Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-10


IN ESSHI considerable part of China
Id wi the natives are abandoning
E IA iii homemade oiled paper UNI
IN NEl brellas for imported cloth
aSszszAAl ones. An oiled paper UNI
hreila may be purchased for the equiv
alent of from six to ten cents in Amer
lean money 1t is remarkably durable.
1t Is much more impervious to rain
than dollar cloth umbrella. To the
eye of the foreigner every Chinese UNI
brella, however cheaply made, is pret-
ty, while there is nothing uglier than
the plain black article used in the west
ern hemisphere. The foreign devil
driving a trade with China finds a mar
ket for umbrellas because he has con-
vinced the Chinese that the imported
article is desirable because of its hand
some appearance. The invasion of the
black cloth umbrella in China shows
how readily the unnumbered millions
of Consumers" in this vast country
turn to the foreign purveyor.
Hongkong is the great distributing
center for foreign goods seeking a mar
ket in South China. British and Ger
man commercial houses predominate
in the city of Victoria, which the world
calls Hongkong, just as If it had never
been christened in honor of British
royalty when the island became
crown colony. The Japanese are MAX
ing every effort to carry a fair pro-
portion of the sea-borne freight to
Oriental ports in Japanese bottoms, and
plan to get a good footing upon land
wherever this may be done. The United
States must awaken to the golden op
portunities of the American manufac-
turer in Asia or see q commercial
Klondike exploited by other nations
as the opening of new channels of trade
in China progresses Which course
will be taken? Upon the answer de-
pends the question of whether Yankee
shrewdness' will continue to be a de-
scriptive term in this part of the world.
Just now there is passing through
Hongkong, for interior points in China,
a large amount of various commodi-
ties, running from ginseng to struc-
tural steel. In general terms both Euro
peans and Chinese are buying build
ing materials, firearms, ammunition,
explosives, engines of various types,
tools, machinery, electrical supplies, and
all articles having to do with the in
PRODUCTION of European Ideas of devel-
opment in China. The natives are all
but clamorlng for all sorts of cheap
toilet articles, cutlery, cotton and
woolen goods, canned goods, watches
and clocks. flour, oil and other COM
modities of which the United States Is
a large producer.
One finds in Hongkong more or less
trade literature" bearing upon the ex-
cellence of American-made goods, but
the power of printers ink-as great as
it undeniably is in influencing results
in any commercial campaign-cannot
suffice to meet, unaided, the competi-
tion of an organized force upon the
ground, coupled with large commercial
fleets on the sea. AS to how the United
States should set about building a
marine, economists honestly
differ. That the absence of the Stars
and Stripes from ocean highways is
prejudiclal to the development of a
large trade with other countries Is in
So long as the non-exist-
ence of American merchantmen contin-
ues to handicap American manufactur-
ers and exporters, the further handt-
cap of non-representation among the
large trading houses in distant coun-
tries operates as a bar to the capture
of the proportion of trade merited by
the quality of American products.
The success met with by American
flour and oil in China indicates the
opportunities open to-but not waiting
indefinitely for-American enterprise.
But the fight, to record success, must
be made against odds sufficiently great
to stir fighting blood. The German and
English houses controlling most of the
business in Hongkong, and into China,
are connected with, or owned by,
"home" interests. Such houses are
glad to represent American lines
to prevent, if possible, the es-
tablishment of commission houses de-
voted to the exclusive representation
of American manufacturers The re-
suit Is the Misrepresentation Of Ameri-
can goods in this market, and stagna-
ton for our trade. There Is one Ameri-
can bank in Hongkong. 1t transacts
business with Yankee celerity which is
beyond the capabilities and the compre-
hension of both British and German
bankers. but there are several large
banks, long established, actively in
terested in promoting German and
English business, and a virtual part
nership exists between European COM
mercial and financial institutions OF the
same nationality.
with the exception of the Canadian
Pacific and Pacific Mail and allied
lines. and a Japanese line, all steam
ships entering Hongkong harbor are
controlled by the two nations dominant
in commerce here. AS railroad freight
rates in the United States tend toward
. eravitation of a considerable portion
of western freight to Atlantic ports,
the absolute control of the Atlanuc
shipping by foreign steamships is !