The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-07-31
Will Be Shoemaker and Cloth
Ter of the World.
PREDICTION OF PROF. J " M'GEE
Fifty Years from Now Her Immense Do
aud Her Vast Deposits Of Coal and Iron
viii BE Yielding Wealth 10 the World
Manufacturing CsuHIry-Her Inventions.

Fifty years from now China will be a
great manufacturing country" said Prof.
W J MCGEE, Of the Bureau Of EthnOl0gy.
Her present territory viii be g di-Onad
with railroads: her deposits of coal which
are said to be vast. will be contributing
millions Of tons per annum TO the fuel
supply Of the world, and the products of
her iron mines will govern market prices
in such commodities. She will build ma
cnine shops and ships. and IN Ttain lines
OF industrial activity, where handWOrk
Is indispensable, she will be pre-eminent.
II seems to me not at all unlikely that
China may be the shoemaker and clOtnieT
OF the world half century hence
There is not anything the Chinese can
not do if they are told how TO do H. Left
to themselves they would have no indus
trial future. The Chinese brain is not Up
to an appreciation of Industrial progress;
II does not know how 10 take hold Of in
dustrial problems To-day the empire is
an immense aggregation of stored energy
waiting 10 be utilized. During past ages
it has been developing a vast population
which is capable of doing one-fOurth of
the manual labor % the world. Add q
this population one-tenth of ! per cent OF
will soon find themselves in the front
rank of progressive nations. They have
the physical ability and sufficient intel
ligence to do what they are told. besides
which they are remarkably capable of
Industrial organiza ton. They can initiate
any process and reproduce any product
All they need is proper instruction, the
requisite control, and d little time
Inventors at Nnuy Arts.
The Chinese consider themselves our SUI
periorS on many grounds. but largely be-
cause they were the inventors of variOuS
arts which are fundamental in our own
civilization. They were the first disCOv-
erers of ink, though even at the present
day they employ by preference what is
commonly known as India ink, which Is a
solid substance composed mainly of lamp
black and gum rubbed in a saucer to
make the requisite solution In p ace OF q
pen, they utilize the camel s-h3ir brush,
which is much better adapted for produc-
ing IN ir curious hierOgl phics
Paper was first manufactured by the
Chinese of the first century A. y. Up to
that time they wrote on thin slips of BAN
boo. the instrument employed being not
a pen or brush, but a pointed tool. TIE
books Of those ancient days were made
by cutting the bamboo, after removing
the bark. into thin sheets. which were
strung together so as to compose fairly
compact though clumsy volume.
Later on il was found better to pound the
bamboo to a paste in a mortar together
with water. anGthC resulting substance was
spread upon a fiat surface To- dry. IIIS.
i'm fact, was the first paper in the modern
acctutatiOn of the term. though the Egyp-
tian papyrUs. made from Kind Of reed
that grew along the banks OF the Nile.
anteIated il by several centuries. Alter
a while the Manufacture OF TINS paper
WAS improved by adding 10 1t silk and
other materials. The TartarS hor"ONfd
The art. substituting cotton, which was
plentiful IN their country, and from them
the Arabs acquired it. using linen instead
OF cotton Ii was in this way that paper
making was first brought into Europe,
being introduced by the Arabs.
About the year ,J0 A. -. printing was
invented in Chna-nearly 20 years, that
is TO say before the art was known ~
Europe. The first step was the engraving
of characters on stone, the marks being
transferred to the paper In White on a
black ground. Then came wooden blocks
with raised letters. which aye employed
even at the present day in emma. being
preferred TO movable types, lnJSiauth as
about y $50 characters are recognized Is
in good usage among people in that codn-
try The Chinese We're reading people
many centuries befCTe books were com
monty known and read by the lower
classes in Europe.
So late as the third century in China
cotton was known only as the producer OF
rare and curious plant in the gardens
of the great At that period tea had not
begun to be cultivated in that country.
and so late as 1909 A. d. il was not an
item Of export thor gh largely used by
the natives. As viii be remembered. this
herb was unknown in England 80 years
ago