The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-10-29

| resentment and comba tfveness has
given way in Europe to a sensible ac-
! ceptance of the commercial invasion by
the United States Of the marts of the
various countries"
SO spoke e. H. Hobe, consul for Nor
way and Sweden, who has just return
ed from tour of the world. Parti-
cularly is this deduction and others Of
Consul Hobe significant from the fact
That he speaks strictly by the card.
havingt aiken great pains to INVESTIGATES
In every land he visited the political,
commercial and social conditions.
Speaking further to. The GIob e
yesterday Consul Hobe said:
All of the countries Of Europe. with
| the possible exception of England.
winch was deeply. stirred by. the posi-
bllity of ship combine, appreciate the
fact that the United States has in
stalled itself in the. commercial leader
snip OF the world so strongly that it
will not be deposed for many years to
come. Therefore, in view Of the fulfil
lty OF trying to sidetrack a foregone
conclusion they do the natural and
logical thing and decide to fight the
conqueror. with his own weapons.
so the business world of Europe is
gradually Americanizing itself and
preferr1ng to compete with this country
on It's own ground. This, take it, is
healthful sign for Europe, and par
ticularly the working classes.
Already, in fact Germany and Eng
land are beating the United States in
China.
They Discovered the Drummer.
In fact Germany and England are
running over each other to capture the
trade or that country. Each nation is
pouring government travelling agents
into 10
They are regular government drum
mers' and they have acquired the
habits Of their Yankee brethren to
such an extent that China is being
stlrfed as 1t never was stirred before,
commercially. Here you see they have
adopted one of the Institutions which
had it's birth in this country. He has
been being by himself, but he is be-
ing copied in Germany and England
with surprising results.
why, those fellows are so indus
tr1ous that Germany has an immense
Heet of steamers which makes semi
weekly trips between German, English
and Chinese ports, carrying an i'm
mense amount Of freight and great
numbers OF passengers. No one is
there to protect the interests of the
United States and she is being rapidly
left out in the cold.
L
found conditions not so good as else
where in Europe. In Norway especial
ly, times are hard with the farmers
and the owners of ships. Both classes
complain of low prices and small re-
turns. This is true In a measure, also
in Denmark and Sweden. To this fact
/ ascribe the great volume of inanigra-
ton from those countries to the United
States.
Result Of a Boom.
"One of the reasons for the industrial
stagnation and commercial depression
is that year or two ago q wave Of
real estate speculation swept through
Scandinavia In Christiana, the CAPT.
tai and metropolis of Norway, the
realty and building market became so
hysterical that it was said the masons
were mixing their mortar with cham
payne instead of water. The result is
that money is tied up in the cities,
capital is not moving and the reflex is
felt with redoubled force by the rural
communities and the shipping inter-
ests.
Japan is progressing finely and is
emulating the United States with
more acumen than any other nation.
Last year it's shipments of rice, silk
and embroideries aggregated in value
s2oo,ooo,0oo, which represented
years. They have built the largest
battleship af1oat and are accepting
American cotton in such quantities
that the number Of cotton mills is
constantly increasing. met in Japan
a Texas cotton merchant who told me
he had placed the largest order of his
career in Japan
Consul Hobe and Mrs. Hobe spent
nine months abroad. Their route was
as follows:
San Francisco, Honolulu, Japan,
China, Yellow Sea, China Sea, Bay of
Bengal, Indian ocean, Arabia, Egypt,
the Holy Land, Turkey, Austria, Italy,
France Germany, Holland, England,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
On his return Mr.. Hobe was tender
ed a banquet by his compatriots of the
Twin Cities at the Windsor hotel.