V/A"SbN Qfntttell Utiiueraitg Sibcatg iltl;aca, IStta 'gnrh CHARLES WILLIAM WASON COLLECTION CHINA AND THE CHINESE THE GIFT OF CHARLES WILLIAM WASON CLASS OF 1876 1918 HF 312O.A84" """""'•* '■"'"^ * iii1iniiiiiiiMffi.S^ th 3 1924 023 293 636 The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924023293636 A VISIT TO CHINA THE ASSOCIATED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC COAST San Francisco, California A VISIT TO CHINA A Visit to China Being the Report of the Commercial Commissioners' from the Associate d Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast, Invited, to China by Chambers of Commerce of that Country, September-October, 1910 The Associated Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast San Francisco, California I 9 I I Contents The Invitation 1 Personnel of the Pabty -- - ....3 General Report op the Commission - - - 5 History of the Trip - -- -... 29 Special Reports: Education ----- ..-77 Cotton and Silk ----- .. ..83 Coal .... 88 Wife Snbttatton THE CHINESE CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE or SHANGHAI, AMOY, FOOCHOW, NANKING, CANTON, WOOCHOW (KWANGSI) and other ports in China; have the honor to invite Mr.- to visit Shanghai during the latter part of April, when every arrangement will be made to extend a warm welcome to the representative citizens of the Pacific Coast and the United States. It is requested that the reply to the invitation be ad- dressed to the Chinese Consul-General in San Francisco, who has been asked to render every assistance in the matter. Shanghai, 18th February, 1909. In view of the fact that the United States of America and China border on the same great ocean, the relations between the two countries should be of a most friendly nature, in order that the existing trade may be developed to the fullest extent. China is gradually opened to the influences of western civil- ization and, having realized the importance of manufacture and rapid transportation, she has opened factories and built railways in different parts of the Empire. While she avails herself of the opportunity to buy what she lacks from the West, she is seeking a wider market for her own products from the interior, and Shanghai has become the commercial center for both imports and exports. Large quantities of American goods are shipped to China, and the exports from our country to America have been considerable, but the op- portunities for the extension of trade between the two countries are beyond limit, especially when both peoples come to know more and more of one another. The Chinese merchants greatly appreciate the generosity of America and her people in remitting part of the Boxer In- demnity, and in proposing the Anti-opium Conference, there- by, on the one hand, lightening our people's burden and on the other, helping toward the eradication of a deep-rooted evil. These benevolent actions have made our people all the more friendly disposed toward America, and it is at this juncture that we extend a cordial invitation to the represen- tative citizens of the Pacific Coast to visit the commercial metropoHs of our country, with a view to promoting mutual good-wiU, and the growth of trade between the two nations. THE OFFICIAL LIST OF PERSONS COMPRISING THE HONORARY COMMERCIAL COMMISSION FROM THE PACIFIC COAST STATES OP AMERICA San Francisco William L. Gerstle and wife Robert Dollar and wife Richard M. Hotaling Seattle E. F. Blaine Jacob Furth and wife and Miss Anna Furth Terry. William Pigott and wife Tacoma W. H. Dickson and wife C. H. Hyde and wife L. R. Manning and wife Spokane S. R. Stem and wife C. Herbert Moore John H. Shaw Portland O. M. Clark and wife Oakland W. H. Weilbye and wife E. A. Young and wife Los Angeles W. H. Booth and wife E. P. Bosby shell and wife E. S. Moiilton and wife San Diego George Bumham William F. Knight L. R. Freeman Honolulu . F. L. Waldron and wife E. C. Brown and wife Charles K. Field, San Francisco - Historian Charles V. Bennet, San Francisco - - Official Secretary Cyiil H. Tribe, San Francisco - Assistant Secretary Ferris Moulton 2nd. Assistant Secretary General Report of the Commission It was not possible in the short time at the disposal of the Commission in China to study conditions in such minute detail as to enable it to put any additional information before the few large American industries which are now exploiting China intensely in their own way; such concerns as the Standard Oil Company, the British-American Tobacco Company, the Singer Sewing Ma- chine Company and others have doubtless each prepared cdinplete data on thfe situation. It is hoped, however, that the Com- mission will be able to give to the great mass of merchants and manufacturers in the United States information that will be of value to them in the exploitation of their business in China. Outside of the maritime customs, statistics are unknown in China, and all that can be done in seeking information is to adopt a reasonable working hypothesis and on it base a conjecture. The area of the Chinese Empire has been computed to be as follows: China proper 1,535,000 square miles Manchuria 365,000 Mongolia 2,400,000 Total 4,300,000 No complete census of the population of China has ever been taken and the estimates to hand are as follows: Japanese sources, 1910 250 million Rockhill, 1904 270 " Parker, 1903 385 " Hipisley, 1876 421 " The population however is generally accepted as 400 millions. Including the districts of Manchuria, Mongolia and Thibet, China comprises twenty-on^ provinces, but China proper is a term applied to the eighteen provinces, these three districts having been considered until recently as dependencies. OBJECTS OF THE VISIT The work of the Commission naturally followed the scope of the invitation extended by the Chambers of Commerce. This was outlined to be, first: to promote the friendly relations between the two nations; and, second: to investigate ways and means by which to increase the trade between the two countries. As is made evident by the history of the trip, the Commission 6 A Visit to China feels that the first object has been more than handsomely attained. In the discussion of the second object we look for the more tangible results. Yet investigation of ways and means to increase the trade and commerce between the two countries has led necessarily to consideration of the national conditions that must be reckoned with as fundamental to any development commercially. While this report will touch upon certain conditions in America which were recognized during this trip to effect American competition for the Chinese business, it must deal chiefly, in the analysis of national conditions, with those aspects of Chinese national life which were apparent to the Commissioners during their journey as vitally affecting the prospects of China as a market for American goods. TRADE WITH CHINA There are four hundred millions of people in China. But w&ry few of them are in the market. The great mass of them, in so far as concerns trade in other commodities than cotton goods, illumi- nating oil, tobacco and flour — the four great staples of foreign trade with China — are nothing more than prospective buyers, customers of the day in the future which may be said to be dawn- ing faintly now. The increase of the purchasing power of this great majority will be the concrete and practical expression of the awakening of China. Though that awakening has begun, and has had ten years of extraordinary progress, it has as yet only the slightest bearing upon foreign trade in comparison with what the future must surely hold. Therefore it is with a small minority, that is, a few of the millions, that the trade of today must reckon. Trade in what has been referred to already as the four staples is already active with almost all of China, though restricted to comparative insignificance by the conditions which may be termed the sleep of China, in con- trast with those new conditions which are known as her awakening. China today is purchasing from the rest of the world, using the figures of 1909 as a basis, fourteen and one-half miUions of dollars of illuminating oil, about eighty-six millions of dollars of cotton goods, one and one-half millions of flour, and three-fourths of a miUion of tobacco, about 39 per cent of her net imports. Last year the net imports of China increased only about 6 per. cent, while her exports increased about 22 per cent. During the last ten years her gross business has more than doubled, as follows: 1900 1909 Net imports $132,974,365 $263,702,584 Exports 90,168,935 200,885,472 General Report of the Commission 7 While China still imports more than she exports, thus having the balance of trade against her, that balance is rapidly decreasing. During the last ten years China's imports have increased about one hundred per cent, or an average of ten per cent a year. Since 1902 (previous figures not available) America's part of that increase has been only six and two-thirds per cent, or a yearly average of little more than one-half of one per cent. This is using the figures of 1909 in comparison with 1900. 1908 makes a better showing but 1910 not so good. Thus it will be seen that while China's purchases from the world have steadily increased and were in 1909 one hundred per cent greater than ten years ago, the American exporter has not had his proportionate share in tlie increase; on the other hand, China has sold the world a steadily increasing amount, until in 1909 her exports had increased to two hundred and twenty-two per cent of what they were in 1900, while her exports to America were but one-third greater than in 1902. Thus it will be seen by examining the totals of business done that though the trade of China with foreign countries is more than double what it was ten years ago, America is enjoying only about eighteen per cent more than she did eight years ago. While these figures are but relative and would be changed at once by taking a year back or one ahead, on account of the "natural fluctuations, they show clearly enough that American trade has not kept pace. Now, why? FAILURE THROUGH INDIFFERENCE At the outset let it be understood that analysis of the causes for America's failure to keep pace is not to deal with things past and irreinediable, but to find such contributing causes as may be actively affecting our Oriental commerce today, with a view to avoid them where it may be possible and by such avoidance stim- ulate our commerce to a closer approximation with that of other nations. And it should be borne in mind that the comparative figures just given do not carry of necessity either discouragement or even proof of failure in an endeavor, for the facts seem to point, in any investigation into the status of American trade with the Orient, that one of the causes operating most potently to produce those results is the positive indifference of American producers toward that very trade. It is not so much that we have failed as it is that we have not tried. This failure to try has come, of course, from preoccupation at home- and the abiHty of the home market to absorb the home pjoduct at better prices than could be obtained 8 A Visit to China in the Orient. But this is a condition that cannot last, that draws nearer its end with every year, and the reason for discussing Oriental trade earnestly lies in the wisdom of foresight and the value of preparation for new conditions. It is a fact that in the past the American producer has made little effort to secure his share of the Oriental trade and in almost all the cases where he has desired that trade he has not gone into the Orient personally for the business, nor has he packed his produce in a manner calculated to appeal to Oriental taste. Con- sular reports, writers and returned travelers have reiterated this charge and urged American business men to send their best repre- sentatives to the East and to cater to the taste of the Eastern market, and the charge is made just about as strongly today as in the past. The apparent indifference of American producers to trade with the Orient is not necessarily blameworthy, save from the Oriental viewpoint. The product of the American factories designed for the American market and catering to a class of people living under a relatively high wage scale is of better quality and consequently more expensive than those goods would be which would success- fully compete for the trade of the Orient, where the individual earning capacity is relatively very small and the buying capacity small also. Other countries having a greater demand at home for inferior goods are in a better position to supply the same to the Oriental market than the American would be. So far as America is concerned, this condition- will obtain until improved conditions in China shall increase the earning capacity of the Chinese and in consequence increase the purchasing power of the people. When the buying capacity of the Chinese, as a people, shall have in- creased to the point where it' will show a profit for the sale of American goods, it is safe to assume that the American will be as eager for the trade as the trader of any other country. It must be borne in mind that China is annually increasing her own output of cotton goods, flour, iron, etc., all manufactured under naturally favorable conditions on a very low wage scale. These products are manufactured, under the impulse of the new movement, to supply the demand for cheap goods, and thus they offer a more serious competition to those countries now competing successfully with America than to the higher class American product. China will undoubtedly develop, in the next quarter-century, into a great manufacturing nation; at the same time, her demand for a better and different class of goods than she herself can produce will increase. Goods into which mechanical skill and inven- General Report of the Commission 9 tive genius enter will be supplied by America, now and in the future predominant in that line. Meanwhile let us hope that America will sell the modern machinery with which China is to work out her destiny. There have been other causes, less important than the chief one just outlined, but all of them contributing to retard the growth of America's Oriental trade. The power of the guilds which have made boycotts possible and effective for comparatively trivial reasons, the lack of a merchant marine to foster trade, the insta- bility of China's currency, whereby the steadily depreciated value of the Chinese Mexican dollar has increased the cost of American goods, the distance, all have operated against extension of Ameri- can trade. Yet relief from all these untoward conditions is not unlikely. CHINA'S AWAKENING As has been said, the chief hope of the extension of America's trade lies in the increasing power to purchase on the part of the great ma- jority of the four hundred millions of China. It is easy to imagine the enormous extent of that trade when the purchasing power of so great a people shall have increased. The Commission went to China realizing that the hope of trade lies in a people's ability to buy, and we observed with keen interest the status of those factors which must be considered fundamental in the development of purchasing power. China herself has realized and is realizing more clearly right along that the time has come when she can no longer remain in isolation from a world that has been made too small, by improved communication, to allow any division of it to stand aloof. And she knows, though not generally admitting it, that to conform she must reform. The reform factors which do most to change the purchasing power of the people relate to the most important phases of the national life; they concern, first of all, the government, then in varying degree, (2) education, (3) communications, (4) development of natural resources, (5) competitive conditions of production and (6) national currency reform. GOVERNMENT REFORMS Government reform in China is the great issue there and the whole world is watching it with the keenest interest. The Com- mission returns from that countcy convinced that reform is more than simply in the air, that it has definitely started, and that it has acquired a momentum that will prevent any material arresting of the movement. If the collection of the revenues of China can be 10 A Visit to China put upon a modern business basis which would include an adequate import tax but the abolition of the very offensive "likin" barrier, and if the corps of officials, among whom are many men of great capacity and merit, can be put upon a definite income basis, thereby doing away with the present acknowledged and legiti- matized system known colloquially as "squeeze," the first great step toward a centralization of government will have been taken and all parties interested, from the producer to the government, will obtain their fair share of the wealth produced. This will give to the producer a proper increment from his effort and the pur- chasing power of the great frugal industrial masses of the Empire would thus be increased to the great benefit not only of internal - trade but of the commerce of the world and of America in par- ticular. One of the results that will accrue from reforms in official life will be a closer relation between official and merchant, heretofore too widely separated in interest. Photographs taken during our visit to China show officials and merchants mixing in our reception, a really novel sight in China and one in which we took particular pleasure, as arising from our visit, for we know that in the future the merchant must march side by side with the official in the development of the new China. From now on that portion of the Boxer indemnity returned to China by the United States is to be used for the education of the certain picked Chinese youths in America. Students- now returning are being absorbed into official life, and thus western education will be a factor in government reform. THE NEW EDUCATION For educational reform, as will be nqted in the report of the Committee on Education appended hereto, is hardly second to reform in government in Cliina today, and is intimately bound up with it, for it was the government that observed the edu- cational example of the missionaries and abolished the ancient system of examination in classical learning. This radical step was brought about by imperial edict in 1905. Today China is adding modern education to the acquirement of learning with which she has so long been satisfied. The interest in this new education is vital and very real. Athletics has been added, as a safety-valve to study; during our visit, there was held the first intercollegiate athletic meet, largely stimulated by the Y. M. C. A., whose work is in great vogue at present. The experiment of compulsory education is being tried and so far as scanty means will allow, education is being offered to the whole people. And General Report of the Commission 11 notable in this movement is the education of girls, a departure which not only concerns the hfe of the people but their trad« as well. The officials and gentry of China are also very much alive to the importance of improving the sanitary conditions throughout the Empire. This movement inust make slow headway in the face of the prejudice and old traditions of the less enhghtened masses, but nevertheless decided progress has and will be made. Among others the Harvard Medical School of Harvard University appreciates the great importance of this work and, assured of the co- operation of the officials of China, is now establishing at Shanghai a medical school and research laboratory for the exhaustive study of the contagious menacing diseases of China, all for the purpose of developing a corps of native sanitarians, who will form the nucleus of a new sanitary movement for the Chinese. When the natives are trained to do this work it can be done more easily and with less opposition than the, same work can be done by foreigners. It behooves the Pacific Coast to interest itself in any and all move- ments tending toward bettering the health conditions of all the Oriental nations. Japan and the Philippine Islands have already made enormous strides toward the eradication of contagious diseases and will doubtless add yearly to the efficiency of the serv- ice in that direction. When China gets in step with the same sanitary progress the menace which the. health conditions of the Orient have previously been to the United States will become a thing of the past, and this in itself will do wonders toward making a free flow of travel in both directions, with the resultant increase in reciprocal trade.* INCREASED COMMUNICATION Fifteen years ago China had ten miles of railroad; today she shows approximately six thousand miles of constructed road. This fact alone may illustrate the extent of the development upon which rests the hope of an improved market for American goods. To be sure, this railway construction has been done almost entirely under foreign auspices and foreigners, i. e., Europeans, have reaped the commercial benefits by being on the ground and in control; but America's insistence in the future upon participation in such development work will insure her share in furnishing the equip- ment for which China will look abroad. And only just now has appeared the express business, managed by Chinese, following * Since the adoption of this report, the California Legislature has made an appropriation of 15,000 annually for the purpose of aiding this sanitary work in China. 