The sun., 1901-10-09

culably richer in minerals; in proportion
to its area, it has Il far greater amount
of arabic land; its people may have their
minds less o.en TO the reception of new
ideas, hut they are certainly not less in
dus.rious. and the probity Of its mer-
chants is. as that of the japanese is not,
above suspicion. The notable advantage
which Japan has enjoyed over China
consists in the possession of ruling
class of exceptional capacity and OF
high sense of honor. These characters
tics are not by any means unknown.
among the Chinese mandarinate, but
under the rule of the corrupt Manchu
oligarchy at Pekin, the path to honor
and emolument has been open to men
who did not combine ability with hon
esty, and who usually were distinguished
for neither. 1t would be rash to assume
that all this will be changed when the
court, chastened by experience, returns
to Pekin. The party of reaction is still
too well represented in high places to
warrant any such prediction as that; but
when all allowances have been made for
the tenacity of life displayed by long tO-
Grated abuses in China, as elsewhere, the
fact remains that the most populous en-
pire in the world is about to enter on its
long deferred cycle of modern progress.
Men like the Niceroys at Marking and
Wuchang, who stood like a rock against
the mad enterprise Of the Empress Dow
ager and her clique, are still to be found
in places of authority in China, else had
the empire to-day been shattered into
Fragments congeries of spheres of for
egn influence and interest in which
there would be no more equality of OPP
portunity for the trade of the United
States.
The volume of our trade with China
during the present year has not yet
passed into the statistical stage. but as
to at least one branch of it, the assertion
may be made with entire confidence that
the transactions of the last three months
have exceeded in value those of any
similar period OF its history. This is
a decidedly fortunate circumstance for
the cotton textile industry of the United
States. Millions of dollars have heen
invested in Southern mills in the faith
that the Chinese demand would be
permanent and a growing one. and tens
of thousands of spindles in New England
have been devoted to the heavy yarns re-
quired for the drills and sheetings which
have finally made the north China mar
the trade was paralyzed. and the mills
depending on it had either to shut down,
accumulate stock or shift to fabrics of
which there were already more than
enough at the disposal of the domestic
market With the revived confidence of
the Chinese merchant in the stability Of
his country has come Il stream of orders,
wiping out existing stocks and insurng
activity for months ahead. The trade i'll
''domestics' for the China market is ON
its feet again. 1t is a trade of very re-
spectacle dimensions. having amounted to
5.72S,3l3 pieces of drills, jeans and sheet
ings in 1899; it is Il decidedly elastic
trade having gained .S23, ,S02 pieces over
the year preceding. When we begin 10
compete with Manchester in gray shirt
ings and "'T' cloths for central China,
it will expand still more rapidly. For the
present, nine-tenths of it is Il north China
trade. ana ranks Manchuria among its
most important markets.
Add to this forty or fifty millions oi
gallons Of American Kerosene oil, and {
million ana half barrels of wheat flour
and three-fourths of our exports to China
and Hong Kong have been accounted
Tor. IN tne OH tfaue. tne colnDctlAioI "
the Russian and Sumatran product ha
to be met. so that though consumption
expands. the American share Of the trad
does not There is no limit to the de
mand for American flour. except that o
the ability of the consumer to pay fo
the products of the public cook shops, o
which it is the chief constituent. 1t i
in this ability to pay that must be sough
the key 10 the future of our trade wit
China. The fact that people wretched
ly poor should inhabit a country exceI
tionaly rich in natural resources, is mer,
ly IN incident of the bigoted conserv;
tism and rank incompetency that hay
prevailed so long in the central govern
mcnt Of China. If, as we are entitled I
believe, these have had their day,
would be difficult to be oversanguin
about the future. India with two-third
of the population and much less amp
resources, exports three times as muc
as China. because she has good road
railways and honest government. Chin
will get these things in time, because 81