Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1885-11-18
DAILY pOST.INTELLlGENcER



For many ages ChinA-ths aneisns
Csthay lived vishin herself and 70 Der
self. So little have the asbit- ano NE
Of the hinsse ehanesd that u Soal~ o.
comparatively Easy fss ssess 70 20 oses
20 the old conditions; ind-ed thes nA's
never quite left them. Ia nsSs o1'
10 do that and more thar hsi; the sails
that uhitsn the Sea would ss fuElsd.
The vhsrvss Of san Francisco aud f9fs
land, and Tacoma snd Seattle So9lo
half be tensnilsss and idle "bsFs
theirs are a thousand OF idle men sooAt
there vosid be tets OF thousands iheh
The above paragraph IL from the 70
sf6e cAyis,ian Adsoesis Of Potsispa. ana
IL 10 stating it very mildly ~ say tsat u
contains az macy reckless m'sst@se
menss a. csald sell be eomprtsss is'"
40 few lins to-, inst
are utterly insxcassbIe. as q reference
10 the ucss common almanac or D 'ok
of statistics would at once have shown
their falsity. Tbs idea that more than
one half II the International commerce.
of the world depends directly or IN
directly upon China, or that ''msre than
half the sails that vhitsn the sea are
engaged In the China trade, - tbe
HIGHT of absnrdity. Ia 1852. ths latest
year for which the exact figures are OBJ
tainable, the total valus Of the imports
into China, including merchandise.
specie and bullion, vas fll6,5T2,s 4l and
the total vaIus of the exports from that
country wss sl0l ,055. 80, or altogether,
the commerce Of China in 1882 vas
s2l7 ,s2s, ITO, which instead OF being
over fifty per cent. Of the annual inter
national eommsres Of the world, IL con-
siderably lees than one per cent.
During the year 1884, the total value
OF the exports from the United
States 10 China Was sa626,57s. The
total value of the imports from that
county was els sls.76. Daring ihe
SAM period the total foreign commerce
Of The United States was; Exports,
S740,5i3.e imports, 1861 .69s !6s3. IL
win be seen, therefore, that our trade
With China forms a ridicuiously small
fraction Of our total foreign commerce.
10 10, accordingly, diihealt 10 zee boz
the cutting Oh Of shis trade would
bring about such q conditions Of affairs
that " where there are thousand idle
men today there would be tens OF
thousands then"
All the exports 10 China from Puget
Sound In 1884 might have been carried
In one large vessel. This year the
quantity IL scarcely greater. No vessel
has ever sailed from heattle direct for
China, And none have ever sailed from
Tacoma, sxceps few carrying lambsr.
As for imports, no vessel ever arrived
at Seattle direct from Chiua with car
20. and 20 far 40 We know, none ever
arrived at Tacoma. TIE trade Of Port
land With China 10 very snsll fraction
Of the total business Of that cny. 81
small, indeed, that ITS withdrawal would
scarcely be felt. This being the case, II
10 scarcely probable that the severance
Of our relations si.h China would leave
the wharves Of Portland, Tacoma and
Seattle half tenantless and Idle" Reli-
ability 10 10 be commended In any pub
Ito Journal. IL is especially TO be ecu
mcuded In religions passr. fbe Chris
iiaH Advocate should be more careful
hereafter.
The truth IL that when the British
opened China TO the world by force OF
arms. they also opened the world TO
China. AZ fret ID seemed that all the
benefits Of the arrangement we're on
ono side; there are many who have now
begun to believe that they are all on
the other.