El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-26
SHE rs TRYING TO CONTROL THE MARKET
OF THE FAR EAST
Commercial Campaign the Object of Which Is to Sub
stitute Formosan Teas For Those of China and
India in This Country-Japan's Strategic
Advantage Incidentally She Means
to Sweenten the Tea With Her
Own Sugar
tBy Rene Bache.)


over there as unsuitable for use, even
by the moderately welltodo. Wealthy
folk in that country think nothing OF
paying $50 a pound for tea.
The finest OF all teas is the So
called virgin tea" Of China 1t is
made from only the very youngest
leaves and is used principally when
marriages are celebrated among peo-
pie Of the wealthy class In gather
ing the leaves care Is taken that they
shall be touched as little as possible
by human hands They are tied up in
tiny bundles with silk thread and
when the drink is brewed. a bundle
is held with an ivory or silver skewer
in a large cup of very thin glass
while boiling water is poured into
thehe receptacle. Under this dainty
treatment the leaves slowly unfold
lose their gray and dingy look. and
revert TO nearly the same refreshing
greenness they possessed when
pIucked-
Indfa's sBrfcE Tea.e
The tea-planters of India are Civ
ing special attention just now to the
preparation Of brick tea for export
to Tibet and Russia. Such tea for the
Russian market is made from ground
and powdered leaves OF good quality.
the product being steamed and then
pressed by hydraulic power into
molds- When dry. the blocks thus
produced are packed in bamboo bss-
kets for transport for immense dis
tances overland-usually on the backs
of coolies. The brick tea for Tibet
however. is a very inferior article.
composed largely of twigs and pre-
pared by the crudest methods
Tibet, politically province OF
China, though governed from Peking
by very uncertain dominion, is an
exceedingly poor country-the bulk
Of its inadequate wealth being alb
sorbed and held by a parasitic Budd-
hist priesthood. But it must have tea
"a beverage deemed indispensable
even by the poorest inhabitant-and
this commodity is imported mainly
from Honkow. in the form Of bricks.
the quantity annually consumed
amounting TO something like 30,000,-
coo pounds.
The tea-producing countries of the
world last year exported about 1885,
goo, 600 pounds Of the indispensable
leaf One says Indispensable" and
yet tea as beverage was unknown
even to the far east up to 400 years
ago, though for a while previously it
had been used as a medicine in China.
Most authorities are OF the orinion
that the plant originated in Assam
where it the present day it attafns
greater size than anywhere else in
the world It was first introduced
into Europe late in the 18th century.
and in 1857 the first tea house, was
opened in Exchange alley, in the city
of London.
Invades Sugar Field.
Not content with trying to upset
the tea market Of the world, Formosa
is now engaged in an effort TO Sc
cure control of the sugar production
OF the orient The Mitsui Bussan
Kaisha (again the god in the fma-
chlne) proposes to take away from
Java the predominanee which that
Duteh-owned island has hitherto pos
sessed in the sugar trade Of that mart
of the world. Apparently. the plan
Is to shut out Java
Last year Formosa produced 573.-
225,0O0 pounds OF sugar, of which
lS2,51S,000 pounds was refined sugar
and 44O, 706.O00 pounds brown sugar
One company is planning a great FAC
tory, to be erected in the Southwest
part Of the island with a capacity Of
LOO tons of raw sugar daily. Mean
while. we ourselves are furnfsbfna.
Japan with the requisite sugar
making machinery made in Honolulu.
Thus It appears that Japan means
not only TO control the tea market
OF the far east but also to furnish
the sugar with which to sweeten the
beverage-both the tea and the sugar
TO be produced in Formosa
Rene Bache.