568 CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES. 



At lejist tlireo-foiirtli.s of the imports of Hono-konji', iiotii))ly wheat, 

 flour, iuul canned goods, arc destined for consumption in the Chinese 

 mainland. 



Such is the present condition of trade ])etween the United States 

 and China. That trade can be greatl}' extended. Let the products 

 of American farms, mills, and workshops once catch the Chinese fancy, 

 and America need look no farther for a market. The present popu- 

 larity of American kerosene ilhistrates tlie readiness <^f the Chinese to 

 accept any article that tills a long-felt want. They have recognized 

 in kerosene a cheap and good illuminant. nuich suixMJor to their own 

 nut oil, and it has conse({uentIy found its way into distant and outl}'- 

 iiig parts of the Empire, where the very name of America is unknown. 

 Stores in the interior now send their agents to the trinity i)orts for it. 

 In the saujc way foreign-made candles, because cheaper than thos(> of 

 home make. ari> st'liing easily in China. I would suggest that Amer- 

 ican farmers and manufactuicrs might tind it to their advantage to 

 study the wants and lial)its of tlie Chinese and the conditions of trade 

 in China. 



Thus we see that China can give the United States a much-needed 

 market. What, on the othei- hand, can the United States do for 

 China? Let us consider China's stock of the three requisites for the 

 production of wealth land. lal)or, and ca])ital. 



The Chinese Em}nre embraces a contimious territory which stretches 

 over 60 degrees of longitude and 34 degrees of latitude. Nature has 

 endowed this innuense region with every variety of soil and climate, 

 but has, however, scattered her bounties over it with an uneven hand. 

 That portion which comprises the eighteen provinces of China Proper, 

 extending from the (Jreat AVall to the China Sea, and from the Til)etan 

 plateau to the l*acitic Ocean, is inore highly favored than the; rest. 

 AVhenever China is mentioned it is generally this particular por- 

 tion of the PjHipire that is meant. On this land hundreds of genera- 

 tions of men have lived and died without exhausting its richness and 

 fertility. There remains for generations to come untold wealth of 

 nature lying hidden within the bowels of the earth. Th(», mines of 

 Yunnan, though they have for centuries supplied the Government 

 mints with copper for the coining of those pieces of money commonl}' 

 known as cash, only await the introduction of modern methods of 

 extraction to yield an annual output as large as that of the famous 

 Calumet and Hecla mines. The sands of the Yangtze, washed down 

 from the highlands of Tibet, contained so much gold that that part of 

 its course as it enters the province of Szechuen is called the River of 

 Golden Sand. Much more important than these, however, are the 

 deposits of coal which underlie the surface formation of every 

 province. All varieties of coal are found, from the softest lignite to 

 the hardest anthracite, and in such quantities that, according to the 



