Perth Amboy evening news., 1907-01-18
'JAPS WERE TOO
MUCH FOR HIM

They were talking about San Fran
cisco and the Japanese, and the opin
ions of the Yankees of the Orient
were about divided when the machin,
tool salesman spoke up.
You can say what you like abou
them" he remarked, "but they are
smart as a steel trap" Here the
engine salesman did say what ht
liked about them, or rather gave
them some characteristics he did moi
| like. After the air had cleared some.
I what the machine tool salesman wen
on.
1t was during the Jap-Russ war
or rather just before that trouble
that our house sent sample ma
chine to the Japanese government
/ and similar sample to Russia, with
a request that the machine be tried
and hint that orders for duplicates
would be appreciated. We got no
answer from either side and finally
the old man sent word to our repre-
sentatives in those countries to look
| the matter up. The machine we sent
to Russia was found in the govern
ment naval yardIon a scrap heap. 1t
had never even been tried, but the
| Japanese machine-that was in use,
all right, in big gun building plant,
and twenty machines just like it were
merrily at work. There are no patent
laws in the Nippon country SO we had
to swallow the steal"
Here the engine man exploded
again and after he had been warned
to thin down his language he explain
ed himself as follows: I'VE got a
mighty polite letter last year from a
Jap who said he wanted to buy high
speed engine and other requisites for
a powerhouse. He was visiting at a
college friends house down in one of
Pittsburgs jay districts and he had
not long to stay, he explained, so he
wanted our company to send a man
down to talk the proposition over. He
also requested blue prints and draw
! ings in advance, and they were sent
along. | followed on the day he stat
ed, which was week later, and put
lup at bum hotel in a sad little Penn
! sylvania town where he said he would
call to see me. About seven other
| engine men arrived there the same
| day and we found ourselves in COM
| petition for the job | had half ex-
4 pected that and had prices ranged ac-
/ cordingly, so l expected to put in
4 my bid to the Jap and escape to
/ Broadway that night, but just before
! dinner time we all received note
! profoundly begging our pardon and
4 informing us that our friend the Jap
could not get around until the fol-
4 lowing morning.
Next day l received a message
which the writer said was confiden-
4 tial and which asked me to stop at
another hotel in the same town with
in an hour to talk over my PROPOSE
l ton. ] went and the Jap was there.
He had evidently studied our machine
and he picked 1t clean with me- The
things jhe didn't understand he made
me tell him over twice, so he could
get them through his head. He said
that he could not decide right then,
but would let me know about the con-
tract before night. That same day
each of the rest of the gang called on
the Jap and chewed over the fine
points of their machines. Then got
another message. The Jap said that
he wanted my people to have the job,
but we would have to come down on
the price, as one of our competitors
had cut away below us. | telegraph
ed the house, and as there was a
| price agreement among. the engine
men, then, the old man was mad. He
sent word back to cut way down and
/ did it. When | got back from the
second bisit to the Jap, who was still
making up his mind, could see that
the .price-cutting incident was out
among my fellow statesmen, as there
u-nro conuy1c IN al cidnc
I'VE all suspected each. other and
| were surely an unsociable bunch
when we each got a message along
about evening asking us to wait until
the next morning, and that did not
help the good feeling. We all knew
that there would be but one order
tplaced and we knew that some of lis
were stung. The merry quips of the
night before were missing and there
were no friendly card games to while
away dull evening. In the morn
ing we were still grumpy with each
other, and when the Jap did not ma
terialize at noon l went in search OF
him. He had not been at the other
hotel and they told me at the house
where he had visited that he had left
the night before for New York. The
Hldu Vi tHe mousse, VINO SAID -JnaL ne
was attending college with the Jar
gentleman, was driving into town and
asked me to ride with him.
II got in and rode, and on the way
out met the rest of the crowd an6
asked my new friend to pull up. They
explained that they were going in
search of our Japanese, and my new
acquaintance looked surprised. | ex,
planned that we we're engine sales
men, and casually asked whether his
late visitor had placed the order fol
the engine he was going to buy.
II didn't know he was going tc
buy one,' said he in a puzzled sort
of way, and then his face cleared ur
and he grinned Why said he,
hardly thing he wanted to buy an en-
gine. He is an engineer and is going
into the egine building business.
guess he just wanted information
about the American machines.
What do you think that gang
said?" concluded the engine man
! but the crowd said that they did not