The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1879-01-01
A DOOMED RACE.
The Swarming Millions of China Face
to Face with Starvation.
A Human Hive Ready TO Swarm-What
John bull is Doing for Us

Chinese emigration. l think this phase of
the question has not hitherto beeR suffi-
GENTLY noticed in the discussion OF the
press. China was organized socially and
commercially as a complicated machine,
with each part depending upon every other
part, so that whatever tends to disturb the
equilibrium of this machine DISCREPANCIES |
to a great extent its entire workings. |
By this influence large bodies of our
skilled laborers have been superseded; |
and as the empire is SO slow |
in developing her mineral resources, and the |
manufacturing interests which depend upon |
these, the men thus set adrift naturally gray |
itate to the best labor market. England is
welding the chief influence in Chlnesecom-
merce, and thus driving the mechanics from |
home, while the United States receives them. |
| have taken the time to investigate thecom-
mercial phase of the question, and find the
foreign goods in the market are nearly all of
English production, and are introduced
through EoglIsh tea merchants in exchange
for tea. Cotton shirtings. Goeskins, or cassi-
mere cloths and hannels, are very common
and very popular with the natives. Besides,
piece goods, clocks, watches, miscellaneous
notions, mirrors glassware, including lamps,
kerosene oil, etc, are gradually finding their
way into the interior. OF all these articles,
the United States furnishes very small per
cent. OF China's export trade, England also
has the lions share. The trade in tea, hemp
and hides the chief exports, is all under the
in opium is exclusively in English control.
OF the
TOTAL IMPORT TRADE
for 1877 (per the official custom reports) of
73, 497 $50 taels, nearly one-half was for
opium. Cotton goods were sold in the en-
pire for the same period to the value of
is, 955, 795 taels WOODEN cloths $50, 1913. thus
making nearly four-fifths of the foreign
trade in the hands of English merchants.
! 1t is easy enough to see how the consump-
| ton of European goods influences the ques-
ton of emigration. Take, for example, the
one item of cotton CLOTH Cotton forms the
great staple for clothing of all classes, and
| its manufacture naturally forms one of
their chief industrial pursuits; to stop the
native looms must cause widespread idle
ness. But to begin at the first step, as
must necessarily to properly illustrate. All
farming is done in the most primitive style.
The ground is very commonly prepared for
seeding with the hoe, and the growing crop
! is cultivated in the same way.
This requires great number of
farm laborers to cultivate q small area of
| land. But in addition to the labor of
! digging the ground we must remember that
all fertiliziDg is applied in a liquid state,
which requires much labor IN its prepare
| ton and application. But the cotton being
| grown and picked from the fields, the seed
is taken away either by the fingers or by the
| merest excuse for gin. Next the raw cot
1
hand in the most primitive style. The
| thread must then be wound by hand and
| woven in narrow widths In hand power
looms. You readily see how much hand.
ling and labor Is required before the cloth Is
| ready Tor the market; and it must be sold
| very cheap in order to be within the reach
| of consumers. Now it has come to pass that
English cotton, which is smoother and
whittier and in better widths. can be sold in
this market cheaper than the native cloth
can be procured. Hence the
LARGE ARMIES OF WORKERS
in cotton are being superseded. Thus the
ancient processes of hand production of the
orient are brought into competition With the
modern appliances of the west, ii it re-
quires no prophetic vision to foreteil the re-
suits. The same is true of silk mannfac-
ture, which at present forms one chief
branch of native industry. The primitive
process of winding and weaving, which row
employees such large numbers of hands, are
already beginning to feel the effsc's of for
eign intercourse. The item of percussion
matches alone affects large classes of people.
Before these were introduced the flint and
steel were IN universal use, and the trade
preparation of these gave employment to
| many men. Sewing machines are gradually
finding their way into the Chinese market,
| and each machine means the discharge of
ten native tailors. 1 might add to this
| enumeration to almost any extent, and at
every point where the native industries
have come in contact with for
eign trade, the tendency has been to
disorganize the home system and produce
a surplus population, the tea trade alone ex-
| cepted and the work created by European
residents in the way of servants. But there
can not be one EN- ployed in this way where
ten have been superseded. From time i'm
memorial the manufacture OF porcelain has
been one of Chins's great industries. But
this no longer holds such an i'm portant rank
90 ,ro tlo axltip fco
ed While the demand is universal and very
great, already the people are supplied, es-
pecially with the finer and more costly va
rieties. So that this branch of trade does
not employ so many men as formerly. When
European intercourse first began, China had
a ready and profitable market for her porce
lain. But nov, western countries can pro-
duce finer article at less cost to them than
they can purchase here. Hence this trade
is restricted in the mann to vases, ETC..
bought lefty as curiosities This summer,
New York merchants were here, inspecting
this trade, and they found but
FEW SPECIMENS OF GOODS
they thought marketable at New York, and
they sent these specimens to Japan to have
them manufactured, as they can be made
cheaper there than in China. Thus one of
their chief industries is doomed to pass
away. Again, the manufacture and trade in
| gods has long formed a large business. 1t is
surprising the number of men employed in
making firecrackers and incense and other
supplies for the support of idolasry. True,
the god business is not SO brisk as formerly,
for the elder the gods and the more dust
and cobwebs gathered upon their solemn
CONTINGENCIES the better they are, in the
estimation of those conservative people
And then, 1t is apparent that their inter-
course with Europeans Is having q tendency
to break the faith, especially of the CONNER
clal classes, in their deities They see that
| pou no IN
and yet they live and even prosper; so they,
too, are growing less considerate of their
shr:nes and affairs. The consumption of
iron and steel is not very great compared
to the number of the people, yet the I'M
ports last year were several million taeis
, worth. Also the lead required for lining
tea boxes amounts to a large sum each year.
All of these metals are imported while the