12 A Visit to China railway development as a natural consequence. Eight years ago the postofSce handled twenty-two million pieces of mail, last year one hundred and seventy million pieces. The postoffice and the railroads are effective barometers of trade. When the develop- ment of both shall have put those millions of people in touch with one another, when the barriers of dialect fall before this march of communication, a united China will be made possible and commerce of all kinds will feel the spur of decreased resistance to trade. NATURAL RESOURCES With the increased communications and improved facilities of transportation, comes increased facihty for the development of the natural resources of the country. It is only by the develop- ment of these resources — the changing of potential wealth to tangible wealth — that China can put herself in an independent financial condition. China's wealth is practically immeasurable, but it is relatively potential, and largely unknown even to herself, for little has been done toward developing the stores of mineral wealth whose indications are shown to casual examination. Large deposits of iron are known to exist along the Yangtse River, especially in Szechuen Province, 'and deposits have been found also in Honan,Chih,Fukien and Qwantungprovinces,from north to south, east and west of the great Empire. This knowledge comes almost wholly from outcroppings, as no prospecting or developing of any importance has been done, excepting at Ta Yeh in the province of Hupeh. This mine we visited. There we found a mountain of hematite ore, 500 feet high, worked as a quarry and producing for China, Japan and America annually, about 500,000 tons of ore, running approximately 67 per cent iron. Only three of the districts that contain deposits of coal, and China is a country of coal, are producing in quantit}^ There are anthracite mines near Peking, and bituminous mines at Tong Shan, near Tientsin. We visited the latter. The Ping Shiang mines, on the Yangtse River above Hankow, produce great quantities of good coking coal. There are less important mines, many of them worked in the most primitive manner, in Honan and Shansi, Szechuen and Shantung, the last being German mines. Many writers agree that China has more coal than the rest of the world put together, yet she imports annually a million and a half tons. Such is the sleep from which she is awakening. With all her vast mineral wealth China exports but a trifling amount of iron, tin and antimony; she is a copper country, yet she imports General Report of the Commission 13 copper annually to make her "copper cash" currency. Nothing could so quickly throw the balance of trade in China's favor as the modern development of her_ mineral resources. The timber wealth of China today is along the Yalu River, in Manchuria and along the upper Yangtse. This lumber is floated immense distances in rafts. In the neighborhood of Foochow the Foochow poles are produced in great quantities and reforestration carefully conducted, so that the supply is practically inexhaustible. COMPETITIVE PRODUCTION China has made some headway along the hues of scientific agriculture. The experimental station at Canton and, in a measure, the botanical gardens at Peking, Hangchow and other places are expressions of this progress. But vastly more of this is necessary in a country which has been agricultural and crowded for centuries and whose soil has therefore become depleted. China needs to import and develop experts to study the pests that war upon the 'cotton and silk industries; to study modern methods of irrigation, crop rotation and fertihzation; to investigate the diseases of livestock; all to the end that the unexampled thrift and industry of the husbandman, rightly placed by the Chinese high in their social scale, may obtain full reward for his efforts. When this is accomplished his purchasing power will automati- cally rise and the market for American goods will expand. In the inevitable development of China into a great manu- facturing nation, she must set aside those old ways of manu- *f acturing which have been sufficient to her in the past, and adopt such modern methods as will put her in a competing position before the world. Progress has been made in this direction, more in the weaving of cotton than silk. The ancient custom of home weaving must give way to the niill with its modern mechanical equipment or the business must inevitably go to energetic and ,more progressive rivals. CURRENCY REFORM National currency reform is needed, to the end that the currency representing the medium of exchange may be uniform and stable.' It is not possible in a report of this character to discuss ade- quately all the ramifications and peculiarities of the present financial system. The subject is too great to come within our survey, but any parties contemplating business connections in China should study this proposition in detail because it will be a vital element in their business. Mr. Morse's book on China and Mr. Millard's book on "America, and the Far Eastern Question" 14 A Visit to China will give some definite ideas which will afford a very good founda- tion for a study of the subject. It must be borne in mind that the purchasing . masses of the Chinese use the "copper cash" as money. The continual depre- ciation of this money, varying throughout the provinces, has reduced the earning power and hence the purchasing power of the people and has operated as a hindrance to trade. The general movement for currency reform, by which the currency will become national instead of provincial, is under way, but it is sure to be among the last to be made effective, owing to the extent of the opposition. Given reform of these principal factors — government, edu- cation, communication, development of natural resources, conditions of production, currency — all of which are under way and making rational progress — the purchasing power of the people, upon which depends extension of American trade, will respond with results that must mean enormous profit to.producers prepared to take advantage of it. The low purchasing power of the Chinese masses is the funda- mental resistance which American trade has experienced. Yet there are other resistances, which must be removed, if American trade is to get full advantage of changing conditions in China. THE VALUE OF FRIEKDSHIP One of these, namely, a feeling of unfriendliness, the Com- mission believes its visit has done much to ameliorate. It is a* fact, of course, that at the bottom the Chinese people are more friendly to America than to any other nation. This disposition was emphasized and reiterated throughout our trip, by official and merchant at banquet and meeting, and what is more signifi- cant, by the Chinese newspapers as a universal attitude toward us. However, the question of CWnese exclusion is a live one, more especially in southern China, and as southern China, repre- sented chiefly by Canton, is now and will continue to be America's chief point of contact with the trade of China, this question cannot be dodged or minimized in an analysis of the resistances to trade. Thomas F. Millard, an authority on America's relations with China, said recently: "Of perhaps greater importance to the develop- ment of American trade in China than the methods of competitors is the maintenance of equitable relations between the two countries. Chinese officials are beginning to realize that her exports must be increased or the drain of the balance of trade against her, now considerable, may be felt in her forthcoming industrial reorgahi- General Report of the Commission 15 zation and they are surveying the world for prospective markets. I find that generally they regard the United States as the most promising of these. Here lies America's opportunity." There is practically but one stumbling-block to the maintenance of friendly relations between the two countries. In the midst of Canton's cordial and. extravagant welcome to the Commission at a trade conference with the leading merchants of South China these men stated frankly that the only resistance to such trade as America shares on equal footing with other countries is the antagonism created by the unjust treatment at American ports of Chinese entitled under the treaty to land^ No protest was made against the treaty; complaint was wholly against the manner of the administration of the exclusion rules enacted under it. Boycott hung in the air as the result. A protest had already been drafted to the President of the United States, reciting many instances of oppression and asking that proper certificates be obtainable from American representatives in China. The Commission met this question as best it could, being under the necessity of admitting, from previous investi- gation made at the port of San Francisco by one of its members, that all was not as it should be, and the success of this effort may be seen in the calling off of intended discrimination against American goods. Such effects can be nothing more than tem- porary. It behooves our government in the interest of our inter- national trade to pay attention to such justice as may lie in the claims of the Chinese. This Commission feels strongly that rules in accordance with the recommendations made by the special investigation committees of the San Francisco Chamber of Com- merce and the Merchants Exchange of that city in August, 1910, should be made operative. It is especially gratifjdng to feel that the conditions objected to by our Chinese friends, and undoubtedly with a large measure of justice, will probably be satisfactorily and quickly adjusted. Such adjustment will open the way to an increased facility of commercial intercourse and remove a serious element of friction that now tends to render ineffective, at least in the center of China's foreign trade, the best intentioned overtures" and to nullify the good results of friendly interchange. The petition above referred to, reciting these grievances, was transmitted by the Commission to the President of the United States. The matter was taken up in proper course by the Department of State, and the following letter received bearing upon the subject: 16 A Visit to China "January 10th, 1911. Mr. Willis Booth, President, Associated Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast, Los Angeles, California. Sir: I have read with interest the petition transmitted to the President of the United States by your letter of December 19th, 1910, which was referred to this department. The suggestion contained in the petition that immigration officers be sent to China for the purpose of examining Chinese who desire to come to the United States is a matter that was taken up with the Department of Com- merce and Labor some time ago, and it is hoped that the arrangement will be found possible. The Department of State will be glad to receive the dita of which you speak with regard to the immigration condition in the southern part of China. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, [signed] p. E. Knox." It will be seen that the movement is well under way and that a great big tangible result of our trip to China is here in evidence — certainly an earlier and more practical result than any of us could have anticipated. Assuming this one obstacle to the natural movement of trade between China and America to be permanently removed, we then have before us to consider the question of distance and means of transportation of mails and products the, conditions of which now operate in resistance to trade. THE DISADVANTAGE OF DISTANCE The trans-Siberian railway tends to make the natural route of travel for both mails and buyers lie in the direction of Europe. The time of mail dehvery between Shanghai and Berhn is 14 days. The best that is being done on regular service from San Francisco to Shanghai is 21 days. The route from Seattle is somewhat quicker but too occasional to be used in comparison. The difference of a week in each direction makes the European manufacturer really two weeks nearer his market than the Ameri- can manufacturer. This is an extremely important item in modern business competition. It must be reckoned with and minimized to the last degree possible before trade can have its best chance. Any discussion of trade conditions in China as they relate to America is incomplete unless it includes a consideration of the Philippine Islands and their bearing on the subject. In the opinion of this Commission the resistance of distance, discussed General Report of the Commission 17 above, is more nearly to be overcome through the Philippine Islands than in any other way. THE GREAT ADVANTAGE OF THE PHILIPPINES Consider for a moment the potentiality of those islands. During the visit of some of the Commissioners to Manila, we learned from the Manila Merchants Association that the land area is 125,924 square- miles and the population eight millions. This is thirty-six times the area of Porto Rico and eight times the popu- lation. The statement is made, but not verified, that there are more arable acres in the Philippine Islands than in the original empire of Japan. The islands have enormous natural resources, in rich deposits of gold, silver, copper and vast forests of hardwood. They produce a large variety of agricultural commodities, ranging through the entire list of tropical products. Under proper de- velopment it is estimated that the Philippines can produce all the cocoa, coffee, rubber and raw silk that is needed in American mar- kets; this in addition to the production of tobacco, the shipments of which to the United States are already assuming large propor- tions. Last year the United States purchased from tropical countries the commodities Hsted above (including sugar, also) to the extent of $366,000,000 and sold to those countries $105,000,000, a balance of trade against the United States of $261,000,000. This is an example of the unprofitable commercial relations maintained by the United States with countries which sell it the commodities which might easily be produced in the Philippines and which doubtless will some day be produced there in quantities sufficient to supply the needs of the American people. In this development lies the great hope of the American mer- chant marine on the Pacific Ocean, so much discussed today. The value of cargo carried in American ships from the United States to the Philippines increased from $1,955,36'2 in 1909 to. $4,934,051 in 1910. These figures in themselves are not large but their significance is of vast importance. Under the present tariff bill the business of the port of Manila is increasing by leaps and bounds. This rapidly increasing commerce to America, together with the return trade which must follow, will give us, necessarily, a merchant^ marine worthy of the name, and the American flag, once the most conspicuous in the far eastern waters, will be in a fair way to come again into its own. Coming events cast their shadows before. A line of steamships is now plying between Manila and Amoy, c^stributing American goods in China by way of the latter port, and in November a line of ships which had been 18 A Visit to China plying for some years between the Philippines and Hongkong under the British flag was transferred to the American flag in order to engage in the rich coastwise inter-island traffic now governed by the shipping laws of the United States. Thus evi- dence is already with us as to the part which the Philippines are to play in the Far Eastern situation. In China and the islands commercially adjacent to the Philip- pines there is a population of not less than 600,000,000 people. As the Philippines increase with the growth of industry and the pieople attain a consuming capacity consonant with their capacity to produce, the requirements of their market, which the United States will undoubtedly control, will necessitate the carrying- of permanent stocks in Manila, which also can be drawn upon to supply the trade to China and adjacent territory. American manufacturers will then have an advantage in the competition for Chinese trade that cannot be secured by any European country, for the reason that no European country has a base in the Orient with a territory of any considerable extent whose trade it can be assured of in the measure that will warrant it in carrying large stocks to supply. The natural results of these conditions will be that American business houses catering for the trade of the East will carry their principal stocks at Manila, with agencies in the various markets of China and adjacent territory. Ultimately a certain amount of manufacturing will be carried on in the East, preferably in the Phihppines, perhaps in China, under' conditions that will enable it to compete successfully with all comers. PRESENT POSSIBILITIES So much for the analysis of the past. and prophecy for the future. Now, what about those lines of special endeavor which, from the observations made by this Commission, maj^ be profit- ably pursued at once. An American merchant or manufacturer desiring to do business in China should study the condition very carefully before deter- mining his method of exploitation. He must not expect to do business in the way it is done at home. He must adjust himself to the peculiar Oriental desires and temperament. He must realize that it will doubtless be easier for him to conform to the established ideas than it will be to endeavor to make their customs conform to his and to what is to them an unknown standard of business. Business of course must be done either through a broker or the estabfishment of direct offices. The plan to be adopted depends entirely upon the nature and* volume of business. General Report of the Commission 19 The Standard Oil Company, the Singer Sewing Machine Company and the British- American Tobacco Company all are concerns which are doing business direct with agencies in all desirable towns and all are making decided headway. In doing business in this way one must expect to conform either wholly or in part to the Chinese compradore system. A com- pradore is the "go-between" between the merchants and the Chinese customers. This system has grown so that all the foreign banks and practically all the foreign business houses are operating on the compradore plan. A compradore is generally a very bright business man. He is bonded heavily and guarantees all the credit which he extends for his employer. In the majority of cases the merchant has no personal knowledge or familiarity with his customers and the per- sonality and business-getting capacity of his compradore often- times measures the success of his business. The compensation of the compradore varies, but averages one per cent of the volume of business and for this one per cent all accounts are guaranteed. Judging purely by results, ' the system has many points to recommend it, but it is open to the criticism of putting the busi- ness of the merchants or bankers too much in the hands of an uninterested third_party and to that extent is at variance with the present development of American business, which is every year gravitating to a more direct interchange between the producer and consumer to the elimination as much as possible of brokers and middlemen operating between them. In doing business through brokers it must be borne in mind that the broker or trading company is not essentially a developer of new business. These companies cater to and satisfy the obvious demand, but the exploitation along the highway and by- way, which means- so much for the development of business, is not within their sphere. The vast number of articles handled does not give sufficient knowledge of the details of any to make it possible to understand the unusual development of the business, so that if one's business is to be exploited through re- sponsible trading companies and brokers this exploitation should be followed by efforts, of a personal representative on the ground to stir up the trade and to expand its scope. Merely putting goods in stock will not sell them any more in China today than it will in America. The problem there is even more difhcult and the firm desiring Chinese business must first decide whether it is worth a large effort, and second, decide to actually give the effort. Half- measures are only fruitful of expensive experience. 20 A Visit to China TRADE OPPORTUNITIES Asphaltum. We noticed in the cities of China a continual striving for better streets, and the experiment of using asphaltum in conjunction with stone pavement or macadam is being tried. We are confident that the price at which entire asphaltum streets could be laid with asphalt brought from the Pacific Coast would admit of the development of a large business in this direction. The climatic conditions of China are particularly adaptable to streets of this character. Boots and Shoes. These articles, in keeping with clothing, hats, hosiery, etc., are being more widely used as the change in dress goes steadily on, and the Pacific Coast manufacturer, especially those making the medium-priced goods, can now find a fair market and will continue to find a better through all the large treaty ports of China. Of course this business must be done through the regular dealers, and unfortiinately the American dealers are not many, but just as the American shoes find an active market in England, so can the EngHsh dealer be persuaded to use our medium-priced goods if the proper effort in that direction is made. Carriages and Bicycles. While we have no accurate information as to carriages, the bicycle business in the Orient is bound to increase. It has a fair foothold now. If it were exploited by demonstration and advertising it would increase immensely. Cement. While we found one or two large cement miUs in China, producing a fairly satisfactory grade of cement, we still found that all the large cities were continually increasing the m9,rket for cement, most of which now comes from Europe. With the rapid increase of the mills on the Pacific Coast it would seem sure that if any surplus product were available it would be well-marketed in the Orient in competition with European products. The importation of cement into China is steadily increasing, showing particularly the last year an increase of a quarter of a million dollars, even in the face of their own increase.in production. Clothing and Hats. It is amazing to see with what rapidity the merchant class of China are taking to the use of European clothes, and as the movement to cut off the queue gains headway, as it is, the general disposition would be toward the European type of dress. This will follow the same progress as it has in Japan. The greatest market, however, in China as in Japan, will be the hats before clothing. The cutting of the queue will almost neces- sarily lead to the wearing of the European type of hat, particularly General Report of the Commission 21 of soft hats, and the hat manufacturer of America, by carefully studying this market and making the class of goods adaptable to it, can easily get a decided business. The business in clothing and hats amounted in 1909 to almost $1,500,000. There seems to be no reason why it should not afford a very immediate and handsome increase under exploitation. The English manufacturers are now getting a large portion of this business. Electrical Materials. Electrical machinery and supplies are being sold to decided advantage throughout all China, being actively pursued by some of the large American companies. There is an opening in this direction for the manufacturers that are not now represented. In a good many cases, as in the enlargement of the plant at Shanghai now in progress, the capital is entirely British and doubtless the machinery for the enlargements will come from England; but this is a condition which is gradually changing. American capital interested in electrical development will find a prolific field in China and the development of this field will expand the American market for electrical machinery. All the cotton mills which we visited were being operated under a very cumbersome and expensive form of belt transmission. The use of direct-drive motors on these spinning-machines, with the power developed at a central power-station on the plant, will greatly decrease the cost of operation of the mills and at the same time make a very large business for the American electrical concern which will interest itself in it; The prejudice and fear of the Chinese for electricity will have to be overcome gradually, but America as a country is pre-eminently ahead of the world in elec- tric-driven units, and a big field is actually ripe for exploitation in that direction now. Fruits— Citrus, Canned and Dried. The foreign population throughout China are at present the largest consumers in this -line. The trade is fairly well taken care of by foreign brokers. These brokers, however, represent other lines of merchandise, and naturally do not push the business as would an agent giving his entire attention to these lines exclusively. We believe the Pacific Coast interests could profitably place a first-class man permanently in China — ^probably with headquarters at Shanghai, to push the sale of a number of products — one man to represent all as the initial move in this exploitation, handling apples, oranges, lemons, grapefruit and dried fruit (including raisins). 22 A Visit to China Transportation is no higher than to one of bur Eastern states, and refrigeration is not necessary in transit. One general agent for the entire Orient could handle the business at present. Gradually subagents would be needed at such points as Tientsin to take care of Northern China and Yokohama in Japan. Con- siderable business could be developed through such an agency for points on the Siberian Railway through Vladivostock. There is only one way to obtain the rapidly increasing business of-China — personal representation and permanent location in China. Oranges are grown in considerable quantities in Kwangtung Province in southern China, and supply practically all their mar- kets during November, Dieceinber and January. The apples of China are very poor, being mealy and tasteless. There is a steadily-growing market for dried fruit and raisins. Send only first-class men to China and prepared to remain per- manently. It will take time to study conditions and establish a permanent and increasing business. There is no reason why Cali- fornia wines should not be handled by these representatives. Hardware. The multiphcity of items making up an ordinary hardware stock makes this line of exploitation attractive. In all the cities visited we found that American hardware, particularly enameled ware, locks, hinges, nails, etc., had been well introduced and were making headway. This was equally true with pipe- valves and fittings. Hand-punips are used to a limited extent, cost alone preventing more being, used. A careful detailed study of the market, including the preparation of a catalogue in Chinese covering those most in immediate demand, wiU open up a large trade. Hosiery. The general change in apparel noted in the para- graph above on clothing and hats applies also to hosiery. All the cheaper grades of knitted cotton hosiery are finding a steadily increasing market. It will doubtless be many years before the Chinese are making the greater portion of this article themselves. The use of hosiery made of cotton cloth will gradually decrease and the increase in the use of the knitted hosiery will follow, but the Chinese with cheap labor and using American machinery can make this hosiery cheaper than we can afford to sell it; yet that time is some years in the future and at present the market is avail- able, requiring only effort to develop it. Lumber. China imported from the United States in 1908 131,000,000 feet of lumber; in 1909 but 91,000,000 feet. Compe- tition of native woods is very keen, as the smaller cost of labor General Report of the Commission 23 makes their production cheaper, though generally the quality is inferior. The larger sized timbers, however, for railroad construc- tion and other large work seem bound to be in larger demand. The age of steel and cement is making itself known in China, and this is bound to interfere with the lumber piarket. Energetic effort will undoubtedly increase the consumption. It is only a question as to whether the possibilities of profit will warrant the expense of exploitation. In this case, as in all others, the parties interested must visit the ground and prospect it for themselves for a decision as to. the wisdom of further effort. Macaroni and Vermicelli. Large quantities of these commo- dities are used in China. , We endeavored to get comparative prices between that imported from Europe, particularly France and Italy, and that imported from the United States, but we could not get accurate figures on either product; the major portion of this business seems now to go to Europe. In 1909 the business amounted to about one-half million dollars. The manufacturers, particularly on the Pacific Coast, have this market before them. A little investigation will prove to them whether or not they can meet it competitively, but the consumption is steadily increasing, and if our Pacific Coast manufacturers can do this business at a profit, it would seem to be a reasonable thing on their part to give it careful attention. Machine Tools. A careful investigation of the large manufac- turing plants convinced us conclusively that there is a great . market for tools in China. The shipbuilding plant at Shanghai, owned by Mr. Tsay, the government shipbuilding plant at the same city, the shipbuilding plant owned by Dr. Kwong, at Han- kow, and numerous others were all operating with old types of tools. We explained to the managers of these plants the advan- tages which would come to them through the use of modern high- speed cutting steels and high-power tools and we think it is a safe statement to make that there is not a manufacturing plant in China using machine tools which cannot greatlyincreaseitsoutput at a less cost by the use of the higher grade of tools made in America. In addition to this the automobile is making rapid headway in China, especially at the treaty ports, and the automobile trade goes hand in hand with the machine-tool trade. It is generally estimated that five automobiles will keep a lathe busy, and here is another decided opening for immediate business to Ameri- can manufacturers. 