The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-11-21

now the rivers are covered with small
| steamers and steam launches. Tee
graph lines run through the most anti
! foreign provinces. In 1890 a high ma
/ tive official, who had tried to estab-
lish telegraph in Human province,
was obliged 10 flee for his life, all of
the apparatus and material being de-
| stroyed. Today this province is eager
| ly pushing forward enterprises of all
sorts; schools for teaching English are
found LOCO miles from the coast, the
electric light is used, bicycles are COM
| mon, and the foreigner is no longer
1 stoned or reviled.
AMERICAN PRODUCTS WANTED.
There is q market in China for many
millions of bushels of American wheat
and corn annually. The rich Chinese
prefer wheat and wheat flour from the
| United States to all other brands.
| Clocks, watches and lamps from the
| United States, and likewise our axes,
are at the top Of the market. Scat
tered all over the empire, in Chinese
! employ, are Yankee engineers, mining
! experts and high grade steel workers.
Indeed, American influence in al
i branches Of business is felt today in
/ China as it never was before. In 1890
: China sold to the United States $6,000,-
/ 900 worth Of products more than she
/ bought from this country; six years
later her imports from America had
trebled, the balance Of trade in favor
of the United States being half a mill
lion gold dollars per annum. From
this statement it will appear that we
are already getting a grip on the trade
of China. And, by the way, a Phila-
delphia firm has furnished the 1ocomo-
tives for the Tien- Tsin-Peking railroad
now in process of completion.
Already we are sending enormous
/ quantities of flour and kerosene to
China. The Cinnamon have a way of
refilling the empty American oil cans
/ With wretched quality of stuff from
Russia or Sumatra, and this does the
! trade damage. 1t is recommended by
/ the state department that the oil pro-
ducers in this country should take
measures to prevent this. They might
establish at profit oil depots in China
at points suitable for distribution, and
it would be a good idea TO give to each
considerable purchaser a cheap, non
combustible lamp. Many fires are
caused in Chinese cities by defective
! lamps. 1t ought to be mentioned in
cidentaliy that experts in this coun-
try Go themselves much injury by
! sending low-grade wines and "rotgut"
whisky TO China. A Chinaman knows
what good whisky is, and the same
I6DEdTk apples TO wines.
In one respect the United States
holds a unique position in the view Of
those Chinese officers and people who
know anything Of the vast outside
world. More or less in dread Of all the
! Europcrn powers. they fear nothing
: from us. We are known to be rich and
! peaceful, and nothing we have done
excites suspicion in the Chinese mind.
/ we are regarded as friends, and in
! so far as that is concerned, what we
! have to offer will be welcomed. But,
! as to commercial methods in the Ori-
! ent, American merchants have a good
/ deal to learn. For one thing, they
/ ought to send agents with samples and
! not mere illustrated lists of goods and
prices.
MANY ISLANDS TO SUPPLY.
All over the immense oceanic area
/ called Polynesia there are markets
( for American goods. It is not a ques-
4 tion merely of the Philippines, but of
"a hundred other groups of islands. Sa-
moa is a promising field. and so like
wise the Fill The trade Of the Fiji to-
day is second in the Pacific only to
that of the Hawaiian islands. Immense
quantities of kerosene are used in Poly
nesia, and all of it comes from this
country. Other articles imported large
ly from the United States into the scat
tered lands of Oceanica are flour, can
ned and dried fruits, UInned fish, lob
sters and oysters. American textile
fabrics, on the other hand, are practi-
cally unknown in that part of the
world
There is a great American opportuni-
ty in Siam, which is a much bigger
country than most folks realize InTger
than Japan, it is the third independent
kingdom Of Asia, having 100000 in
habitants, with an area about equal to
that of Texas. The city of Bangkok
lns a population of 100000. However,
the market is peculiar, demanding
cheap things. without much regard for
quality. Clothing must be of bright
colors. and novelties of any kind are
salable. Flour, canned goods, watches,
clocks, sewing machines and electrical
machinery are already largely import
ed from America
One suggestion offered is that one or
more vessels might be equipped as
floating exhibitions and sent to visit
various ports in China and elsewhere
3 in the Orient, in order to show the ma
tlves samples of the various manufac-
lures of the United States. This would
be convenient and comparatively
cheap method of bringing American
products before the expected consum-
ers. Every available scheme pointing
TO this end is we'll worth considering.
inasmuch as this country IS to be no
! longer a hermit nation" but has def
nitely decided upon an entrance into
rivalry with European powers for the
49, L..