The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-20
COMMERoE OF CHM.

COMMERCE. OF CHINA.
The recent 2OO-page special bulletin of
the treasury department on commercial
China presents a world of facts alike
Interesting and invaluable to the student,
the man of business, and the enlighten-
Ell citizen. whatever his special interest.
The student will DE interested to learn
that the commerce of China, which as
carried on with the United States dates
back scarcely more than generation,
began with the Portuguese on the arrival
OF the first trading vessel in 1916 and the
establishment of the first trading post,
or factory" at Ningpo in 1922, nearly
four hundred ago, and at about the time
OF the early Spanish and Portuguese ex-
plorations of America The man of BUSH
ness will be pleased to note, that where
as American trade with China practically
dates with the mission of Caleb Cushing,
in 1874, when he arrived with a treaty of
friendship and peace. giving American
traders the same privileges at the five
Chinese ports of entry that had been en-
joyed by the British-that commerce
during the past ten years has fully quad
rupled
One of the great lessons which the elab-
crate statistical tables OF the govern
ment teach us is this-that if we would
have commerce with China, or with any
other section of the globe, we must
have an end of war and hostile treaties
and tariffs, The disasters to American
trade from the late Chinese strife were
wholesale. Look at some of the facts
For the quarter ended Sept go 1900,
when war was in progress, our exports
into the three ports of North China
Tientsin. Chefoo. and Newchang-we
only 1878 pieces of drills, jeans and
sheetings. as compared with l,23S, 5S2
pieces for the same ninety-day period the
year before; while our flour exports
dropped from 15S.275 baikwan taels to
1925, and the petroleum exports from
2,053,100 gallons to $4,000. Our trade with
the port of Chefoo, which for the quar-
ter ended June so, just prior to the out
break, showed an increase of oyer 100
Per cent in -four and oil and as high as
80 per cent in cottons, compared with
the same period the year before. was al
most wiped out during the Boxer i'm
broglio.
How great is the damage to American
commerce by reason of the hostile legis-
lation of this country against the Chi
nese people cannot be computed in dol
lars, although it is undoubtedly enor-
nous. But the effect of the hostile war
tariff of 1898 against Chinese tea may be
read in large figures.
Prior to the war revenue duty levied
by congress in 1888 upon tea, our trade
with China in this staple had grown
most gratfyingly. From total of a, 45U.-
769 pounds in 1891, it had grown to 56524,-
BAG in 1891, during a period of little COM
mercial growth for the country at large
But the war tariff on tea wiped out all
Of this commercial expansion in a single
year. Our tea trade with China was less
an 1898 than during any year for a decade
before, and 100000 pounds less than
during the worst year of the CONNER
Clal depression, 1894. For the three years
Of tea tarif-1S9S, 1899, and 19OO-our i'm
ports of tea from China have been 12OOO,-
coo pounds less than during the three
year period, 1873. How can we expect to
build up trade with China, if, in addition
to legislating against the entrance of the
Chinese people upon our shores by laws
which violate our treaties of peace and
friendship, we go further and institute
tariffs which shut out the leading arti-
cles of Chinese production?
The vast commercial possibilities open
to America when we have established
intimate market relations with these 4OO,-
100000 people dwelling within this en-
pire of 100000 square miles are proven
by the fact that. in spite of war and
Tarlike laws. our aggregate commerce
with China has nearly doubled since the
China-Japan treaty of 1895. Under the
Observation-Disclosures" principle the
United States secured the trade ad-
Yantages accorded Japan; so that, While
the treaty of Shimonosheki conferred
the open-door privilege only upon jap
anese subjects, the result has been prac-
tically free trade for all nations enjoy
ing treaty relations with China and the
greatest commercial movement of his
tory from all parts of the world toward
that country. Nearly every American
industry is a beneficiary, as shown by
the statistical tables.
American lumber exports have pushed
upward from $685. in 1895 to $500 255 in
19OO-nearly quadrupling in the six-year
term. Tobacco exports advanced from
s1O4.91S in 's5 to $751; in 1900, or, multi
plying five-fold Exports of dairy and
meat products rose from $S4,6h in 'a5 to
$112,4S7. and breadstuffs from s5e,647 in
'e6 to s3lS.61S-an advance of 300 per cent
IN our agricultural exports to China
since the panic period. Our vehicle trade
with China in 1895 was just s24 and in 1900