24 A Visit to China Machinery Ice and Refrigeration. Every place we traveled in , China we found a crying need for ice. Adapting themselves ad- mirably to conditions, the Chinese handle their fowl, fish, etc., almost entirely alive, but in the warm sections of southern China and in a less degree throughout all the big cities of China, ice- making and refrigerating "plants could be installed to a decided profit to the promoters of the enterprise and to the decided advantage of the health of the Chinese. The business would have to begin on a small scale and literally grow up with the country. At this time the average coolie could not be expected to be a customer, but the merchant, gentry and official classes, together with the foreigners, would make a market, and our manufacturers of ice machinery and the men interested in the promotion of this line of business should give China and its awakening most serious thought. In the awakening of China, its evolution from an agri- cultural to a manufacturing nation, which evolution is now in its inception, American trade will continue to increase in the fine of machinery and appliances in which mechanical genius enters into the development. While China can be expected in the very near future to manu- facture practically aU her own cotton goods, flour, shoes, clothing, electrical appliances, musical instruments, etc., the machinery for the making of- these various commodities wiU doubtless come from America, as the one nation in the world pre-eminent in this direction. We will, of course, have competition, considerable competition, but we wiU still have an advantage which should command business. Milk, Condensed. Everywhere in China we found the use of condensed milk growing, and everywhere, also, we found American brands, but inquiry developed the fact that Swiss brands are being introduced at a much lower price and the American brands are in danger of having the business taken away from them. This business will continually grow, and with the increased earning power of the Chinese, will develop into an enormous industry; but our producers, especially on the Pacific Coast, must watch this market very carefully or the European product will command the business. We did not find it claimed at any point that the Swiss product was better or even as good as the American product, but it is cheaper, and as we have previously outlined, cheapness is the great consideration in every line of business at present in China. We hope that this condition will change. Roofing Papers. The roof in general vogue on all small Chinese buildings is of a heavy clay tile character and in the main is satis- General Report of the Commission 25 factory to the Chinese. In the European colonies of China, how- ever, and in the modern development in the Chinese settlements, where structures of a European character are being erected, roofing papers are gradually being used to advantage.' In Japan, where conditions are only different in that Japan has been more progressive, a large business in roofing paper has been developed by some of our Pacific Coast concerns and we were informed of one instance where the Japanese were contemplating the establishment of a roofing plant in Tokyo. This is only indicative of the development of the business. The exploitation in China of this line of goods would be ex- pensive, but it doubtless would be worth while. This class of commodity lends itself particularly well to distribution from Manila as a base. The chmatic conditions throughout China are favorable to its use and when it can be properly understood and properly appHed it will doubtless give satisfaction that will in- crease the demand. Rubber Goods. We found that most of the rubber and canvas belting used comes from England, as do also the mackintoshes and rubber shoes. The market for these goods is comparatively small, and largely in the foreign population, except the belting. It would seem evident that business in this latter direction must increase, and while the business is not large enough to warrant personal exploitation on the part of the manufacturer, still, unquestionably the manufacturers of rubber, canvas and leather belting could get good energetic agents throughout China as the business is increasing at the rate of over $50,000 per year. The cotton mills of Shanghai and Wuchang alone use enormous quantities of leather belting and it might pay the manufacturer to get in touch with these concerns direct. Soap. The business in soap in China is increasing rapidly, but not particularly through the United States or the Pacific Coast. This is largely on account of the price, but this market is steadily increasing. As far as our observation carried us, there were no manufacturers in China of any serious consequence in the %oap industry. Inquiries among the dealers only developed the fact that American soaps were as a rule too expensive. It might be that by studying the market and finding out what class of soaps were acceptable, that our American or Pacific Coast manufacturers might prepare a soap that would supply the market on a compet- ing basis. Whether or not this could be done at a profit is a matter that the manufacturers could best determine themselves. The awakening of China will find the greatest evidence in the cleansing 26 A Visit to of China and the business in soap and cleansing powders, etc., will develop rapidly in consequence. Vegetables, Canned. We found a steadily increasing market for canned vegetables, particularly canned asparagus and canned corn. Canned asparagus is now growing in decided favor through- out China and canned corn is becoming a close second. Contrary to the general belief the Chinese are not slow to adopt these things which they find acceptable, and while the market must be re- stricted necessarily to the better classes, still it is actively growing and with a little effort could be decidedly increased, particularly asparagus. The exploitation of this market, if surplus product is available for that purpose, would be satisfactory. Window Glass. In keeping with the change in the general con- struction of buildings, window glass is getting into more common use. From 1908 to 1909 the business increased about $125,000. It will continue to increase steadily if our American manufacturers will go after it. Germany is now getting a large portion of this business and will doubtless continue to get a considerable share, but the steadily increasing business is there to be had if the American manufacturer is warranted in going after it. Wine. We found one or two wineries in China operated by foreigners and making wine from native grapes, but the acreage available was not enough to make any serious inroads into the business. The importation of wines will increase only gradually as the greatest market is among the European and American residents. Naturally the Europeans prefer the wines of their native countries. As the American colonies become more numer- ous and influential, the California wines, if given reasonable ex- ploitation, will find an increasing market, but we could not see where this increase would be any more in proportion than the increase of the Americans in China. The cotton industry and the steel industry are being exploited actively by specialists in those lines, and America is undoubtedly obtaining all this trade that competitive conditions at home and abroad permit. As a resume, it would seem that under present conditions, there are markets now available in China for the products of the Pacific Coast to a considerable extent. Lumber, cement, asphaltum, petroleum, petroleum products, fruit, fresh and dried, citrus fruits, canned vegetables, condensed milk, hats, clothing, shoes, hosiery, refrigeration machinery, cement, etc., can all be exploited in China under the present conditions with General Report of the Commission 27 hopes of a reasonable return and with assurances of a steady increase in business if satisfactory relations are first established, but it must not be expected that this can be done in a moment. In no country so much as in China is the confidence of the public in the merchant and his goods so necessary. Each individual manufacturer must establish this confidence for his o^vn business and his own output and then he will find the Chinese sticking very loyally, but if for any reason this confidence is lost, future business is a very hard proposition. SERVED BY MISSIONARIES In the great awakening of China, now so much in evidence, proper credit must be given to the great army of missionaries who have blazed the way. There have been wise missionaries and unwise missionaries, missionaries with judgment and mission- aries conspicuous for their lack of it, but all inspired with a re- ligious zeal which has carried them on, and their progress has been marked by a" gradual development throughout all China with a desire for the better ways of living. Slow as the ^ork has been and will be, results as obtained have been positive, and there would be a very small amount of business in China today for Americans or anybody else were it not for the missionaries, who have been no less commercial missionaries than they have been reli^ous and educational missionaries. CHINESE ASSOCIATION The commission was invited to China and accepted the invi- tation; both hosts and guests had a double purpose in view: to cement the existing friendship of the two peoples and to stimulate the trade relations between them. The first object has been definitely attained. There appears to be no valid reason to qualify this feeling in the slightest. In the matter of the second object, the foregoing analysis has endeavored to show that stimulation of trade relations is little more than taking advantage of the stimulus which China herself is experiencing toward western ways. One event of special significance, as related not only to the new move- ment in China, but to the Commission's visit as well, occurred in Shanghai on the occasion of our stop there, minus a few of the commissioners who continued around the world after disbanding at Canton. This event was the forming of the Associated Cham- bers of Commerce of China. This association, working like its model on the Pacific Coast, will weld together the important commercial bodies of the Chinese Empire. Such a welding is strictly in line with the needs of China and with the solution of 28 A Visit to China some of her difficulties. This will make it possible for the asso- ciations of America to deal directly with those of China for the settling of disputes and the improvement of conditions between the two great countries that face each other "across the ocean of peace." This report must not be closed without an expression of the great gratitude each of the commissioners feels for the more than regal hospitality and courtesy which was accorded us on every hand. An entertainment more bountiful and splendid has never been accorded any delegation of any character previously visiting China, and it has certainly set a standard which will be extremely hard for us to equal, should we be fortunate enough to entertain our Chinese friends at some future date. The Commission respectfully suggests that a committee on resolutions be appointed at the next annual meeting for the pur- pose of properly expressing to our friends in China the obligation which we feel. All of which is respectfully submitted. History of the Trip On the twenty-third of August, 1910, the Honorary Commis- sioners sailed from San Francisco on the Pacific Mail steamship "Korea." The trip began with a function which was destined to be repeated many times before the visit to China was completed. This was the taking of an official photograph. As many of the Commissioners as could be gathered from the turmoil of gathering baggage and leave-taking friends were assembled on a lower deck. Here they faced the camera, a sort of dress rehearsal for the occa- sions in China when the official photograph should crown the entertainment of the hour — should even dethrone, as in one case, the business of the day. ORGANIZATION From the Golden Gate westward the sea lay under what seemed to be a specially ordered calm. Steamer chairs on quiet decks invited to laziness and to forgetfulness of all activities on land on either side of the great ocean that spread around the ship like a silver disk. The passengers on the big, liner settled themselves in luxurious surrender to the allurement of the time. Not so the Commercial Commissioners. They took their expedition seriously from the start. The day following the departure from San Fran- cisco the Commission met in the dining saloon of the ship and proceeded with the organization of the body. This was soon accomplished, with an ease and freedom froni friction that boded well for the success of the expedition. Willis H. Booth of Los Angeles, President of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, as Chairman, appointed a committee on organization. This com- mittee consisted of one member from each of the delegations present, nominated' by the respective delegations. The following gentlemen composed this committee: Robert -Dollar (Chairman), Jacob Furth, L. R. Manning, C. H. Moore, 0. M. Clark, W. H. Weilbye, E. S. Moulton and George Burnham. They reported _ promptly at the meeting on the*following day and their report was at once adopted. By the terms of organization, the Executive Committee, constituted in the same manner as the committee on organization, that is, one member from each delegation, elected by his delegation, was intrusted with the general supervision of all the affairs of the Commission and with the naming of all the officers and committees. The Executive Committee was com- 30 A Visit .to China posed of the following gentlemen: C. H. Hyde (Chairman), Robert Dollar, Jacob Furth, C. H. Moore, O. M. Clark, W. H. Weilbye, E. S. Moulton, George Burnham and E. C. Brown. They named the following as the officers of the Commission: President, Willis H. Booth; Vice-President, William L. Gerstle; 2nd Vice-President, C. Herbert Moore; Treasurer, O. M. Clark; Secretary, Charles V. Bennet; Assistant Secretary, C. H. Tribe; Historian, Charles K. Field. Later in the journey, Ferris Moulton, accompanying his father, E. S. Moulton, was made 2nd Assistant Secretary. Seven subordinate committees were appointed. A Committee on Trade and Commerce had for its object the practical investi- gation of that aspect of the expedition which might be said to be covered by the second clause in the invitation which had been extended by the Chinese Chambers of Commerce: "The develop- ment and extension of the trade and commerce between China and America." Mr. S. R. Stern, who later joined the party in Japan, was made chairman of this committee and associated with him in this important work were Robert Dollar and 0. M. Clark, both of whom are engaged in trade with China, George Burnham, E. S. Moulton and William Pigott. At the different places visited in China, wherever circumstances would admit, this committee held conferences with the Chinese merchants, often at the expense of some of the hospitable program prepared, and discussed with them the conditions of trade, in general and in its special relation to the locality. Another committee of importance was the Committee on Pub- licity and Censorship. E. F. Blaine was chairman of this com- mittee, working with Robert Dollar, W. H. Weilbye and William F. Knight, and with F. L. Waldron after he had joined the party at Nanking, in China. This committee was appointed to the end that there might be a consistent attitude maintained by the Com- mission not only in its interviews with the press but in its utter- ances at all meetings and functions during the visit to China. The Committee did not wait for the press, it did not wait for functions; it got busy at once. Working, naturally, with this committee was another, the Committee on Program and Entertainment. R. M. HotaUng was Chairman, with C. Herbert Moore and George Burnham as confreres. The organization of the Commission defined the diities of this committee as follows: "On board steamer and while guests of the Chinese, this Committee shall determine those who shall represent the Commission and shall suggest the character of speech or address to be made and they shall, as far as possible, divide History of the Trip 31 and apportion all speech-making and addresses so that each member of the Commission shall have an opportunity of expressing his views at different times." Two utility committees, necessary upon all expeditions, were appointed: the Finance Committee had two duties — "to determine expenses and assess and collect upon the same, and further to investigate the financial, monetary and exchange conditions of the Chinese as affecting the commerce between the two nations." This Committee was composed of Jacob Furth (Chairman), L. R. Manning and E. S. Moulton, bankers all. The Committee on Hotel Accommodations and Travel was appointed "to determine the character of accommodations desired by each member of the Commission and to forward the same to the hotel at which the Commissioners are to stop; and in all cases where the accommo- dations are hmited to so divide them among the delegates that all shall be fairly treated; and to determine and to make the delegates acquainted with the routes of travel and unusual features — ^if any — connected therewith." The historian here drags forth from such forgetfulness as must shroud the minutes of a trip like this a few words of anticipatory regulations, with no purpose more sinister than that they may bring a smile to the lips of those who shared the ups and downs of this memorable trip and most of all to the chairman of this particular committee to whom the phrase "unusual features — if any" must particularly appeal. This committee was composed of E. A. Young (chairman), E. P. Bosbyshell and O. M. Clark. The Committee on Resolutions and Reports, of which E. P. Bosbyshell was Chairman, with William Pigott and William L. Gerstle, the Committee on Educational and Civic Affairs in their relation to Trade and Commerce, of which W. H. Dickson was Chairman, with W. F. Knight and John H. Shaw, and the Histori- cal Committee, of which Charles K. Field was Chairman, with W. H. Dickson and L. R. Freeman, completed the list of subsidiary- committees. Here then was an organization, compact and com- plete and ready for the business in hand or to be in hand when the Commission should have arrived in China. ENTERTAINMENT BEGINS The Commission bore in mind that this was a trip in response to an invitation from the Chinese Chambers of Commerce. No hospitaUty was to be accepted from others. Yet at Honolulu, where a warm welcome awaited the party, it was recognized that the Commissioners had not yet left home. The day there was a 32 A Visit to China busy one. A special committee of the Chamber of Commerce met the "Korea" at quarantine, decorated the Commissioners with badges that said "Aloha" and whirled the party in automobiles over smooth roads to the sights of Honolulu. At the luncheon given at Young's Hotel, Governor Frear greeted the commercial delegates and called attention to the strategical position of Hawaii in the commerce of the Pacific. At this luncheon. the first note of Chinese welcome was sounded. The Chinese consul, Liang Kwo Ying, and three other Chinese were at the table and the consul greeted the Commission in the name of his country and promised a hearty welcome from the Chinese people. Looking back upon the visit to China it may well be doubted that even the consul fully realized the extent of the welcome of which he was guarantor and first spokesman. At Yokohama hospitality had to be declined. From the hatoba, or landing-place, came busy launches bringing business and politi- cal leaders of Japan with cordial invitations. To these was turned, perforce, a deaf but appreciative ear. Blocked thus by the stone wall of etiquette the eager Japanese found a way to express their friendship. From the expedition to Japan in 1908 and the return visit in the next year, many personal friendships had resulted, and these were renewed in a private entertailiment at Tokyo. This included a dash through the crowded streets of the capital, tea at Baron Shibusawa's villa, and dinner and theatricals at the Nihombashi Club. At the last affair much amusement was occasioned by a Japanese girl's impersonation of a "New York lady" singing "Little Alabama Coon," as typical American music. OFFICIALLY GREETED Next morning, when the anchor came up from the dancing waters of Yokohama harbor and the "Korea" pointed her nose down the coast of Japan the Commission awoke to the fact that it was being officially greeted by its Chinese hosts. His Excellency Y. C. Tong had come aboard at Yokohama. Mr. Tong is a gradu- ate of Columbia College, New York. He is the founder of the "National Review," a weekly pubUshed in English at Shanghai. At present he is a director of the Imperial Telegraph, with head- quarters at Shanghai. He presented his credentials as bearer of greetings from the Chinese Chambers of Commerce through Chow Tsing-Piao, Chairman of the Chamber at Shanghai, and told us something of the plans that were under way for the reception of China's commercial guests. With Mr. Tong when he boarded the ship at Yokohama were History of the Trip 33 two other Chinese gentlemen of importance, though not traveling with him. These were Mr. Chu Pan Fay, a retired capitalist of Shanghai, and Mr. Fung Kwo Shung, of the Foreign Office at Peking. Mr. Tong and Mr. Chu speak excellent English and they became the center of interested groups at once, targets for innu- merable questions. Mr. Tong was a feature of the visit in Shanghai. Many were the delightful acquaintances made during this memor- able journey through China, but it was Y. C. Tong who came first with his bright, good-natured face, his collection of American slang, his ready information, and none of the good friends made later in the trip has supplanted him in the warm esteem of all the members of the expedition. AT NAGASAKI By wireless from Nagasaki came an offer of entertainment from the Chamber of Commerce of that city, but this invitation had to be declined as previous ones had