Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1910-01-29

know of none which does not employ
children
At present a considerable portion
Oh the cotton used in China Is i'm
ported from abroad. We have the bulk
OF the Manchurian trade. although
Japan Is doing its best to compete.
The English sell the greater part OF
the goods brought into the Yangtze
valley and south China, and the Ger
mans are pushing their cloths every
where. Within the past year or So
however the Chinese officials have
been starting small factories in which
hand looms are used. I saw some In
Tientsin and other parts of Chill,
and l am told that there are more
than $1,000 such looms now at work
in that province.
CHINA'S COTTON SUPPLY
China Is doing all it can to improve
its native cotton. The officials are
sending out men to study our cotton
belt and our methods of cotton rails
Ing. and edicts have been issued to
encourage the growth of the crop In
all the provinces. 1t Is claimed that
China. Much of the country lies in
the latitude of our southern states.
and from Shanghai northward there
are rich plains which the experts say
are fitted for cotton growing with
unscientifc methods of cultivation
the country Is now producing some
thing like 20 per cent of the raw ma
terial 1t uses and II properly farm
ed, the crop could be enormously in
creased.
The native cotton is OF short staple.
II Is brought here in boats upon the
Yangtze Klang and It's tributaries. and
also In seagoing junks from Ningpo
and the lands farther south. 1t is
put up in bags of enormous size, but
so loosely packed that one twice as
largo as a feather bed weighs only
zoo pounds. It is loaded and unloaded
by coolies who carry 1t upon their
heads from the ships to the factory.
Other farmers ship their raw cot
ton in basketwork bales the size OF |
hogshead The bales are opened in |
tho cotton yards. and the lint Is some |
times rebaled in packages of 500 |
for export to the United |
States and Europe. The nature OF the |
native cotton makes IL especially good |
for underwear. and some of 1t Is sent |
to the United States for that purpose.
A NATION IN COTTON.
Cur cotton factories should send their
agents here to study the market These
people dress in cotton instead of silk,
and the most OF the cloth used Is spun
and reeled by hand and woven at home.
With the new civilization wages will
rise and the Chinese will wear moro
cotton than ever before. At present IL
is safe to say that there are at least
four hundred millions of them who
dress In such goods all the year round
They wear only one or two thin gar
ments in the summer. but in winter
they have several suits well wadded |
to keep themselves warm. and In the |
northern provinces they put on suit
after suit as the weather grows colder
Indeed. some fieshy Chinese in full win
ter dress have trouble in getting
their own doorways. But even
at one suit OF 20 yards to each person
per year the amount of cotton used is
so great that at least eight billion yards |
are required. This amount Is beyond
1t would carpet a path
way 60 feet wide from the earth to the
moon or cover one more than 20 miles
wide from New York to Chicago Our
total shipments of cotton goods to
other countries is less than s33, 900 900 a
wear. and all we send to Asia sells for
less than l3 millions. That which goes
10 China would hardly patch the knees
~ the Celestials. let alone make their
clothes.
HOW AMERICAN OIL LIGHTS
CHINA.
II our cotton interests could handle
his market as the Standard OIL does
he exports from our southern states
night run into the hundreds OF millions
year. The Standard oil company has
is own agents in all the provinces, and
[ Is pushing Its business in every city.
twenty years ago the oil was shipped
iere In tin cans. II is now brought in |
nnk steamers which carry 10000 tons
Il a load. The vessels start from San
Francisco and land at half a dozen
iiftercnt ports, where the oil is pumped
,ut into great storage tanks | found
iuch tanks at Hankow. GOO miles UP the
Tangtze Klang. and saw the steamers
InIoaded by means OF pump. The
anks there hold tens OF thousands Of
,arrels. They have factories connected
With them. where the tin plate is made
nto fve- gallon cans. These are filled
With oil and are distributed by the
Tangtze and It's tributaries The stun