Hudson and steamboats and tall trees of smoke rising against the
yellow sunset from the yards along the river. When Aunt Emily got
the door open they heard the piano. “That’s Maisie doing her
practicing.” In the room where the piano was the rug was thick and
mossy, the wallpaper was yellow with silveryshiny roses between the
cream woodwork and the gold frames of oilpaintings of woods and
people in a gondola and a fat cardinal drinking. Maisie tossed the
pigtails off her shoulders as she jumped off the pianostool. She had
a round creamy face and a slight pugnose. The metronome went on
ticking.
“Hello James,” she said after she had tilted her mouth up to her
mother’s to be kissed. “I’m awfully sorry poor Aunt Lily’s so sick.”
“Arent you going to kiss your cousin, James?” said Aunt Emily.
Jimmy shambled up to Maisie and pushed his face against hers.
“That’s a funny kind of a kiss,” said Maisie.
“Well you two children can keep each other company till dinner.”
Aunt Emily rustled through the blue velvet curtains into the next
room.
“We wont be able to go on calling you James.” After she had
stopped the metronome, Maisie stood staring with serious brown
eyes at her cousin. “There cant be two Jameses can there?”
“Mother calls me Jimmy.”
“Jimmy’s a kinder common name, but I guess it’ll have to do till we
can think of a better one.... How many jacks can you pick up?”
“What are jacks?”
 “Gracious dont you know what jackstones are? Wait till James
comes back, wont he laugh!”
“I know Jack roses. Mother used to like them better’n any other
kind.”
“American Beauties are the only roses I like,” announced Maisie
flopping into a Morris chair. Jimmy stood on one leg kicking his heel
with the toes of the other foot.
“Where’s James?”
“He’ll be home soon.... He’s having his riding lesson.”
The twilight became leadensilent between them. From the
trainyards came the scream of a locomotivewhistle and the clank of
couplings on shunted freight cars. Jimmy ran to the window.
“Say Maisie, do you like engines?” he asked.
“I think they are horrid. Daddy says we’re going to move on
account of the noise and smoke.”
Through the gloom Jimmy could make out the beveled smooth
bulk of a big locomotive. The smoke rolled out of the stack in huge
bronze and lilac coils. Down the track a red light snapped green. The
bell started to ring slowly, lazily. Forced draft snorting loud the train
clankingly moved, gathered speed, slid into dusk swinging a red
taillight.
“Gee I wish we lived here,” said Jimmy. “I’ve got two hundred and
seventytwo pictures of locomotives, I’ll show em to you sometime if
you like. I collect em.”
“What a funny thing to collect.... Look Jimmy you pull the shade
down and I’ll light the light.”
When Maisie pushed the switch they saw James Merivale
standing in the door. He had light wiry hair and a freckled face with a
pugnose like Maisie’s. He had on riding breeches and black leather
gaiters and was flicking a long peeled stick about.
“Hullo Jimmy,” he said. “Welcome to our city.”
 “Say James,” cried Maisie, “Jimmy doesn’t know what jackstones
are.”
Aunt Emily appeared through the blue velvet curtains. She wore a
highnecked green silk blouse with lace on it. Her white hair rose in a
smooth curve from her forehead. “It’s time you children were
washing up,” she said, “dinner’s in five minutes.... James take your
cousin back to your room and hurry up and take off those
ridingclothes.”
Everybody was already seated when Jimmy followed his cousin
into the diningroom. Knives and forks tinkled discreetly in the light of
six candles in red and silver shades. At the end of the table sat Aunt
Emily, next to her a rednecked man with no back to his head, and at
the other end Uncle Jeff with a pearl pin in his checked necktie filled
a broad armchair. The colored maid hovered about the fringe of light
passing toasted crackers. Jimmy ate his soup stiffly, afraid of making
a noise. Uncle Jeff was talking in a booming voice between
spoonfuls of soup.
