St. Paul daily globe., 1895-06-02

,noI,a come of the best machinery of
tho world and one of their chief ar
ttcles of export is machinery. On the
above lines such development as oc-
crrs in China will be largely through
Europe and America. The other con-
cessions demanded of China were also
fully as valuable for the United States
and Europe as for Japan. Take the
deeDeninG of the river which leads to
Shanghai. The ships of all the world
will sail up that river, and the opening
of the new ports will give the whole
world access to vast cities and to mill
ions of people, The new territory
opened to trade by this treaty is one
of the richest of the Chinese empire.
1t comprises a number of cities and
towns. It contains, it is said, a popu-
lation of nearly 200 000j,GC0, and a vast
trade ought to be developed from 1t.
The Yangtse Kiang is opened up to
Chun-king and foreigners will be able
to go farther into China than they
ever have before"
s'Teu me something about our new
treaty with Japan. Does it give the
Americans many more advantages than
they now have2'
Eyes. indeed" replied the minister.
"Bv if citizerg5 Of the United States can
go to any part of japan and engage In
business. They can establish manu-
factures and trade directly with the
people. Heretofore they have been con-
fined to the open ports, and the most
of their business had to bedone through
the Japaneses government. They can
now lease property, and from now on
Japan will be open to American manu-
factureS.
AMERICAN CAPITAL.
'Is Japan a good field for the invest
ment of American capital"
."In some respects, think, yes. Fac
tories could be built by foreigners in
Japan to use Japanese labor to make
articles for export to America. Ihe
Japanese buy great deal of machln-
cry, and more American machinery
should be shipped to Japan. What the
United States needs to do business
with us is lower freight rates. As it
is, we use millions OF dollars worth
of your cotton every year. Our cotton
mills are RAPIDLY increasing, and our
consumption of American cotton will
increase, as it is Of a special kind, and
we need il to mix with the cheaper
cottons which we get from China and
India. Al present however, it comes
to us via Liverpool. If the Pacific lines
would make special rates it could be
Shipped by San Francisco. If the Mic
aragua canal is opened the United
States will probably ship direct through
it. l am surprised that Americans do
not study the Japanese market. The
people here are so rich and they have
such d vast trade among themselves
that they have not yet begun to con-
slider the trade outside of their own
boundaries. In order to do business
with the japanese your merchants and
factories must study the Japanese peo-
pie and their wants, and when they do
that they will probably supply them
with many other things than machin-
cry
JAPANESE AS MACHINISTS.
''Can the japanese use machinery
equally well with the people of the
United States"
yes" was the reply. ''The Jap
enese are a nation of mechanics. They
take naturally to machinery, and use
it gladly All over Japan foreign la
bor-saving inventions are creeping in.
Silk is now reeled and woven by ma
chinery. We make our own railroad
cars, and we have made some loco
motives. Nearly all the arms and mu-
nitions of war which were used during
the recent campaigns with China were
made in Japan and we are almost
doubling our cotton machinery every
Year"
ASIATIC LABOR.
..What do you think of the future of
the Asiatic labor market in competition
with ours? Can we successfully com
pete with you?" a
t'On our own ground perhaps not" !"
was the reply. But L see nothing to
alarm the American laborer in the
possibilities Of the future. You have
been competing here for years with the
cheapest labor of Europe. You have
had the Belgians and the Germans to
fight, and you have conquered again
and again. The Americans are people
Of wonderful inventive brains. No
matter how cheap the labor of the rest
of the world in any line of work, the
American gets up a machine which Will
do it cheaper, and you have such vast
aggregationS of capital that you can
organize undertakings on scale which
is practically beyond competition
Take your great iron works. Take the
Carnegie works, for instance. They
buy in such vast quantities that they
ran cut all expenses outside those Of
labor to the minimum. [ believe the
Americans will always hold their own.
They cannot work so cheaply nor live
so cheaply as We do, but they can turn
out a greater product. Another thing
is that there is bound to be great de-
mand from Asia for American raw
materials. Cotton is one of these, and
lumber is another AS to machinery,
doubt whether we will ever be a
great machinery nation. We have
plenty of coal, and We ship vast guam
titles of it to China and India. We
have not yet, however, discovered
large enough deposits of iron to make
us hope that we. will manufacture
much machinery. The iron we have is
of a very fine quality. but so far it has
not been discovered in large quanti-
ties IT may be that we will find mines
In Yezo.'
JAPANESE AS INVENTORS.
Speaking of invention, Mr.. Kurino,
1t is often said that the Japanese are
mere copyists, that they never invent
nor improve anything, but merely
copy. Is this sO?''
mo, it is not The Japanese are to
a certain extent creative. The sun
which is used by their soldiers today
was the invention of a Japanese. 1t
is true that they can copy and initiate
anything, but they are by no means
slavish inlitators. They take the hest
of modern inventions and combine
them, and they form new products.
You must remember that they knew
nothing of this civilization which they
have now adopted a generation ago.
What you have been building up for
centuries is all new to them. After
they thoroughly understand it and
your wants, you may then look out for
such inventions as will supply them.
The Japanese are a people of ideas
and they are always ready to adapt
to their own wants what they find
good in others"
What about the future civilization
of Japan? Will it be purely Occi-
dental?"
''NO I think NOT II will ha n oo,,,