The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-06-22

were cheerful and willing. They were
doing piece work and there seemed to
be no urging needed or used to make
all hasten the work as much as possi-
BILE. We were told that on the average
they earned about ten cents apiece.
This is said to be very cheap and sat
isfactory method of coaling a vessel;
but what of the toilers who depend for
living upon odd jobs at which by
steady, hard labor they can earn one
cent an houri Surely these are not the
consumers of our canned milk and
fruits. Indeed it is hard to believe
them able to earn our cotton; and there
is nothing in their appearance to indi-
cate that they do wear much of this or
of anything else. 1t is evident that
| there are large sections of the popula-
! tion much more prosperous than these
Nagasaki laborers When that pros
perity is more diffused, so that even
these have their share in it, we may be
able to sell vastly more canned milk
and fruits in Japan. But we shall have
to ride behind horses or in automobiles,
and we shall have our vessels coaled
with much less human labor. In the
meantime, while these laborers are not
able to earn more than ten cents a day
at anything else, it is fortunate for
them that ships are not here coaled by
steam power.
AT Shanghai / noted two apparently
significant facts: the ricksha fares, ac-
cording to the official tariff, have been
| doubled since my last visit; and the
public hacks have appeared on the
streets in increasing numbers. The
horses are rather small and the hacks
are somewhat lighter than those used
! in Honolulu. The "Carriage, siri''
which greets one on the street corners
is suggestive of King street, though in
Shanghai the driver wears a queue. |
happened to be on the Bubbling Well
Road between noon and one o'clock,
and the crush of carriages was quite
suggestive of Nuuanu avenue in the
period before the days of the street
railway. just what do these two facts
suggest9
The discharge of cargo at Shanghai
was interesting also. This consisted Of
about thousand tons of nails, half
that weight of cotton sheeting, two or
three hundred million cigarettes, and a
miscellaneous cargo consisting chiefly
of soap and sugar. This suggested
some questions which would not readily
drop out of my mind. How long will
the American manufacturers be able to
| hold this market for cotton fabrics
against the manufacturers in Japan and
Chinai The former are, for the most
part Japanese; but the latter are Amer
leans and Britishers with western push
and modern machinery. These have the
advantages of cheap labor supply
denied them in America,-the Chinese
the most patient, Industrious, sober and
economical labor in the world. That
the Chinaman will make a satisfactory
operator in the cotton mill seems no
longer open to question. There are two
million spindles now running in Shang'
hal, and this number is to be greatly
augmented during the coming year
These factories are now spinning only,
to meet the demand for thread Il for
get the technical name) to be woven on
the hand-looms in some millions of
homes. How long will it be before
these factories undertake the manufac'
ture of cotton sheeting and canton
flannel, the chief fabrics which we now
send to Chinai When this competition
comes, will the American, with modern
machinery and high-priced labor, be
able to meet the American with modern
machinery and cheap labor' This is a
laborer in the efficiency which he devel-
ops in this class of work.
One of the most conspicuous features
of Hongkong, from our point of view,
is the great sugar refinery, said to be
the largest in the world Here the
greater part of the sugar produced in
the Philippines is refined and prepared
for the market, Japan taking essential
ly all the rest, BY the way, how does
it come that our sugar reiners can
crowd in upon the territory of this re-
fnery, meeting it in competition in
Shanghai, almost at its back door, as il
werel The Orient is all full of ques
tions just now.
HENRY S. TOWNSEND.
S. S. Team, S, China Sea, May Q, 1906