“No I tell you, Wilkinson, New York is no longer what it used to be
when Emily and I first moved up here about the time the Ark
landed.... City’s overrun with kikes and low Irish, that’s what’s the
matter with it.... In ten years a Christian wont be able to make a
living.... I tell you the Catholics and the Jews are going to run us out
of our own country, that’s what they are going to do.”
“It’s the New Jerusalem,” put in Aunt Emily laughing.
“It’s no laughing matter; when a man’s worked hard all his life to
build up a business and that sort of thing he dont want to be run out
by a lot of damn foreigners, does he Wilkinson?”
“Jeff you are getting all excited. You know it gives you
indigestion....”
“I’ll keep cool, mother.”
“The trouble with the people of this country is this, Mr. Merivale” ...
Mr. Wilkinson frowned ponderously. “The people of this country are
too tolerant. There’s no other country in the world where they’d allow
it.... After all we built up this country and then we allow a lot of
foreigners, the scum of Europe, the offscourings of Polish ghettos to
come and run it for us.”
“The fact of the matter is that an honest man wont soil his hands
with politics, and he’s given no inducement to take public office.”
“That’s true, a live man, nowadays, wants more money, needs
more money than he can make honestly in public life.... Naturally the
best men turn to other channels.”
“And add to that the ignorance of these dirty kikes and shanty
Irish that we make voters before they can even talk English ...”
began Uncle Jeff.
The maid set a highpiled dish of fried chicken edged by corn
fritters before Aunt Emily. Talk lapsed while everyone was helped.
“Oh I forgot to tell you Jeff,” said Aunt Emily, “we’re to go up to
Scarsdale Sunday.”
“Oh mother I hate going out Sundays.”
“He’s a perfect baby about staying home.”
“But Sunday’s the only day I get at home.”
“Well it was this way: I was having tea with the Harland girls at
Maillard’s and who should sit down at the next table but Mrs.
Burkhart ...”
“Is that Mrs. John B. Burkhart? Isn’t he one of the vicepresidents
of the National City Bank?”
“John’s a fine feller and a coming man downtown.”
“Well as I was saying dear, Mrs. Burkhart said we just had to
come up and spend Sunday with them and I just couldn’t refuse.”
“My father,” continued Mr. Wilkinson, “used to be old Johannes
Burkhart’s physician. The old man was a cranky old bird, he’d made
his pile in the fur trade way back in Colonel Astor’s day. He had the
gout and used to swear something terrible.... I remember seeing him
once, a redfaced old man with long white hair and a silk skullcap
over his baldspot. He had a parrot named Tobias and people going
along the street never knew whether it was Tobias or Judge Burkhart
cussing.”
“Ah well, times have changed,” said Aunt Emily.
Jimmy sat in his chair with pins and needles in his legs. Mother’s
had a stroke and next week I’ll go back to school. Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, Monday.... He and Skinny coming back from playing with
the hoptoads down by the pond, in their blue suits because it was
Sunday afternoon. Smokebushes were in bloom behind the barn. A
lot of fellows teasing little Harris, calling him Iky because he was
supposed to be a Jew. His voice rose in a singsong whine; “Cut it
fellers, cant you fellers. I’ve got my best suit on fellers.”
“Oy Oy Meester Solomon Levy with his best Yiddisher garments
all marked down,” piped jeering voices. “Did you buy it in a five and
ten Iky?”
“I bet he got it at a firesale.”
“If he got it at a firesale we ought to turn the hose on him.”
“Let’s turn the hose on Solomon Levy.”
“Oh stop it fellers.”
“Shut up; dont yell so loud.”
“They’re juss kiddin, they wont hurt him,” whispered Skinny.
Iky was carried kicking and bawling down towards the pond, his
white tearwet face upside down. “He’s not a Jew at all,” said Skinny.
“But I’ll tell you who is a Jew, that big bully Fat Swanson.”
“Howjer know?”
“His roommate told me.”
“Gee whiz they’re going to do it.”
They ran in all directions. Little Harris with his hair full of mud was
crawling up the bank, water running out of his coatsleeves.
