Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-09
HAWAII PIVOT Of
PACIFIC in FACT,
SAYS PlIBLICISI
(Continnei from page one)

so-called civilized forms OF living but
! also-which is far more important
| to 4 sense of their own Potentially
! Instead of being willing as hereto
| fore, merely to labor in the service of
the white man and under his direction
| they are beginning to aspire to be
! their own masters, their own employ.
! ers, their own capitalists.
Even in Java, whose people are
mostly Malays, of whom students of
TaCiology have never been willing to
! predict much advancement, found
the natives operating the railroads.
| acting as engineers in the sugar fac:
tories. and experimenting the intri.
cate cultivation OF the tea plantations
IN India, whence most Of the lower
class Of labor for the rubber and 9th
er plantations of the Orient has been
recruited in the past few years, it is
! becoming increasingly difficult to pro-
cure workers of the coolie sort, while
hundreds of young men are flockins
from the farms to the cities to take
: up work in the textile mills and the
| iron boundaries.
| The Chinese. surprising though it
may be to those familiar with the sit,
uatiOn, so far from being dependent
| race, already absolutely dominate the
| retail trade of the entire Oceania.
| Even the shrewd Dutch traders of Java
and the other Dutch East Indies are
no match for them. In the Federated
/ Malay States, their grip extends be.
yond the retail business and touches
the speculative ownership of real es-
tate in such places as Singapore and
controls the jobbing and contracting.
In the Philippines the American and
other merchants do not pretend to
compete with the Cinnamon in general
distribution of goods to the common
people. -.
AT home in their own country. in
spite of all their revolutionary strug,
giles, the Chinese are constantly en-
tering into new lines of modern enter
! prise. They are erecting textile mills,
i iron foundries, harbor improvements,
and railroads. And gradually they are
| developing shipping. 1t can be but
|! a question of short time-fiye years
at the most, ! should say, when their
| Industrial and commercial progress
| will become even more astounding
than has been that of the Japanese.
When that time comes. it doesn't
take much of prophet to forsee what
will happen when the two great ORR.
entail nations work side by side along
lines of modern development. Ha.
waiian residents have already had ex.
perienee with the mercantile power of
| both Chinese and Japanese, and they
can imagine more easily. perhaps,
than residents of the maitland, what
the effect will be of the combined en-
trance of Japan and China into the
worlds markets.
with manufactured gods produced
On Oriental scales of wages, the Oc-
cidental races may expect competi-
ton that will be little less than dead
| ly. l could cite dozens of articles,
| Occidental in form and nature, which
are already being manufactured in
the Orient and sold in America and
Europe at prices which undercut the
American and European prices; and
the number and quantity OF these is
more likely to increase than diminish
in the next few years.
so far as | can see, the only de-
| fensive course open to the white race
Is te recognize the situation without
delay, and to alter the tactics in the
Orient from that of concession hunting
to the hunting of trade connections.
if the Orientals are going to be able
to place goods in the American mar
ket, for instance, cheaper than the
same goods can be manufactured
there, the wise thing Is for the Amer.
lean business men to begin to get
acquainted with the men and the fac.
tories in the Orient from whence these
goods are to come, and thus put them
selves in position to handle the i'm.
porting and distributing end of the
business No matter how much cheap
err the Oriental may make the goods.
| the American can always handle them
better in his own country than can
the Oriental. 1t is up to him to make
the business connections at an early
stage of the game. These connec-
tons need not only be mercantile.
! They may involve mutual companies.
ownership OF Oriental stock of all
kinds
This is the one thing that | shall
most strongly emphasize when | re.
| turn to San Francisco. | want to
arouse my fellow Americans. not to
the. necessity of trying to. get foot
hold in. the concessions" in China,
after which the other nations appear
to be scrambling. but to the more fun.
damental necessity of establishing
trade connections, of getting next to
the men and firms in China, Japan
and elsewhere that are beginning to
do things"
Mr. Street stated that one of the
ECbvious corollaries of his point of view
is that the American business man
should begin to make it part of his
business to visit the Orient The
wideawake American business man
Of the immediate future" said he, 'is
the man who will take his vacation in
the Pacific. and not in Europe. Ha,
waii ought to be particularly interest.