The Washington times., 1901-07-18
FoRMosA's CAMpHoR INDUSTRY.

The large island OF Formosa, of the
east coast of China. fell to Japan few
years ago as one of the prizes of war.
The island is famous for two products.
The hill slopes of the west grow some of
the finest teas I'M the world. the Oolongs
and other Formosan teas being highly
esteemed In this country. where nearly
the entire crop Is consumed. The tree
clad mountains of the east contain the
largest camphor forests in the world.
| Most of the camphor kept In our drug
stores comes from Formosa- Japan now
produces only about 10000 pounds year:
the yield in China mas never exceeded
10000 pounds year; but 100000 pounds
of camrhor were taken from the forests
OF Formosa in 1885, and in he past four
years the annual yield has averaged over
100000 pounds. Formosa controls the
camphor market of the world and will
probably always be the great source OF
this valuable gum For some time past
the purchasers of eamphor have been
compelled to pay more for Ii than former
~ The two principal reasons for the in
crease in price will be mentioned here:
one Of them is specially interesting. for.
IL Illustrates the difficulties and dangers
that environ the camphor industry.
The mountains Of east Formosa are in
l
OF the island. Nearly half of Formosa is
still occupied by these murderous men of
the forests. whose weapons are turned
against all strangers. The fertile plains
OF the west, filed with peaceful Chinese
| tiilers of the soil. present a very differ
ent aspect. For many years IL was almost
certain death for sailors to be wrecked
on the east coast of the island. IL they
| escaped the sea they were murdered by
the savages, who were always the
| lookout for loot from vessels driven upon
the rocks of their inhospitable coast. Ex-
plorers have not dared to venture into
| some parts of these mountains. which are
still among the least known portions Of
the world The savages are full of cum
ming and treachery. They are armed
with bows and arrows. knives and swords
They are very dark and muscular and go
about quite naked. except for scanty
| strip of blue cloth about the waist. In
recent years many of them have acquired
matchlocks and learned to use them
One day. few years ago. a party of
| English officers from a man-of-war went
up into the mountains and met party of
natives armed with matchlocks They
challenged the natives to trial of skill
| in shooting A target was affixed to a
tree about 800 feet distant and the Eng
| lishmen made what they considered pretty
fair practice. The natives looked on
| without any apparent establishment at
| the skill of their rivals. When it came
their turn to fire every man of them dis
appeared in the jungle. They crawled on
| their stomachs to within about nine feet
of the target and they blazed away OF
course they all hit the target in the CEN
tire. When the Englishmen protested that
this method of conducting a shooting
match was hardly fair. the natives re-
piled:
We do not understand what you mean
/ by fair, but anyhow, that is the way we
shoot Chinamen.''
The men who collect most Of the cam
phor of the world have to work among
these treacherous people. They are sent
up into the mountains pitch their camps
in the camphor forests and depend upon
/ their guns and their vigilance to protect
themselves from savage enemies. But
| though their wits are sharpened by the
| ever present danger. whole parties -of
| them are sometimes slaughtered. The his
/ tory of the camphor industry in Formosa
| has many of these tragical incidents.
Though armed guards stand over the men
while they are telling the trees and ex-
tracing the gum, they may be attacked
| at any moment unless the savages con-
slider the force Before them to be too
strong for them to overcome. Great is
| the joy when they clean oCt a camphor
camp. All the camp equipment and the
| food supplies are the legitimate spoils of
war: so there is profit as well as glory in
| the murderous business. The work of get
! ting the camphor down into the plains is
even more dangerous than collecting it,
/ The paths are narrow, and the carriers.
| walking in long single file, can present no
| strong front to the natives concealed
along the way. strong escort front and
| rear. beating the bushes and scrub for the
| foe who may be lurking there, is always
necessary to ensure safety.
/ When the Japanese became fairly set
| tied in the island last year they deter
mined TO put an end, If possible. to the
! dangers that beset the camphor industry
AS a preliminary step they detailed 1,oOg
| soldiers to guard the camphor camps and
| convoy the parties that carry the gum
| out of the forests. In these camps. scat
! tered north and south among the noun
1 tains for distance of 40 miles. the men
are working today guarded by part OF
the Japanese army. Thus war and in
dustry are curiously combined in the
| island of Formosa. As rule, when
armed men are around looking for some
I body TO shoot there can be no such thinS
as industry in their neighborhood. Peace
I ful labor and the exploits OF war are not
congenial companions. But among the
4 forests of Formosa the soldier is becom-
ing the valuable adjunct of industry, and
IL could not thrive very well without him.
| The Japanese Government proposes TO use
any force that may be required to place
! the great camphor business on a safe
/ basis; but the cost of protecting the
! camphor gatherers is added to the cost
! of the commodity. and there seems To be
no reason to complain that this is not fair
20 all concerned.
| This is the principal reason why the
| price of camphor has advanced There is
| another reason for il also, and 1t may be
I said that the price is likely TO continue
I at good figure. Japan. like France and
| Spain, is desirOuS to obtain 4 monopoly
| in one or more commodities that will
/ bring a large revenue into the Govern
| ment treasury. How could a monopoly
/ be more easily established than in the
| article of camphor the whole supply of
anese island? So the authorities declared
| n while ago that thenceforth the cam
! phor industry should be a Government
| monopoly.
who can secure a permit to do SO, and
permits are not difficult to obtain. B,it
not a pound of the product can be sold
to anyone but the Government which
| fixes the price to be paid The price is
said fully to compensate the collectors.
but a limitation upon the amount of the
product will prevent too many collectors
from crowdinS into the field. The Gov
ernment names the maximum amount to
he produced, and will not buy pound in
| excess of the limit 1t was said while
ago that the amount to be produced this
year would not exceed I9.0e9 piculs
(5, 800, COO pounds. As Japan does not in
tend that the market shall be oversup-
piled, there seems to be no prospect OF
any large fuctuatiOn in future prices.
The world will profit at least by the
efforts of Japan to preserve an industry
which. a few years ago, seemed threat