The Saint Paul globe., 1900-06-24

come commercially the mistress of these
waters. the vast prepOnderance of her
$50. 0G0 Of exchange of trade with China
now finding its way to and coming from
Russo-Chinese territory, where the build
ing Of railroads and planting of peasant
colonies from beyond the Urals has, with
in a few years, more than quadrupled the
demand for our commodities. The jeal-
Ousy Of every European nation has been
aroused against US, our commerce with
China having risen within the last dec
ade from 2.50 per cent of the total to 10
per cent Of the 330O0O,00O worth of Chi
nese exports and imports, almost equaling
that of England, and ahead of any other
nation. This gain has been at the eX-
penSe Of our competitors, among whom
the fight is now on for the control of the
trade of this most populous and wealthy
nation Of the world, possessing, as it
does, one-fourth Of the population and
one-tweIfth of the habitable surface Of
our globe. 1t needs but a slight excuse
for the nations to assure each other that
the time has come when they must agree
among themselves upon final disposition
Of China; whether it shall be divided into
spheres of influence, in which each So
called civilized nations shall have
EXCLUSIVE RIGHTS TO TRADE
and pIunder, or its integrity maintained
by international agreement, with an open
door to all and special privileges to none.
America IS the one nation above all 9th
erS to whom the maintenance of an "Open
door is most vital; it guarantees to her
supremacy on the Pacific, and in the far
East il is known as the American pol
icy" its active promugation having mark
ed our decisive entrance into Chinese pol
itics.
Fortunately our Providential acquisition
footing of equality in Asia with the other
powers. and as Japan's war for the op-
pressed Koreans worked her salvation, 50
our fiETt for Cuba has had far-reaching
beneficial results; while Britains conquest
of the African republics has worked only
to her detTiment and to our advantage,
her warships in the far East being needed
elsewhere. leaving America, at a most
critical juncture, the predominant ma
val power i'm the Pacific
While in Port Arthur during the sum-
mer of 1899 I wondered at the vast mill
tary camps spread beyond the powerful
Gibraltar I did not then understand why
20, ,N6 Russian soldiers were always kept
in an enclmpment about the fortress, lit
tie suspecting that before another year
would elapse the very officers with whom
I chatted in English and broken Russian
would lead their men en- toward Pekin,
protected. perhaps, by the American
men-Of-war I had seen celebrating the
Fourth Of July in the japanese port,
where forty years before Commodore
Perry had opened the NIikado's kingdom
to the commerce of The world, the date
Of which opening Is now celebrated as
japanese holiday.
Pekin is less than 300 miles from Port
Arthur Scores of transports and Rus
sian warships are always to be seen ho-
vering about the latter port, while at
Tien-tsin. the outpost of the Chinese
capital, the Russian flag is the most
common. and the commerce of the port
is passing into the hands of Russians
and Americans; the cZar's great Trans
asian railroad alone chartering six
ocean steamers TO bring lumber from
Oregon to this port, while shiploads of
machinery from New York and our Pa
cihc cities are constantly arriving at the
Russianized cities of the Pechii gulf. to
say nothing of some $6,000,O00 worth of
our -four that now goes into this sec
ton TO feed Russian troops. and is be-
ing introduced through them to the Chi
nese.
Since the prosperity of Manchuria,
brought about by the building of the
Russian railway, has begun, our exports
of cotton goods have increased.
BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS,
until now one third of our entire exports
of this fabric find their way into Man
churia and Northern Asia. When it is
understood that the success Of the BOX
@ys." whose avowed object is to drive all
foreigners out of China and once more
shut its doors to their commerce, would
cause three-fourths of the recently es-
tablished cotton mills In our Southern
states to close, besides costing the man
ufacturers of the Pacific and Eastern
states the loss of $4,000, 900, it can read
lily be seen that it is our policy to join
hands with the most powerful. friendly