Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-02-27
among the high ofncials. merchants and


ment found itself poor. and a great deal
l.of money was needed to repair Pekiag and
Tor other purposes About that time a
memorial was sent in 10 the throne. say
| ing that its signers and the others who
held the bonds felt a great sympathy for
| their country. and therefore had decided
| to give up their money as a present to
| the government, and they begged the
emperor to declare the bonds null and
void. The matter was brought before the
| board of revenue. and the proposition
was accepted. great number OF the
bondhoiaers were not consulted in the
sending in of that petition. Nevertheless
| they lost their money, and as a result our
| people are not anxious for government
| securities"
II suppose the men who made the APP
plication wanted to acquire merit or
| office for their generosity"
| very lkely! said the minister Who
| knows?"
Guilds and Trades Unions.
But you have employers associations
| to regulate the relations of capital and
| labor, have you not?"
Yes" replied the minister. I'VE have
! such associations. but not especially to reg
| ulate labor. Many of the guilds are as
ISOLATED with the cites. The Canton mer-
| chants of Shanghai have a club. and the
| Ningpo merchants have one. There are
| also unions in almost every branch of
| trade, tea guilds, six guilds and bankers
I SuiiuS. Sucn dSSpC1aIlOnS, however, nave
| more to do with the prices. disc cunts ana
| the handing of goods than with labor mat
! ters'
How about organized labor? Does 1t
| exist in China?"
We are not so advanced IS YOU In that
! respect. replied the mister. .'There are
many local labor organizations, but they
are more like mutual life, sickness and acct
| dent insurance conpan es than your trades
unions. Indeed. We have but few unions
| devoted to regulating hours AMI wages.
| There may be some at the treaty ports con
nected with the large factories. At Shang-
! hal. for instance, the river for five mil Is
! now Lined with s TX mills and cotton fac
! tories. There labor is somewhat organ ID.
| notwithstanding most eff the emp Dyes are
| girls They are always ready to strike, and
| do so when they think they are impose /
| upon. As factories increase in China.
| suppose our labor will become Organized
and we shall have our unions and walking
delegates"
How about labor on the rlilroa So
1T is not the quietest in the world re-
piled the Chinese minister. THE workmen
there strike every now and then. Just now
there is a strike the Hankow Canton
Line which has stopped the construction"
How the Am orleans Lost Gold Mine.
That is on the concession granted to
the American syndicate How are the
Americans handling their concession?"
Il don't think they are handling it very
well, replied the Chinese minister 1T
would have been a gold mine if they had
held on to it. but I understand that they
| have sold the control of the road for
| comparatively small sum to Belgian can't
| talists That concession was 4 most valu-
able one. 1t was given to the American
| syndicate largely in return for the great
| friendship which your country displayed
| towards China in the settlement of its diff
| fcultes with Japan. Different concessions
| in the way of loans and other things were
made to Russia, Germany France and
| England. The United States was the only
nation which did not ask for anything and
was at the same time about the most
friendly to China As Il result our people
| felt grateful and we were glad to give
| your capitalists this concession with the
authorization of a large loan to build the
road and the privilege of having the prof
its of the sale of the bonds above ninety
cents on the dollar. 1 can't conceive why
the Americans did not hold on to it AS it
is now the Belgians have secured one of
the most valuable railroad properties of
China. They have large interest in the
line from Hankow to Picking and this ex-
tension gives them great trunk line from
Picking to Canton, tapping what is perhaps
the richest agricultural and industrial dis
trct of the world, inhabitated by several
hundred million people. The road will pay
from the start and I regret that the Amer
leans have allowed it to slip out of their
hands"
Are they working on it now, your ex
cellency?'
yes Work is going on at both ends
and both branches. Indeed when l go
back home / hope to be able to travel from
Canton to Picking by rail"
Chinese American Trade.
But there is plenty of money in China
said l. why do not your own people
build railroads.
"They will do so when they understand
them better. We have many rich and we'll
+ \
modern factories Three fourths of the
shares of the Hong Kong and Shanghai
Bank are owned by Chinese. Our people,
however. slow to adopt new inventions
and new things.
How about the Chinese market and
American trader"
Our market is enormous one" re-
piled Sir Chentung LANG Cheng. I'VE are
good spenders and our trade will increase
as We grow richer and as the country de-
velops 1t is already increasing as far as
America is concerned. We are now taking
about one-half of all the cotton cloth ex-
ported from the United States.''
Gould the trade be further increased?''
Eyes. We have 400 million people and al
most all wear cotton winter and summer
In the future there will be a great demand
for wooden goods for they will take the
place of much of the padded cotton now
worn. There is also an increase in the
use of American food stuffs and Injuries
We are buying more of your flour every
year and more tobacco and other things"
The Chinese Expulsion Law.
The conversation here turned to the Chi
nese in America and I asked the minister
what he thought of our law as to the i'm
grafton of Chinese
Il have but little objection to- the law"
said he. But l do not like the spirit or
manner in which 1t is executed The law
was made to exclude only Chinese laboring
men from the United States, but 1t has
been SO construed as to keep out all Chin
csc, whether they came on business or on
pleasure. as merchants, sightseers or stu
dents. l don't believe your government
ever intended this, and blame the treat
ment which our nation receives from the
politicians, who wish to curry favor there
by with the laboring classes and make
capital with Them
why, look at it," the Chinese minister
went on. ut is almost Impossible for one
of our boys to come to- the United States
for an education. Take the case of Mr.
Tong, relative of Tong the graduate of
Yale College whom you met in China some
years ago. Young longs father is rich and
he wanted his boy to come here to study
10 he