The Washington times., 1914-01-23

he said, there were ten American firms
! doing a good business in Canton. To-
/ day there are two. The bulk of the
| business now is done by the Germans
and the English. with the Germans
! leading.
The great need in China is machinery.
he said. The Germans and the English
are on hand with their machines ready
I to demonstrate them, but no such COM
mercial energy is shown by American
concerns. AS result the field is being
occupied by the other nations to such
an extent that II will not be long be
fore it will be very difficult for Ameri-
cans to get a foothold
japanese machinery has been tried
and found wanting. he said. He found
IN Tokyo and Yokohama that the Jap
anese themselves preferred German or
English machinery to their own.
Canton Ice Plant Big Success.
Mr.. Lee mentioned icemaking ma
chinery as one of the fields wide open in
Canton and southern China generally.
The first artificial ice plant with Ger
man machinery was opened in Canton
a year ago and has been making money
fast. Ice is in great demand for ten
months of the year and to some eX-
tent the year round.
The currency question. Mr.. Lee said
more than any other one cause. The
country is practically bankrupt and
needs large loans. No two provinces
have the same currency and paper
money of the republic is distrusted.
Business between the provinces is car
ried on with Mexican dollars or the
more recently imported Singapore dol
lars, which are usually worth trifle
more than the. Mexican dollar.
Efforts are being made to establish a
national bank, with branches in the var
ious provinces, to issue national bank
notes. When this has been done the
provincial bank. notes will be called in.
But the development of this project has
been delayed by the political unrest and
the fear of those in authority that tam
TEN of currency at the present stage OF
virtual bankruptcy would only make
bad matter worse.
The present republic Mr. Lee charac-
terized as farce. The educated Chi-N
nese. ne said, are suspicious of Yuan
Shih k'ai, especially since his dissolu-
tion of the elected parliament and the
substitution Of parliament appointed
by himself. The government, Mr.. Lee
said, depends too much on the army
and too little on the people to be
really stable.
AC NuuCdlGu GldSStG, llC Salbs "oAN
an out-and out republic. The lower
classes don't care what kind of gov
crnment they have SO long as IL leaves
them alone to make their living and
gives them protection.
While the uncertainty remains re-
garding governmental affairs. the
great merchants, who hold the bulk
of the wealth of the country, will not
invest in Chinese enterprises or Chi |
nese cities, but go to Hongkong and
other ports under foreign flags when
they make investments
In an effort to fit the great Chinese !
Public for the duties Of republican
the national government |
has taken over the supervision of edu-
cation and has passed compulsory /
education laws requiring that all |
on reaching the age of six |
yearS must be sent to school for a
period of at least six years. But. in |
spite of these laws, the government |
has not the money either to furnish |
the schools or to enforce the compul- !
sorry provision-New York Sun