Los Angeles herald., 1906-01-30
CHINESE BOYCOTT
IS ONLY A MYTH
BARUCH CERT EXPLAINS THE
SITUATION
Speaker at Meeting in Chamber Of
Commerce Says Movement Is only
Effective In One District Of
Big Empire

1.-THE consistent boycott Of American
products by the Chinese has never ex-
listed and absolutely never could exist"
said Mr.. Baruch Cert in an address
delivered to many of the large whole
sale men and manufa cturers of the
city last night at the chamber of COM
merce.
"The empire of china is divided into
eighteen provinces. To all practical
purposes every province is separate
kingdom, having It's language and GUS
toms entirely different from It's neigh
boring province.
For that reason, as the different
provinces have no communication with
each other, any attempt to carry out
boycott on the product of any coun-
try must result in a miserable fall
ure.
1.-THE whole agitation over the at
tempted boycott was the doings of a
Canton company. This company ships
coolies to all parts of the world, and
for each coolie that it ships it receives
from the government of China one dol
lar in gold.
When the coolie arrives at the point
to which he has been shipped agents
of the company meet him and secure
for him a situation. The money which
the company paid for his fare he must
repay with interest at the rate of D
per cent a month.
Thought Americans CannlbaIs
1.-THE company is one Of the richest
in the world and controls over $780,
100000 worth of securities. This COM
pany was naturally disgruntled when
the United States excluded the coolie
class and, In retaliation, 1t has tried
to shut American goods out of Canton
and the southern provinces of China.
This 1t has partially succeeded in
doing, but the aim of American ex-
porters should be not to try for the
trade of the southern part of China,
which is inhabited by coolies and the
wretchedly poor classes, but the nat
ural Chinese market is in the northern
and central portions, and in those sec
tions is located the wealth of the en-
pire.
zone mistake that the manufacturers
of the United States have made in their
exports to China Is in not knowing local
customs and superStitions For in
stance, one manufacturer had a brand
of condensed milk which he wished to
place on the Chinese market. The label
| on the cans had a picture of child S
head.
"The merchants to whom the brand
was shown shook their heads when
| asked to buy, and the reason was that
the Chinese believes what he sees on
the outside to be an indication of what
is inside. Thus as the Chinese have
a superstition that Americans use the
eyes of children for medicine, and when
this merchant saw the picture of the
child's head, he would not believe that
the can contained milk, but fully be-
lieved that it was filled with the eyes
1 of children. He didn't want any chill
dren's eyes, so he refused to buy.
by the establishment of an agency
in the principal cities of each province
the pulse of the Chinese trade could
be felt. A sample room in which all
American products were exhibited, but
none of them sold, would cause an
immense trade to come to American
manufacturers.
ITO get acquainted with the native
trade Is the most important feature of
all, for the Chinese merchant will buy
his goods only of men whom he knows
to be honest and who will treat him
with the same fairness which he eX-
poets to exercise"