Evening star., 1926-08-08

Years of revolutions and civil wars,
which have brought political chaos to
China, have not destroyed the indus
try or productivity of the people OF
China. hut have seriously interrupted
their ability to buy and distribute i'm
ported goods. according to reports of
the United States Department of Com
merce. which keeps close account
of the trade Of the United States
with the Far East. and also keeps
track Of the general trade of Asiatic
countries. This explains the fact
that. while American exports to China
fell off seriously in 1928 and are not
so good this year, our imports from
China held their own in most lines
and greatly increased as to raw silk.
Frank r. Eldridge. chief of the Far
| Eastern division of the Depa rtment
of Commerce and close student OF
Chinese affairs. is convinced that
perhaps no country except China
| could keep going under the chaotic
conditions of government prevailing
there. The StOiciSm of the Chinese
race and it's long experience with poor
government have enabled it to carry on.
after a fashion. with really no ma
tional government at all.
Hence while American trade with
China is not prOspering as it should.
British trade with China is being
ruined and only Japan is making real
headway With trade there, the Chi
nese people go on producing and eX-
porting their product and doing with
out imports which cannot get by the
various political barriers.
The latest shift in lines of power
! among the war lords, who have cut
China up into practically separate
Kingdoms. will not greatly alter trade
conditions, and may even better them.
in the belief Of the Commerce De-
partment observers. BY this new shift
group of five Pacific coast prov
inces, centering on Shanghai. have
been confederated under the power
of sun Chuan-fang. who previously
controlled only kiangsu. the province
in which Shanghai is located. Sun
thus becomes fifth in number. but
among the first in power among the
war lords.
Understands Foreign Trade.
His coup d'etat centers on the city
which has been the great trade cen
ter of China. especially since Canton
has lost her foreign trade through re-
peated revolutions, and Sun has been
ruling in Shanghai with a wise un-
derstanding that foreign trade is the
life of his city. BY adding the other
coast provinces south of Shantune
and north of Canton to his zone of
control he may actually increase the
facilities of foreign trade. The ports
of Ningpo and Foochow are added
to his domain.
If he continues to respect the
treaties of the old central govern.
ment. the traders from this country
may gain ground by his increased
power. Fully 80 per cent of recent
American trade with China has been
with Shanghai and with the Man
churian zone to the north which is
reached through the Japanese-con-
trolled port, Dairen. and over Japa-
nese-controled railways. Japan has
strong hand in the reign, Of Chang
Tso-Lin, war lord Of Manchuria
We have very little trade at pres
ent with Canton. which, after every
sort of government from monarchy
to bolshevism, has fallen under con-
troll Of Chang kai-Shek. Much of
the decrease from 10S to 93 millions
in our exports to China last year Is
represented by the rapid decline OF
! Canton as a distributing center. The
other two zones into which China now
is cut. Yunnan in the south and the
scattered area of the center controlled
by Wu Pei-fu. have never been
sources of direct buying in quantity
from the United States.
These great inland areas are now
| almost cut off from imports by the
| likin charges set up by various war
| lords and municipalities. Likin is a
| local tariff assessed on all goods in
| transit. and collected off everything
/ from trainload to a wheebarroW
| by local authorities. There now are
| more than 1000 likin stations in
| China. and last year they collected
! $50 600 600. which is of record. re-
gardless of graft. Worse than that,
| they prevented more trade than they
collected from.
This interruption of trade accounts
| in great part for the fact that Ameri-
| can -four. for example. was shipped
| to China to the extent of only 100000
barrels in 1929, whereas. PAS 900 bar
| rels were sold there in 1924. Keru
sene and cigarettes. two of our chief
| exports to China, declined in large
, measure. and so ii was with other ar
| ticies of wide use by the common
| people. Our copper exports to China
| almost disappeared: lumber and aGri-
| cultural machinery fell off. and only
| cotton among our major exports
showed a gain. If the new car of
the east coast Of China chases the