The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-10-16

not have boats on the river to show
tine American flag, and have been
forced TO answer that we are little
like the Chinese, somewhat slow but
that the boats were coming sometime.
American business in Western
China consists of tho Importation OF
three things, generally, cotton, kerosene,
and cigarettes and tobacco. But west
of Hankow there is only one American
firm represented by its own agent, that
is the British.Amerlcan Tobacco Com
pany All other firms trying to do
business there are satisfied to let the
agents of the Shanghai importers repre-
sent them.
SHOW, in order to introduce goods
into China two things are necessary.
The Chinese buyers are NOT acquainted
with our language, our customs or our
goods and it is necessary to show the
goods themselves if business is to be
done. A man must go into the coun-
try and exhibit the goods he wishes to
sell. 1t is no use sending price lists
and catalogues to the Chinese buyers
and useless to write to them. They
want to see the goods themselves and
when they see them, if the value is
apparent, they win buy. The Chinese
are as quick to grasp good thing as
anyone. There is a strong prediction
in favor of American goods in China,
as o matter Of fact, and the buyers in
West China are anxious to buy, but
they want to see the goods first, not
pictures in catalogues. The consuls
cannot act as agents and to supply the
addresses of buyers for American ex-
porters is useless. If it is necessary to
send out representatives with samples
among our own people, how much more
necessary it is to send out representa-
tives with samples in working up a for.
eigp trade.
81 have been often asked the ques-
tion-and it is difficult question to
answer-if trouble for the foreigners
might be expected in China7 1t is
hard to give an answer to such a ques-
| ton, but one thing can be stated au-
| thoritatively, and that is that there
are large number of people through
out China belonging to the anti-dynas-
| tic party, the party that has twice
made, trouble in China during the past
sixteen months. their object being to
overthrow the present dynasty and sub
stitute another government. This
party is led by Chinese who have been
educated abroad and who are in po-
sition to judge of the weakness of the
present government and appreciate the
| awful system of squeeze that is going
| on among the officials, from the high
est to the lowest. In the proclamations
| issued by these rebellious leaders they
state that they have no feeling against
any of the foreigners and promise to
| respect their persons and property, but
we know that if any movement takes
place among the populace that the
| crowd and the rabble will undoubtedly
| attack the foreigners the very first
thing. Foreigners have the reputation
of all being rich and the foreign resi-
dents will be the first ones to suffer,
just as they were in 1896.
Friendly to Americans.
The feeling of the better classes
is most friendly towards Americans.
l know this from personal converse
| tons / have had with officials from
the Viceroy down. These of the bet
ter classes appreciate the fact that
| America wants no portion of China in
the event Of the ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the
Empire and they appreciate the return
by America of the Boxer indemnity
money. We have their best wishes
and they look upon us as friends.
"The boycott which ran in the Coast
cities against American goods signified
little among the Chinese as a whole.
am sure that that movement was help
ed on and party inaugurated by local
Americans, living in the Coast cities,
producing on the spot goods with which
American imported goods came in com
petition. The Americans there did not
start the boycott, but they helped it
| on.
ga very interesting country lies to
the west of the Szechuen province, the
Empire of Thibet. SZechuen province
borders on Thibet, and for a stretch of
two hundred miles along the border
many Thibetans live in the Chinese
province, under nominal Chinese rule,
but directly under three of their own
chiefs, or kings. These have jurisdic-
ton over all Thbetans. One thing
struck me particularly about these peo-
pie, that is their method of capital
punishment. In China the ordinary
forms are decapitation, strangulation
and slicing, but in Thibet different
method is pursued. There, when a
man is condemned to death by the
Thibetan chiefs, he is taken to spot
about two miles from Tarshen M, into
the mountains, where the mountain
breaks off into deep gulch. The man
is. taken to the edge Of the precipice
is blindfolded and then pushed over
the edge to drop of one thousand
feet. His bones are left to the wolves.
This is speedy and certain way of
death, and it never fails, once a man
has started on the way over.
Zone of the disagreeable things I
found in Chungking was the fact that
the execution ground was just behind
the American consulate, in the narrow
street. 1t was not pleasant when we