The morning call., 1892-11-23
A BROKERS' VIEWS.
lie Is Amazed at the Decrease of I'm
ports From China

ports From China.
William Ireland. merchandise broker, 121
California street. was asked as to the prob
able number OF Chinese merchants who
had recently gone out of business.
MIR. ireland, il may be observed, does
almost all the brokerage business for the
Chinese wholesale merchants in this city.
he said he had not given the matter
much thought. but would make an investi-
CATION aud give the result in day or so.
He was seen yesterday afternoon. and
said:
People have no conception Of the way in
which the business done by Chinese mer-
chants has been falling away.
Il did not have as much time to-day as /
would have liked to investigate the matter.
but from what have been able to do i con-
fess that the result has amazed me.
1.-The fact that we do a large brokerage
business outside of the Chinese has pre-
vented this particular point from being
forced too prominently upon my attention.
81 have no hesitation in saying that more
than one-third OF the business houses, both
wholesale and retail, have gone out of bust
ness in this city within the past five years.
Aud / know 1t is even worse than that in
the interior of the State.
ION Sacramento and Commercial streets
about one-third of the wholesale houses
have retired from business, and on Dupont
about half.
How do / account for ito 1t is easily
accounted for. The legislation against the
Chinese is driving them not only out OF
business but out Of the country. Business
men have no hopeful future to look forward
to, and the present has knocked all push
and energy out of them.
Il was perfectly astounded at the i'm
mense decrease in the volume of imports
IRON China. 1t has been getting worse and
worse every year, and i am safe in saying
the imports are now two-thirds less than
four or five years ago. both by wholesalers
and retailers. 1t will very soon dwindle
down 10 nothing at all If il goes on decreas-
ing at the same ratio as IL has been lately.
Take the one article of rice. An im-
mense trade was done IN this imported
article. So great was the demand for it
that there were never less than 200, 600 mats
kept in stock. Now that quantity has been
reduced more than half.
II can speak with authority on this point.
as what does not pass through my hands is
not worth mentioning.
THE rice comes to the Chinese wholesale
merchants in the first instance. then what
they do not want for their own customers
In Chinatown and the interior they place in
my hands TO be disposed of to the jobbers.
II am unable to say from memory the
quantity and value of imports of this one
article annually. but it must have been i'm
mense. as San Francisco was the distrbu-
ting point for supplying all the Western
States.
You can understand that through this
one article considerable amount OF money
was put in circulation ana business gener-
ally reaped the benefit. But with the large
deportation that has been going on increas-
ingy year by year for the past five years
the consumption has declined to a corre-
spending degree. as the consumption among
the American people has always been CON-
paratively Insignificant.
Il have not the slightest doubt that be-
tween now and the Chinese New Year many
more firms will have gone out of business
in Chinatown and throughout the State.
"Of course the Geary bill has had the
effect Of driving the Chinese Iaborers out of
the country. When they clear out the
trade OF the Chinese retailer and wholesaler
must take corresponding fall.
81 should say that the Chinese population
has been decreasing for the past i've years
that is, that for one that arrives four or
five have taken their departure, and from
the unusually large number that went on
the recent trip of the Gaelic the proportion
vii! be very much larger.
II must confess that my dealings with
Chinese merchants have always been of the
most cordial and satisfactory nature. /
have Invariably found them prompt in the
payment OF their bills and always ready and
anxious TO fulfill all their obligations.
Yes. / know that Portland has got some
OF the business that used to be done here rs
some OF the houses in China prefer to ship
there direct as there ale better transporia-
ton facilities, but 1t does not amount to
mnch.
Perhaps it may not be out Of place for
me to say that in other respects Portland
is being built up at the expense of San
Francisco. Why. If We had the competing
railways here that Portland has San Fran
cisco would very soon double its Size"