204 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



hillsides, as I saw being done in places, they will set out forests, and 

 arbor culture will be well suited to their patient ways. As yet they 

 have worked their lands only with a view to home consumption; there 

 are many ways in which they can devote them and their energies to 

 furnish export articles for the imports they will buy. 



The position of the United States in China is peculiarly advanta- 

 geous, because, in the first place, China regards our country as friendly 

 in the desire to protect rather than despoil her territory, and because, 

 in the second place, other nations have been willing to see ours come 

 forward when they would have objected most strenuously to the same 

 advancement on the part of one of their own number. The men who 

 guide our national affairs and foreign commerce should always see to it 

 that China's confidence is not abused. But as for the friendliness of 

 other nations toward us in relation to China, so soon as the pressure 

 of American trade begins to be felt by them, efforts will be made to 

 thwart it if possible; and it must be remembered that to-day all the 

 machinery of commerce, in the way of banks, transportation com- 

 panies, cable lines, and other forms, is in their hands. When the meet- 

 ing of the American and European invasions takes place, unless we 

 have an organization, a base and rallying point, a tangible something 

 besides mere labels on boxes or bales as representing American force, 

 the struggle will be a hard one, for the native is apt to judge his asso- 

 ciates by the outward visible signs, and with a natural tendency to 

 deal with the strongest. In this respect commerce in the Far East 

 stands, and will stand for a long time, on a different footing from that 

 of commerce in Europe. 



In order to be thoroughly successful, to expand our trade far beyond 

 its present boundaries, we should make a careful and intelligent study 

 of the Chinaman in his tastes and habits. If we wish to sell him goods, 

 we must make them of a form and kind that will please him and not 

 necessarily ourselves. This is a fact too frequently overlooked by both 

 the English and ourselves, but one of which the Germans, who may be 

 our real competitors in the end, take advantage. For example, at the 

 present moment, if a careful study were made of Chinese designs, the 

 market for American printed goods could be largely broadened. It 

 is not for our people to say that our designs are prettier; the Chinaman 

 prefers his own, and he will not buy any other. The United States 

 Minister to China, talking upon this subject, gave me a striking in- 

 stance of foolish American obstinacy. The representative of a large 

 concern manufacturing a staple article in hardware, let us say screws, 

 had been working hard to secure an order for his screws, which he 

 knew were better than the German article then supplying the demand. 

 At last he obtained a trial order, amounting to $5,000, which he cabled 

 out; but it was given on the condition that the screws be wrapped in 



