The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-12-17
STUDYING FOREIGN MARKETS.

STUDYING FOREIGN MARKETS.
Senator McCumber, Of North Dakota,
has introduced measure in the United
States senate authorizing the president
to appoint two commissions of five men,
bers each to Investigate commercial and
Industrial conditions in China and
Japan. The bill proposes that these
commissions shall inquire into the best
methods Of preparing and packing goods
for shipment and the demands of the
trade in those countries with the object
Of informing American shippers and
manufacturers on these matters. The
inquiry is also to include the dietary
conditions and customs of the people in
those countries and the feasibility of in
PRODUCING American food stuffs.
This is a step In the right direction, and
the reports Of such commissions would
prove of great value to the merchants,
shippers and manufacturers Of the
United States. If the members Of such
commissions are thoroughly practical
men-and no doubt the greatest care will
be shown in their selection-their work
would furnish clear view Of the gen.
eral requirements and possibilities Of the.
markets investigated. 1t will then rest
upon the individual or collective enter
prise of American merchants, manu-
facturers and shippers to work out their
own salvation and by personal and prac-
teal training in the field to master those
little details, each of his own trade, so
essential to sue cess, and the thorough
ference between profit and loss.
Much educational work would have to
be done also, and in the Chinese market
Western innovations would at first meet
with a stolid conservatism which only
persistence and tactful energy will over
come.
At the outset successful trade In such
a market as the Chinese would neces-
sarily be conducted ,on lines adapted to
the existing tastes, wants and prejudices
Of the people Education would follow,
and the market could be developed grad
ually as Western ideas extended and the
wants of the people were influenced
thereby. AS it exists today the Chinese
market might not meet the expectations
of the Americanomiller in the matter of
consumption of wheat flour, for the rea-
son of its large cost compared with Chi
nese-grown rice, the staple food of the
bulk of the Chinese population; and other
foodstuffs raised in this country would
probably suffer a similar handicap at
first The great mass of the Chinese
are too poor to indulge in American
cheese or butter, though they might be
able to purchase corn and corn prepara-
lions to limited extent. The market in
the demands of the European residents,
the weather. Chinese who have acquired
Western tastes and for the supply of YES
sells engaged in the Asiatic trade. The
number of European residents is rapidly
increasing, and the completion of the nu-
merous lines of railroad now under con-
struction will do more to thaw the con-
servatism and dissipate the ignorance of
the Chinaman Of the interior within the
next ten years than, the efforts of the
past fifty years. Railroad construction
will serve to introduce to a large part of
the Celestial empire American wheat
flour. packed mAats1 and the thousand
wants created and n1inistered to by the
The poverty, ignqgance and prejudice
of the people wealdf hinder the rapid In
PRODUCTION of agricultural machinery and