Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-07-08
How About Japan
By Frederic i. Haskin

c u. Haskin
lowing for the share of the smaller
, industrial nations, it Is putting low
estimate on our business acumon to
say, that with our capital, our trained
technical men and our steel plants,
we would secure only one-tlfth Of the
business.
II we did secure that fifth, matters
would proceed somewhat in this fash
ion. The Chinese government would
issue railway bonds to raise the neces-
sary capital. Those bonds would be
offered for sale in the United States
Any man with five hundred or thou
! sand dollars to invest could put it into
Chinese railway bond guaranteed
by stable Chinese government. II
China floated billion dollars worth
of railway bonds in the United States,
lit would mean first that this country
would draw an annual nifty millions in
interest alone, to be added to the
wealth of the nation at large.
or the billion dollars thus raised in
the United States, however, large
proportion would be spent in the
United States at once. All the neces-
sary materials of construction, all the
rails and cars and locomotives, would
be purchased in American mills and
car shops. Whole industries would
, receive big impetus, that would be
reflected not only in those industries
but throughout the nation. exactly as
the munition prosperity is being re-
Elected today. Not only would employ
ment be given to thousands OF work
ers in the United States but many of
our young men would find opportunity
In the Chinese construction work it.
self.
The business thus started would be
a steady one, not boom to flourish
and die The railroads would need
continual supply Of fresh material
for upkeep and extension. The or
ders from such railroads as were fin
anced in the United States would
come to the United States to be filled
year after year. The orders would
grow steadily, not diminish.
The Chinese bonds would give US
more than a market and a golden
lar investments they would do much
to render our financial position i'm
pregnable. England today Is financing
what is far and away the most ex-
travagantly expensive conflict in his
tory. She is back Of France and
Russia and Italy with her bank book.
England's strength is due largely to
her foreign investments. London
is the financial center of the world
because of myriad foreign invest
ments. Go where you will, you find
British capital. Our transcontinental
railways were largely built with It.
Many of our biggest cattle ranches
were run on it, in the heyday of the
business. South America is being de-
veloped by It, 1t is opening up
Africa and Australia. The part 1t
plays in America is shown by the
food Of American securities that Lon
don throws on New York to keep up
her credit. And her credit Is kept up.
AS America grows in riches, she
will have to adopt the same policy.
China is the great opportunity. But
at this juncture, Japan's needs force
her to put forward different pro-
gram. She is too densely populated
to be a primarily a producing nation.
She muse enter the field of industry.
Geographically, she has a strategic
position as regards China. Finan-
cially she is at present incapable of
building any big portion of China's
railroads. Industrially she has as yet
not enough facilities for turning out
rails and rolling stock. AS to wheth-
or or not she is capable technically,
there is some discussion. Japan's own
railways, government owned, are said
to be running at loss.
Caught between her necessity and
her inadequate resources for meeting
western competition, Japan proposes
to act as an Intermediary between
China and the United States. China
furnishes the field, America furnishes
the capital. Japan is to do the work,
and incidentally come in on the profits.
To gain this end, she has to put China
in a position where China can not
grant her contracts direct to the
United States.
From the American point of view,
there are certain drawbacks about this
program. If Japan wants to build
ahead America will not interfere.
vi luo OIIcI uduu, IL AlucIICd WduIo
to build Chinese railroads, she should
have the same privilege. If America
feels able to build railroads without
assistance, assistance should not be
forced on her, with an attendant
splitting of profits.
The issue is clear. It does not ap-
ply to railroads alone. It applies to
mines and power plants and water
works and lighting systems and street
car lines, and all the thousand and one
great enterprises that will make the
China Of the future the greatest field
for development the world has ever
seen. Moreover, consideration Of
tho Industrial possibilities of the sit
uation does not even touch upon the
immense item Of Chinese trade and
commerce.
Over this vital question of Chinese
policy, Japan and the United States
find themselves Numerically opposed.
Japan's principle of the sphere of in
fluence, the principle of political DOM