The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-01

singapore.--The warmest topic of the period in Singapore Is the question of how much of the vast ses Borne trade between Europe and the Tar East will eventually fall Into the hands of the Germans. Because oi their faculty for finding the opportu- nifty, and making the most of 1t. the Germans are, often spoken Of as the Yankees of Europe. Every American business man knows how success,ul the German American citizen Is in the United states, and to what qualities his success is due. With the same un- remitting perseverance and self-sacrf- aciug devotion to office hours and the details of business that characterizes him in America. the German in the Orient is making a fight for lion share of trade, and he is getting It.
 In America where he competes with others equally as willing to get up early in the morning and sit up late at night in the prosecution of com .merciai campaigns. the German wina iaureis. Tn the Orient at present ne competes chiefly with the Briton. wno has held his ground by rients ot euuatter sovereignty since the days when the English succeeded the For turese and Dutch as the largest trad CTS east of the Red Sea.
 Singapore, as "the second doorway of the wide worlds trade" Is not new in importance. but 1t Is of increasine sienfficance because of the rapid ae- yeiopment of Malaya, and because raii- road building between the Ural Moun- tains and the Pacific will. In the fu- ture, open to the worlTs commerce large markets now inaccessible. The increasing industrial and commercial activity in India will also be factos in bringing more ocean commeroe through "the second doorway
 Until recently the paramouncy of Great Britain as trader in the East was an established fact. and that she would remain in possession of her trade was unquestioned. Conditions unexpected ten years ago by students of the commercial equations Of the Ori- ent have developed. and the English are anxiously asking one another to what extent the German advance will go. If there is one word that VII adequately tell the secret of Ger many's rapid requirement. of an i'm portant part of the, business she is seeking, that word is "adaptibility."
 The British method has been. histor- ically, to invade foreign country peacefully as a merchant, and, eventu- ally, to annex the country to the Elm pire, or gain concessions of territory sufficient to constitute e firm foothold and create a sphere of influence well calculated to insure the dominance of the English commercial houses and the English merchant marine. The German method is to learn conditions in the market and seek to meet them better than the English have done.
 After preliminary survey, followed by closer study of existing opportu- mites and the possibility of creating new ones, the German begins his cam paign by a devotion to business that is abhorrent to the sport loving Briton whose club Is hardly less important in his estimation than his counting room. The Englishman has office hours and keeps them. The German has none. If there is sufficient work to do he may be found in his office at midnight He pays little attention to holidays and his liberal ideas as to how the Sab- bath should be spent do not prevent him from doing little work On the Seventh Day as well as the other six. He cares little for tennis. does not play cricket or football or spend his dime at the races. When he is not ac- lxually at work he is planning for to- Anorrow.
 After ofiice hours the English busi- ness man drives to his club or the race ,course, or goes home and dons his aawn tennis suit or riding toggery. After dinner he puts on his smoking Jacket and spends the evening in rest tng from the rigors of day of busi- ness and sport combined. He is con Scientiousiy following out what he