been. Yet when United States Consul Deichman sent a call from his hospitable wide-verandaed house where the Stars and Stripes float over the hillside gardens above the harbor, the Commissioners dug down into their trunks and arrayed themselves in frock and tile and went by launch and ricksha to enjoy his welcome. The reception at the Consulate was a whole-souled affair, presided over by a big whole-souled American who found his reward for the trouble of entertainment in the pleasure of meeting "folks from home." Then the "Korea," having stored away over two thousand tons of coal a?t the hands (literally) of fifteen hundred men and women of Nagasaki, stood out toward the Yellow Sea, with Shanghai the next port of call. ARRIVAL IN CHINA Next morning at daybreak there was no mistaking the Yellow Sea. It stretched about the ship in orange ripples and beyond was the flat delta land of China, built up by the deposits of the mighty Yangtse and the Whang-po rivers until Shanghai, once a seaport, is now inland several miles. At Woosung harbor, where the ship anchored, a launch, gay with the Dragon flag and the Stars and Stripes, came puffing alongside. There was a band on board, slant-eyed musicians in neat uniforms, playing Sousa marches in stirring fashion under an Italian leader. From the launch came Consul General Amos P. Wilder, Dr. J. C. Ferguson and Mr. J. R. Patterson, leading Americans of Shanghai, and with them a reception committee from the Shanghai Chamber of Com- merce. Chow Tsing-Piao, chairman of the Chamber, gray- 34 A Visit to China bearded but active and alert, was there, and Chu Li-Chi, secretary of the Chamber, and Shen Tun-ho, of the Imperial Bank of China, both of whom became familiar figures through constant attendance and courtesy. And there was Nifi L. Han, portly and jolly, in foreign dressj and vitally interested in everything pertaining to the express business, just starting, under his management, for the first time in China. These were the men who extended China's welcome in ready English. Among the others, who spoke no En- glish, was Kin Gen-Sang, round-faced and smiling, radiating a cordiality that needed no English words to interpret it. Poor Kin, whom everybody liked but who was destined not to meet us again when we touched at Shanghai on our return trip! Only a few weeks later, a released convict, a salt smuggler who had been sent to prison partly through Kin's co-operation with the authori- ties, got his revenge in a Shanghai street. Pink silk rosettes, bearing the flags of the two nations, with crossed standards, a design that appeared consistently upon badge and menu and invitation and decoration throughout the trip, were pinned upon the party by the welcoming committee and then the launch was boarded for the run up the Whang-po River to Shang- hai. The band blew away bravely at the strains of "Hiawatha," as a sort of aboriginal national air in our honor. And so, in spite of a drizzling unpleasant rain we came up with song and laughter to the bund at Shanghai and began in earnest our visit to China. A LAVISH WELCOME The program of entertainment commenced at once, as soon as we were quartered at our hotels, the Palace and the Astor House. At Chao's Garden, a place of lotus ponds and artificial rock work and flowering plants, the Commission was received by the Chamber of Commerce. The important Chinese of Shanghai were there, including the Taotai (an official corresponding closely to the mayor of an American city), the City and Mixed Court Magistrates, and the leading business men and bankers. This was the first function. In consideration of the fatigue of travel the first evening in China was allowed for rest and quiet. The next afternoon the storm of hospitality broke over us and it poured, so to speak, for forty days and forty nights, until the trip ended at Hong Kong on October 25th. In a repori like the present, repetition is to be avoided and the details of entertainment which naturally were duplicated, in a measure, in the succession of welcomes in different cities, need not be described in turn. It was a six weeks' season of banquets, receptions, trade conferences and investigations, visits to com- History of the Trip 35 mercial establishments, educational institutions, government buildings, theaters, gardens, palaces and prisons. Almost without exception profuse decoration had been made for our visit; the crossed flags were everywhere, they flapped in the autumn breeze, they gleamed from a myriad lanterns. Branches of Chinese pine, with paper flowers fastened amid the- needles, trimmed buildings and railway coaches, made arches over the streets, decorated banquet tables. Streamers of red silk, betokening especial honor, draped alike the doors to Provincial Assembly Building and to cotton mills. Elaborate hanging baskets, made entirely of a small white flower in shape and smell like the tuberose and strung together on white thread, shrubs in great multi-colored pots, profusely blossoming (often by the aid of fine wire) hung from temple rafters or lined the walks of viceregal gardens. Dragons and peacocks coiled and perched above flowerpots in which they were rooted, their bodies being made of a glossy leaved shrub, trained tortuously to classic shapes and given eyes made of egg- shells brightly painted; fhe dragons had white wooden teeth and tongues of red cloth. Similar shrubs wore doll's heads and hands. There were dragons and eagles, too, of gauze illuminated like lanterns; long lines of silk framed paintings upon gauze; walls covered with bamboo, electric lights in red, white and blue shining through the green. Buildings were outlined in electric lights, the word "Welcome" shone above arch and door, some lanterns had the legend "Warm Welcome" and everywhere there was a band, often more than one, playing foreign music with surprising success. Shanghai is the commercial center of North China; the idea of the Commission's visit originated here and so a week was devoted to this city, including a side trip to Hangchow, south of Shanghai and thus off our route northward to Peking. No effort or expense was spared by our Shanghai hosts to make that week memorable. FESTAL BOARDS To begin with, we took a houseboat, one used for passenger accommodation, although the family of the steersman kept house in. a part of the boat with a cat and a duck and a hen, each teth- ered by a leg. We were towed up the Soochow Creek, past countless little houseboats, some of them thatched against the elements till they looked like piles of discolored grass along the muddy bank of the creek, to the Foo Fong Flour Mill. Here we found a modern concern turning Chinese .wheat into flour under the supervision of American millers. Here we encountered the first of the refreshment tables that greeted us practically without 36 - A Visit to China exception at every establishment we visited, be it college or arsenal, temple or theater, silk filature or iron mine. Always there was a table spread with fruit and pastry. Where is the statistician that will record for us the amount of pastry baked in Shanghai and forwarded along the line of our triumphant march. There must have been tons of it,' the production of some giant Vienna bakery, accompanying a special battalion of knives and forks. Admirable was the management that spread before us table after table in foreign style as we moved from school to cotton mill, from railroad shop to Imperial tomb. But for gUmpses caught, as we were driven or carried through the streets, of groups in the shops eating chow with chopsticks, we might have beUeved that those domestic tools had given way to the more warlike utensils of the Caucasian. Always there were cups of tea, covered with tea-lids and poured there hot with a dexterity that just kept ahead of our irregular arrivals. Almost, always there was wine, one or more kinds, and in many cases, in spite of the between-meal hour, the refreshments attained the dignity of a dozen-course banquet for which a crowded program gave no time. Accompanying the refreshments, as invariable as the tea, was an address of welcome, sometimes spoken, more often read from briUiant red paper whose leaves wersi turned from left to right. These speeches, as a rule very brief, were usually in Chinese and were interpreted by one of the Chinese gentlemen accompanying us. In turn, some member of the Commission spoke offhand in reply, and was in turn interpreted. An incredible noise accompanied this speech-making, so that much of it was inaudible. Only the disciplined halls of the vice- roys were quiet. Around our banquet boards crowded a mass of Chinese, sometimes' of both sexes, buzzing with curiosity and apparently under no necessity of keeping still during the remarks of either Chinese or American dignitaries and very rarely did any of our hosts appear conscious of the racket that drowned their dignified, low-voiced welcome and our enthusiastic and high-pitched response. In the Chinese schools, the pupils recite together and he whose voice tops the clamor of the class wins the recognition of the teacher. We were told that this early trainmg explains largely the Chinese indifference to the roar of voices that pervades the land. When we were received by the Commercial organizations of towns and cities, they were presented with various Pacific Coast products — citrus fruits, wine, and canned vegetables — and an en- grossed scroll, seal with red-white-and-blue ribbon, and reading as follows: History of the 'Trip 37 •To the CHAMBER OF COMMERCE We the undersigned Honorary Commercial Commissioners representing The Associated Chambers of Commerce of the Pacific Coast of the United States of America and the Chamber of Commerce .of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands visiting the Empire of China bear the assurance of good-will and the sincere hopes which are enter- tained by our combined memberships for the great and lasting prosperity of your country. American Captains of Industry, Bankers, Merchants and a large citizenship that is keenly alive to the greatness of China and to its transcendent future, stand by delegates* at your portals, and voice their appreciation. Fronting each other upon the opposite shores of the Pacific CHINA and the UNITED STATES are natural trade allies. We are commissioned to say for our constituents, that your continued advancement, in all ways, is earnestly desired by them; and that their greetings are those of genuine regard and enduring friendship. We also desire to express deep appreciation of' your cordial in- vitation to visit your shores and we are confident that your hospitality has strengthened the ties that hold the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and the CHINESE EMPIRE together in pleasing international relationship. It is our earnest wish that our visit, beneficial and agreeable as it is to us, may result in lasting good to you and to your people. A FLOURY ORATOR At the Foo Fong Flour Mill the first of these addresses of welcome is certainly one of those which will five longest in our mem- ories. It came as a surprise, from the interpreter, after a quiet and somewhat guttural welcome from the head of the milling company. The interpreter was Mr. C. J. Soong, chief translator for the mill, who has lived some years in America. He did not confine himself to the brief words of the manager's welcome. He put forth a 38 A Visit to China speech, ringing in voice and words, and the pet orators of the Commission sat up and took notice that there was competition ahead of them. Mr. Soong quoted from Confucius (Kung Foo- Tze), who had said some two thousand years before: "Is it not delightful to have friends coming from distant quarters to asso- ciate with us?" and he pointed to a picture of the founder of the Foo Fong Mill and cried "There was a Chinese Demosthenes indeed!" Thereafter we called Soong "Demosthenes," which was not unpleasing to him and to which he retahated with names from Roman forensics. Thus was fired with eclat the first gun of welcoming oratory, and Mr. Booth began his long series of appre- ciative responses. It was this same Soong, by the way, who wrote in characteristic vein to the "North China Daily News" when a Tokyo paper complained that the welcome to the American merchants was warmer than that extended to those from Japan some months earlier. "The said newspaper should remember," wrote Soong, "that the American Commissioners were especially invited by the Chines^, and therefore should receive that warmer welcome from us which they are now receiving wherever they are visiting, and we think it is no more than right and proper that we should do our guests the honor, for it is a case of honor where .honor is due!" We can hear him say it. MODERN MACHINERY From the flour mill we were floated back down the populous creek and taken to the building of the Y. M. C. A., largely built with American donations. As we entered the building a band struck up the Star Spangled Banner. Here more hospitaUty was extended, addresses were made in Enghsh by Chinese officers of the association, and a program of Chinese music, juggUng and athletics was enjoyed. Later that evening the American com- munity entertained at a large reception and dance at the Pajace Hotel, the principal hotel of the city, and the headquarters of the Commission. Next morning we were out early again, and taken in automobiles, driven by Cliinese chauffeurs, for an inspection of several industries. Not the least interesting part of the trip was the dash through the crowded streets of Shanghai. These Chinese chauffeurs are wonderfully proficient in spite of the novelty of their employment. How it was that the native death list did not fill the papers the next morning as a direct result of our run through the crowd is hard to understand. Nothing happened, although by all the laws the streets should have been strewn with the victims of our progress.- Our drivers were History of the Trip 39 shouting warnings at the top of their lungs, accompanied by violent honkings;. carriage drivers shouted in their turn at the ricksha men; the ricksha men gave their quick grunting alarm to burdened coolies, and by some miraculous providence everybody got out of the way, by an inch or two at least, and we went on. The Nicolas Tsu Engine Works was the first place visited, and it was an eye-opener to the beginnings that the Chinese are making in the manufacture of machinery. In the yards there were stand- ing trailers for a tramway company and passenger coaches for the Chekiang-Kiangsu railway. Near by was the Tung Chang Oil and Cotton Mill, all the machinery of which was made at the Tsu plant. Later at the waterworks, where the muddy Whang-Po river is filtered through sand and made a beverage for the millions of the native city of Shanghai, we saw a modern engine and pump . made by the same concern. It is significant of future importance to the industrial world that these clever Orientals enter so aptly the lists of industrial workers. At the Tung Chang mill, Mr. Gerstle responded to Mr. Tsu's welcome. At the waterworks, Mr. Moore responded to the greeting of the chairman of the Chinese municipality. We went through the plant of the Kiangnan Dock and Engi- neering Company, which is under the direction of the government. Mr. Stern spoke for the Commission. A number of small cruisers and other vessels have been built here. The special yacht. Lien Hsing, devoted to the use of Prince Tsai Hsun, who was then in foreign countries studying naval conditions and figuring on con- tracts for battleships, was built at this place. The yacht lay in the river not far from the works and we were taken out to her and shown over her. Then came an auto ride along a tortuous lane of willow-trees, with elaborate truck-gardens on both sides for several miles. This was a highway filled with rickshas and beggars, all sorts and conditions of people. We were taken to the Imperial Chinese paper mill, which has a capacity of over half a million pounds of paper, in two grades, each month. Mr. Hyde responded here. Thence we went to the Yih Hwei woolen mill, a well-appointed plant where wool is made into blankets and into cloth for overcoats for use by the increasing army of China. Mr. Hotaling spoke on this occasion. TEA WITH A TAOTAI At three o'clock that afternoon His Excellency, Hsai Nai-huang, the Taotai of Shanghai, gave a reception to the Commissioneis and their ladies at the Bureau of Foreign Affairs, on Bubbling History of the Trip 41 Well Road. That was a brilliant scene; the flowers and greens were lavish, transforming a somewhat bare and uninteresting room. Because of the three years mourning for their late majes- ties, the' men of distinction wore only their semi-official dress; their hats, shaped hke an inverted bowl, with a hanging fringe of thick red silk from the peak, and a f alUng plume of peacock feathers held in a clasp of jade, gave the scene a feudal look; these men, with their attendants like barons of old, were a fine and dignified company and the scene, with the elaborate dresses of the American ladies, who looked particularly well, and the rich garb of the Chinese dignitaries, was a novel one whose impression will not soon be lost. From this reception we drove in victorias to the hotels, with a driver and footman on the box of each carriage; these men wear a white livery, with a hat which is a poor relation of those worn by the taotais, their cues hanging, a black stripe down the white livery. ■ It was Saturday afternoon, and Bubbling Well Road and Nanking Road were filled with the carriages and occasional autos of foreigners driving up from town and from the cricket ground. Summer costume was on the eve of change to winter dress. Here, as in other parts gf the world, dress changes by calendar and not by thermometer. THE GARDEN OF CHANG We got into our evening clothes, and soon the illuminated car, sparkling with electric Americanism, came for us and we boarded it for Chang Su-ho's garden. Chang Su-ho is a portly gentleman with a weather beaten face and grizzled mustache. His daughter, the only unmarried one among a family of nine, and the apple of the good old gentleman's eye, was the first Chinese lady to attend at a banquet to the Commissioners. This happened at Nanking, as you shall hear later. Chang was proud of his garden that night at Shanghai. The weather was soft and clear, with a full moon. The garden lies under large trees, and from them, every- where, depended specially made lanterns, bearing the crossed flags of the two nations. We went up a wide avenue of these lighted trees, and at the end of it, at the door of a pavilion, decked with an arch&d electric welcome, stood a double line of our hosts, the Chamber of Commerce, going through the unaccustomed greeting of shaking hands. Doubtless, most of our party had never seen a room decorated as was the dining hall into which we now passed. There must have been a mile of silk, nearly, in that room; strips of silk were fulled and pleated and made into garlands arranged at right angles or in circular designs, and also forming frames for 42 A Visit to China paintings upon gauze. There were flags and lanterns everywhere. The tables were brilliant with flowers. Then came a real gastro- nomic experience, a bit of school geography realized — ^birdsnest soup. Birdsnest soup, with hard-boiled pigeons' eggs c(Tmpleting the picture. Its growing rarity is making it merely a sign of royal welcoine. Another feature of this menu was sharks' fins, a dish that is palatable but not universally approved Kke the soup. Then there was a mayonnaise of prawns and delicate sweetened lotus seeds for dessert. There is division among the Commissioners as to the merits of this menu, which was repeated in many of its features, and even added to during the daisy-chain of banquets that followed this one. There are those of us who wanted second helpings, who proclaimed that the reputation of birdsnest soup had been justly earned, and that sharks' fins, cooked with chicken gravy by a Cantonese cook, as at Hankow, has no equal in the cookbooks of the French, that Szechuen bamboo shoots are better than asparagus. There was one among us even who declares that boiled white fungus maketh glad the heart; and there are others whose look at this person means unutterable things. During this dinner elaborate theatricals were performed upon the stage. These were a feast to the eye, though not so much so to the ear; the costumes, made for the occasion in Soochow, were dazzling beyond words, and the heavy embroidery and streaming pheasant feathers particularly interested the ladies who were already eager for the dealers in mandarin coats. One of the actors, the bright particular star, a handsome young fellow with a fine voice, according to the Chinese ear, and a smile attractive to any eye, is paid about f 1200 gold a month, enormous pay in the Orient. The three plays produced for us included a comedy (a little on French models, it must be confessed), a musical piece and a classic historical scene in which great generals gathered in all their war paint and engaged in battle until the toastmaster of the evening, His Excellency Shen Tun-ho, stopped further hostilities, and rapped for attention to the speeches of the evening. Who of us will forget Shen Tun-ho, with his dark glasses, his jet black mustache and imperial, his grand manner, his unfailing information? He represented our ideal picture of a mandarin; we recognized him upon the instant of meeting. He was a very important figure during our first days in China. That he has a sense of humor was proved the day that Hotaling told him stories in imitation Chinese. Mr. Shen presided at the first banquet. His Excellency, Wu Ting Fang, who was the Chinese minister to the United States a few years ago, made the address of welcome. History of the Trip 43 Consul-General Amos P. Wilder, as a sort of diplomatic middle- man, added a superb speech of mingled welcome and gratitude, and Willis H. Booth, President of the Commission, responded with a carefully worded statement of the Commission's errand and the results hoped for it, and voiced the appreciation of the entire party for the very generous reception accorded it. Besides the Ameri- cans and Chinese present at this dinner, many of the prominent foreign residents of Shanghai attended. A PRESS NOTICE Next day was Sunday. The Commissioners had expected that this day would be spent in resting the forces on both sides of this friendly campaign. But our hosts were unsparing in their hospi- tality, and merely the morning was left free. In the afternoon a reception was given at the International Institute, an organization founded for the better acquaintance and co-operation of all the residents o% Shanghai, native and foreign. Y. C. Tong is President of the Institute. He made a good speech that afternoon in his easy English, pohshed off at Columbia years ago, and Mr. Gerstle responded to it. That evening an important dinner was given at the Palace Hotel, the headquarters of the Commission. This dinner was given by the Associated Chinese Press of Shanghai. There are seven daily newspapers printed in Shanghai in the Chinese language. Several of them published leading articles welcoming the visitors. The Eastern "Times" called attention to the fact that the visit was not one rising out of treaty between the two countries, but out of the peace, good-will and friendship between merchants. This paper said that just as there are points of resemblance in the two countries, so there are points of similarity in the two peoples. The Americans are a great, industrial nation, and the Chinese are a great business people, noted for their com- mercial integrity, and the result of this visit must be beiieficial to both. Never had there been a visit of this kind since China had had dealings with foreigners. The "National Herald" pointed out that the cordial reception given the Commission at Shanghai and predicted elsewhere all along the line, was not ordered by the Government, but was given spontaneously and heartily by the people. "Shanghai Times" (foreign) commented editorially upon the significance of this banquet by the Chinese press, and noted that the welcome, in the complete friendhness of which the native press joined, was written by Ku Hung-Ming, a writer not too friendly to outsiders in the past. The "Times" predicted that 44 A Visit to China the press in all parts of China would take its bearings from the tone of the Shanghai papers, a prediction which appears to have been fulfilled, and declared that the local papers ih coming forward in this generous and cordial way had cut themselves loose from the narrow exclusiveness of recent years, that this would mean good to all foreigners, and that it