The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1896-05-01
THESI1lVER QUESTION

lHE silly ER QUESIlON
INVASION OF THE UNITED
STATES BY THE AslATIcs.
How They Exchange tho Products OF
Their Labor FOR Our Gold, Which They
In Turn Exci,. for Silver to Hire
Cheap Labor 10 oompete with Ours.
tBy Joseph K. Clark. Butte. Montana.)
The question that seems most to
bother the Americans in regard to the
Chinese-Japanese situation, is whether
our brothers Of the Orient are our
financial s%uperiors or not. and. as they
appear to have the best of the matter
at present. to an unprejudiced observ-
er. 1t would seem that as they know
when they have a good thing and then
make the best Of 1t. they. at least, are
the financial superiors Of those anti
quated minds that see nothing but
financial disasters in bi-metallism.
If the recent treaty between those
nations Is carried out In the spirit as
we'll es the letter, and to the adaptl-
bilftv Of the Chinese is added the In
genuity OF the Japanese. their progress
during the twentieth century would be
wonderful indeed.
Tho Chinese. since the time Of Con-
fucius. seem to have done nothing but
adhere tn ancient customs: the JaDan-
ESQ. on the other hand. are a people ct
progress. and during recent years have
made gigantic strides in all the arts
and sciences and In commerce.
The first cotton spinning factory IN
japan vas established at Kagish!ma
more than forty years ago. by Shemazu
Harihisn. the greatest feudal prince Of
modern times.
For nearly twenty years this was
the only factory OF the kind in the
country, but IN 1857 the people began
to wake up and since then 80 many
other factories have been established
that there are now $40. 1854 spindles In
operation. which. taken with those
P4oSCsS Vi OuS ASSAoA va
make the total number Of splndles
nearly one million.
One Of the articles in the Japanese
Chinese treaty that will be most i'm
portant to ths development Of the
Chinese, and important to the world of
commerce reads as follows:
Japanese subjects shall be free to
an mn M IN oil 1.(olo 80 oox.>fn oA%,r{ -
industries in all the open cities, towns
and ports Of China, and shall be at
liberty to import into China all kinds
Of machinery, paying only the stiDu-
lated import duties thereon"
At first. with but a casual thought.
1t would seeaa that this article opens
up before Americans visions Of great
prosperity; that soca The United States
would soon wrest from England the
supremacy in the oriental trade.
All this would happen and more. II
advantage were taken OF the treaty
(for tho Japanese look upon us as
their best friends). and II we were not
brought into direct labor competition
with them.
While we may DO slightly benefited
Tor the time. as It Is. still. they are
rivals to be feared. not despised or
looked down upon. and the treaty vir-
tual)y makes China and Japan one ma
ton. with a population OF 500, O00, 900
For labor they pay about II cents
per day in gold to men and II cents
to women.
They are the greatest imttators In
the world. and as they have no patent
laws BY which foreigners may be pro-
tected, they seize upon every useful
patent and with their cheap labor turn
out products for q net cost that would
make Americans open their eyes wide
In establishment.
A recent article in the Inventive
Age has the following paragraph:
"One Of the subjects for our states
1lthe near future will be: How
best We protect the American man
and the American laborers
from the initiative genius, piracy and
cheap labor OF Japan. not alone in cot
ton and cotton gooGs, but in the man
ufacture OF everything the arts pro-
duce."
Thir:y-Nve years ago the Japanese
might have been classed as barbara
ans, and they were divided into many
factions. They had a civil war and
the victorious party proclaimed the
present reigulng sovereign "mikado OF
the Japanese empire" He was but
years OF age, but had been
educated in tho United States and had
acquired many American ways and