New-York tribune., 1920-09-16
lamont Tells
Business Men
TO Study Orient
Banker, just Returned From
Mission, Recommends a
Better Understanding of
the Chinese and Japanese
Points Out Trade Chances
Suggests Cooperation and
Tact i'm Handling of the
immigration Probl e ma

IN speaking on China before four
s.ndred members of the American
u.nufacturers' Export Association at
luncheon at the Pennsylvania
Hotel yesterday Thomas ". Lamont, Of
P. Morgan & Co., made plea for
. better understanding Of Chinese and
Japanese affairs by Americans. He de-
.,,red there was rich field for Ameri-
.sn trade in the Far East generally,
.nd said that cooperation and tact,
rs.ber than skcptcism and antagonism,
vuuld work to the great benefit Of the
United States and Japan in immigra-
ton difficulties.
Mr.. Lamont recently returned from
A mission to China, and he said yester-
dav that Americans, in order to under
stsnd China, must visit not only that
country, but Japan as we'll. He added
that to know Japan one must know
China.
"The first step toward building up
vour American trade in the Far East"
hs said, ais to secure an adequate un-
derstsnding of those various peoples
oyer there, their modes of life, their
habits of mind, their ambitions and
aGradually the European nations
have come to realize that the policy Of
the warship and of grab is outworn,
and that they could best serve the in
feresss of their own nationals, to say
nothing of China's, by stopping the
race for concessions and by adopting
plans of cooperation"
Mr.. Lamont said the clearest and
most recent tangible evidence of this
was in the formation of the new con-
sortium for the assistance of China.
ut was to endeavor to complete this
new plan of cooperative effort for China
that l was called to visit the Far East
last winter" he said. "The new con-
sortium will be formed on the Ameri
ship and the results should be of per-
manent advantage. 1t is calculated in
time to make China a fine and stable
market for your manufactures.
China Is Awakening
"The other factor lies in the develop
ment of the Chinese people themselves.
For centuries China has been living in
the looking backward, not for
ward. The sleeping giant is now rub
bing his eyes and opening them to new
visions. There is q great growth of
national feeling now in China. 1t is
bound to modernize that country if We
encourage and assist it,"
He said the Chinese had deep conf
dence in America and were looking to
this country as her guide, her coun-
selor and her friend. One reason for
this, he said, was that America had
never sough. to exploit China nor
dominate any part of her territory.
Mr.. Lamont said he had never i'm
agined until nc went there that there
could he region calling for the<prod-
ucts Of American industry so strongly
as China will call within the next
twenty years.
And DON'T forget" he said, that to
keep 4Oo,00o.oGo people supplied with
motion picture shows will be quite a
task even for Americans"
japanese Business Men Honest
"As for Japan and the charge that
Japanese men of business are sharp
and untrustworthy, forget it, TT is
not so. The Japanese business men are
not as frank as we are. They want to
be, but don't know how. For genera
tions they have been taught reserve.
But want no more honest person to
deal with than the Japanese business
man AS far as he alone is concerned
you can we'll afford to trust him and to
enter into important relations with
him"
Paul Page Whitman, an authority on
foreign trade and q commissioner from
this country to European trade boards,
spoke on Chinese American Trade Ex-
panson.'