The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-02-09


the many battlesSthaE have been tough
/ IN the philippines, or the long, terrible
march OF our troops to the relief of Pc
KIN, ard OF the other events of world i'm
porbance that have taken place in thai
part OF the world known as the Oriere
1ney remember of4haYing read in thei
school histories Of how Commodore PER-,
opened Japan to the commerce of the
world. But very few of these people
know the direct influence of all this upor
the city OF st. Paul For example, very
few know that over go per cent of all the
tea that leaves China and Japan comes
through or stops in ST. Paul, or that dur
Ing the past three years there We're In
round figures, 1885, goo pounds of mating
and 1355o,GO0 pounds of tea handled BY
our railroads from the Pacific coast to
st. Paul. Two other tranScontinental
lines have their termini in this CITY, and
1t is safe to say that each of these three
roads did about the same amount of bust
ness. This, of course, does not prove
anything. It does not even convey an
idea CT the truly wonderful amount OF
traffic that will, in few years, be pass
ing over these three railroads into this
city Among other things that will ar.
rive in vast quantities is rice. Most o1
this rice will be in 1.-The rough" as the
customs duty upon rice in this state is
nearly half as small as is charged OH the
rice that has been milled. 1t is only natu-
raj to suppose that a, great mill will be
erected to convert this rice into foods,
and that ST. Paul will be a great dis
tributing center for the milled rice.
1t would be very interesting to read a
detailed history of how st. Paul became
q great railroad center. But that story
cannot be told here, although it is quite
important that one should understand, i'll
measure, something of the network of
roads that radiate from St Paul to ali
parts of the United States. The three
long lines reaching across the plains and
mountains to the blue waters of the Pa
cific are the 500, Great Northern and
the Northern Pacific. Thousands of cars
rumble over their bright steel rails each
day, carrying all sorts of articles thai
come from our mills and farms to the
shores where the big vessels ride at
anchor upon the smooth waters of the
Pacific, and bring back to our city tea,
mating, silk and rice. During the past
three years the trade with the Orient
has been in its babyhood It's conception
took place when Perry's ships sailed into
the Sea of Japan; it's birth took place
when Admiral Dewey sunk the Spanish
fleet in Manila bay. It's manhood will
come when the great ships of the Great
Northern Steamship company are launch
ed and are making regular trips to the
ports Of China and Japan.
Trade with the Orient is a large sub
ject; so large indeed, that many books
would not hold all that might be written
upon it. China has for thousands of
years been closed against the commercial
world. It's barred gates have halted alike
the merchants of the East as well as
those of the West. The men who came
overland with their goods strapped upon
the backs of camels were locked OUT as
well as those men who brought their
goods in ships. This was only a very few
years ago, and yet today one may see
far inland upon the Yang Tsz the tall
chimneys of the cotton mills. More Won
derful changes are still to take place.
It is the purpose of this article to show
how ST. Paul is being directly affected by
these changes in the Orient.
The word Manchuria has been before
the reading public for the last year, yet
very few would probably be able to tell
in Just what corner of the world it is
situated. 1t lies between the great Chi
nese nation and Siberia. Only a year ago
the cossacks, Russia's cowboys, drove out
of this region vast horde of Chinese and
Tartars.a LIVER since trainloads Of set
tiers from Russia have been pouring into
Manehuria and today It is one of the
best markets in the world for American
-four and other goods. Last summer one
travelling along the new Russian railway
would have seen thousands of sacks Of
this flour piled beside the little wooden
stations.
If our -four is already so favored in this
vast country that is being built up so
rapidly that it cannot take the time to
raise food, how long will it be before
beef and pork are loaded on the cars
at South ST. Paul stockyards and sent
to the Far East? Germany is shutting
her doors against our pork. China has
just opened her doors for our goods to
come through, and there is nothing that
a Chinaman so loves as American pork.
But it is not the products of the farms
and shops and mills that go to China
that will make st. Paul a great city and
bring hundreds Of millions of dollars as
a result of trade with the Orient 1t is
the tea and mating and rice that China
and Japan send to us that will help
make the city a great commercial CEN
ter,
AS far as one can discover by looking
over the vast field of Oriental trade, the
most important product of the Far East
that will arrive in St Paul is rice. In
the near future probably all the importa-
lions of.=this product will stop here and
be converted into foods, and then sent
to other points for use, because Of the
great saving in freight rates. If the rice
went on to, say, Chicago, and was there
milled and converted into foods, it would
have to be sent $50 miles back to ST. Paul
and Minneapolis to find a market, as
to Kansas City, or Omaha, or Fargo.
This would mean that a rate would be
charged on each pound of the rice in the
native condition to Chicago from st. Paul
and then another rate for each pound
would have to be paid on the milled rice
back to st. Paul or the point to which
it was bound from Chicago. This would
mean a loss of about three cents on each
pound, and include hauling it nearly
LOCO miles and handling it twice, if not
three times. Indeed most of the rice
would pass through this city no matter
where 1t was milled, and it is quite I'M
derstood that st. Paul is the only point
at which to erect the great rice mills.
In studying this rice question the first
thing to be looked into is the manner
in which it comes from Japan, China and
India In proportion to the size Of the
trade there arg very few boats sailing be-
tween American Pacific coast ports and
the ports of China and Japan. Many of
these vessels are slow and old fahioned
This has, of course. made the freight
rates higher than they would be If there
We're vessels to handle all the freight
that is waiting to be shipped to the far
East The Northern Pacific has a good
sized fleet Of steel vessels and so has the