Arizona republican., 1899-05-09
Oriental Darkness Being Pene-
 trated by Western Light.
COMMERCIAL CHINA IN 1899
Recent Statement Relative 10 The Enq- fish Russian Agreement With Respect 10 Trade in Certain parfS of inc Celestial Kingdom. important EdiCfS Removing inc Barrier Of Ages.

Washington, May S.-(Special)- Recent statements indicating all agreement between the English and Russian governments touching their future course with reference to the trade\of certain sections of China lends interest to a publication just issued by the treasury bureau of sta tistics entitled, Commercial China in 1S99." This document, as its name indicates, presents a careful survey of present commercial conditions in China, showing location of railway ed to the commerce of the world, the treaty ports which are the commer- cial dOorways to China steamship and cable lines. and the imports and exports in detail duling the past guar ter of century, showing the growth of demand for each of the important articles, the principal countries from which they have been dr-wn, and the growth ot the commerce between China and the United States, and es- pecially the sales by the people of the United States to those of China.
 A part of this publica:ron which dis cusses the commerce of the Yangtze Kiang ard West River vallies Is of especial interest at this moment be- cause Of the recently published as- sertion that an agreement has been made between the British and Russian governments by wttch the latter con- fines it's commercial ambitions for the present at least to northern China. The valleys oft the Yangtze Kiang and West rivers. which occupy central and southern China, are shown by this re- port to be the great commercial sec tion of the empire. Not only so, but their importance has been greatly in creased by recent events. One of these events is an agreement by the Chinese government that no section of the Yangtze valley shall be '|alienated" to any foreign government So far as le- lates to trade privileges, while an other of equal importance is the open ing of the West river to the commerce of all nations free from any ''aliena- ton" or special privileges to any. That the Yangtze and West River val leys are by far the most important part of China from a commel cial is quite apparent. Two thirds of the foreign commerce Of China passes through Shanghai, lo- cated at the mouth of the Yangtze. which is thel Mississippi river Of China extending westwardly from the Pacific to the extreme boundary of the enpire proper and penetrating a fer tile, productive and densely populated area Next in importance to Shanghai from a commercial standpoint ara Canton and the British possession of Hong Kong. which lies adjacent. hoth ,f them being practically at the mouth of West river, which IS also an important waterway and 'oute of commerce to the interior.
 A recent eGtct lby the Chinese gov adds very greatly to the tln- ,ortauce cf these two rivers. This ,dict permits foreign steam vessels to ,ly upon the navigable water of prac- ;cally all inland streams, this privl-
 
 -essels which may go to the very lead of navigation in all treaty port provinces. Another edict recently ssued permits foreigners to visit all ,arts of the empire for business and rade purposes.
 The importance of these three agree aents by which the commerce Of the
 
 nain open to all nations desiring to for it; second, by which Tor. ign steam vessels may penetrate for uEiness purposes to the very head Of .avigation upon these and other treams, carrying with them foreign IS for pleasure or business purpoaes, oppled with the furter fact that fUr- ign manufacturers and the machin. " which manufactures them are lore freely admitted than formerly, an scarcely be overrated.
 Commenting upon the rapid deyel- pnent of events in China. the publi- ation of the bureau of statistics says: ''The more rapid development of le privileges of foreigners in China nd of the introduction of modern methods dates from the 'eaty of Shimoneseki, made between tina and Japan in 1895, at the close the war between those nations, and ,llowed by a commercial treaty in |96 The important features of these eaties were that they opened the aters of the principal rivers und
 oCo,+;puad or Eiob+b pooal