Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-12-04

sole stock In trade OF those foreign |
merchants who at one time made
so much money Ia the treaty ports
of the Middle Kingdom. They had
no knowledge OF the business they
purported to carry on; they were
incompetent to buy teas or silks by
sample; they could not even count
the money with which their wares
were bought; they could not speak
twenty words of Mandarin Chinese,
and knew scarcely enough pigeon
English to converse with their ma
tive clerks. The outcome Of this
state Of things was long ago fore
told by shrewd observers, who saw
these native accountants and
brokers set up in business for
themselves as soon as their savings
represented an adequate sum. That
these men would underbuy and un-
dersell their old employers was a
matter of course, owing to the
freemasonry which exists among
the Chinese trading classes, and to
the fact that the running expenses
of their establishments would be
relatively Insignificant. We are
far from affirming that the process
thus begun has yet been pushed to
the Who'll esale eviction of foreign
merchants, but 1t Is certain that
the tendency Of things is in that
direction, and that the purchase
and sale of goods on commission in
the Chinese market is swiftly pass
ing into native hands. Already the
large Chinese houses have their
own correspondents Ia foreign
ports, to whom consignments are
made, and by whom orders are for
warded.
From these encroaohments on
the field once monopolized by for.
eign merchants, 1t needed but .
step to grasp some portion of the
carrying trade. For this purpose
it was necessary to supplement- the
native junks with craft of foreign
build, and gradually a large num-
Der Of European and American
steamships and sailing vessels
passed under the Chinese flag. 1t
was found that many routes Of
traffic, or travel, which could only
be operated at q loss by foreigners,
might be worked by Chinese COM
panies, whose expenses are much
lighter, and who are satisfied with
relatively small returns. The re-
suit is that considerable and fast
increasing share OF the carrying
trade along the eastern and south
western coasts of Asia, between
Yokohama on the north and Cal
cutta on the south, is already in
Chinese hands. This will appear
from the statistics showing the
movement of shipping in the treaty
ports. In 1878 there were 20,928
entries and clearances of vessels,
with an aggregate tonnage of
IL, 446, 900, at these harbors, not in
GLIDING the M ass of native junks,
of which no record is made at the
Custom House. Out of the total
return, we find British shipping
credited with 1913 entries and
clearances, with a combined ton.
mage of 7, 4S0, 900. The next place
is filled, not by Germany, or
France, or the United States, but
by Chinese shipping; that is, ves-
sells of foreign type owned by Chi
nese and sailing under the Chinese
flag, with a total of 5,16s entries,
and clearances at tonnage of
4,256, 900. To this must be added a
special junk trade of 1902 craft,
having an aggregate capacity of
100, 900 tons; these junks, of course,
being built and owned by Chinese,
but sailing under special license
and paying their duties like for
eIgn vessels. In other words, sup
posing there had been 100
trips of vessels of all kinds en-.
gagged in the coast and foreign
trade of China for 1878, British
ships would have monopolized AZ
OF those trips, 20 trips would be as
signed to all other foreign nation
alities, while SO trips would have
been made by Chiuese-owned ships
of foreign build, or licensed junks.
Thus, while China may not be
laying plans for the absorption of
the American continent, she is
pretty plainly aiming to get her
share of the commerce of the Pa
cific ocean and of the Asiatic
waters generally.