The Washington times., 1914-01-23
TOM LEES SON BACK
AS CHINESE OFFICIAL
Born in New YoTk'S Chinatown,
He Wins Success in Land of
His Ancestors.

Frank W. Lee, the son Of Tom Lee.
the aged mayor of Chinatown, has re-
turned to New York from China for a
visit after an absence of seven years.
He is in America as commercial com
missioner for the province of Kwang-
tunr and will spend about a year
studying trade conditions in this coun-
iTE.
Mr. Lee was born in New York S
Chinatown about thirty years ago. His
mother, Tom Lees wife, is a German
American. The boy attended the pub
tic schools and then was graduated
from the City College. After that he
studied law in the New York Law
school, from which he was graduated.
and in the law office of Price and
Hoyer, across from the criminal coUrts
building.
He did not take the bar examination
here but has been admitted to practice
N Canton. When he had completed
his law course he attended the Union
Theological Seminary for two years,
taking what is known as the EnShsh
course, which omits Hebrew, and seven
years ago went to his fathers native
country for the first time as ateacher
IN the Baptist schools in Canton
Later he became the head of the
Baptist Academy at Canton, which is
The central school of the roup, and now
is in charge OF all the Baptist educa-
lional work in Kwang-tung and Kwang-
ii provinces, il which there are forty
TWO Baptist school. He also is secre-
tary of the bureau of foreign affaUs
for the province Of Kwang-tung.
Mr.. Lee had learned some Chinese in
New York before he went to China, but
he admits himself that he was very def
cieRt in what he considers his native
tongue. 1t was the ambition of the
young Chinese American to work foT
the land of mis- father and 10 become
sect" then. So when he went TO China
the first thing he had TO do was to
earn the Chinese language.
The language spoken by Pell streets
Chinese is q dialect Of the lower
classes of Canton and southern China
With a smattering of this as a foun-
dation Mr.. Lee studied the Cantonese
of the educated classes until he be-
came proficient in il and he now plans
10 spend some time in Peking as soon
as his work will permit in order to
learn the language spoken in the cap
itaL
Mr.. Lee has married a Chinese wom-
an and has three children, two sons
and a baby daughter. Mr.. Lee says
that he will educate his sons in China
first and then will send them to an
American college.
Tom Lee is getting pretty well along
in years and his son was anxious to
see him again. Then, too, he wanted
his father to see his wife and his
three children. So he was planning
10 come to New York for a visit when
he received the appointment as COM
mercial commissioner, with instruc-
tiOns TO spend a year in America
making studies which would be of
service to the industries Of Kwang-
tung province. All of which fitted in
very nicely with Mr.. Lees private
plans. He came over g month or so
ahead of time, arriving in New York
on Thanksgiving Day.
VIII Inquire About Openings.
One OF the matters which Mr.. Lee is
to study here is the possibilities open
TO the Chinese merchants in Ameri-
can cities. For the most part, Mr.. Lee
said yesterday, these merchants cater
only to their own ceuntrymen. There
are few large concerns which carry
on a large trade with American Gus
toners, but they are the exception
81 want to see" Mr.. Lee said yester-
osy, 'ff the market for Chinese goods,
! PARTICULARLY those made or grown in
cannot be broadened. Take
tea, for instance. The trade in Chinese
Tee has fallen eff and India tea has
taken its place. The chief reason for
his is that India tea is cheaper, but also
is inferior. Americans put milk and
sugar in their tea and therefore most of
them cannot distinguish between good
and bad teas. They taste only the milk
Bnd sugar.
I shall talk with tea merchants in
his country regarding the possibility or
3 greater market for Chinese teas. The !
first thing to be done in this direction !
seems to be to cheaper Chinese teas |
We can do that in China by grouping (
together the many small holdings on !
v hich tea IS now raised by Individual |
farmers into large tea plantations con- |
-Tollcd by corporations.
We are studying the most modern |
methods OF handling and curing the tea !
ind the employment Of these methods !
5lso will decrease the price. We have |
Sui-sin and an OolOnS tea which while |
American market can be reduced IN cost /
Oy these methoCs. They are black teas. |
For green tea there is the Lung-tsenF,
which is known an England as the |
Dragon Well. which can be brought
iown IN price by modern business meth
DDS.
In the matter Of manufactured goods
America prefers japanese goods to Chi
fese because they are cheaper. We have
me silks. fine embrOideries, fine china,
me wood carvings.
Machinery is rare in China and hand
work is used wherever possible The
work is done cOnsCientiOusly and the
,rOduct by the time il reaches the
Amerfcan consumer Is high priced. The
Japanese make similar articles using
wherever possible, using /
.heaper materials and IN every wav get
ing the product on the market as
'heaply as possible. Americans buy
hese goods because they cost less, for
setting that the quality is not to be
iompaFed with the more expensive Chi
lAe goods. We make wood carvings |
~ Of what We call black wood The
wood is hard and an immense amount
II hand work is devoted TO each piece
md the finished product is expensive.
he Japanese initiate these in softer
wood and with inferior workmanship
md sell at much lower prices"
BeLore returning to Canton Mr.. Lee
Slll travel through the Southern States,
earning the latest wrinkles in cotton
nd rice growing. Some cotton is raised
n kwangtung, but much more could be
aised II more modern methods were
nown and employed. Besides the cotton |
mere is a great demand in China for
Ottonseed oil for use IN cooking q de-
nGnd which could be supplied al home
the production of cotton were in
5eas.
Mr.. Lee has heard that a method Of
iantng rice by machinery has been
uccessful IN our Southern States. In
nina rice Is still planted by hand in
mall patches, the shoots being trans
lanted to the largest fields by nand
'hen they have reached a height Of
ne and ,one-half inches or 60 All this