Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-10-17
OUR TRADE WITH KOBE
Promising Market for Amer
can Goods.
IMPORTS OF COTTON
DEMAND FOR DRY GOODS, SHOES
AND GROCERIES.
Great Congestion Of Imports Owing to
the Lack of Customs Facilities and
Dock Accommodations.
IMPORTS OF COTTON

In a recent report to the Department of
Commerce and Labor Special Agent Crist
furnishes American merchants and manu-
facturers with excellent outline of the
work being done in the business world tn
and about Kobe. a city that Mr.. Crlst puts
at the head Of the Japanese empires i'm
porting and exporting centers. Mr.. Crist
deals in considerable detail with conditions
affecting trade in the Kobe district, but
common to all parts of the empire. He
points out the possibilities for certain lines,
calls attention to the goods that are going
in now and to the kinds that might make
their way If judiciously handled.
Mr.. Crist calls attention to the fmpor-
lance of Kobe, the volume of Its trade and
its favorable situation. He furnishes figures
to support the city's claim to pre-eminence
and shows the shares of the different ma
tons dealing with Kobe houses. He points
to the delays due to incomplete and made
quate landing and handling facilities, citing
the fact, however, that large deposits of
goods now on the docks were rushed in to
get ahead of a new tariff-not an uncom-
mon thing in western countries. Parlia-
ment, it Is thought, will put up couple OF
millions of dollars to remedy this evil.
Kobe was founded in 1868 as a settlement
for foreigners, most of whom were inn
porters whose interests were in Hyogo, at
that time the principal port. The Japanese
merchants of Hyogo, to facilitate business,
gradually moved nearer the foreign settle
ment, until Kobe far exceeds Hyogo
in commercial Importance and activities, has
a population of 100000 and is a thriving,
prosperous Japanese city. The foreign ele
ment numbers about LOCO.
Japan's Commercial Gateway.
The port of Kobe is the great gateway
through which Japan receives the bulk of
her imports from the entire world. Through
this port alone there comes annually nearly
90 per cent of the raw materials and those
manufactures which enter so largely into
the great industrial system which is now
being built up throughout the empire. This
city is also a great shipping point for Ko-
rean and northern Chinese ports. Much OF
the merchandise destined for Manchuria and
China is shipped nowadays from Kobe to
Nieuchwang and Tientsin.
Kobe's exports may be enumerated as tea,
rice, fish, sake. cotton yarns. matches, sea
products tdried fish, SeaweedS, etc.,. cotton
underclothing, camphor, copper, silk Turk
ish towels, cigarettes, fans. mats and mat
ting, straw manufactures, umbrellas, por
celains and general manufactures.
Congestion of Merchandise.
Kobe has one of the best natural harbors
In Japan 1t can accommodate the largest
steamships adoat. All cargoes have to be
landed by means of lighters from the ships.
The customs facilities are entirely made
quate to the demands of the commerce.
During the past five or six months great in
convenience and financial loss has fallen
upon all persons engaged in importing and
exporting.
disc of all descriptions is noted throughout
the water front. Complaints are made on
every hand regarding the inability of ships
to discharge their cargoes. Lighterage-
charges are high in consequence of the great
shortage in the number of lighters Car
goes are now upon lighters which were
taken from the ships, two, three and even
hye weeks ago, with no opportunity to land
the. shipments. Cotton bales and merchan-
disc of every description have been placed
along the water front for miles, unprotected
due to the unusual thrush of goods prior to
July last, when the new tariff rates went
into effect Instances have been cited where
goods have been held on lighters for forty
the lading place.
Imports of American Cottons.
In cotton duck, drills, gray shirtings and
raw cotton the use of American produc-
lions has been greatly increased during the
past year During the six months ended
June 80, 1905, the consumption of raw cot
ton among the spinning mills of Japan has
been 81 1Or563 pounds. OF this the amount
OF american cotton used was 3O4S, 162
pounds, which is more than double the
amount consumed last year. Indian cot
amount. while 81 per cent was Chinese
cotton.
When it Is known that the amount of raw
cotton consumed during the first half of
this year showed an increase of more than
81 per cent over the corresponding period
of the past year and about 0 per cent over
the first half of the year 1903 the outlook
for American cotton at Kobe is encourage
ing. Greater quantities of American cotton
will be needed by the Japanese in the flu
ture than in the past. as the short staple
of India and China cotton unmixed with
the American article does not meet the
needs of their factories.
American Goods Favorites.
On every hand there are calls for Ameri-
can dry goods. groceries, shoes, hats, cloth
ing. etc, by the Americans throughout ia
pan. Prices of European goods are high
and the stock satisfactory, still, in spite
of these conditions, the merchants ham
ding such goods do a thriving business
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