The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-12-25

there has long been strong agitation in
favor of starting steel foundry in the
country.
Iron is forthcoming in sufficient guam
titles, but the deposits have scarcely begun
to be exploited, and Japanese experts
shrink from an undertaking of such mag
nitude and costliness as the establishment
OF steel factory, their experience not be-
ing yet sufficient to warrant the effort.
Hence the idea of utilizing the aid OF a
great British firm to organize and carry
on the enterprise in Japan for fixed term
of years.
An attempt to open coal mines in the
Oh unan district of Chekiang province in
China has been temporarily defeated by
an outcry about the sterotyped fengshui,
superstition that blocks the path of all
progress in the Middle Kingdom.
The survey of the proposed line OF rail-
way between Shanghai and Soochow has
been actually commenced. Perhaps the
era of railways is at length about to dawn
on China
The Rev. G. John, having just returned
from nineteen DAYS trip in Tienmen
and Kingsban, in China, reports that he
found the people everywhere thoroughly
friendly. To repeated inquiries as to
whether any objection existed to the open
ing OF chapels and the residence Of Chris
tian propagandists, the invariable answer
was that the doctrine preached being
good, no objection could possibly ex-
ist. Messrs. John and Bonsey iectured
to thousands, had to deal with immense
crowds OF people that had never seen for
eigner BEFORE" and baptised 101 persons,
yet they never experienced the smallest
rudeness or obstruction anywhere. They
attribute the peoples amicable demeanor
entirely to the absence of any anti-foreign
attitude on the part of officials or literati,
and they place on record the conclusion
that whenever and wherever foreigners
have trouble in China it may be taken for
granted that the officials or gentry, or both,
are at the bottom of it."
The negotiation of the new commercial
treaty between China and Japan is pro-
ceeding very slowly. The Chinese pleni-
potentiary has proposed treaty OF Also
lutte equality, quietly ignoring the fact
that under the sixth article OF the Simon
oseki treaty China has pledged herself TO
take as basis ''the treaties, conventions
and regulations now subsisting between
China and European powers" 1t matters
little to Japan what distractions or delays
are created in Picking. for the Shfmonoseki
treaty secures to her people most-favored-
nation treatment in all respects pending
the conclusion of the new treaty.
1t is now definitely settled that Herr
Won Brandt, formerly German representa-
tive in Picking, is to discharge the duties
of commercial EN- bassador on his return
to China-not an official appointment, but
a commission from German merchants
and manufacturers. The idea of the Ger
mans is said to be not merely to take adj
vantage of the needs that China must
feel in the sequel to the late war,
but also to cultivate and develop
her progressive desire to manufacture
her own raw material and TO be
self-supplying in the matter of warlike
apparatus. Herr von Brandt has hitherto
posed as an uncompromising foe to Japan's
expansion, on the ground that her manu-
featuring capacities would make her a
keen competitor with the West in the mar
kets OF the world. He now offers proof of
his sincerity and consistenee by coming
out to assist China in developing the very
capacities that be denounced as serious
menace to the Occident in Japan's case.
1t seems pretty certain that the Moham-
medan rebellion is petering out. The fol-
lowers of Islam are fighting among them
selves, and the imperial forces have COM
menced the terrible role of determination
that always forms the concluding page of
such chapters in Chinese history. The
n L ~
instruction that threatened at one time
to overtax the resources of the Manchu
dynasty.