El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-01-25
BY
Frank G. Carpenter
Copyright. 1918, by
Frank c. Carpenter


the civil administration of the Shan
tung peninsula 20 China and this
may be the decree Of the peace con
Germans Hold Trade.
Whatever be the decision as TO the
Government Of the territory. it is
bound to continue to be the CHIEF
Commercial stronghold of the Ger
many in the far east They have ex-
plotted the country adjoining and have
established connections, commercial
and otherwise which Will enable
them to control much Of the trade
They have built a railroad $50 miles
long from the port to Tsinanfus the
capital of Shantung, and this con-
meets with the road running north 10
Tientsin and south TO Shanghai It
is now possible to 90 from Shanghai
Open Coal Mines
The Germans have opened up the
coal mines which lie about so miles
back from Tsingtau, and these mines
viii compete with the japanese mines
at NagasaAi and the Chinese mines
at Kaiping. The Shantung coal de-
posts are said to be large nd the
coal is close to the surface Of the
earth In visiting the kaiping mines
was taken down more than 1000
feet below ground, and when I went
through the Japanese mines at Maya
saki I travelled for miles in tunnels
far down under the Pacific ocean
The Shantung mines have been worked
by the Chinese for generations. They
dug the coal out with picks and car
ried it over the country on the backs
of donkeys and in carts and wheel
barrows-
Has Mineral Wealth.
The mineral wealth OF Shantung
are -aid to be large There are four
known coal fields. but none has been
intensively explored There are also
deposits Of copper. iron and silver.
and diamonds Of considerable size
have been found The province has
some gold. It has beds Of sheet mica
and veins and beds OF asbestos.
Agriculture FlOurishes.
The great value of German China
is its agriculture and human re-
sources Of the 80 or 40 million in
habitants OF Shantung fully nine
tenths are farmers who raise wheat,
millet. sorghum and Indian corn They
also raise peanuts, beans, and sweet
potatoes The wheat is cultivated
with the hoe and carefully cared for.
The. people appreciate the value OF
Indian corn. and IL is believed that
a market for our corn might there be
created
The Germans realized the possibili-
ties OF this market and had devel-
oped it until they reached a total OF
year. The chief imports are raw cot
ton, cotton goods. and cotton yarn,
metals paper. sugar and matches
The chief exports are strawbraid,
silk. peanut and bean oil and pongee
The Trade Center.
The center Of trade is at Tsinanfu
This is the capital and principal city
Of the interior. It is $50 miles from
Tsingtau, where tie railroad built by
the Germans Joins the railroad run
ming from Tientsin. south to the
Yangtse river. The latter road con-
meets Tsingtau with Shanghai and
Tfentsin and is over 500 miles long
Tsinanfu has now 100000 inhabitants,
and Il IS growing faster than any OF
our home cities It has quadrupled IN
size since the Germans came and It's
viii be doubled again with
in ten years. Tsinanfu Is the distribut-
ing center for a region embracing
tens of millions Of people. and
the Germans had run their trade
lines out IN every direction They
packed their goods so that they could
be shipped easily by wheelbarrows or
in carts and on donkeys
Great Peanut Industry.
The story Of the peanut industry Of /
Shantung Is interesting. Its exports 4
to foreign countries now amount to /
about 100000 pounds per annums l
and It exports annually something
like 20. goo tons OF peanut oil. This I
trade all came from a quart OF pea
nuts which an American missionary !
brought in from California about 20 ]
years ago. He gave them to a native 4
and since then they have been
spread all over Shantung. and espec- /
tally in the central and southern sec
tons The peanuts are raised by \
small farmers, a single family seldom
having more than one acre In this
crop. They yield on the average
about two tons TO the acre. and the
farmer is lucky II he gets cents a I
pound for his unshelled nuts at har- (
vest time.
Many Openings.
Our consuls say that there are many /
big openings for American trade in 4
tRis region and that factories OF var
ious kinds might be established. 4
Tsinanfu has an electric light plant. j
differed by Germans. It has a pa
per factory equipped with German
and a modern -four mill 4
with a capacit yof 80 barrels a day 4