The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-10-16
BOYCOT I NOT
CHINESE
ALONE

That the Chinese boycott against
American goods was fostered and kept
alive to a very great extent by Ameri-
cans themselves, those engaged in man
ufacturing il the Chinese coast cities,
and that the only manufacturers in the
Orient who initiate American goods, du-
plieate American trademarks and labels,
are the Japanese, were the two most
striking statements made by Consul
| General Mason Mitchell in the course
of very interesting address before
the members of the Chamber of Com
merce yesterday. Mr.. Mitchell told of
| the possibilities for American trade in
the interior of Western China if the
American manufacturers went after the
trade properly, spoke of the immense
possibilities for development in that
country, and gave many incidents of
life in the Province of Szechuen, where
he has been stationed for the past three
years.
There was not as good an attendance
of the members as the excellence of
Mr.. Mitchell's and of Percy Hunter IS
addresses justified. Mr.. Hunter, the
director of the New South Wales Intel
| ligence Department, was called upon
after the conclusion of the consular adj
dress, and spoke of the possibilities of
Hawaii and Australia cooperating in a
quest for tourists, and took advantage
of the opportunity also to state some
facts concerning Australia in order to
dispel some erroneous impressions con-
corning his country he had met with in
| Honolulu.
j. P. Cooke, who presided over the
meeting, introduced Mr.. Mitchell, who
said, in part:
cit is a great pleasure to me to be
able to appear here this afternoon and
address you on the possibilities of the
country in which have been living,
but do not wish to speak of the trade
relations between this country and the
coast cities of China. OF these rela-
tions you no doubt are as well informed
as am, for have been for three years
in the interior of China.
SIN the Province of Szechuen, where
] was serving, foreign visitors wonder
at three things: First, there is the i'm
mensity of the country, then the density
of the population, and, third, the in
dustry and perseverance of the people,
for in this respect the Chinese are fore
most among the world nations. West
ern China is little known to the world !;
in fact, little is known of the great in
terror in even the coast cities. The
transportation facilities are very crude,
and will remain so until the railroads
that are projected are built. Central
and Western China are reached only
through the navigation of the Yang-tse-
kiang river, for there are no roads that
are practicable for anything with
wheels. The roads are simply stone
paths, and the only things that can
be used on them are ponies, donkeys or
sedan chairs. All the people and
freight are carried on the river, which
is, 1 think, the third greatest river in
the world, navigable for eighteen hun
bred miles from the coast. Beyond that
there is no navigation because of the
cataracts.
Commencing at Shangai, at the
mouth, the river is navigable for ships
for six hundred miles, to Hankow.
Good-sized ocean vessels now go up the
river this far for their cargoes, sailing
direct for American ports. Above this
river steamers ply for four hundred
miles farther, sailing as far up as
Ichang. Above this the river is only
navigable for small craft and for the
gunboats of the Powers, built especial
ly for this river. These little vessels
sail through the gorges and protect the
people of their countries.
"And in all this vast district of the
Szechuen province, the largest, veal
thiest and most densely populated of
all Chinese provinces, having a pop
ulation of over seventy-five millions,
there is not an American gun. There
are over two hundred Americans living
in the cities, men, women and children,
who have to depend for protection in
case of trouble upon the European and
Japanese gunboats. Great Britain has
three, Germany two, France two and
Japan one, while America has none. In
case of trouble, such as came during the
Boxer uprising, when ali the foreign.
ers had to flee to the coast cities for
safety, Americans have to look for safe.
ty to the Chinese authorities themselves
OF TO these other gunboats. do not
doubt but that this protection from
the gunboats would be given gladly 10
the Americans, but they have their own
countrymen to look after first and they
are little boats, drawing only three feet