was not too much to expiect that the near future would find the press, as the result of this first step, leading an endeavor to educate pubhc opinion on new and pro- gressive lines. That greeting from the press may well be set down here in part as the keynote of much that was said to us during the rest of the visit to China. In a way it is the whole thing in a nutshell. "We members of the public press of China have taken the liberty of asking you to give us the honor of your presence this evening in order that you may know that not this or that class of Chinese but the whole people of China bid you welcome to this country. We Chinese people have discarded our past pohcy of national isolation, and in our desire to enter into the comity of nations with other people we have stretched our hand of good-fellowship to you across the Pacific. There are many things now in China that will not impress you favorably. But we would ask you to take into consideration we are now passing through a transition period. There are, besides, many things in China which you will not understand. But one thing you will understand, and that is, that we Chinese people are a reasonable people who can be friendly to those who are friendly to us. We bid you welcome to China." The importance of this dinner was recognized by the guests, and was enjoyed accordingly. President Booth, who throughout the trip was looked to by the Chinese and expected to act as spokesman, on account of his office, made a tactful speech of appreciation. His Excellency, Wu Ting Fang, presided at the dinner, and made an interesting address in which he contrasted libel laws of England and America and advised the Chinese journal- ists to attack a man for whatever wrong he may do in his official capacity, but to leave him alone in his private fife. On Monday morning an interesting round of visits was made, in automobiles again, to the Yu Sing Cotton Mill, and to the Shui Lun Silk Filature, further evidences of the industrial awakening of China. A fine exhibit of silk products was made in a beautiful garden under the auspices of the Silk Guild. On this occasion, Mr. Moore responded to the greeting. History of the Trip 45 "THE CITY OF HEAVEN" After a somewhat hurried tiffin at the Shanghai hotels, there began a period of excitement — the memorable trip to Hangchow. The party had been joined by Mr. Hamilton Butler, Vice-Consul at Tientsin, who was to act as guide, philosopher and friend, as well as interpreter, during the trip through China. With him was his attractive bride. Few bridal trips, include just such visits as the trip to Hangchow. Copsul-General Wilder also accompanied us on 'this journey, as he did on the subsequent travel as far as Tientsin. But our chief cicerone was Dr. J. E. Ferguson, formerly an American missionary, and now an important citizen of Shang- hai, and high in thie official councils of that province. The excite- ment began at the jetty in front of the Palace Hotel, where lay a fleet of about twenty .houseboats, each with a crew of eight China- men, preparing together their freight of American Commissioners, and to form into four trains behind tugboats for a trip up the Whangpo River to Marco Polo's famous city of Hangchow. No pandemonium in vogue in any quarter of the world can equal the noise that attended this embarkation. As a result of the noise, or in spite of it, the trains were finally formed and started up the river. Each Commissioner and his wife had a houseboat to them- selves and eight attendants. Dinner was served on the boats as they glided up the river in the gathering dusk. Sometimes the trains would draw near together, and then there would be greetings and songs across the water. It is probable that the crews slept somewhere on board that night, although the eye could not dis- cover where, unless it was in an 18 inch space between decks. In the morning the party found itself at Ka Shing, several hours late on account of the late start and a heavy tow, and so it was necessary to leave the houseboats after breakfast, and proceed to Hangchow by train. The train itself made a noise that troubled the ear, but the roadbed was remarked by all as comparing favor- ably with the best American roads, the ballasting being especially complete. This road is entirely a Chinese enterprise, built and financed by the Chinese themselves. It has only to improve its rolling stock to remove much of the noise. When at last we reached Hangchow we found several thou- sand people at the station, all banked in quiet order on the stair- ways and bridges. The officials of the town and members of Chamber of Commerce greeted us, and then we took sedan chairs and ponies at the station and went through the narrow streets of the city which Marco Polo described, 800 years ago, as the grandest city of the world. Today its splendor has vanished, 46 A Visit to China and some of it is a rather dreary monument to the ravages of time and Taiping vandalism. The crowds were enormous, but all most friendly, and it was indeed an experience to be carried through that mass of interested faces. We were taken to the country- place of Liu Hsueh-hsun, a wealthy Cantonese, on the shore of West Lake, one of the beauty spots of China. Here we had an elaborate tiffin, &i which Mr. Stern spoke in acknowledgment. Afterward, we inspected the house and gardens, and went in boats across the lake to visit some interesting templed islands. The chairs had been brought around the lake to meet us on our land- ing and we were now taken back into the winding, mazelike streets of the city, made more mysterious and eerie by gathering darkness in which the shops glowed like ovens. We were at last brought to the yamen, or official residence, of the Commissioner of Foreign Affairs, Wong Sing-san. Here the men of the party were presented to His Excellency, Tseng Yuin, the Governor of the province of Chekiang, and then the ladies were brought in in a separate con- signment and presented to His Excellency. Then a fine dinner was served with more birdsnest soup and sharks' fins, in an open place beside a great lotus pond, in which hundreds of red and yellow lanterns were reflected. BURYING THE HATCHET In the course of his address the Governor said, "I am sure you will not fail to deliver us speeches which will be of the greatest service to us in the development of our country. Before doing so I beg all of you to drink the health of President Taft." The evening developed into a discussion as to how the modern use of water-power might develop the agricultural province of Chekiang into a manufacturing community. In this discussion, Dr. Wilder, Mr. Gerstle, Mr. Stern, Mr. Blaine, and Mr. Furth participated. Especial interest was lent to this visit because the province and the town have been considered even very recently as distinctly anti-foreign. The correspondent of the "North China Daily News," a British journal at Shanghai, writing of the Hangchow trip, said: "Whatever anti-foreign feeling there may be in the province of Chekiang, and particularly in its capital city, Hang- chow, was entirely repressed for the visit of the American Hono- rary Commercial Commissioners, and everywhere the officials and the people not only expressed great friendliness for the foreigners, but extended to them a hearty welcome. Peking had decreed that the visitors be received everywhere with the tra- ditional pomp of Chinese official hospitality, but when one saw History of the Trip 47 the faces of the Hangchow officials and heard their speeches, it was hard to beheve that these men were merely obeying orders. To those who have studied the anti-foreign spirit in China and have followed the doings of the Hangchow Chamber of Commerce recently, its attitude on this occasion was perplexing. To take a charitable view, the solution of the problem may be that the Chamber has been won over by better counsels and a clearer insight into the real motives behind the desire of foreign merchants to trade with and reside among the Chinese. We hope that it is so; if such be the case, the Commercial Commission may con- gratulate itself on having furthered the cause." At the conclusion of the Governor's dinner, fireworks were set off beyond the lotus pool, and in a light rain the Americans were taken away in chairs and set down at the train. A short journey by rail, and then more chairs, and finally the houseboats, with their noses all turned to the bank of a canal to which they had been towed from Ka Shing. At midnight, with flaming oil torches held sputtering in the rain, we sought our plank-like beds in the houseboats.. In the morning the rain was still falling, but we were off early again in the chairs and the train. Then came chairs again, and the crowded friendly streets of Hangchow. The ladies had remained with the boats, but they were to meet us after luncheon and go with us to see the Hangchow bore, an aquatic phenomenon in the Tsian-tung river, due to occur that afternoon at 3.30, and not again in just that way for six months. We visited the new building which is to house the Provincial Assembly, a new feature of government in China, an institution that just now, according to the terms of the Imperial Edict estab- lishing it, may mean little more than a debating society, but which is a seed of important things to come in the life of this people. Something of this harvest may be estimated from the recent demonstration in Peking, when members of the prov'ncial assem- blies remained in the capital, clamoring for a further shortening of the period before the establishment of the national parliament, and refusing to return to their homes until the throne listened to them. Such an incident ten years ago is hardly to be imagined. There have been popular uprisings in the past, but this was a representative demand. A BORE THAT WAS NOT A BORE We then went to the Chamber of Commerce and inspected silk and fans, the main productions of this section, and then we were carried in the chairs a long ride along the river waterfront to a 48 A Visit to China beautifully located villa of Mr. Wang Sih-ying, the Vice-president of the Chamber. Here we had tiffin and speeches and gifts, and then the Governor met us again and had his photograph taken in our midst. Then off we went, Governor and all, to see the wall of water come up the river from the sea. Under the mysterious auspices of the invisible full moon. Our progress was distinguished by the presence of the Governor and his retinue, all uniformed and bearing many flamingo colored canopies which did not look any better for the persistent drizzle of rain. We were taken to the Tsung Kwan Temple at the river's edge. Here there was a band playing, three bugles and two drums, and a great crowd of people under mushroom umbrellas, gathered to see us and the Governor, and the semi-annual visit of the Bore. Here we waited until someone spied a line of white away down the Yellow River, and the excitement grew among the people about us. Then we saw boats rocking madly, and spray dashing along the low river- bank, and finally the great wave came toward us and broke over the bank and drove the people backward toward the temple. The wave went on up the river, but where people had been wading in front of us in the slack waters of the river, there was now a turbulent, tossijig tide like the sea, dashing surf against the bank, and rolhng boats wildly. Then we took the chairs again and were carried back to the station through a terrific jam of people which would have been alarming had all not been so friendly. An idea of the crush may be gained from the fact that Mr. Soo Pau-san, one of our party, and a big piece-goods merchant of Shanghai, was unable to get through the crowd to the train and had to stay over in Hangchow until the next day. He said later, laughing: "I was only a Chinaman, and so they wouldn't let me through." As it was, the men of the party had to form a double line at the station, and by pressing against the crowd they formed a narrow isle through which the ladies hurried to the train. Good nature and curiosity only moved that great mass of blue-clad people. Yet irresistibly one thought of what that crowd would be, fired by Taiping rebellion or Boxer fanaticism. Such a thought made the friendliness of the crpwd that day all the more impressive. ON A CHINESE RAILWAY Next day the Shanghai papers said that the return to Shanghai in the special train provided by the Chekiang and Kiangsu Rail- ways was nothing short of a triumphal progress. There was indeed something of triumph about it. At every station there was some display of welcome, even though it was but some fire- History of the Trip 49 crackers popping in the night as we flew past or a glimpse of some lantern decorations we could not stop to admire. At the towns of Ka Shing, Fengtien aiid Sungkong there were surging crowds, veritable yellow seas of upturned faces, the hght-blue gowns of summer wear shining in the electric light. At each place there were decorations, fireworks, refreshments, speeches and gifts. The murmur of the crowd was hke the roaring of a gale, and above this the Commissioners shouted their apprieciation of the welcome. The chief affair was at Ka Shing, where Mr. Dickson spoke. In the train, dinner was served, with the officials of the road as hosts. These gentlemen, Mr. King of the Chekiang Railway, and Mr. Yang Ting-tung, of the Kiangsu Railway, deUvered addresses to which Mr. Furth responded. The real triumph of the hour underlay all this demonstration. For it must be borne in mind that the Chekiang and Kiangsu Railways, serving provinces not over friendly to foreigners, were built against determined foreign opposition by Chinese engineers employing Chinese capital, and they are being operated success- fully by Chinese managers. Undoubtedly, the road represents the anti-foreign spirit in China's modern development. Yet here was a fervent expression of friendliness by officials in the train and by school boys massed inside the station gates, and caUing out, in Chinese, "We are glad to see you." It is easy to understand that if there were other districts along our route not wholly prepared to welcome us as heartily, they were forced to fall in line behijid the precedent set by Hangchow and the Chekiang and Kiangsu Railways. And as for ourselves, the more we saw the more our wonder grew, and some epibarrassment with it. We were aware early in the visit that our reception was being, carried beyond an appropriate welcome to the delegates of foreign commercial bodies. It was being made the occasion of a dem- onstration of friendship for the American people, and as this demonstration surged and echoed and shone about us, we wished that others more representative of our whole people, of the country rather than a coast of it, might have been there to receive this greeting. So we went on, from demonstration to demonstration, not like a company of western business men but like the President of the United States and a selected group of cabinet officials. Had we been officials of our own nation, the Chinese reception could have been no greater. Indeed, it might not have been so great, for we were guests of the people, and the people were respondi!ng. We happened in at the psychological moment. And we, too, did our best. 50 A Visit to China ■ GOODBYE TO SHANGHAI Our visit in Shanghai ended on Thursday, with a busy day. We visited the Commercial Press, the one great printing house of China. This plant employs at least a thousand persons. The buildings are large, and the machinery modern. There are foreign overseers and instructors. The house publishes many school books, in both Chinese and English, and does an enormous amount of general printing. The company maintains a school, and we were treated to a concert and drill by a lot of cunning youngsters in the garden of the estabhshment. At the Commercial Press, H. E. Wu Ting Fang again addressed us, and Mr. Field responded. The Bankers Guild is housed in a fine temple, sacred to the war-god, Kwan. Here was a real temple of Mammon, if you please, and in much better condition of repair than many we saw. Here we had champagne, as usual, but no speeches. The "Sin Wan Pao," one of the leading Chinese journals, and the first to be established along modern lines of newspaper publishing, was founded by Dr. J. E. Ferguson. The Ta Ching Bank is the imperial bank of China, supported and backed by the Government. Here we were shown samples of the new coins which it is proposed shall be adopted for the whole empire, in the interests of currency reform. This bank will be used in placing in circulation the coins now being minted. After a visit to the beautiful temple erected as a memorial to China's great statesman, Li Hung-Chang, a reception was given at Nan Yang College, or the Imperial Polytechnic School, as it is also known. This institution, sup- ported by the Government, has modern buildings and campus, and a staff of both foreign and native instructors. Athletic sports and exhibition drills were performed for us by the students. In the evening, we saw Chinese society at a grand theater party at the Sin Wu Tai Theater. The entire audience was there by invitation, men at one side, and women at the other side,. of the lower floor, and the Americans in the gallery. This visit was most interesting for it gave new and distinct evidence of change in Chinese customs. The stage was equipped with modern scenery, and the play was one recently written to impress upon the people the evils of opium-smoking. Mr. Sung Main Yeun, man- ager of the Shin Chun Bank, and one of the ablest speakers in China, made an address which brought out some of the rare applause of the audience. Shanghai is the center for modernism in the theater, and the reflection of the movement was seen at Nanking and as far north as Hankow. In Peking, Tientsin and Canton, the theater has yielded little to the new movement. History of the Trip 51 EN ROUTE TO NANKING, The Commissioners left Shanghai in state pn the morning of Friday, September 23rd, and they were the guests of the Shanghai Nanking Railway, and nothing was forgotten to make that enter- tainment complete. The station at Shanghai was gaily deco- rated with the flags of the" two nations. A special train of seven cars made up of the railway officials' private coaches, and fitted with a bountiful buffet and the usual swarm of attendants to serve from it, made the party most comfortable. • As this train drew out of the station to which the members of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce had come to -say good-by, there was a fusillade of firecrackers to emphasize the farewell. Sixteen Chinese gentlemen accompanied the train to Nanking. These included Mr. Chung Mun-yeu, the director of the road, and S. T. Tseng, who had come from Nanking by the Viceroy's order, to convey us to that ancient capital where China is holding her first national exposition. Mr. Tseng is Associate Director of Foreign Affairs at Nanking. He is a graduate of Yale, iij the class of '84. Mr.- A. W. U. Pope, an Englishman, general manager of the road, also accompanied us. The journey to Nanking was marked by the enthusiasm which had surprised and overwhelmed us already. At Soochow, a stop of two hours was made. Here we were driven through the streets outside the'city wall — the streets inside are too narrow for anything but a chair borne by coolies — and then we were taken to the beautiful garden of Sheng Kung-Pao, the steel magnate of China. This garden, one of the few in this part of the country which were spared by the Taiping rebels, is a labyrinth of paths winding by lotus ponds and among elaborate arrangements of rocks. At this garden a banquet tiffin was served in an elaborately decorated pavilion. H. E. Ching, the Governor of Kiangsu province, made us a speech of welcome. Captain Dollar responded. At Wusieh, there was a reception by the local Chamber of Commerce, to whose welcome Mr. Burnham responded. At Changchow, another station gay with flags and crowded with eager yellow faces, the address of welcome was delivered by Mr. N. C. Yang, who had just returned from his studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and who accompanied the party throughout the visit to China. Here Mr. Freeman spoke the thanks of the American visitors. An event at Changchow was the passing of a train from Nanking, crowded with tourists per- sonally conducted by the Los Angeles "Examiner." At Chinkiang, Mr. Chin Chee, Director-General of the Nanyang 52 A Visit to China Exposition, and Mr. K. P. Chen, Manager of the exhibition, two men who have had most to do with bringing the exposition to actual realization, joined us. These gentlemen gave us escort to Nanking, where members of the Nanking Chamber of Com- merce met us and saw us safely quartered in our hotels, the Astor and the Wonder. Soon after dinner we-were called for in carriages and taken to the Exhibition Hall, where an interesting concert was being given by Chinese people singing western music. The choruses and glees by Chinese students were very well done. CHINA'S FIRST EXPOSITION The next morning, Saturday, found us early guests of the Exposition. None of us was fully prepared for a fair of the size and. quality of this one. There are thirty-eight buildings in all; though small, they are well-built and well-arranged, but to western eyes they would have been more attractive had they been more Chinese in character. They are formal white buildings for the most part, some are brick, and only a few foUow the native style of architecture. Yet it must be remembered that this fair was not made to please foreign tourists. The exhibits are shown very well, and cover contributions from about half of the twenty- one provinces of China. Strangers can have but little idea of the labor and energy required to gather together such a representation from the isolated divisions of that enormous country. - When the difficulties of communication and transportation are considered, this first Exposition is a significant success. A banquet was served at noon in the Exhibition Hall by the officers of the Expo- sition, and Mr. Chin made a careful address, interpreted by Mr. Chen. Mr. Weilbye read a paper upon the value of expositions, and Mr. Moore also spoke on the history of expositions in America. DINING WITH A VICEROY At half-past six that afternoon, Lady Chang, wife of the Viceroy, comphmented the ladies of the party by receiving them at tea at the official residence. At 7:30 the Viceroy, H. E. Chang Jen-chun, gave an elaborate banquet in honor of the gentlemen and ladies of the Commission. This was as important an affair as it was unusual. One hundred and twelve guests sat down to a dinner of ten courses under the direction of Mr. U. K. Cheng, Assistant Director of the Bureau of Foreign Affairs at Nanking and son of a former minister to the United States. Through Mr. Tseng, the Viceroy made an address of welcome to the first party of business ' men ever invited to China. At each placp was a valuable gift of History of the Trip 53 Foochow lacquer. The dinner was accompanied with much military state and was appreciated as a special honor. Mr. Hotaling responded to the Viceroy's welcome, and expressed to him the Commission's surprise and admiration after seeing the Nanyang exposition. He also told how many of the great fairs held in America had not paid financially, but had benefited exhibitors and people to an incalculable extent. The speeches of Weilbye, Moore and Hotahng had the effect of encouraging both the Viceroy and the people, who had become somewhat pessimistic because the fair was not a financial success. The Viceroy's dinner was marked by our hearing for the first time the stirring national anthem which became popular with us all during the trip. GUESTS OF A PROVINCIAL ASSEMBLY Next day we visited the remarkable examination halls where thousands of students were once examined, for proficiency in memorizing the classics. These lines of brick cells now stand as monuments to an abandoned educational system. Afterward, the Commission sat down to a banquet given by the members of the Kiangsu Provincial Assembly in the nearly completed building of that body, a good building, in foreign style, surrounded with a wall made from bricks of the city wall which Hung Wu' built at the beginning of the Ming dynasty. This is a typical thing in "changing China." Mr. Chang Chien, President of the Assembly, and a wonderful combination of scholar, manufacturer and philanthropist, presided. This was the first time the building had been used, and Mr. Chang dwelt upon this in his thoughtful speech of welcome. Mr. Booth and Mr. Blaine responded to Mr. Chang's welcome. Mr. Blaine spoke at length regarding the history of America's attitude toward China, and congratulated the people upon the beginnings of constitutional government in the empire. After this banquet there was a review of four hundred and seventy troops, drilled by Japanese and Germans. A. battalion of infantry made a demonstration against the supposed attack from one side of the barracks. The physical agility of the soldiers was especially noticeable. These men represent the new standing army of China, perhaps a hundred thousand foreign- drilled soldiers so far. The plans of the government contemplate an army of five hundred thousand men, and there is a dream of a million. An important commercial conference was held with the representative Chinese merchants who had gathered at Nanking, and much information was obtained by informal discussion of commercial subjects. Plans were laid tentatively for a special History of the Trip 55 committee meeting in Shanghai after the completion of the program which had been laid out by the different chambers of commerce in China, to discuss with the greatest fullness the possibility of increasing the trade and commerce between the two nations, and the ways and means to that end. Before we left China, that meeting was held, and it followed a most significant event in the commercial history of China, for, largely as the result of our visit to them, the various Chambers of Commerce had united as the Associated Chambers 'of Commerce of China — another step in the unification of a vast people. The merchants of the ten provinces represented at the Nanyang exposition, expressed themselves as deeply interested in the proposed Panama-Pacific Exposition, and in favor of its being held on the shore of the Pacific, and they pledged themselves to be represented there by, the greatest exhibit that China has ever made. AMONG THE MINGS While at Nanking the party visited the interesting tombs of the Ming Emperors outside the city wall, and under the guidance of Mr. Wen Shih-chen, Secretary to the Viceroy. Here, for the first time, probably, refreshments were served to foreigners above the imperial ashes. An enjoyable reception was given at the University of Nanking, Where Mr. Dickson addressed the Uni- versity. On Monday evening, the last of our stay at Nanking, a banquet was given at the Astor House Hotel by the Commercial. Chambers. The decorations here were very fine; bamboo, flowers, and electric lights in red, white and blue were effectively em- ployed. At this dinner, Mr. Pigott spoke for the Commission. Miss Chang was present and responded prettily when toasted as the first lady to dine with us. Dinner was followed by a pro- cession of all the gathering through the illuminated exposition grounds. Boys with red, white and blue lanterns headed the long line. The buildings, outlined in electric lights, were reflected in the lotus pools that dotted the grounds. The procession passed to the exposition theater, where a special performance was held, ■ which included the singing of English songs, and a grand march in which the two flags of the nations were greeted enthusiastically by a full theater. While we were in Nanking, a great assortment of gifts was left at the hotels by the generous merchants — lacquer- ware, photographs, paperweights, boutonnieres, tea, china, canned fruits, framed embroideries on silks — a varied tribute of welcome. Chief among the gifts was a silver flower bowl presented to the Commissioners by the Exhibits Association of the Exposition. 