The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-06
Oriental Competition in Trade.

Baron Won RICHTHoFEN Is doubtless accu-
rate in his recent assertion that "China Is
by far the greatest storehouse OF cheap,
intelligent labor in tho world" New condi-
lions are arising, however, and there is no
probability that either China or Japan, in
the course Of their industrial development,
will be able to maintain their present
cheap standard Of living and low scale
OF wages. Already, both wages and the
cost of food in southern Japan, and
particularly at Osaka, the leading man.
ufacturing city, show a decided upward
tendency. Japan, only a little larger than
Great Britain and Ireland. surpasses the
United Kingdom In population by over
1000, 900. Her food requirements already
exceed her productive capacity, and the
country is becoming more and more de-
pendent upon the importation OF provisions.
Her imports Of wheat n flour are In
creasing rapidly, and the people. no longer
willing to live almost exclusively on rice
and fish, are becoming meat eaters. The
well-known dictum that when once a jap
anese acquires a taste for Western food he
cannot do without it is being verified among
the millions Of people in southern Japan.
Nv hNttGoiLs " i'oA D. Wv III
creases the cost OF living and raises the
price OF labor. This is now the unmistakable
tendency in Japan, and 1t will be accen-
tuated as labor is diverted more and more
from agriculture to industrial pursuits
and 1t Is safe to predict that this tendency
will be even more strongly marked In
China when, under Western leadership, she
begins the systematic development of her
uneaualled resources for manufacturing.
That densely peopled land is practically
living up to the limit of its capacity for
food production. BY a system OF I'M
equalled garden tillage the soil Is
kept highly productive, but all the
food products that are sent abroad
are scarcely worth recording. The export
OF rice, the main food staple, is forbidden
by law and a drought in one OF the north
ern provinces, which are liable to INSULT
Client rainfall, inevitably results in famine.
China is destined to become one of the great
est Of food importers, with consequent in
crease in the cost of living and labor.
In Japan this increased cost is already
great, though her mining and manufacture
ing centres are near the sea, and food may
therefore be imported at cheap rates.
China cannot share in this advantage.
Nature has marked out the great CEN
tire Of her future industrial activity.
j. Is far in the interior in a poor
IN mountainous country, difficult of
20 .'ss. There is little doubt that the
greatest coal and iron region in the world is
IN the province Of Shansi, where an area
two and a half times as large as New Jer-
eey Is filled with the best quality OF
anthracite in seams from fifteen to forty
feet thick, with vast bituminous coal fields
further west In the same province. and iron
ore In great abundance throughout the
anthracite district. In this sterile noun
tain land OF enormous mineral resources
are the richest industrial opportunities
In China; but the vast labor required
for development must be maintained wholly
on GOD supplies drawn from without, and
by making heavy drafts upon other lands,
particularly upon the United States. Her
manufactures will be increased in cost pro-
portionately by the higher cost OF living.
Another element Of even greater mo-
ment than the cost Of labor will enter into
the question Of the ability of the Orient to
compete with the Occidcnt in supplying
commodities to the worlds markets. This
eme Is technical training and skill in the
use OF machinery. In Osaka is a watch fac
tory, conducted at first under American SUI
perintendence, but now managed by natives
trained In Switzerland and employing only
native artisans. These workmen receive
about one-fourth Of the wages OF an Amer
lean matchmaker. A recent number OF
the Japan Times says that, owing TO the
inferior skill and the slowncss Of native
labor, tho product costs as much as
or more than American watches of the
same grade, The labor-saving ma
chinery We have invented and the high
training OF our artisans give us a produc-
tive capacity more than equal to that of
China's Industrious people, though they
outnumbcr US five to one. Machinery and
skill enable us 20 compete to-day in many
lines Of production with European manu-
facturers. who pay not more than half our