The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1909-07-16
life NOT T0H|s IDEA
JAMES HAMILTON LEWIS RELATES
STORIES OF THE ORIENT.
Indiscriminate Hospitality of the Ma
tions Is Not at All Popular With
Americans; Their Ways and Man
ners Do Not Appeal to Yankee;
Food Is Not Appetizing; Railroads
Have Some Comforts.

Chicago, July l3.--Iames Hamilton
Lewis, the gentleman with the beauti
full hirsute adornments, who has just
returned from the orient, related to-
day, in favoring intervals permitted by
congratulatory friends, some of the
lighter experiences and impression:
which befell Chicagoan of discrim
mating tastes in the far east.
Deeply as one may be imbued will
problems of political moment, much a:
one may feel the loss of opportunities
for the commerce of his home city
and of these things Colonel Levi:
had things to say that should give
Chicago's trade ambassadors pabulun
for thought-there are personal prob
lens that each traveller must face fol-
himself and of such things the re
turned Chicagoan brought tidings thai
should cheer many who will follow
after.
1t must be confessed at the outset
that the indiscriminate hospitality o.
the nations bordering upon the fellow
Sea, is not always calculated to be re
ceived in the spirit of it's giving.
"Their way of living, they way Of
dining, if l may particularize," said
Colonel Lewis, is so different that the
American must elect with care where
he will tarry and where he will dine
when they sit down to table, they
squat on the ground or kneel on straw
mats and that is an attitude of dis
comfort for Americans. Their tables
are two feet high, which is altogether
too low for an American. They do not
use forks, but are handy with chop
sticks, which are not convenient imple.
ments for Americans to use. And they
dine on raw fish, which does not tempt
an American appetite.
Il refer, of course, to the native ac-
commodations. Occasionally you find
the sign, Foreign food for foreigners
and then too often it is canned food
that is none too tempting"
Railroads Not Bad.
Nevertheless the hotel accommoda
tons of Peking, Shanghai and the more
frequented centers, are not to be re.
preached even by one in whom the aes-
thetic sense is actually alert, and in
Dalney, Colonel Lewis stated, hotel
of the dimensions of the Auditorium is
being built by the Manchurian Rail-
road.
"And railroad travel, by the way, af-
fords comforts if one keeps to the
general line of travel One may jour.
ney as easily in China as in the
United States west of st. Paul, while
in Siberia one may enjoy all the lux
uries that are to be had between
Chicago and New York. In Manchuria
found Pullman cars made in Chi
cago, but the sad part of it is, they
had to be sent over with their parts
because of the retaliatory
tariff barriers interposed by the Japa-
nese because we exclude the output
of their ship yards"
The inroads that American goods are
making in oriental shops, while meager
when compared with the opportunities
that lie open to our traders, are suffi-
Gent to play havoc with the graceful
sartorial lines of the native costume.
"Why the celestial dandy dresses in
foreign clothes exclusively" said Mr..
Lewis, sand may say that the oc-
cidental garb does not add to his APP
pearance.
"He needs the flowing robes that ne
has been wont to wear. But you can
not stop the introduction of our goods
for all that. Leather shoes are being
introduced more widely all the time,
and you see many foreign made hats.
"The mingling of the eastern and
western styles is not work of art
far from it, but there were worse COM
binations in the Philippines. In one
of the provinces of the islands / OBJ
served native wearing an American
hat and an American coat, while from
the waist to the ground his costume
followed the tropical fashion, consisting
of nothing at all.
1.-The strange part of it was the
American clothing for the Philippine
Islands the natives will pay more for
q European article than for an Ameri.
can.
THAT is very serious NATTER
added Colonel Lewis gravely. "They
dislike America and American products
because they look upon us as temper
airy factors. Our authority is dis
regarded. There is much need for this
country to assert itself more vigorously