The Saint Paul globe., 1898-01-30

afraid of him. They are afraid Of
what he might do in Peking, and also
afraid of what he might do in foreign
countries"
What did Ii Hung Chang say about
the United States. senator?" / asked
He showed an intimate knowledge
of our political conditions" was the
reply. HE spoke of President McKin-
ley's formerly we'll known devotion TO
bimetallisn, as evidenced by his votes
in the house of representatives, and
asked US to carry message from him
to the president smiling as he said:
You may tell him that | feel l have
a right to send him a message as an
equal, becau il China were repub-
lie and her people elected a president
[ would be the president Of China The
following is Ii Hung Chang's message
to the president:
Your excelenCy having attained
the summit of human ambition by the
silence which is golden, / trust that
you will now feel free 10 serve your
people by the speech which is silver ;"
1T was not a bad message, was it?"
SILVER QUESTION IN CHINA.
Il wonder, senator, whether your 60
ing to China has changed your opinion
on the silver question:
NO; it has not" replied Senator Can
non. My visit there has only broad
ened the views which | held before.
L believe more than ever that the peo-
pie of the United States are menaced
from all quarters of the world and that
unless we guard our own we shall per-
ish. l think that the first solution of
international difficulty for the Ameri-
can people and the first solution of our
internal difficulties which are more
important than those abroad, is the
restoration of money justice to the
American people. China will gain a
great deal by keeping the silver stand
ard. She Will have 100 per cent advan-
tage over the rest of the producing
world by so doing. AS far as l could
learn, it is the present intention of the
Chinese statesmen to maintain the sill
Yer standard. BY this standard China
now gets 100 per cent bounty on every
thing she exports, and a protection of
100 per cent on everything she imports.
With the low wages and the industri-
Gus character of the people. we can
never compete With the manufacturing
Chinese under such conditions. You
may raise q protective tariff wall high
er than tie Washington monument
about the United States. but the Chi
nese, with modern machinery. can
make things so cheaply that she can
pay your duties and underSell YOU
tell you that this is one of the greatest
dangers our country has to face
THE Division OF CHINA.
What do England. France and Rus
sia want of China?''
They want place to dump their
goods. They have an idea that the
Chinese will be great consumers, and
their desires are commercial rather
than territorial. I believe they will be
disappointed. The Chinese will be
great producers, but it will be a long
time before they will be great consum-
ers. They can live on almost nothing.
l visited mills in China where the work
men were paid twenty cents a dav in
silver. This sufficed to support their
families. [ saw men making boilers
doing work for which is paid from So
to 80 per day in our country who were
getting S25 cents in our money there
They did as good work as our boiler
makers, too. Farm laborers get less
than 10 cents day. They don't know
what luxury is, and they are economi-
cal in the extreme"
But will they not be changed, sena-
tor, by the foreigners coming in"
Il think not China will always be
China. no matter who the rulers are
1 don't believe they care much who
rule them. They think that they are
the greatest people in the world, and
although they have been subjugated
again and again. they have gone on in
their Old ways and made their conquer
ors adopt their customs. China makes
me think of a sponge lying on the sea-
shore of time.
'The tidal waves of revolution sweep
over It, but when they go back they