The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-15
BOYCOTT NOT.
CHINESE ALONE
fContinued from Page One. )


are practicable for anything wit
S wheels. The roads are simply ston
! paths, and the only things that ca
be used on them are ponies, donkeys 0
sedan chairs. All the people an
freight are carried on the river, which
; is. | think, the third greatest river il
, the world, navigable for eighteen hun
} dred miles from the coast. Beyond tina
there is no navigation because of th'
cataracts.
Commencing at Shangai, at tn,
mouth, the river is navigable for ship
for six hundred miles, to Hankow
Good-sized ocean vessels now 60 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
Tchang. Above this the river is only
navfgable for small craft and for the
gunboats of the Powers, built especial
| lys 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-fve 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 all the foreign
ers had to fee to the coast cities for
safety, Americans have to look for safe
ty to the Chinese authorities themselves
or to these other gunboats. l do not
doubt but that this protection from
the gunboats would be given gladly to
countrymen to look after first and they
are little boats, drawing only three feet
of water and cannot carry many peo-
pie. l have tried to get our government
to build gunboats for this river, tried
to get them to protect our people and
to "save our face such an important
thing among Orientals. Many times l
have been asked why America, one of
the greatest and richest of nations, does
not have boats on the river to show
the American flag, and 1 have been
forced to answer that we are a little
like the Chinese, somewhat slow but
that the boats were coming sometime.
1sAmerican business in Western
China consists of the 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 American Tobacco Com |
pany. All other firms trying to do
business there are satisfied to let the |
agents of the Shanghai importers repre-
sent them.
"Now, in order to, introduce goods I
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 will buy. The Chinese
are as quick to grasp a good thing as
anyone. There is a strong prediction
in favor of American goods in China,
as a 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 eonsuls
cannot act as agents and to supply the
addresses of buyers for American ex-
Dorters is useless. If it is necessary to
send out representatives with samples
among our own people, how much more
necessary 1T is to send out representa-
ives with samples in working up for
,ign trade.
''I have been often asked the ques-
5ion-and it is a difficult question TO
trouble for the foreigners
might be expected in China9 1t is
hard to give an answer to such a ques-
tion, but one thing can be stated au
and that is that there
are a 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
obroo5 bn ~, no |