The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-09-14
BOYCOTT MAY YET BECOME DANGEROUS Movement Found to Be of Far
 reaching Effect AN ANI'-F FOREIGN FEELING Placards Curse and RevlIe Those Who Are Weak Enough to Be Per
 suaded to Use Ameri-
 can Goods.

shaghai, September 13-(Correspondence of the Associated Press.)-The American boycott In China is already more than commercial menace. It is now consid- cred by many to be the fore runner of anti-foreign agitation. Business men in Shaghai who at the beginning were in- clined to laugh have been astonished at the manner in which the propaganda has been promulgated In the interior.
 In it's conception the boycott was be- lieved to have been fathered by a group of officials in Pekin. According to report certain Chinese firms with a large quan- tity of American goods in stock took ad- vantage of the movement. They, them selves. had bought forward as far as June, 1a06, and were anxious to keep their smaller competitors out of the mar ket. The latter would be prevented from buying and the instigators of the scheme would be able to sell at their own figures. MT. Rockhill, the American minister, and the consul general in Shaghai., MT. Rog- CTS. assured the Chinese that their case would be considered by the next session ot congress- and for six weeks there was a lull. Toward the end of June, how ever MT. Conger, ex-minister to China, made speech in which he ridiculed the idea of Chinese organization. This speech, wired out at once by the Chinese agents in America, brought down a storm Of indignation in the native press.
 Violent Comment in Shanghai.
 Three students and their sister, who were so badly treated in Boston, were related to influential officials. The in- cident occurred at most inopportune tlrle for there was violent comment In the Shanghai journals, and the demands for an effective boycott were renewed. Ger tain of the younger men in Shanghai most of whom had been educated in Japan, started vigorous newspaper cam psign, insisting that strong measures must be taken to force the United States to revise her immigration laws. A cer- tain Shanghai paper edited by Japanese and supposed subsidized by Tokio, was particularly bitter in it's attack on Amer ica and Americans The native press printed sensational stories, claiming for example that 750 Chinamen had been murdered in New York, and that sim liar affairs were of daily occurrence.
 
 wealthy merchants in Singapore, Penang Hong Kong Manila, Canton and Shang- hai, and pamphlets and circulars were distributed throughout the country Pla- cards were posted in the river ports and the interior cities, cursing and reviling those who were weak enough to use American goods. Americans were hooted in the streets.
 Passes From Hands of Merchants.
 The movement has now passed entirely cut of the hands of the merchants The larger piece goods. kerosene and cigarette wholesalers all suggested that 1t was time to call a halt. But these agitators are in power. Where ten years ago there were not more than a dozen, there are today fifty Chinamen who read news papers The reports of murders and outrages in America have incensed the people. They now refuse even to buy certain kinds of Japanase and Shanghai milled goods because they resemble the American article, being afraid that the merchants will try to dispose of some of their boycotted stock under another guise.
 The men who encouraged the scheme in the beginning are now sufferers. where they had expected to reap harvests. The American manufacturers must be paid for all the goods that have been ordered ahead, and 1t is doubtful whether num- Der of the wealthier men in Shanghai will be able to weather the storm, unless they are able to sell or canceal their orders.