The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1909-08-01

Singapore.-Ths warmest topic of the
period in Singapore is the question Of
now much Of the vast sea-boTne trade
between Europe and the far east will
eventually fall into the hands of the Ger
mans. Because of their faculty for find
ing the opportunity, and making the most
Of II, the Germans are often spoken of as
the Yankees Of Europe Every American
business man knows how successful the
German-American citizen is in the United
states, and to what qualities his success
is due With the same unremitting per-
severance and sslf-sacrifiCing devotion to
orflce hours and the details of business
that characterize him in America, the
German in the Orient is making a fight
Icr lions share Of trade, and he is get
ting it.
In America, where he compstes with
others equally as willing to get up early
IN the morning and sit up late at night
IN the prosecution of commercial cam
paigns, the German wins laurels. In the
Orient at present he completes chiefly
with the BritOn, who has held his ground
by rights of squatter sovereignty since
the days when the English succeeded the
Portuguese and Dutch as the largest
traders east OF the REQ sea.
singapore, as the second doorway of
the wide worlds trade" is not new in
Importance. but II is of increasing sig
nificance becaTsc of the rapid develop
ment Of Malaga, and because railroad
building between the IIral mountains and
the Pacific will, in the future, open to
inaccessible The increasing industrial
and commercial activity in India viii
also be factor IN bringing more ocean
commerce through the second doorway
Until recently the paramountcy of Great
Britain as trader in the east was an es-
tablished fact, and that she would remain
in possession of her trade was unques-
toned Conditions UNEXPECTED ten wears
ago by students of the commercial equa-
tons OF the Orient have developed, and
the English are anxiOusly asking one an
other to what extent the German advance
Wih so. If there IS one word that will
adequately tell the secret of Germanys
rapid requirement Of an important part
OF the business she is seeking, that word
Is adaptability."
The British method has been. historical
ly, to invade a foreign county peacefully
as a merchant. and, eventually, to annex
the country TO the empire, or gain conces-
sions of territory sufficient to constitute
firm fOOthOld and create a sphere OF in
tluence well calculated to insure the DOM
nance Of the English commercial houses
and the English merchant marine
The German method is to learn condi-
tons in the market and seek to meet
them better than the English have done
After preliminary survey, followed by
closer study of existing opportunities
and the possibility of creating new ones
the German begins his campaign by de-
votion to business that is abhOTTent to
the spOTt-loYing BTitOn, whose club Is
hardly less important in his estimation
+
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 Sabbath should be spent do not pre-
vent him from doing a little work on the
seventh day az we'll as the other six. He
cares little for tennis. does not play
cricket OF football or spend his time at
the races. When he is not actually at
work he is planning for tomorrow
After office hours the English business
man drives to his club or the race course
or goes home and dons his lawn tennis
suit or riding toggery. After dinner he
puts on his smoking jacket and spends
the evening in resting from the rigors of
a day of business and sport combined. He
is conscientiously following out what he
considers the best plan, and is not con
sciously overlooking chances to increase
business. He believes with the Duke of
Wellington that Waterloo was won on
the cricket fields OF England and be-
heves as firmly that strenuOusness in
the tropics is fatal That one must by
proper exercise and rest, keep physically
fit, is a maxim he does not violate That
the rule of mod 7ration in work is g good
enc for the individual all physicians and
philosophers agree. That the violation of
the rule nets business to the German ma
ton, possibly at the expense Of the bodily
welfare of the individual. is plain and the
difference between the German and Eng
fish outlook upon the commercial future
is that one is optimistic and the other
somewhat apprehelsive.
Aside from his determination to win bv
"sticktoitiveness,' the German makes an