56 A Visit to China MAKING HISTORY Tuesday morning our comfortable special train, with its modern English coaches and hospitable conveniences, pulled out of Nanking to the noise of firecrackers, and arrived at Chinkiang to a similar greeting. We were tendered a luncheon by the Chamber of Commerce at which the taotai E. Y. Liu presided. On this occasion we heard one of China's most famous orators, Mr. Ma Siang-peh. This man did not need to speak English; even in the unfamiliar tongue of the country he stirred his hearers, native and foreign. He delivered part of his address in English, an English spoken as a Frenchman would speak it, for Mr' Ma is an accom- plished French scholar, and learned his EngUsh from a Frenchman. The venerable orator pointed out that fifty years ago when he was a boy the Yangtse river had taken its course over the very spot where we were then banqueting, and in those waters British gunboats had lain and bombarded the town of Chinkiang, one of the ports to be opened early to foreigners. He drew a most effective contrast from the two events. The most significant thing about Mr. Ma's speech was that he was at last putting himself on record before the Chinese people as in favor of foreign loans "if the loans are contracted for the good of China, and for the help of our future parhament and if their use is controlled by legislative chambers." This was his first utterance in favor of foreign loans. Mr. Hyde responded. After lunch, while most of the party visited the beautiful monastery' and pagoda on Golden Island, there was an informal meeting with the merchants of Chinkiang. That evening a Chinese dinner was given at the Ta Kwan restau- rant by the riverside, with a great crowd of Chinese gathered below the balconies to get a glimpse of the strangers. Later in the evening our steamer the Kiang Hsin arrived, and we boarded her for Hankow. This steamer was added evidence and example of the quality of the welcome that was given us. The steamer had been remodeled in part to accommodate us, new furnishings were added, and every convenience furnished, including delicious meals, unlimited wines and cigars, and all as the gift of our hosts. _ The steamer is of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Com- pany, the director of which is Chung-Mun-Yew, Yale '84, also managing director of the Shanghai-Nanking Railway which gave us the special train to Nanking. Shen Tun-ho had left us at Chinkiang with Kin, whom we were not to see again, but Chu Li-chi and S. T. Tseng and N. C. Yang continued with us. Mr. T. C. Yen, Secretary of the Han Yang Iron and Steel Works, - joined us as escort to Hankow. History of the Trip 57 UP THE YANGfTSE The trip with Captain Wade up the great yellow Yangtse was a delight. The weather was as lovely as the scenery, and the quiet traveling gave us a rest from strenuous entertainment just at a time when we most needed it.- At Wuhu and Tatung the. usual crowds, decorations and gifts welcomed us, and the officials of the town came on board to greet us. At Nganking, which we reached after midnight, the officials were on hand, unexpected because of the lateness of the hour, but they were greeted by a few of the faithful. At Kiukiang there was time to go ashore after the official greeting, and to explore the crowded streets of the town. On Friday morning we landed, and took a train to inspect the Ta Yeh iron mine. This was a most interesting visit. Crowds of coolie children, five to ten years of age, are moving mountains by the basketful; men are prying out the softer hema- tite with iron crowbars to the extent of two thousand tons a day; for this the contractor gets seven cents gold per ton delivered on the car. Twenty-five hundred workers are paid from this $140. The ore, running 67 per cent pure iron, is shipped by rail and river to Hankow, to the Hanyang Iron and Steel Works. The mine's management is Chinese; a technical expert, a German, is in direct charge. At this mine a luncheon was served in a canyon. It consisted of several meats and salads and cham- pagnes, all brought from sixty miles up the river. At this luncheon Mr. Freeman pitted his strong voice- against the roar of a curious horde. After -visiting the Cement Works at Wong Shih-Kong, we took boat again, and in the evening a myriad lanterns and noisy firecrackers told us that, we were approaching Hankow. THE CHICAGO OF CHINA There is no doubt about Hankow being a city; there is an electric "feel" of business in the air. We came up the Yangtse river, with a quiet green valley spreading as far as the eye could reach on either side, and we reached the union of the Han river and the great waterway we had been traveling. On both sides of both rivers the srnoke was streaming from tall factory chim- neys; the water was alive with varied craft; the scene was as modern as though we had not come through miles of ancient graves and primitive plows drawn among them by water- buffalo. Hankow is stirring with the certainty of growth. The city has grown immensely -within the last few years. New industries are being added yearly, and a new city has been planned and already started as an extension along modern Unes. Shutting History of the Trip 59 our eyes to the low buildings and narrow streets of the original Chinese settlement or looking beyond it at the clustered chimneys and stacks, it was easy to forget that we were in hardly-awakened China. There is nothing sleepy about Hankow. In anticipation of the visit of the Americans, the Chambers of Commerce of Hankow and Wuchang, the prefectural city across the Yangtse, issued a letter to the Chinese people of the district. This letter set forth how generously the Japanese had subscribed to make a showing before the Americans in 1908, and it exhorted the Chinese to make a creditable showing. This is a spur in China, during these days of aw9,kening national feeling. The letter declares that though the visitors are business'men, they are nevertheless men of power in their own country, for the President of the United States, who ranks]^with the kings" and emperors of the world, may be himself a business man; therefore, the Chinese are not to say that these are only business men, for the customs of China are not the customs of other countries. This exhortation harks back to the ancient contempt in which business men were held— ancient only about ten years. The letter told thepeopie how to behave in the streets, to prepare many lanterns, how to put up a "good front." Signs of the effects of this letter were not wanting. They appeared even in the streets of Wuchang along the Americans' route, where the broom marks showed in streets that had no mates for cleanliness.. The reception at Hankow was in keeping with the welcome extended to us all along. the Hne since arriving at Shanghai. Our first night here was spent aboard the comfortable river- steamer Kiang Hsin, where we had been'so royally accommodated for three days, and which we were loath to leave. We were visited on board by the representative members of the Hankow Chamber of Commerce. In the morning we were transferred from the steamer by launch to a jetty where the Chamber of Commerce was in line to greet us. There was a deafening roar of firecrackers, the biggest of which was set off in the hands of the men. firing them. After bowing and handshaking we were taken in carriages to our hotels. There were four of these, one of them being a real hotel; the other three were houses which had been furnished for us and supplied with servants. These were in the foreign section of Hankow. THE SMOKE OF INDUSTRY The first morning in Hankow was devoted to visiting the industries which are earning for the city her title of the Chicago 60 A Visit to China of China. The Yangtse Engineering Works were first visited. This company was founded two and a half years ago, and is engaged in the manufacture of engines, steel barges, and several grades of heavy machinery. The plant is a very creditable one, considering its use, though hardly in the class with the largest plants of the kind in America, or even upon the Pacific Coast. The wage scale is higher than in a similar plant at Shanghai. The only machinery imported from America was a compressor, although a modern bolt and nut machine has been ordered. Most of the machinery is of British manufacture; the native manager was educated in England. (America please take notice). Never- theless, the manager of the works expressed his preference for American machinery. This manager, Mr. Wong Kwong, is a • superior man. His father and grandfather were Christian native preachers in China. The Han Yang Iron and Steel Works are today the biggest expression of the new industrial life of China. The works were founded by Tchan Tshi-tung, a former viceroy of this province of Hupeh, and a man who had a vision of China's future. The original installation was through British and Belgian firms. This was twenty-two years ago, but the real activity of the work covers a period of not more than ten years. The works are part of a business trio which includes also the Ta Yeh iron mines which we visited on the way up the river, and the Ping-Shian collieries further up- the river. In both instances these mines are connected with the Yan^gtse by a short level railway, and the ore and coal are floated by the river to the works. It is an exceptional layout, and it means very cheap production. The triple enterprise employs about twenty thousand Chinese; there are thirty Europeans, Germans and Belgians, at the iron works, and twenty at the mines. The Commissioners were entertained at luncheon by Dr. V. K. Lee, the Chinese Managing Director of the Company. Mr. Pigott responded to Dr. Lee. Then a trip was made up the Han River to the modern water works of the municipality. In the afternoon a formal reception was tendered at Victoria Hall, with the usual elaborate decorations and "Hail Columbia." Mr. Stern responded to the welcome. In the evening a reception was held at the Recreation Club, a kind of country club including a racecourse, exclusively for the foreigners in the Concessions. On Sunday afternoon, H. E. Jui Cheng, the Viceroy, gave a tiffin, an elaborate function at Wuchang, the viceregal seat. There was an exceptionally fine band here, and it played many Chinese History of the Trip 61 military airs composed after foreign models. Sunday evening was quiet and restful. Most of the party attended a special vesper service at St. John's Episcopal Church, where the rector, Rev. S. H. Littell, preached eloquently upon the practical results of the missionary work in that section. Under the fire of his eloquence, certain icebound opinions regarding foreign missions melted perceptibly. Monday morning early we crossed again to Wuchang, where we saw a cotton and a silk mill, both of which were not in action, save for the catering department, which set before us, an hour after breakfast, a banquet of some ten courses which we were unable to finish, through lack of time. Mr. Moore spoke at this function. The Liang Hu College, a most picturesque group of cloister-like buildings gathered about gardens and lotus ponds, was next visited, and then we had tiffin at Boone University, one of the oldest and best of the mission schools. Here we saw a creditable military drill of the students, and heard some excellent glee club singing. Mr. Moulton addressed the students. After- ward we drove spiritedly in carriages down narrow stone-paved lanes never intended for carriages, and took the launches for Hankow. A BLAZE OF GLORY That evening the most elaborate entertainment offered us was given at the Chinese Race Club. A Peking paper said, "It seems that the banquet at the Hankow Racecourse has sur- passed any entertainment of its kind in the history of China. The people of Hankow were assembled around the course, half a mile deep, and enthusiasm was intense. The reception was of so popular a nature that it astonished the promoters themselves." It must he set down here in truth, that though we had many other functions in our honor, each making its distinct impression, no other, unless it be possibly the wonderful greeting at Canton, quite measured up to the thrill of that night at Hankow in hghts, music, flowers, crowds; its memory remains undimmed by weeks of succeeding splendor. We passed through a crowd of what seemed about fifty thousand people, through lines of saluting volunteer soldiers and fire brigades and commercial apprentices, past bugle and' drum corps blowing Assembly at us and under a pai-Iou or triumphal arch of gauze and glass and silk and paper flowers, illuminated with candles and electricity, until we reached the brick building where a banquet of the most famous Chinese delicacies was served with chop-sticks. This was followed by elaborate fireworks, which perhaps explained the vast crowd 62 A Visit to China to some degree, and at midnight we drove back through the returning masses of people, all of whom carried gay lanterns and flags furnished free to them by the government. Tuesday morning we found our special train provided by the Government at the station of the Peking and Hankow Railway. A crowd of our Hankow friends appeared to see us off. They in- sisted that nothing should be paid by us for our hotel accommo- dation at Hankow. The commission assessed itself the equivalent, about six hundred taels, and donated it to Hankow charity for use in case of famine. It was soon needed. We had been met by K. K. Tseng and K. F. Shah, from the Wai-wu-pu, the foreign office at Peking, and by Dr. Kwan from the Board of Agriculture, and we were off for the capital, with the roar of farewell firecrackers in our ears, and with the realization that we had just been welcomed and speeded in the coming industrial capital of the new China. OFF FOR THE CAPITAL The regular weekly trains between Hankow and Peking do not run at night; they ^o to roost at a station as dusk comes on, and they start out again at daybreak. Once a week there is an owl train which keeps going night and day and makes the 800 miles between the two big cities in about thirty hours. The American Commercial Commissioners were given a special train through the courtesy of the Board of Posts and Communications at Peking. With the exception of the divide between the great valleys of the Yangtse and Yellow rivers, where an elevation of about 500 feet is attained, the roadbed lies across a level country, intensely farmed and dotted with little family villages surrounded by the walls of the compound. The pass through the mountains is the most picturesque scenery on the route, and the least significant agriculturally. As we came across the greaj; level plains, the houses of yellow clay were roofed with maize ears, drying in the sun. Until we passed the Yellow river, there were no roads through the farms and no wheeled vehicles to be seen. Fields of maize, cotton, sweet potato, beans, kowliang, buckwheat, spread away in gradations of color as far as we could see, broken only by the Millet-like figures of the blue-clad farmers, and by the- clustered houses under small trees. One of the most impor- tant crops that make up the heavy freight over the Peihan road is sessamum seed, for which a good market has been developed abroad, in Holland, where a commercial oil is made from the seed. In China itself the seed is most noticeable sprinkled over the I. History of the Trip 63 confectionery that is peddled at all the stations along the road. The broom bush, a lo"w shrub from which a cheap broom is made, was turning red in the October air and dotted the green landscape with patches of fiery color. Between the Yellow river and Peking, roads appeared, and wheeled carts rolling over them. The water-buffalo which had been an accustomed sight ever since the morning we came up the Whangpo river to Shanghai, had disappeared, and in their place we saw a constantly increasing number of burros, mules and horses, a livestock parade that culminated in a camel caravan as we approached the walls of Peking. THE CITY OF THE CONQUERORS Peking means the north capital, just at Nanking, a place of departed glory, means the south capital. Peking is the most impressive city we visited from the standpoint of the picturesque as well as the political, though the least so from a commercial point of view save that politics in China is the basis of hope or despair for the nation's commercial development. The streets of the north capital are wide and make possible the crowded variety of life, human and animal, that throngs through them all the daylight hours. They seemed dark and deserted at night. The streets are kaleidoscopic, with Manchu and Chinese and Mongol; the Manchu women have natural feet, faces flaming with rouge, and a flaring stiff head dress, a black bow, originally of the wearer's hair drawn over a frame, but now rarely "of real hair, sometimes of false, and, generally of woven silk and decked with ■bright artificial flowers. The women's gowns are long like the men's. The Chinese women have short gowns, trousers, bound feet. Chinese and Manchu men are indistinguishable, at least by the visitor, but the Mongol men still bear the stamp of their wild fastnesses and the long journey with camel and ass caravan down the Kalgan road. Our train brought us through the wall of the outer city and came to a stop beside the wall of the inner city, near the gate that fronts the main entrance to the Imperial City in the center of Peking. Just inside this gate are the buildings of the foreign legations, rebuilt, since the wild days of the boxer trouble ten years ago, in a way that is as feudal and forbidden as the Imperial City itself, and suggestive of preparation for adequate protection in the future. The Peking "Daily News," on the day of our arrival, said in English, "We may perhaps be .allowed to classify these Com- missioners in the category of friends. For in their receptions throughout the country^we find something which closely ap- History of the Trip 65 preaches spontaneous cordiality, and we have failed to discover the stiffness and formality which generally characterize a state function. Personal contact alone can beget perfect mutual understanding, and it is by personal contact alone that a clear knowledge into the demand and supply of. each other's home market can be rendered possible. The coming over of the Com- mercial Commissioners and the reception accorded them by Chinese of all classes furnish that much needed element in the promotion of the trade of the two countries." A WORLD WONDER The program at Peking was a combination of sightseeing and ofHcial entertainment. The- first morning, a special train took the party to Ching Lung Chiao, a side station near where the line to Kalgan passes under the Great Wall. This train was furnished by the Peking-Kalgan Railway. Two directors of the- road. Dr. Jeme Tien-Yow (he was nicknamed "Jimmy" during his American college days, and the name is still heard), and Mr. Kwan Mien-chun accompanied the party as official guides to the wonderful wall. The party walked a couple of miles to a gateway that lets through the old camel road to Mongolia. Here an excellent view of the twisting, climbing, dragon-like wall was obtained. The mountain scenery here is beautiful. The day after this visit the party was taken to the Summer Palace, formerly used by the late Empress Dowager but now unoccupied. These grounds are opened twice a month now to the public. The private apartments of the late Empress were of much interest. Later we \dsited the Temple of Heaven where the emperor comes annually to sacrifice. That afternoon an enjoyable reception was given by Minister Calhoun at the American Legation at which all the Peking Americans were present. In the evening the Chinese Press of Peking gave us a banquet at which Mr. Field spoke. IN THE FORBIDDEN CITY Next morning, at 8:30, we put on our evening clothes and were taken, under elaborate instructions, through the red and yellow walls of the Imperial City, and then on foot into the Forbidden City, and finally into a small audience chamber where the Prince Regent appeared for a few minutes, and talked to us through Minister Calhoun. The Regent is a small bright-eyed young man, with an alert yet attentive manner. In the afternoon we went to the Winter Palace and saw the late Empress' apart- ments and the gaily decorated halls where the late Emperor was confined, and where he died. 66 A Visit to China While in Peking luncheons were given by the Wai Wu Pu and by the Ministries of Commerce and Communications. Entertain- ment given by the Board of Foreign Affairs, while the courtesy was appreciated by us all, is to be taken as more in the regular course of things than the luncheon given by the Ministries. The visit to Peking terminated with a banquet given by the Chamber of Commerce, at which Mr. Moore spoke.. IN THE EMPRESS DOWAGER'S CAR Then, on the morning of February, October 10th, we found waiting for us, just outside of the wall of the inner city, a special train provided by the Imperial Railways; this train was made up of their best coaches, including not only several that make up their train deluxe, but also the special car built for the late Empress Dowager and sent to Pao Ting Fu in 1902 to bring Her Majesty back from her refuge, after the Boxer trouble. Important