The National tribune., 1901-02-14
PEKING TO-DAY.
Loot Spectators, Unprincipled
Liquor Trafffckers and CAM
blers Follow in Wake of Allied
Army.
Ipeclal correspondence to THE NATIONAL Tn,pusr.

Special correspondence to THE NATIONAL TRIBUNE.
PEKING, CHINA, Dec l, 1900.
Business throughout China is at a stand
still as result of the unsettled state of af-
fairs following China's war against all the
world.
1he business paralysis penetrates the re-
hottest interior communities OF the En-
pire, where the people little understand the
causes and effects OF the disaster that hns
been brought upon them by the stupid
Manchu dynasty.
Aprepus OF The talk here and elsewhere
of China ability and right to get along
without any KIND of relations with the out
side world, it will be interesting to touch
upon the wool-growIng industry and the de-
pendenee of the GIinpIre for market out
slde her own domain.
During the past 10 years wool growing
In the northern provinces of China has de-
veloped very rapidly. There are no large
sheep ranches i'll China. Tens of thou
sands of Chinese families each own three,
five or ten head of sheep, seldom more than
ten. These very small herds are clipped
carefully and the tteeces are sold to the
local Chinese merchants in exchange for
piece goods Cotton clothing materialsl,
which, for the most part, are manufac-
tured In foreign countries. The local mer-
chants sell the wool to another dealer, who
DuSS ~ lIdIlSpOEl dCIoSS
the country by camels or donkeys to the
big wool dealer at Tientsin, who is in
every case a foreigner-LnglIsh as rule.
The wool shipping business has grown
to very large proportions at Iicntsln, de-
veloped entirely by the energy and organ
izing ability of these enterprising foreign
business men. The wool business is re-
sponsIbie, i'll great measure, for the Won
derful growth of Iientsin into great COM
mercial center.
In this work on the part of foreigners
China has been given market she hlth-
erto did not have for product she is capa-
bic of growing great quantities of, and
which worked greatly to the advantage of
her poorer agricultural people. To-day
these people are greatly burdened because
they cannot move last years wool clip to
the market the white man has provided.
A newspaper article is too limited to
enumerate the lines of trade similarly af
fected throughout the Empire. Thousands
upon thousands of toiling coolies are now
unemployed, many wealthy Chinese are
quietly investing their money outside OF
their own country, in the British and other
colonies, for fear that all enterprise in
China may be throttled.
l recently met two who are investing
heavily in the tin mines of the British
Straits Settlements.
SPECULATION IN LOOT.
All of the great banking concerns of
China are foreign, the two largest being
the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation and the Chartered Bank of
India, China and Australia, both British
institutions. These are among the great
est banks in the world in the volume of
business transacted. They have branches
In every city of China, Japan, India and
the Philippine Islands.
The branches of these institutions, par
ticularly at Tientsin and Pekin, it is said,
have made large sums in the purchase of
silver loot from the thousands of soldiers
who picked up odd pieces here and there,
some of the officers making very large
finds, all of which they are anxious to ex-
change at once for ready and uncumber-
Gus cash. The banks, of course, would not
make these purchases direct, but it was
through some third party they would come
Into possession of the great bulk of valua-
Bile loot at an enormous profit. There was
certainly some very smooth manipulating
done between the officers of these banks