The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-06-29

| call in the joss house. Naturally the
Chinese will not be content to buy our
/ manufactured tools and other things
| forever. The time will come when this
! shreWd people will buy our tool-mak-
| ing and other machinery When once
IN the swim the Chinese will become
the greatest purchasers of machinery
ever known.
The fear that they will eventually
usurp the markets Of the world to our
loss, owing to their cheap labor, need
hardly be INDUCED, because as they
become impregnated with Western
ideas their scale of living will go up
and they will no longer be content
with their present low wages. The ex-
ira money they earn through civilized
tools Will be spent for Iuxuries produce
ed by other nations.
Although on a different scale. and
with different kinds of extravagances,
the cost of living to a Chinman who
can afford it. is no less than to a Eu-
ropean in similar circumstances.
American canned goods and American
goods of many kinds are sold in the
leading cities to Chinese people, who
having tried them. find them to their
liking.
One thing the American trader must
do before he can obtain control in Chi
nese markets. He must know the peo-
pie and their wants and go about the
business thoroughly, as the Russian
does Russian merchants have made
just as close a study of these matters
as her politicians have of the Chinese
character. and that is why they are
taking American trade away in Man
churia.
The American merchant must put
| his wits against those Of the German
and the Japanese if he would hold his
own here, for all are bent on obtaining
the greatest advantages.
But TO gain his initial footing. or to
mold what he has already obtained, he
| must use all his diplomacy
RUSSIA cares no more for America
than she does for England Only the
fear of hostile combination of the
two against her might restrain her
| from annexing Manchuria and Chi Lii.
IL the United States contents herself
with protests. Russia will calmly go
| ahead. The other European powers
VIII accept the inevitable and proceed
TO annex their spheres of interest ia
pan and the United States can then
yell themselves hoarse, for there will
De no Chinese market for them. The
absorption of China will have begun.
ana It will go on as relentIessIy as it
has done in Africa, and with Just as
much advantage to Americans as it
mas done on the Dark continent.
1t is pity to see this, the last chance
| OF a large mart for American goods abb
Soluteiy 1rlttered away. especially when
the philippines have been bought. pre-
! sumably, to advance our status in the
| Orient. but there is little doubt that
| history VIII be made in the style indi-
Gated, for proofs Of Russian tenacity Of
! purpose and doggedness are scattered
throughout Asia. The American states-
| mans fear of the semblance of an alIi-
ance with England due to nothing more
| than the dread of criticism by dema-
| gogues, would. in this event, cost con-
siderable. The best authorities here feel
no doubt. that an enormous change will
| occur IN Pel1in when the empress dies
/ ana the most stubborn opponent of West
ern ideas Is removed from her present
| sphere Of activity
What this market viii be is seen from
| the following figures:
China with its dependencies, covers
! over 100000 square miles, an area
| greater than either the continent of
Europe or the whole of the United Statse
/ including Alaska. Its greatest dimension
noftn ana south, reaches from the lati-
| tude OF Quebec, through Pekin. which
| hes Que west from Philadelphia; Shang-
| hal. corresponding with Savannah; Can
| ton: the same as Cuba, to the island of
da1-nan or the latitude of Vera Cruz
| and Yucatan. 1t. therefore, embraces ev-
| cry variety of climate, from the northern
| extreme OF the temperate to the tropical
| Inc population of the empire is va
| rIousIy estimated at from 350, 200, 900 to
Up to the present time the trade done
4 Deen steadily increasing. To the south
| ern part of the empire American wheat
4 has been sent; to the northern sections
l our cOttOnS, and these two articles have
| formed the principal exports.
Malcolm J. Graham.