There was hot chocolate sauce with the icecream. “An Irishman
and a Scotchman were walking down the street and the Irishman
said to the Scotchman; Sandy let’s have a drink....” A prolonged
ringing at the front door bell was making them inattentive to Uncle
Jeff’s story. The colored maid flurried back into the diningroom and
began whispering in Aunt Emily’s ear. “... And the Scotchman said,
Mike ... Why what’s the matter?”
“It’s Mr. Joe sir.”
“The hell it is.”
“Well maybe he’s all right,” said Aunt Emily hastily.
“A bit whipsey, ma’am.”
“Sarah why the dickens did you let him in?”
“I didnt let him, he juss came.”
Uncle Jeff pushed his plate away and slapped down his napkin.
“Oh hell ... I’ll go talk to him.”
“Try and make him go ...” Aunt Emily had begun; she stopped with
her mouth partly open. A head was stuck through the curtains that
hung in the wide doorway to the livingroom. It had a birdlike face,
with a thin drooping nose, topped by a mass of straight black hair
like an Indian’s. One of the redrimmed eyes winked quietly.
“Hullo everybody!... How’s every lil thing? Mind if I butt in?” His
voice perked hoarsely as a tall skinny body followed the head
through the curtains. Aunt Emily’s mouth arranged itself in a frosty
smile. “Why Emily you must ... er ... excuse me; I felt an evening ...
er ... round the family hearth ... er ... would be ... er ... er ...
beneficial. You understand, the refining influence of the home.” He
stood jiggling his head behind Uncle Jeff’s chair. “Well Jefferson ole
boy, how’s the market?” He brought a hand down on Uncle Jeff’s
shoulder.
“Oh all right. Want to sit down?” he growled.
“They tell me ... if you’ll take a tip from an old timer ... er ... a
retired broker ... broker and broker every day ... ha-ha.... But they tell
me that Interborough Rapid Transit’s worth trying a snifter of.... Doan
look at me crosseyed like that Emily. I’m going right away.... Why
howdedo Mr. Wilkinson.... Kids are looking well. Well I’ll be if that
isn’t Lily Herf’s lil boy.... Jimmy you dont remember your ... er ...
cousin, Joe Harland do you? Nobody remembers Joe Harland....
Except you Emily and you wish you could forget him ... ha-ha....
How’s your mother Jimmy?”
“A little better thank you,” Jimmy forced the words out through a
tight throat.
“Well when you go home you give her my love ... she’ll
understand. Lily and I have always been good friends even if I am
the family skeleton.... They dont like me, they wish I’d go away.... I’ll
tell you what boy, Lily’s the best of the lot. Isn’t she Emily, isn’t she
the best of the lot of us?”
Aunt Emily cleared her throat. “Sure she is, the best looking, the
cleverest, the realest.... Jimmy your mother’s an emperess.... Aways
been too fine for all this. By gorry I’d like to drink her health.”
“Joe you might moderate your voice a little;” Aunt Emily clicked
out the words like a typewriter.
“Aw you all think I’m drunk.... Remember this Jimmy” ... he leaned
across the table, stroked Jimmy’s face with his grainy whisky breath
... “these things aren’t always a man’s fault ... circumstances ... er ...
circumstances.” He upset a glass staggering to his feet. “If Emily
insists on looking at me crosseyed I’m goin out.... But remember give
Lily Herf Joe Harland’s love even if he has gone to the demnition
bowbows.” He lurched out through the curtains again.
“Jeff I know he’ll upset the Sèvres vase.... See that he gets out all
right and get him a cab.” James and Maisie burst into shrill giggles
from behind their napkins. Uncle Jeff was purple.
“I’ll be damned to hell if I put him in a cab. He’s not my cousin....
He ought to be locked up. And next time you see him you can tell
him this from me, Emily: if he ever comes here in that disgusting
condition again I’ll throw him out.”
“Jefferson dear, it’s no use getting angry.... There’s no harm done.
He’s gone.”