The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-27

all offerings between Singapore and New
York averaging six dollars per ton gold.
a rate net only lower than Pacific steamers
can afford but also lower than can be had
10 London Rates in some lines 10 London
run 90 per cent higher than TO New York.
Pacific business is capable OF infinite devel-
opment in this as IN other parts Of Asia.
but it may as well be known as 10 nc
learned by costly and vcxatious experience
that il IS "a waste Of both time and money
70 burden goods with long railroad haul.
when cheaper rates prevail TO the Atlantic
seaboard.
London makes the market for tin. the chief
export 10 the United States, and also makes
many Of the deliveries. Suggestion has
been heard that. since the United States is
The largest buyer Of tin in the world. quo
taticns should be determined there; but
trade custom cllngs 10 London and Amer
lean buyers must pay not only extra
freights and the cost OF double handling in
volved I'm shipments TO London and then to
the United States. but various incidental
brokerases and other commissions. There
is less reason why Americans should go to
London for tin than why they should go 10
Holland for Sumatra tobacco and Java cOf-
fee. for the Dutch staples have more
even distribution than has tin and justify
TO that extent the close and prolonged hold
which Holland keeps on them. Tin comes
from territory nominally Malayan and is
produced by Chinese. who had quite as
soon sell to Americans as 10 English buy
g.
BUYING AND SELLING CHANCES.
Pepper, spices. sago tapioca rattans.
gambler. ivory. pearls ebony and other IA
vored tropical woods acquire various need
less freight and commission charges before
any OF them reach the United States. Some
American machinery. for shop and cleo
trieal work, machine oils. patent medicines
and various small sundries get into this
market from the Atlantic coast. Canned
meats have lately been pushed. and a grow
ing sale seems assured, in spite of an es-
tablished trade in canned goods OF all kinds
from Australia and Tasmania. The Amer
team article is certainly better packed even
II the meat is not superior. There are ex-
cellent openings for sawmills, rice mills and
mining and canning machinery; for pumps,
machine tools, electrical supplies and ma
chinery, railroad iron. stationary and port
able engines, printing supplies and ma
chinery, bolts. nuts and fittings, glass and
glassware, cotton goods of light and cheap
grades, petroleum engines. builders and
general hardware, wagons and pleasure We
hicles, boots and shoes and canned vege-
tables. a shortage has developed in coast
ing steamers of from fifty TO five hundred
tons. This indicates merely the range of
possible supplies from the Atlantic sea-
board. Besides flour and salmon, of which
the output is very large from the Pacific
coast. fruit canned there should monopoizc
this market. for it is superior to anything
from Europe or Australia. California wines
could easily hold their own with any other
kind received here.
There is ample reason why American
trade should multiply itself with little eff
rorts. The Chinese merchants. who reach
both producers and consumers. feel we'll
disposed toward American goods. They
are sticklers for chop. or trade mark, and
they cling most tenaciously TO lines of
goods that once attract them. Sales of
a certain brand of condensed milk, made
in Europe. with a wrapper OF peculiar
color. reach 5000 cases per month. BY some
miscnance a stock of the identical milk
wrapped in another color landed here and
could not be sold at any price II was not
a very serious slip. for the unstable wrap
per here is the only kind that will sell in
Hong-K Kong, and it was necessary merely
10 reship il in order TO get returns; but if
there had been no welcoming port near by
the milk must have been sent back 10 Eu-
rope or thrown away. Yet, in spite OF this
prejudice in regard to European milk some
OF the Chinese merchants have been per-
sCaded, without special difficulty. to try
American brands. and certain general trade
influences which incline merchants toward
American purchases promise at least a
chance Of destroying the monopoly of the
present chop. The articles enumerated
above encounter no such chop obstacle.
They have reached buyers partly through
European houses that maintain branches
here, and partly through individual sales
men who come out every year from Eu-
rope. and. OF course. sell goods made there.
Desultory visits of American statesmen ac-
count in good part for the sales made here
In other years OF American goods. Pacific
flour commands the market because of it's
quality and price Merchants have learned
about II and have called for IL, and there
Is no denying them. The Standard Oil Com
pany maintains an agency. and through il
controls the market for machine oils be-
sides handling large native illuminating
product. There are a few Americans here
I'm business. regarding whom merchants in
terested in the market and wishing to avoid
the expense any time of sending a direct
representative half way around the world,
can get information through their own
banks or through the United States consul
here.
DEAL THROUGH AMERICANS.
On no account should American mer-
chants conhde their interest to European
houses. The folly of that course has been
taught all over the East and should be
fully impressed by this time. However
agreeable the Europeans may be in their
personal relations, they always give their
own countries the preference in business.
and such houses. long established. are
loaded with SO many lines of goods and
hold 50 many agencies that quite half the
frms in Europe who intrusr their Straits
business 10 them get only slipshod atten-
ton. Work begins at o'clock and closes
before ., with a long midday rest. and
houses with fifty or more distinct lines are
bound 70 neglect the majority of them
Avoidance by American merchants of So
called commercial agencies at home is al
most as imperative as il is to steer clear
of European houses here Probably the