The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-11-23

| VOLUME OF ORIENTAL TRADE.
OF all facts which stand out in the
forefront of statistical Importance one
is most noteworthy, the gigantic
volume of the trade of the Orient with
other nations, when it is considered
that the Orient is self-supporting as
| a whole and merely exports surplus mer-
chandise and natural resources and
merely imports the innovations of the
white man with the exception of crude
Kerosene and flour and cotton cloth.
Notwithstanding this fact the trade of
| the Orient with white men has been
! for many years about $4,000, 600 an
nualIy. One-half of this is export and
one-half import. What then, we must
naturally ask, would this trade amount
! to if it were put on the same basis
as that of the land TO the westward,
where every article known to man is
! both imported and exported in the
game of international trade-what
/ hitherto undreamed of totals would
| this figure trade balances reach If the
| Orient were to suddenly awaken from
/ its thousand-year slumber and become
! a commercial realm with it's 9Q0,0O0,000
| of people driving the wheels of COM
merce with that activity which char
/ acterizes the efforts of the Occidental
Let US look for a moment at some
authentic figures and answer if we may
the query as to whether the Orient is
really awakening. Before going into
these figures it must be understood
that a peculiar condition obtains in the
eastern shore line of the Pacific, a con-
dition which the Occident has but dim
/ " guessed. We refer to the fact that
Japan, fronting on the Pacific, has set
itself up as the self-constituted trade
arbiter for these 90O,000,000 of people
and is at this moment putting into ac-
tive practice a policy of commercial
advancement which in a decade may
find her mistress of the commerce of
this section of the globe. Or, in SIM
pier language, the people who inhabit
the islands fronting on the eastern
line of the Pacific having been the first
to adopt the methods of the white man,
have so cleverly adopted these methods
of trade ACKNOWLEDGMENT, that it is
now practically impossible for the
white man to enter this field save on
the sheer merit of the merchandise
submitted for sale and exchange. Not
only this, but these jewellers in the
islands of Japan have set about plan
of commercial activity which has al |
ready put them head and shoulders
above all other nations dealing on the |
Pacific and which will in the imme- |
diate future bring to an open issue the
question of what share the Occident |
(be that Occident the United States or
European nations) shall have in the |
trade of this one-half population OF the
globe.
FIGURES SPEAK FOR THEM
SELVES.
Now whether the Orient is awaken
ing to the call of trade, the figures can |
speak for themselves. From 1891 to /
1906 China's increase in exports was
062 per cent. and Japanese exports in |
creased in like period 159 per cent. |
Chinese imports in the same period in
creased 1896 per cent. and Japanese
imports increased $3.50 per cent. In
the same number of years the trade of |
this country increased in exports $685.
per cent. and imports AZ per cent. /
When it is known that Japan exports
only those articles now which are made
up of imported merchandise improved |
by hand labor the export and import |
statistics of the country can be un-
derstood Japan and China's export
and import growth are here cited
merely because they are the represen-
tative countries of the Orient The
other growths of export and import
business are collateral and in no wise
show material fluctuations from these
two standards given. Thus, we as the
greatest commercial nation of the earth
have increased in imports but ~ per
cent, while little Japan has increased
397. 50 per cent. in the same number of
wears. As imports are of course drain
on the finances of a country where ex-
ports do not exceed them, and as we
had a trade balance in 1906 of s70,000,-
600 in our favor against a deficit of
S14 600 900 on the part of Japan, we are
vet in the advance and, as far as
financial trade undertakings on an in
ternational basis are concerned. But
there is another factor to be consider I
ed-iust how rapidly is Japan's import
business falling short of her export
business? Slowly and steadily it is
nearing the balance mark. In 1891
Japan imported $25. 000.0 600 worth of
and sent out but 100000 /
worth Of merchandise. Last year she
So, GOO, 900 worth and exported j
ss9. 000. 900 worth. Japan is here cited ]
since it is the pioneer nation of the {
Orient in the new trade movement. t
And so We come to the questionable {
ppoblem. as it were-of whether this I
nation is to continue its trade as in I
the past or whether this new COM
petitor is to shut the United States 7
out in the greatest market of the globe i
and to master the Pacific as the car e
rving field for the exchange of com i
nodities. And in considering the ques- !
ton of the interchange of merchan- Y
1ise the one important item is the I
question of bottoms or ships in which f
10 transport the goods. The factors Z
entering trade are numerous, and for q
he sake of brevity only those of real $
are herein touched upon.
rhey are the excess OF production of 4
/ nation making it possible to export {
he surplus, the needs of a nation c
making import a necessity for home n
the possession of ships c
md the possession of harbors. docking t
ABILITIES and coal for these ships. On s
he question of export of natural re- t
;o,,reeS We of course, lead the world I;