The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-12-02

so that the, fall in exchange on
Shanghai makes Just the. difference
there between Your lumber on the free
list in China in 1907 and Your lumber
now paying - per cent specific duty, 4
duty of - tacls thousand feet
:, so much FOR your export trade across
trades; let me take pig iron. because
At the present rate OF exchange the inn
port OF Chinese, pig, already considerable,
Is certain 10 bc enormous. 4 rrccue
English commisSiop. Tie Glass commits
sion, has declared that China Will pres
entity bc able 10 manufacture pig Iron
for 50 per ton tSoldJ. But at present
ton Of pig costs lob. at Iankow IL t5cls
CS9) gold. In 1907. H. tdclS was over $l3
gold. so that had your tarim In 1907 given
ncsc labor embodied i'm pig the fan i'm
exchange since 1907 has Just put Chinese
pig iron on your Free List
Nor Is This all; and IL Is not merely or
even chiefly i'm your direct trade returns
with China that this complex and nsidi-
GUS competition is 10 bc discovered.
Great Britain * your best trade custom
or. but IL her export trades are crippled
then YOU must feel th" i'll effects, III
England cannot sell 10 China and Japan.
shu cannot buy as freely from YOU. lith
crto Japan has been an enormous buyer
Of Scottish pig iron. but in tho last ten
months In place Of buying from Scotland.
japan has begun TO import Ch lncsc pig.
4 gold standard. and the same exchange
conditions obtain between Japan and
China as ] have outlined above between
Portland ana llankow. Now. Ii the Brit
sh export of pig 20 China is destroyed.
clearly British imports from America
across the Atlantic must bc impaired.
Now. gentlemen, You have i'm the silver
problem The clew To that extraordinary
collapse i'm our trade with eight hundred
millions Of our customers which is the
most distinctive feature of the trade dc
preston during Tie past two years.
Great Fall in Silver
Those two years have Witnessed the
s,lcatcsL fall in slvcr-thal is. Tho great
est fall I'm eastern exchange, ever known
To history. The Shanghai merchant who.
In July 1907, bought from his banker
bill for lOu sovcrciGnS, on 5000, with only
$50 OF his tacls. has now tu give no less
than 500 taCs for Il similar bin. We have
either got To- put down tho gold price of
our goods fully % per cent to meet In"
fa'l In exchange. or We have 10 lose our
Oriental trade; and how can We put down
our prices unless we cut wages heavily"
And how. lot me ask. can We possibly
reduce wages whom the prices Of AL
the n"ccssarlcs OF life, bread and meat
and wuolons. an" rising fast" If, then
I am right as To- these alternatives. we
have now reached the point where. be-
cause Of the fall in exchange, We must
abandon our export trade 20 tho Orient
know villa. Is likely 60 be In the minds
Of MANY here. that il is not 50 much
the fan in silver exchange that is trans
fcrrine our industries 10 Asia as the vast
Hnt-hoa0 OF "hoap labor There. now gW1k-
cning because "f The awakening uf China
and Japan. am sure that some ono here
Is SAYING. "Nour theories arc interesting
but civ" MS Il concrete instance; show Us
whore fall in silver has ipdisputably y"
moved an industry from the west to the
cast
Hakodate Water Mains
one such instance occurs To me. and.
one instance is probably As good as aud
much less tedious. than q hundred. This
particular case. too. has all the official
trappnes You can desire. Tor II was re =
ported 10 foreign office by our con-
sui general at lIakodat". tho great north !
crn island of Japan. IN 1892 lIakodatc |
advertised fnr t"nd"rs for 1900 TONS of |
water pipes. aud tho contract WAS secured |
by British iirm IN" tender being four |
gulncaS u ton, or trifc over S2I Al the |