Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-06-02

Evil Results of cain, 80 Competition with
, American Labor.
VII.
| Meanwhile Chinese merchants. en-
/ tcrinI the paths oi cpHpctlfion wMcl
/ Were opened t, Ncm rcriorr". lave
/ III Il great uta>uIc crowded T. Iioi eai
! traders fr"m numerous ports more
or les, remote frnm Chinese cuas's
This Is true Of the trade wi h Saigon
! in Cochin China, with Bangkok IL
/ Siam; with ) ncapore il. In liza; witt
! Batavia III Java; and wi'h Maniill III
; the Philippine" Islands \ short
time ago the British India 5 cam
Navigation Company had Il stron-
line of vessels on the route between
Cal, utti. and Singapore, touching at
intermediate points. y CHINESE
company started Il line between
HanGoon and Singapore, and i'll a
short time the British line, except
for u government subsidy, would
have been compelled 10 stop,-tht
cai! ylhG business, at latest accounts,
being reduced to the lowest ebb.
SIX years ago II foreign company
without concession fiom the CHI.
ncse authorities laid short railway
to connect Shanghai with the rI>ci
entrance TO the harbor. 1t was
conceded that the foreigners who
undertook the eli erpri>e had 10
right to do SO; and the American
minister expressed the opinion that
tho body of ministers at Pchin
on ,;ht in advance to hold language
regarding the project Of sort cal
cu'ated Ia keep matters in their pres
ent satisfactory condition.; which
being interpreted means that certain
| Foreigners having stolen right OF
way for purpose not recognized 10y
the Government, the latter was to be
bullled by foreign pressure into com
| plIance. An American cIiiZ n was
placed III charge of TIE grading, and
the American representative declared
that he WAS ready to defend the III lit
of the projectors to build the rail
way. The only stirring incident III
the construction of the road. how
ever, was fight between the Amer
lean citizen aforesaid and an old
woman whose land WAS endangered
by his refusal to place a culvert where
the grading crossed II ditch. AL.
though the projectors had no right
to constrl ct The railway, it was pur
chased by the Chinese Government
at fair price which was determined
Ivy arbitration. Ii Is II matter OF re
cent newspaper comment that the
rails have been taken up, and eX-
ported to this country as old iron.
The history of the attempted tele-
graph line is substantially identical
with that of the railroad. In Octo-
Der, 1875, Danish company, with
out any legal authority, began the
construction of Geographic line
from Foo-Choo, the centre of the
tea industry, to the port of Annoy
and continued the construction. al
though, the officials had positively
refused to sign contract. In this,
as with the railroad, the American
representative was not slow to init
mate that the diplomatic body should
insist upon the permanent enjoy
ment of the rights appropriated
without the shadow of law. Twenty
miles of the line were destroyed by
local officials, whereupon a claim
for indemnity was set up by tie
Company. AS the latter had n
quasi agreement with body known
rs " the Board of Foreign Trade of
the Province, the matter was finally
settled by the Chinese Government
purchasing the whole concern for
the sum of one hundred and twenty
four thousand five hundred Mexican
dollars, which ended the contro-
vesy, and with it the telegraph line.
During fifteen years, the American
Steam Navigation Company owned Il
fleet of twenty steam-ships, two or
three of which were of American,
and the others of English build, and
which were trading between Shang-
hal and YanStse ports and Tientzing.
In 1875, II Chinese corporation, the
Chinese Merchandise Company, had
vessels on the same water routes
In that year the Chinese Government
agreed with the native Company for
certain fret hts ut rates more than
twice as high as those ob'ainable by
either company in the open market,
and which of course amounted sim
ply to subsidy to the Chinese Com
pany. In less than two years the
American enterprise was bought ont
by the Chinese, and American com
petition with native shipping was
ended on the rivers of China. The
philanthropic idea of supplying
China with currency by the coinage
of the trade dollar illustrates our
ignorance of Chinese methods and
Chinese wants. In the north is
China, not five hundred of the new
coins were found two years after
their introduction; while in the south
they utterly failed to replace the
Mexican dollar, which is favorite
form of silver.
SO much for our diplomacy with
China in matters of comparatively
minor importance; for those referred
to are dwarfed by comparison with
the Burlingame Treaty, i'll which the
far-reachins Chiuaman found in an
American politician a Convenient i'm
piement with which to manipulate
the policy OF an aggressive but short
sighted nation. That treaty con-
ferred on each of the parties thereto
all the rights granted by the other
to the most favored nation. The
United States has granted to the
most favored nations the right, on
the part of their citizens, of passing
without restraint to all portions OF