as both these functions were, it is apparent in looking back upon the program at Peking that the most important reception accorded the delegates from the Pacific Coast (excepting always the special recognition implied in the Imperial audience) was the banquet given by the Tzucheng Yuan, the Chinese senate, which convened for the first time on the 1st day of October. It would be considered at least unusual, if not extraordinary, that a party of commercial delegates should be recognized to this extent, and it is hardly to be presumed that the senate can continue to give such recognition to similar commissions from America or from other nations. The occasion is significant as evidence that the Chinese govern- ment took the moment of our visit as the means of expressing concretely its thanks for the several instances of American friendship. The road over which we went to Tientsin is practically the parent road of all the others in China, and is pajang about 14 per cent, out of which it is helping along newer roads that are not having such easy sledding. Like American roads, the passenger traffic is not the support of the road, and the first and second class traffic is carried on at a loss, while the third class is profitable, for the Chinese are willing passengers. Mr. Lou Etong, director of the road, accompanied us to Tientsin. The usual delegation of officials and members of the local Chamber of Commerce met us at Tientsin, and shook hands as readily as though that were their custom instead of the much more sensible practice of shaking hands, each with himself. In the afternoon we drove to various points of interest: a private school maintained by local gentry History of the Trip 67 where the new education is in full swing, an industrial college and a polytechnic school, a training school for nurses and hospital for women and children, under the direction of a Chinese returned woman student, a commercial museum, silk stores, and the city* of Tientsin in general. In the evening an elaborate dinner was given by the Yiceroy of ChiH province, H. E. Chin Kuei-lung at his yamen. Our host is the ranking viceroy of the empire, and among his predecessors were Li Hung Chang and Yuan Shi Kai, great men of China. The yamen is enormous, and the banquet with decorations, soldiery, and band-music, was spectacular in the extreme. Mr. Burnham spoke for the Commission. Next day we visited the Peiyang University, the chief of the govern- ment schools, where Mr. Shaw addressed the students. TifSn was served by the Chamber of Commerce at the Li Hung Chang Memorial Temple with beautiful effect. Mr. Stern spoke at this luncheon. On this day we saw also the model prison, and the manual training shops for poor boys, a laudable and successful work. In the evening a banquet was given in the private garden of Mr. Sun Tung- Yin, ablaze with electric lights. Mr. Clark responded. COAL-MINES AND COLLEGES On Wednesday we had a full and very interesting day in the vicinity of Tientsin. We went to Tangshan, where we were taken over the coal-mine and plant of the Chinese Engineering and Mining Company, a British concern, famous in history for the uncertainty as to its moral title to the mine, though its legal title was upheld in the British courts. The matter of title is to be settled now by the purchase of the mine by the Chinese government for £1,800,000. This purchase will include Chin Wai Tow, the only ice-free port on the north side of the Gulf of Pechili. The government will consolidate this mine with the Chinese mine now being developed at Lanchow, which we visited. When it is borne in mind that iron has been found near here, and that the level country admits of easy railroad construction and operation, it is easy to foresee that here is to be built up a center of activity that will rival Hankow, now the booming industrial point of all the empire. Coal is now capable of production here to the extent of over 6,000 tons a day. We also went through the railway shops of the government, where they are turning out 100 new cars in each day, as well as some of the engines used. The carpenters in these shops are paid about twenty-five cents a day, gold, for -ten hours. Here we saw the first locomotive used in China, the Rocket of China, a historic engine. We were served 68 A Visit to China with a banquet tiffin here, at which Mr. Knight made the Com- mission's response. We visited two cement plants, fitted up entirely with Belgian machinery. We saw very little American machinery in any of these plants, though we were made to feel that with Americans on the ground most of this might have been home material. The returned American students must be reinforced with active American representatives to accomplish this end. We inspected the Tangshan Engineering College, whose president is Samuel Young, a San Francisco born Chinese and an alumnus of the University of California, where Mr. .Field addressed the students. AT CHEFOO At midnight we boarded our special steamer the Hsin Ming, with Captain Blethen, and on Friday we arrived at picturesque Chefoo. Here we visited the only winery in China, silk mills, and an interesting school for deaf and dumb children, and we were given a pleasant reception at the American Consulate by our famous Consul Fowler. In the evening a banquet was given by the Chamber of Commerce at which Mr. Moore spoke. At all functions Mr. Booth had spoken briefly, as was expected from him; at Chefop he spoke at length upon agricultural subjects. There is a legend connected with Chefoo that is probably no more true than are most legends, but it is given here for what it is worth. On the way over, the Publicity Committee had instituted a kind of orator's insurance and had assigned certain subjects to certain commissioners, and thought and care had been expended upon the preparation of papers upon these vital topics. The nature of the entertainment provided by the Chinese was more social than formal, and did not lend itself easily, for the most part, to the delivery of these speeches. Yet, before the trip was completed, the majority of them had been delivered, and had been commented upon favorably by both English and native journals. At the time of our arrival at Chefoo, one of the papers prepared, among others, had not been delivered. This was a treatise upon the "Prophets, Sages and Scholars of China," prepared by Mr. Hotahng at the request of the Committee on Publicity. Mr. Hotaling had expressed ignorance, at the time, not only of the subject but of the reason for speaking upon it, and one of the secretaries had been confused on the matter, and had listed it as the "Profits" of China. Yet the paper had been made ready conscientiously, and it was still ready when Chefoo was reached. And here comes in the legend, which relates that Mr. Hotaling was told that he was to deliver his paper at Chefoo. Half the night was spent on History of the Trip 69 deck, rehearsing the speech in the author's best dramatic style. Arrived at the place for the delivery of the oration, it proved to be the school for the deaf and dumb! "And did you deliver the speech?" a sympathetic lady Com- missioner is reported to have asked. "Certainly," replied Hotaling, "I had it at my fingers' ends." AT FOOCHOW Coming from Chefoo down the coast toward Canton, the party made two stops. The first was at Foochow, beautifully located on the Min river, between picturesque mountains. The stop here was all too short, made so by the necessity for early arrival at Hong Kong, since Prince Tsai Tsun, returning from America, had commandeered our ship to bring him from Japan. At Foochow a banquet was given us, with the Tartar General and the Viceroy doing the honors at opposite ends of a long table. Members of the party were entertained most hospitably over night by various families of the missionary colony. Visits were made to the missionary schools, to the Tea-brick factory, and to the Industrial School. Especially touching was the array of youngsters from the Christian Herald School, patiently waiting our late arriyal with flags they had made themselves. When, about midnight, we came from the banquet hall, there was this juvenile guard of welcome still on watch and saluting us again with well drilled shouts of "Good evening." The party left Foochow toward noon and were towed in houseboats down the river to Pagoda Anchorage, where' the Imperial Arsenal was inspected, and then the Hsin Ming started for Amoy. AT AMOY A very agreeable program was carried through at Amoy with business-hke precision. "Early in the morning launches took the ladies of the^jarty to a famous temple. Nan Pu-to, and thence to the American Consulate where they were entertained at luncTieon by Mrs. Arnold, wife of J. H. Arnold, the Consul. The men of the party were taken in other launches, under the guidance of members of the Chamber of Commerce, and landed for a short run on a newly constructed railway; some nine miles of the Une were inspected fr.om its terminus at the Standard Oil wharf. The United States gunboat Wilmington, Captain SaUsbury, had gone to Amoy to join in our reception. Tifiin was served elaborately at the Nan Pu-to temple, amid a wealth of tropical flowers, with the Buddhist- abbot attending upon the guests. Mr. Furth spoke at this function. Many of the Chinese hosts spoke Spanish, being At a famous Buddhist temple, at Amoy, where an inscription has been engraved on a boulder commemorating the visit of the American, commercial delegates. History of the Trip 71 Philippine merchants, a test which the southern California delegates met bravely. COALS OF FIRE AT CANTON From the outset, Canton had been considered the one doubtful point on ou? itinerary. It is from Canton's four districts that the Chinese have immigrated to America, and it is therefore in Canton that the soreness exists as a result of the interpretation of the treaty regarding the exclusion of Chinese laborers. Yet our reception at that city was in a way the most brilliant of all the visit. Special steamer and train, illuminations, fireworks, banquets, gifts, bands, special liveries and. new chairs — all the elements of welcome which made our trip through China so remarkable, were all in evidence to the fullest extent. Yet here, for the first time, we were met squarely with the question of immigration, and it was necessary to reply to it. This reply was made by Captain Dollar, who spoke frankly as a commercial man, and recited facts as they are known, without mincing words to favor either side of the controversy. This was .the message prepared upon the Korea and anxiously awaited as the utterance at a crucial moment. Captain Dollar delivered it in the ancestral temple of the Chan family at the tiffin ' given by the General Commercial Association, and it was interpreted in masterly fashion by Mr. Ng Poon Chew, who had arrived from America a few days before, a Heaven-sent interpreter indeed, for Mr. Ng is himself a writer upon the subject of immi- gration and was just the man to make our meaning clear to his fellow Cantonese. It is true that Mr. Ng was interrupted in order that a photograph might be taken ere daylight waned, but his interpretation was pubhshed in all the Canton and Hong Kong papers next day, and it had the beneficial effect so heartily desired. At this same tiffin Mr. Waldron also made an address. 'AH discussions were carried on with the greatest friendliness, and the welcome and entertainment at Canton were most gratifying to the Americans. Canton is the center of commercial relations with America, her people are the chief traders of J[!hina, thie Cantonese are everywhere throughout the empire, active in both commercial and official life, and the warmth of the reception at Canton brought to a fitting close, what is perhaps as successful a trip as any similar delegation has ever made-. THE CONQUEST BY THE LADIES At Canton a distinct honor was shown the Americans by the presence, for the first time in the long history of the province, of History of the Trip 73 the foremost ladies of the city, at a reception given by Admiral and Lady Li. It is said that when the plans for the Viceroy's banquet at Canton were under way, the question of seating caused some discussion, since the American ladies had been invited and the Chinese men thought best to be seated by themselves. This idea was overruled and the guests were mingled with their hosts. The American ladies were found to be so charming and so gracious that forthwith the Chinese ladies were brought out to the Admiral's reception two days later. Thus it was that history was made at Canton, where such an event as this public appearance of the Chinese ladies had never been known. The admiralty building was divided by ornamental screens, and in. one portion the Chinese ladies received the American ladies, and in the other the Commis- sioners were entertained. Later the ehtire party assembled, segregated upon two balconies, and a photograph was taken that must rank among the most interesting and significant of the many taken during our visit. We had looked for this appearance of the Chinese ladies from the beginning of our trip, yet beyond the gracious presence at different cities of a few ladies who repre- sented the foreign influence there, we had looked in vain; yet here at Canton where we had least expected it, it happened, the first time for us and for themselves as well. As the men and women of the Commission passed down the staircase saying adieu to the Admiral and the Tartar General the wives of these dignitaries, in their contrasting Chinese and Manchu costumes, stood at the head of the stairway. It does not sound much, as it is told, but to those who are following the westernization of China no more significant event occurred during a visit which must be admitted to be significant. The activities at Canton included, besides the splendid banquet at the admiralty building the first evening, with its terrific crowds and its platoons of naval cadets in white uniforms, a visit to the neighboring city of Fatshan, an inspection of the Government Agricultural Experimental Farm at Canton, a banquet of farewell at the Provincial Assembly, the only building in South China with a dome. Personal receptions were given by Mr. Hsu Ping-chun, formerly Consul-General to San Francisco, in a specially con- structed balcony and a room hung with photographs of California, and by Consul-General Bergholtz at the American Consulate, a notable repast of baked beans and doughnuts, Sweeter far Than seabirds' nests or shark-fins are! 74 A Visit to China FAREWELLS AT HONGKONG The visit to China was terminated officially at Canton. Forty- days and forty nights of feasting and sightseeing, among alien people and unintelUgible tongues! Yet at Canton's entertain- ment, every member of the Commission, save one, was present, in good health and spirits. Still entertainment lingered, for the Chinese merchants at Hong Kong, in addition to furnishing free the steamer On Lee for the trip to Canton, desired to co-operate with the Chinese Y. M. C. A. of that city in greeting to the American visitors, and from Governor-General Forbes, of the Philippines, came an urgent request that the Americans should inspect some portion of the Islands before returning to the American mainland. The Commission felt that its program was completed and that it no longer existed as an official body to be formally entertained, now that the invitation of the Chinese Chambers of Commerce had been accepted, and their program completed; yet many of the members enjoyed the meeting arranged at the building of the Y. M. C. A. at Hongkong and a banquet tendered them at the Tong Tin Low restaurant by Mr. Chin Gee Hee, president of the Sun Ning Railway Company, the latter entertainment including for the first time on the trip the novelty of "sing-song girls," the Chinese geisha. Major Geo. A. Lyon, of the Philippine Constabulary, had come to Hongkong to press the invitation of Governor Forbes and the Manila merchants. The acceptance of this invitation virtually established the disbanding of the company that had traveled so pleasantly for over two months. Although the Commission re- tained its organization for the purpose of hearing reports and preparing its final report, and a meeting was yet to be attended in Shanghai for a final conference of the Committee on Trade and Commerce with representatives of the various Chinese Chambers, the trip together was at an end. The party originally composed of twenty-five men and sixteen ladies now began to divide. Sixteen of the men and ten of the ladies sailed for Manila, where generous and delightful entertainment was accorded them. Captain and Mrs. Dollar, Mr. and Mrs. Clark, Mr. and Mrs. Waldron and Mr. Freeman remained in China temporarily; Mr. and Mrs. Hyde, Mr. and Mrs. Stern, and Mr. and Mrs. Weilbye went on around the world. So the visit to China came to end. On the morning that we disbanded, the "Morning Post," at Hongkong, said: "The American Commercial Commissioners, who have but now left the shores of China after an unparalleled reception at Canton, History of the Trip 75 are the binders of new bonds between the great Empire of the East and the world beyond. The hope is sure to be fulfilled that a new era of commercial intercourse is to open. We would wish to see delegations constantly arriving in China or setting out from there. Nothing but good can accrue, and if the delegations of the future are as successful as that just concluded, we may look forward with confidence to the commercial situation in the Far East." Special Reports EDUCATION We trust that the members of the Commission will consider not only the magnitude of this subject, but also the lack of time and the many interesting events necessarily crowded . into our very hurried journey 'of six weeks through the six or seven most important provinces of the Chinese Empire. We will not attempt, for we do not believe we are expected to give voluminous data, but will rather give expression to our opinion as formed by such passing observations as came within our reach. The most radical change ever made by any government was the abandonment by China in 1905, by Imperial Edict, of the old-style government examinations, and the introduction of an educational system patterned after western models. As a reminder of the ancient system stand the old examination halls of Nanking, formerly the southern capitol of the Empire. These halls were supposed to accommodate about 25,000 students, and during the examination periods added 10,000 extra population to the city. Each student occupied a cell or booth about the size of a sedan chair with boards for seat and table. Students from all parts of the Empire attended these, or a similar hall located at Peking and other important centers, in the hope that they might win the much sought degree that would ensure them official preferment. To change iihis centuries-old method at one stroke, and against the advice and desires of no small portion of its subjects, must, to say the least, have called for much courage on the part of those in power. Especially is this understood when one considers the stupen- dous task of undertaking to provide a system of governmental education ranging from the kindergarten to an Imperial College for the children of four hundred miUion people. It is said that China has no caste and little caste feeling, and that any one may aspire to high official position, though he start from the most humble beginning, yet, while this is true as to caste, China has always recognized five degrees of society — first, the scholar; second, the farmer; third, the mechanic or artisan; fourth, the tradesman or merchant; fifth and lowest, the soldier. Under such a condition of things to say that splendid results have 78 A Visit to China been accomplished would faintly express the opinion of your committee. We were not only filled with pleasant surprise, we were astounded. If five or six years has wrought such a change in China's edu- cational efforts, what may be consistently expected in the next ten-year period? That there is room for much improvement is but natural; doubtless text-books better suited for the lower and middle grades will come in time. More and better arranged buildings for what we would call their "common schools," methods of taxation that will meet requirements for the efficient conduct of same, and many other details pertaining to an educational system, are problems to be met and mastered in China as elsewhere. The one striking feature noticed by your committee in con- nection with modern educational affairs, and one which gives promise of splendid results, is the enthusiasm, the almost eager interest displayed by young and old, and especially by officialdom, in what is commonly spoken of as "China's new school system," and it seemed like a breath from home to see the school children in the many school yards playing baseball, football, throwing the shot, running footraces and indulging in all kinds of our athletic games; were it not for the cry of our ricksha man clearing the way for us, we might imagine ourselves back in the United States again. Physical training is said to be an important part of all their schools, and the boys are its most active advocates. We also found connected with some of the high schools, an edu- cational museum provided with all apparatus for experiments in physics and chemistry and paraphernalia required for teaching other sciences. The students in these middle grade schools study, besides the Chinese written language, arithmetic, geography, elementary science and history. Some of the schoolrooms are arranged much after the style of our American schools, with charts, maps and blackboards being about the walls. Government institutions of learning seem to embrace district schools, prefectural schools and provincial colleges, which compare with our American grammar grades, high schools and state colleges. While the attendance varied according to location, there appeared to be a scarcity of teachers rather than pupils. Your committee was further very favorably impressed by the many flourishing girls' schools, under both private and public supervision. Generally the curriculum of these latter included Chinese written language,, mathematics, geography, simple science. special Reports — Bducation . 