The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1905-11-19
SECTION THREE.
AMERICAN TRADE WITH CHINA.

fact I know of no people in the world
/ would sooner trust than the Chinese
merchants and bankers. | have good
reason for making such a strong state
ment. because during the twenty-five
years that l have been in charge o.
the bank it has been doing a large
business with the Chinese, amounting
TO millions of dollars. and we have
never met with u defauitlng China
man." This was indeed q strong state
ment. and yet shortly after il was made
this bank lost a million dollars on ac-
count of its compradore guaranteeing
some worthless securities. The foreign
err doing business in China needs 10
protect himself as fully as he can, be
cause il is certain that tnsincerity is
one of the most pronounced nationu.
traits of these people, and most OF them
are likely 10 be dishonest II not held
strictly responsible.
Chinese money is utterly bafiing Ia
the foreigner. because the money
changers juggle its value so constantly
that there IS absolutely no stability.
The coins of smaller determination.
called cash. are made of copper and il
takes about sixteen pounds of these
metal chiDs to make an American dol-
lar. The money has holes iu The
center aud is carried around in strings
of five hundred or a thousand. Al
though a thousand is the unit. ne
money changers of each province. anu
of each community, make their own
rates. so that if YOU pay for ii thousand
cash in one place you may get only 900,
or in some other locality. only 700.
The counterfeiter's Paradise.
The worst feature of the monetary
system in vogue i'm China is the large
amount Of counterfeit money in circu-
lation 1t is no unusual thing To SEA
buyers in the market with two strings
of cash. one good money and the
other counterfeit. The dealers are
willing 10 take counterfeit money for
articles of little value in the hope that
they may be able to defraud some un-
suspecting cashier later on. If you
enter a cash shop after dark you at
once arouse suspicion of the inmates.
They imagine you have bad money or
you would have brought il TO them
when the light was good. A business
transaction between two Cinnamon
consumes much time. First they bag
gle about the price. and after settling
that then comes the tussle in regard To
the rate of exchange.
When the fluctuatiOn of exchange i'm
China is considered it is marvel how
business can be transacted at All. i'm
the last two years the country has had
a series of nine fluctuations between
extreme points ranging from three 90
sixteen per cent. How It is possible for
the native merchant TO buy his wares
in one kind of money, aGd take the risk
of disposing of them for a specie which
is so uncertain as this, is beyond the
understanding Of the American. 4 high
Chinese authority writing on the sub
ject, says: 1T is high time for all in
terested in the prosperity of the trade
of China, such as the government.
banks, importers. exporters. guilds
jobbers and retailers should use all the
influence they possess to further any
method Of reform which would insure
stability of exchange"
Bank Failures in Canton.
At the present time China is in the
throes of a severe financial depression.
For years the merchants have been
carrying forward bad accounts. When
tie war DiUke cut between Jaban ana
Russia hundreds of Chinese firms
hoped to better their condition by Sc
curing some of the big profits TO be
made by running the blockade, but the
vigilance of the Japanese brought
scores of these spectators to grief
There have been seventy bank failures
in Canton this year and financial mat
ters are in a wretched condition gener-
ally.
one phase of the boycott which has
not been generally referred 10 is the
hardship that is resulting to Chinese
dealers in American goods. Although
it was intended to postpone the boy
colt until all American stocks could be
disposed of, many firms did not sue
coed in doing so. Others have had 10
accept large consignments of American
freight which was ordered before the
trouble began. While the Chinese have
had their fling at the Americans. they
have had to pay rOundly for disturbing
their commercial relations with US.