The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-05-22
OUR TRADE WITH CHINA AsIATIC ASSOCIATION. w. W. Rockhill and Senators Pritchard of North Carolina and McLaurin of South Carolina
 Among the Speakers.

New York. May a.-Members of the Ameri- can Asiatic Association gave their fourth an nual dinner tonight at Deimonicos The sues, of honor was William W. Rockhili. late com missioner of the United States to China who responded to the toast The Open Door e Commerce in china.'' About 200 were pres ent, nearly all of whom are interested directly or indirectly in Asiatio commerce
 Senator John L. McLaurin of South Carolina and Senator J. F. Pritehard of North Carolina were among the guests.
 Senator Pritchard responded to the toast ''The President of the United States" He said in part:
 With respect to the retention of the Philip. pine Islands. confidently believe that in ths end the good Judgment of the American peo- pie will be that we should retain the islands permanently. want to say the only hope oi the Southern people in respect to finding an adequate market for raw cotton and cotton fabrics is in the orient and inasmuoh as the Philippine islands lie in the pathway to the orient. cannot understand how any Southern man who has the good of his country at heart can for one moment contemplate the idea of relinquishng our Jurisdiction over these isl- anas."
 Mir. Rockhiil made an encouraging statement S-' si'N NAostaSiS oI ttAde m china. Speaking of Chinese tarin regulations. Mir. Rockhiil said: t
 Rapid reform in China is extremely difficult and doubtful. but not by any means impos. sioie. The Government has unquestionabiy the power to carry 1t out. I think it viii have the will"
 Senator McLaurin followed Mir. Rockhill. He s2id in part:
 We all see that our Southern industries ha.e ..T, na.ionai and international importance. The United States has learned of late years that it needs an ever widening and ex, banding market for its products, and 1t has tesnp, an important foreign outlet among the teemins miilions of the orient. The Asiatic market has come into the field as one of inc most prominent factors in the modern com, mere msreial II problem and I feel quite sure it has
 After giving his opinion that the passage of the chinese exclusion bill in Its extreme form tinued; The conservatioS of our chsnese uade appears to me to be of the utmost inn portenee We are rapidly becoming the great and the story of the recent development of this industry in the South reads like a dream Tn iss0 We had & cotton mills in South Ca,o in value from sl0. ooSooo to sso'ooo, GOO and al most all. or at least the bulk of the products of these mills. goes directly to China.
 voted as they did on the Chinese question was because they felt somewhat indebted to inc Senators from the Western coast who had as- sisted the Senators from the South in some matters we had pending regarding the race question. I've good deal of sympathy for any people that are confronted by danger rom the race question and rather than sub ject the Western people to any such danger would have voted with them. I would rather blow irf ditch with one-eyed mule down South than to have been the cause of placing such danger before the Western Senaters But could not see that such danger exist cd. so voted as did with the AsIatic so-