Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1902-03-26
THE TRADE OF THE ORIENT.
And What It Means for Minnesota and tho
Whole Northwest.

THE TRADE OF THE ORIENT.
And What It Means for Minnesota and tho
Whole Northwest.
Mr.: J. ]. Hill was recently reported by
Inc New York Journal of Commerce as
ne ne Is building for the Asiatic trade could
pc operated in successful competition
Win Foreign ships in spite Of the higher
tnta nav laws permitted better selec-
uon and control of crews. The reason
10. this confidence is plain. It is because
vessels the same principles which have
MADE the Hi1 methods Of organizing
transportation famous as one Of the
the, simple principle that the bigger the
tlalnioad the less the cost of hauling it
Per ton per mile He has made his ships
t piSger than any now afioat in the expec-
and that it will cost but little more to
operate them thus filled than smaller
SHIPS carrying fraction of the tonnage.
1.-The These ships will carry cargoes at much
pretalied. and are, therefore, the pioneers
THnlch Will eventually require a larger
fleet of similar ships. But to fill even
these for regular trips will require the
are to be loaded Of much larger volume
S Keen etTer 3D.. The t5a{e Of the Great
ent part Of the arrangements whereby
the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific
operated in harmony, and subsidiary to
the same general end. The momentous
SIGNIFICANCE OF these arrangements can
stood that their purpose is to make these
Two great transcontinental railroads
the chief highway Of the commerce Of
this country and Of the world with Asia:
II IS to carry out in the whole vast field
OF intercontinental traffic the same
principle OF concentration which Mr.. Hill
applies to his carloads and his ships
volume by concentration on this Northern
route as to reduce it's cost by land and
sea, and thus-following the law that
least resistance-turn into this cheaper
channe! on the shorter lines of latitude
the main stream OF the commerce of the
world. The full car load is thus the unit
OF power in a gigantic scheme of CONNER
cha! concentration which will pour a new
and more Astounding flood of commercial
ana INDUSTRIAL energy into the six states
array against it,
The lawyers and politicians who have
been frettlng and Tuning about the sup
posed effects Of the so-called merger on
local freight rates have been oblivious to
| the grandeur and potential benehcience of
the economic forces called into play by
| this scheme, and which will insure much
greater reduction of local and transcon-
tlnental freight rates as necessary con-
| volume of traffic than would otherwise be
| possible.
Our local statesmen are not to be
oiamed Tor the narrow local view they
| nave taken OF this question: or for their
inability to take in the broad horizon Of
it's worldwide relations. For but few
VINO s1H nave not STUDIED the question have
with the Orient which lies within the
| grasp Of American enterprise, but which
| tor lack OF an effective organization of
our commercial power We have hereto
fore permitted other nations. and chiefly
Great Britain. to appropriate. For the
seven years ending with and inclusive Of
lS9S not an American steamship entered a
Philippine port: Since the treaty of peace
we have done better. but the major part
| OF that traffic is still borne in English
| to 1900 inclusive the United States lost
| in their traffic with the Philippines over
$4,000. 900 in trade balances against US,
Of, the Spanish war. And this does not
take into account the Philippine goods
carried to English or German ports and
trn ar to this -, coqntEy
heretofore paid out over the counters Of
London, Berlin and Paris over a billion
and half of gold due Asiatic nations for
trade balances. If this amount of money
had been saved to the American people
it would have bought out the steel trust
and the Northern Securities company at
ending June 30, 1900, we have lost $3.50
100000 in Chinese trade alone, exclusive
Of the trade of Hongong. which is a
An SF o a z Gha a yeds5 d Br
l per cent Of the foreign trade of China
| or Of the port Of Hongkons- The latest
accessible tables OF the treasury depart.
Of our imports from Asia in 1899. S4,-
ana only T. sSS S&1ort from fSs Psf
from Atlantic ports and only SIS. 100. 600 by
way Of Pacific coast ports, which means
that s. per cent Of our. trans-Pacific
the Pacific a. all. but rather by the way
of European ports, being transhipped
at Liverpool and Hamburg fol, New York
in 1888 was s121, SOC, ooo. Only 81, 900 ,ooo
of this was carried in American bottoms.
Yet one line of steamships like that
projected by Mr.. Hill would very soon
double that total and would put into
Manila, Shanghai. Hongkong, and other
Chinese and Japanese ports agents for
themselves felt In the interest of our
manufacturers. The current of CONNER
cial exchanges thus established between
grow sRe and wdea unt 9s d1ew T'i into oq it's
swelling tide the tributary streams of
every state. in the Union and of every
eeuntry in the w1Eld All along the course
merce this broad and deep current will
set in motion the wheels of commercial
and Industrial activity. But it is mainly
at the head of the great interior lines
Of water transit, are the terminal head
quarters and gateways Of these great
vol
its influence will be felt in making them
far greater marts of trade than If they
depended on the narrower range Of trib-
utary country around them. 1t will tend
button of the products of the Orient
through the Mississippi valley. It viii
lift these c5ief and this STATE to
states and cities Of the continent.
When the lawyers and politicians get
er relations they will probably come to
the conclusion that there is something
besides a. question OF local politics in
this matter of the so-called merger
the extinction of competition, but such
marshaling of commercial forces and
such an organized concentration of COM
system Of transport ton traversfng the
northern belt Of the temperate zone,
which nature has marked as the chief
path Of commerce throughout the worl6,
to enter into successful competition with
the rival systems which are endeavoring
to attract this great tide of transmun-
dane commerce to more southern lati-
tudes. and that. whatever technical o.
jections the lawyers may find or fancy
they find in 1.-The mint and cummin'' OF
the statutes, it is In conformity with
that great economic law, to which all
statutes must ultimately yield the right
Of way, that through concentration lies
the only road to the highest economic
efficiency-to lower costs anc lower
prices-St Paul Pioneer Press.