The times., 1899-06-04
OUR TRADE WITH JAPAN.
The New Steamship Line From San
Diego, CnI.
From the Chicago Record.

pany established steamship line to Japan,
with the eastern terminus at San Diego.
There is an admirable harbor here with
plenty of water. an easy approach. and per-
feet protection. II is seldom that nature has
provided everything necessary for the ac-
commodation of commerce in such a thor
ough and complete manner. and all that
was left for the company to do was to
erect a commodious dock warehouses. and
other facilities for storing and handling
freight That has been done in a most
satisfactory manner. and cargoes can now
be sent between the wharf here and the
city of Chicago over the same railway with
only one handling.
Three steamers have already sailed from
San Diego to Japan. The first was the
Belgian King which carried 776 tons of
wire shorts from Joliet to Shanghai. 255
tons of beer from Milwaukee to Hong
kong fifty tons of -four from Los Angeles
to Hongkong, and 5,917 bales of cotton
from Galveston to Yokohama and Kobe.
The second steamer was the Carlisle
City. which had even a more interesting
cargo. consisting of 800 tons of beer from
St Louis TO Shanghai, 3S7 packages of mill
machinery from Milwaukee to Hongkong.
2.l00 barrels Of beef from Chicago TO Ma
gasaki. l,eO0 kegs of nails from Cleveland
10 Yokohama, 1910 bales of cotton from
Texas to Yokohama. 264S bales to Kobe,
of flour from San Francisco TO Hongkong.
The third cargo was sent on the Shan
tung. and consisted of 2.457 barrels of beer
from Milwaukee TO Hongkong, 1850 kegs
OF nails from Cleveland to Kobe, so boxes
of carbons from Cleveland to Hongkong.
155 barrels of beer from Milwaukee to
Shanghai, S.799 bales of cotton from San
Atomic to Kobe and CAS- bales to Koko-
hama.
The fourth steamer is expected daily,
and there is now awaiting shipment in
the warehouses at San Diego 9,151 bales
of cotton from San Antonio. 175 hogsheads
of tobacco from Louisville. IN tons of nails
from Cleveland, 1.500 barrels of beer from
Milwaukee. and 300 tons of wire from
Joliet.
This makes a total of 1922 tons of
freight delivered here for shipment to
China and Japan since January / last, and.
as will be seen, il is contributed from all
parts of the country. The other day a
train of twenty-one freight cars, loaded
with beer from the Pabst Brewery at Mil
waukee, came in over the Santa Fe road
The chief object of the steamship line,
however. is to carry -four, cotton. and iron
to Japan. and bring back tea and silk A
II. Butler, who has been the chief pro-
moter of the enterprise. has already made
contracts with the cotton manufacturers of
Japan to supply them with a certain num-
Der of bales of cotton each year for term
OF years at a price to be regulated by the
quotations on that staple in the Liverpool
market. This alone will furnish sufficient
freight for the company to make the
steamships profitable.
Another important object of the projec-
tors is to furnish a market in Japan for
the product of the Tepustet iron mine. at
San Isidro. fifty miles south of Ensenada.
in Lower California. This mine, which
produces a high grade of metal. belongs
to Gen. W. z. Webb. of San Francisco who
has offered to make contract to furnish
ten thousand tons of ore a month, and
samples are now being tested by smelling
companies Mr.. Butler expects to leave
shortly for Japan, with the reports of the
smelters, in order to complete the con-
tract with the manufacturers Of iron at
Tokyo and Osaka.
The Japanese now get their iron in Eu-
rope or from the Gulf ports of the United
States by sailing vessels. but it would be
much more convenient and profitable for
them if they could make use of the enor-
nous deposits in Lower California, which
are so situated that little expense is re-
quired in transferring the ore from the
mine TO the ship.
During the fiscal year ending June 80,
1898, We shipped, mostly from ports on
cotton.
valued at $500, 900, to Japan, and this
amount would have been largely increased
had not the transportation facilities been
disturbed by the war, and several of the
steamers engaged in the traffic chartered
by the Government for transports to Ma
Mia.
Until last year very little cotton was
shipped that way. The Japanese manu-
| facturers got most of their raw material
from Liverpool. 1t came originally from
the United States, but was transshipped at
the latter port, and a commission was
paid TO the middlemen in Great Britain
for handling it Largely through the
energy of James J. Hill, of the Great
Northern Railroad this great trade has
been built up, and he has a contract for
furnishing the Cotton Manufacturers AS
! sociation of Japan with so many bales OF
cotton annually for a term of years. He
| brings it from Memphis and other Missis-
/ sippi ports via st. Paul and the Great
| Northern Railroad to Seattle and Tacoma,
where it is loaded upon the ships OF the
| Nippon Yusen Kaisha Company, which is
subsidized and largely owned by the
| japanese Government.
II cotton can be shipped prohtably from
| the Gulf States to Japan by way of st.
Paul and Seattle, there certainly ought TO
! be greater advantages in sending it by
way of the ports of Southern California,
and that alone will justify the establish
ment of the new line from Sap Diego.
There are also a large number of other
articles OF merchandise which might be
| handled 10 advantage, and for return car
| goes the vessels expect to bring coal, as
! well as silk and tea. The mines in
/ Hokado, Japan, and in the province ol
Pechili, China, furnish an excellent quality
of coal. which can be put on shipboard at
] something like 81 ton and it would sell
( for Sc or 81 in California.
! Prince Konoye, President of the japanese
Chamber of Peers, and one Of the most
enterprising leaders of the progressive par
" in Japan is now in this country looking
into the commercial situation and studying
the transportation facilities on the Pacific
He has come to a conclusion, which is en-
/ dorsed by all the commercial authorities
and political economists OF the Mikado's
Empire, that the natural course of trade
is across the Pacific, and that the commerce
between the ports of California and Puget
Sound must absorb nearly all the exports
as well as furnish the imports, of Japan
The Japanese Parliament during its recent
session passed a law granting subsidies to
two American lines OF steamers, which are
now building several new vessels OF 000(
tons each. TO be used in that trade.
The most remarkable feature of the sit
uation is the rapid development of the
-four market in Japan. This has been pro-
NOTED by the agents of the Great Northern
Steamship Company and the millers of the
Northwest, who happened to begin theiI
crusade about the time of the failure ol
the rice crop, which cereal furnished the
principal food Of the japanese, and last
year 600,00 barrels OF -four were sent
from the Puget Sound ports alone to the
markets of Japan.
Taking advantage OF this situation. N