79 drawing, elementary domestic science, physical culture and some rules of western etiquette. We were informed that in a small way compulsory education was on trial in a few of the most important provinces, .and if found practicable would be extended to other sections of the Empire. As before intimated the revenue for school purposes is yet a problem for China's officials to solve; hence, schools of all kinds, both private and public, require an admission fee, so small, how- ever, as to create no very great obstacle. Much might be said as to the efficiency of China's colleges and institutions of education, both Imperial and those under denomi- national supervision. Your committee is of the opinion, after our brief inspection and a considerable opportunity to meet and talk with both teachers and students, that the latter will compare favorably with the average student in point of general information on subjects the knowledge of which they must have obtained through "attending some place of learning in China, as tests were made with those who had assured us they had never been away from their native country. To the great work done and being done by the missionaries in all parts of China is due, doubtless in large part, the wonderful progress made in education within recent years, and much of Chinese officialdom cheerfully extends them due credit. Shanghai, being our first stopping-place in China, gave us our first pleasant surprise in educational matters; while we could, in the time at our command, have inspected only a small portion of the private and public schools and colleges, yet we learned enough to assure us that Shanghai is a very important factor ip China's educational progress. The city and its suburbs is the home of many schools and colleges; our entire commission was impressed on being royally entertained at "Nanyang College" one of Shang- hai's large government schools. We were shown through its splendid buildings and entertained with military maneuvers of a ' high order by its students in natty bright uniforms. It was here we met a French priest, who had taught and labored in China for over thirty years, and while he was still a Frenchman, yet he had long adopted the Chinese dress, even to his gray hair, which was braided and hung down his back in a neat queue. He was well up in educational lore, and we much enjoyed his delight and en- thusiasm while showing us over the beautiful well-kept grounds and through the large' well-constructed brick and stone buildings. Space will not admit of a detailed mention of the many schools and colleges of Shanghai, of which we had but time to pass in 80 ^ A Visit to China general. review.. However, your committee is of the opinion that a thorough education may be had in Shanghai by any seeking such. Among Shanghai's schools may be mentioned the public school for foreign children, the Ecole Municipale (French), the Deutsche Schule (German), the Thoinas Hanbury School for Eurasian children, with many public and private schools for Chinese children in western learning, besides schools maintained by the missionary societies. From Shanghai we went by houseboat and train to Hangchow, which is located some miles from the former city. This, to your committee, was a second deUghtful surprise, as we found Hang- chow the most important center of learning in all the large Che- kiang province. Provincial colleges, prefectural schools, district schools, and a very large and splendidly conducted normal school, besides a large and flourishing school for women, all these are government institutions, besides many mission schools — one, the Hangchow college, with very elaborate equipment. There are many private schools, and Hangchow is the home of a large number of scholars and retired officials. We might mention that the Hangchow Provincial College has among its faculty three American under- graduates. Additional Hangchow schools are the Chekiang College, The Normal School, The School of Pohtics, The Hangchow Middle School, The Aen Ding Middle School, The Girls' Normal School, The Hangchow Military School. From Hangchow our party took train back to Shanghai, from which latter place we proceeded northwesterly to Nanking, passing en route Soochow and Chinkiang. While your committee considers Nanking the most important educational center in Central China, it would be biit a repetition to enumerate the many splendid schools and colleges with which this city is blessed. Here we found splendidly-equipped technical and military schools under government supervision. Nanking is deemed by many the heart and center of missionary educational work. Our party was pleasantly entertained by a visit through the Nanyang .University, a splendid college conducted jointly by the Methodist, Presbyterian and Christian Church Societies. During our visit here we were much impressed with the edu- cational exhibits displayed at the Nanyang Industrial Exhi- bition, which, by the way, frgm an educational standpoint indicates China's progress, as this great fair is her first attempt in this line. special Reports — Education 81 Hankow is not a walled city; therefore, while really a great commercial center, and having a very large population, is not considered a "city" in name by the Chinese government, because it is not protected by a wall; hence, technical and missionary schools, in addition to many private schools, are not noticeable. Across the river Han, however, lies the walled city of Wuchang, which boasts of district, prefectural and provincial schools and colleges. We were interestingly entertained at Boone University, which was up-to-date in every way, only like most schools visited, more room and extra teachers seemed to be the pressing need of the hour. St. Hilda's School for girls is a crying example of the need for larger quarters and more teachers. Peking, 800 miles due north from Hankow, was next visited. Here government schools and colleges, mission and private schools were many^ and of high efficiency, technical and miUtary colleges fairly well represented. As these institutions, being located in the capital, have been fully spoken of lately in print, your com- mittee deems it needless to trespass upon space with any extended mention. Tientsin, 80 miles southeast of Peking, was our next visiting point. This beautiful city, as is well known, acts as the seaport to China's national capital, hence, is the niost important commer- cial center of northern China. Educationally, Tientsin has her share of schools high and low, both government, missionary and private, and we found educational zeal here much as in the cities already spoken of, Peiyang University being one of North China's educational landmarks. From Tientsin our itinerary took us southward by the steamer Hsin Ming, down the east coast of China to Amoy and Canton, where officially the visit of our commission would terminate. En route we had a very pleasant visit at Chefoo, where among other schools we had an example of what is being done for the deaf, dumb and bhnd of China. As far as your committee could observe, these unfortunates, as also the insane, have received but scant attention up to within very recently. Now, however, effort is being made in several cities in China in their behalf under the gentle care and teaching of Miss Anita E. Carter of Chefoo. These unfortunates find a haven of refuge in the School for Chinese Deaf. Out of the salt waters of the ocean we sailed into the fresh waters of the Min Kiang river, changed from ocean steamer to small boats at Pagoda Anchorage, then up one of the most beautiful valleys in southern China to Foochow, with its 82 A Visit to China schools, its colleges, both government and mission, quite in accord with the other cities already mentioned. Here flourishes the Baldwin School of Theology, the Foochow College and Theological Seminary, District Schools, Law Colleges, Middle Grade Schools, Commercial Schools, etc. In conclusion of this very incomplete report, your committee desires to call attention to the many government and private hospitals met with on our journey, and the large proportions of the many publishing houses conducted under the supervision, not only of missionary societies, but by Chinese, both as to capital and operation, the Commercial Press of Shanghai being an in- stance of a Chinese publishing house where anything from an English primer to a translation in Chinese of Webster's dictionary may be had for the ordering. As an indication that the Chinese have a thought for the un- fortunate, we found several homes for "fallen women," supported largely by Chinese aid. While our report gives scant mention of the very splendid work done by the Y. M. C. A., it was not because they are not a large factor in educational work in China. special Reports — Cotton and Silk 83 COTTON AND SILK We find that cotton is being grown to some extent, almost throughout the entire Chinese Empire, but more particularly in the provinces of Shensi, Honan, Shantung, Szechwan, Hupeh, Hunan, Kiangsi, Anwhei, Kiangsu, Kweichow, Kwangsi, Che- kiang and Sinkiang, The acreage is increasing every year. Very crude machinery and old-fashioned methods are being employed in the cultivation of the product. The average crop yields about 100 pounds of medium grade | staple cotton to the mao, or one and one-half bales per acre. When the crop is unusually poor it is necessary to import some from India to mix with their own, and while, of course, the price fluctuates, it averages about taels 78 per bale of 400 pounds. The western part of Honan province produces very large quantities of cotton and it is estimated that in Honanfu alone the sales average taels 10,000 daily the year round. In the province of Kiangsu sufficient quantities are produced to not only supply the looms to be found in every cottage and the half-score of cotton-spinning and weaving mills in operation in Shanghai but also to form the chief source of supply for many of the Japanese mills. There are several cotton mills throughout China, but the prin- cipal ones are at Shanghai and Wuchang. The largest of these we found to be a 65,000-spindle mill, employing 6000 hands, 1000 of whom were men, 4500 women, and 500 children ranging from 12 to 13 years of age. This mill operates night and day and runs two shifts of twelve hours each. The average wage paid is 30 cents Mexican for coolies, 27 cents Mexican for women, and 12 cents Mexican for children. The highest wage paid is $2.00 Mexican for fitters. The labor employed in this mill is entirely Chinese, except the superintendent of mill and superintendent of boilers, who are both Enghshmen. 600 looms are operated, having an output of 1200 pieces daily of plain unbleached sheeting and drilling, which sells for taels 4.50 per piece of 40 yards, weigh- ing 14 pounds. These goods find a ready market in the northern provinces and none are exported. They spin only 10-12-14-16 count. This mill has been established eighteen years, is growing and is in a prosperous condition. The plant -represents an invest- ment of $900,000 gold. The buildings are all brick, well-lighted and ventilated and are suppUed with the sprinkler system of fire protection. The spinning machinery was purchased in England, while the looms and weaving machinery are of American make. 84 A Visit to China Coal is used for fuel at a cost of taels 5 per ton. The by-products of the mill are cottonseed-oil, oil-cake and fertiUzer, which find a ready market. This mill is at Shanghai. Cotton was introduced in China about 650 years ago, and at first it was only cultivated for the sake of its beautiful flower. In the year 502 A. D. it is recorded of one of the Chinese emperors that he had a cotton robe. This must have been a remarkable possession for the record to have been handed down as a wonder to the present time. The cultivation and manufacture of cotton was so little known in China in 1295, when the country was visited by Marco Polo the celebrated traveler of Venice, that he does not even mention it, although he minutely describes the inhabitants and their habits, stating in one place that they were clothed solely in silk. The Chinese method of preparing the ground for cotton planting is in every respect similar to that in America, with one exception, and that is they are still jogging along with the same old imple- ments as of yore and from present indications there seems to be no improvement in that direction unless the Chinese Government comes to the fore to enlighten the people of the relative benefit of improved machinery such as is used on the farms in America and Europe. The average jaeld per acre is about 490 pounds of seed cotton, or about 176.40 pounds of clean cotton. The farmers own the grounds, and therefore keep the cost to themselves; they conduct the. business so secretly that the few they employ are kept in the dark regarding the cost. Leased property in the country would cost about $4 Mexican per one-sixth of an acre, including hired help and self-owned, about $2.50 to $3.00 Mexican. The volume of business is large, but exact figures cannot be given owing to the lack of proper government supervision in compil- ing statistics. The selling price the last five years has fluctuated so much that it is very difficult to strike an average figure. The average wages paid to farm hands is about 16,000 cash per annum,, including board and lodging. 1330 cash equals one Mexi- can dollar. From the foregoing it is readily perceived that laborers are plentiful and cheap. The general family and labor conditions connected with the growing of cotton in-Ciiina are all "that could be desired; in fact the farmers of Kiangsu and Chekiang provinces are very pros- perous. Shanghai is considered the principal market of China. Owing to the lack of statistics it is difficult to gauge the exact special Reports — Cotton and Silk 85 amount of cotton used locally in China, but taking the con- sumption of the mills as a basis we find that they consume be- tween 8 and 900,000 piculs. Cotton is imported largely from India. China has no trade whatever with the Pacific Coast States in raw cotton or cotton goods. The mills in China manufactured very little of the yarn spun by them into cloth; the bulk of local manufactured and imported yarns are made into cloth by the peasants, with the ancient wooden machinery. Only recently, however, one of our foreign owned mills. has taken the matter in hand by issuing debentures in order to add a weaving department to their mill. Chinese cotton can only be used for low counts. The mills of China buy their cotton-spinning machinery from England on account of price. The principal part of the manufacture of cotton goods is done by hand. A decade ago the silk business between America and China' was infinitesimal; most of the silk trade was carried through Europe. This policy of passing the trade through, as it were, a middle man was found to be more costly and more complicated. Slowly a direct trade with China began and since its inception the. volume of business has increased by leaps and bounds. While this was going on, the Pacific Coast did not do any direct transaction; all was passed through New York. The time has come for the Pacific to enter into direct business with China, and the time is an opportune one to begin a direct trade and divert part of the New York business. New Style Tsatlee Cross Filature. — Up to two years ago China exported to America only Tsatlee filature, Grant reel and steam filature. Lately a new system of working silk was introduced called the New Style Tsatlee Cross Filature, which at once jumped into favor in the American market, and the exportation today of this class of silk is general, and the old style has almost fallen out of fashion, although a few firms still import this old staple. Below we give the statistic of the shipments: Season 1907-8 5,790 bales Season 1908-9 9,480 bales Season 1909-10 11,780 bales From June 1st, 1910, to Sept. 20th, 1910 1,885 bales Tussah Filature. — This particular kind of silk is also very much fancied in America, which pays a very high price for it. 86 A Visit to China We give below a few particularly favorite "chops" with prices, and the figures of the export for the last three seasons: Spinning Girl 8 Cocoons taels 390 Black Pagoda 8 Cocoons taels 390 Black Horse 8 Cocoons taels 390 Black Monkey 8 Cocoons taels 380 Etc.: Export: Season 1907-8 2,150 bales Season 1908-9 ' 5,395 bales Season 1909-10 5,635 bales From June 1st, 1910, to September 20th, 1910 965 bales As an instance of how some chops run into first place it may be mentioned that Spinning Girl chop, which was 'priced at taels 380, at the beginning of the last season, rose in three months to taels 530 per picul. Steam Filature. Since the commencement of direct trade, this kind of silk has always found a very ready market in the States, and "Crack" chops are eagerly snatched at good prices. The statistic of the shipments follows: Season 1907-8 2,260 bales Season 1908-9 5,425 bales Season 1909-10 2,945 bales From June 1st, 1910, to Sept. 20th, 1910 805 bales Pongees (Silk Piece Goods). Since 1907 the business put through in this kind of silk has increased yearly very perceptibly and promises to augment in volume. Special mention must be made of the Honan pongees, which came into favor only in 1907, since when the exportation has increased fifty per cent, which points out that a great demand exists for this kind of silk. Below we give the figures of the various classes of pongees exported during the last three seasons: Shantung Pongees. 1907 150,000-200,000 pieces 1908 100,000-150,000 pieces 1909 200,000-250,000 pieces Hoochow or White Pongees. 1907 15,000 pieces 1908 15,000 pieces 1909 20,000 pieces special Reports — Cotton and Silk 87 Honan Pongees. 1907 •. 40-50,000 pieces 1908 50-60,000 pieces 1909 60-75,000 pieces The above statistics of pongees comprise shipments to both America and Europe, as it is almost impossible to find out exactly the quantities shipped to Europe, United States and Canada. The prospect of the silk business is very bright, and no doubt if a closer attention is paid to it ,and a greater push be given, it can be developed into a very lucrative business. America has always purchased the very best chops and paid the very best price. It is natural therefore that China looks to America for a bigger business in silk since it is to her interest to give her best attention to the country which pays the top price. The trade with Europe is yearly decreasing and thus it -is to America that China looks forward to fill the vacuum caused by this decrease of Euro- pean business. The above is but a brief and cursory report of the silk trade. It is impossible to draw up a full history of the business between America and China in the short space at our command. Acknowledgment is made to Messrs. Silondan and Sanadas, Silk Inspectors, for information given in this report. 88 A Visit to China COAL The principal coal supplies in North China are derived from: 1. The K'ai-Ping district. 2. The neighborhood of Mukden. 3. The Shan-si and Honan districts. 4. Shantung. Of these districts the first-named will be fully described later. Mukden. The principal mines in the neighborhood of Mukden are those known as the Fushun Collieries, which produce a lignite containing a very small percentage of ash. It is, however, very fast burning, and consequently unsuitable for steam-raising pur- poses. This coal is operated by a Japanese concern working with the South Manchurian Railways. The quality is not sufficiently good to make it worth while exporting it to America, where it would not command a good sale. Another colliery recently opened in this district is known as the Pen-chi-hu coalfield, the product of which appears to be of satis- factory quality, but the output is very limited, and so far, no attempt has been made to export it. Shan-si and Honan Coal Measures. These are of enormous extent, and are hkely in the future to be of great importance. The coal is mostly anthracite, but bituminous coal is met with in various places and is being mined now by Chinese and foreign concerns. The distance from the coast will prevent these bitu- minous coals from competing with the K'ai-Ping products, but it is probable that the anthracite coal could be laid down on the Pacific Coast of America at sufficiently low rates to compete with the existing sources of supply. With efficient arrangements and reduced railway rates (which no doubt could be obtained if the coal were exported in large quantities), I think the actual cost of laying down this coal, including freight and insurance, but not' including any charges on the American side, would amount to roughly gold $7 per ton. The principal anthracite mines now being operated are those belonging to the Shan-si Coal Company, a purely Chinese concern, and those belonging to the Peking Syndicate Limited, a British company. Shantung. The coal from this province is a bituminous variety, very poor in quality and containing a very large percentage of ash. The principal mines at present being operated are those of the Shantung Bergbau Gesellschaft, a German company; but so far they have not proved a success. special Reports — Coal 89 K'ai-Ping District. With regard to this, the first district men- tioned above, there are at present two concerns operating collieries in the K'ai-Ping Basin: one a British concern, the Chinese Engi- neering & Mining Company Limited, and the other a Chinese concern, the Lanchow. Mining Company. The question of the rights of these two bodies has been much disputed lately, and still forms the subject of negotiations with the Chinese Government. It seems likely, however, that the interests will be amalgamated, and that the whole coal deposit will be worked under one man- agement. This note will deal only with the business of the Chinese Engi- neering & Mining Company, Limited, which alone is in a position now to supply large demands from the K'ai-Ping Coalfield. The mines operated by this company are three in number, viz.: The Tongshan Mine (recently inspected by the Pacific Coast Chambers of Commerce Delegates). The North-West Shaft Mine, and The Linsi Mine. The output capacities of these three mines are respectively: Tongshan 3000 tons per diem N. W. Shaft , . . . . 700 tons per diem Linsi 3000 tons per diem The quality of the coal produced varies in accordance with the seams comprised in the deposits. The best quality is almost equal to Cardiff coal, whilst the worst quality is an inferior dust coal suitable only for native consumption, by whom it is largely em- ployed in the local industries owing to its cheapness. Of the best quality there is only a hmited supply available; but the value of this grade of coal is very high, containing as it does only about 4| per. cent ash and a very small proportion of sulphur. This grade finds a ready market locally at high prices, and probably therefore will' not be available for disposal in large quantities on the American coast. The next quality of lump coal is an excellent steam-raising and household coal, locally known as Loco Lump. The percentage of ash in the lump coal is about 1 1 per cent, and in the slack about 15-per cent. The whole of ^he coal derived from the North- West Shaft Mine is graded in this category, although perhaps shghtly superior in analysis. The difference, however, is not suSiciently great to necessitate another classification. This grade is available in very large quantities; at the present moment it is used almost exclusively by the Imperial Railways of North China and the Tientsin-Pukow Railway, and by almost all the coasting steamers 90 A Visit to China plying to North China. It has also a very extensive sale, amount- ing to nearly half a million tons per annum, in the ports of Shanghai and Hongkong. In fact it may be said to be the principal fuel mined in China. It is this coal which is thought to be suitable for use on the American coast — the lump coal for household purposes and for those industries requiring coal and which cannot utilize oil-fuel; the slack coal for blacksmith purposes and for cokemaking. When properly washed, this slack coal will furnish a coke con- taining about 11 to 12 per cent of ash, which has been pronounced by experts to be in every way suitable for metallurgical purposes, being very firm and compact, thus supporting metal more effect- ively than most of the cokes found on the market. The Tongshan Mine is situated 80 miles from the port of Chin- wangtao, the wharves and accommodation at which place have been entirely built by the Chinese Engineering & Mining Co. Ltd. The harbor has splendid accommodation for ocean-going steamers drawing up to 23 feet, requires no pilotage and is extremely easy of access. There is every facility for loading, as much as 4000 tons of coal having been put on board ship in 24 hours. Large stocks of coal are always kept on hand at Chinwangtao, and only very short notice is required to supply coal against the arrival of steamers. The cost of this coal laid down at Chinwangtao is very small; and assuming a freight rate of, say, gold $3 per ton across the Pacific, the coal could be dehvered in ships at San Francisco for about gold $6 per ton for lump coal, and gold $5 per ton for slack. Unfortunately the proportion of slack turned out is very high, amounting to 75 per cent of the total output. As a consequence, unless buyers are prepared to take a proportion of slack with the lump, prices have to be raised, as it is obvious that to turn out lump coal alone considerable expense has to be incurred in pro- ducing so large a proportion of slack with it. It is possible, however, that difficulties in this connection might be got over by adopting some system of briquetting the slack coal. Such bri- quettes would no doubt be of great use on the American coast markets. Also, the slack coal being easier to convert into coke, if a considerable coke market were established on the Pacific Coast, the difficulties with regard to the over-production of slack would be overcome. At the present time no modern cokemaking plant exists at the mines, and it is a question whether there would not be an advantage in constructing such a plant at San Francisco or other points on the American coast, where no doubt the by- special Reports-^Coal 91 products recovered, such as sulphate of ammonia, coal tar, benzine and aniline dyes, would help to pay for the construction of the plant. This is a matter which appears to be well worthy of study, which could be more easily carried out on the American side than on this. The whole business is one which could well be combined with the trade in lumber now flourishing between China and the Pacific Coast of America, and would afford an easy means of obtaining return cargoes for ships arriving in China with lumber, and which often find difficulty in obtaining return freights. Supposing such a combination to be started, there seems little doubt that a big trade might be easily developed, which would prove a great advantage to both sides, and it seems well worth while for coal consumers and shipowners on the American Pacific Coast to make a careful study of the subject. •i^p-^^ft?^! ^1^