China and the United States 



555 



foreign powers, and particularly the 

 treaty of 1 86 5 with your government, we 

 have been drawn more closely together. 



The constant policy of your govern- 

 ment in regard to the affairs of the Far 

 East has been one of conspicuous mag- 

 nanimity and justice. This was amply 

 manifested in the settlement of the dif- 

 ficulties of 1900 and throughout the ne- 

 gotiations with the powers in the follow- 

 ing year. I recall with unspeakable 

 pleasure the conduct of President Mc- 

 Kinley at that time, through whose wis- 

 dom and forbearance my country was 

 saved much humiliation. The policy 

 which he marked out was followed by 

 his successor, President Roosevelt, whose 

 fairness and high sense of justice have 

 been always evinced toward us. Nor can 

 I fail to mention the friendship and pro- 

 tecting care of that eminent and lamented 

 statesman, John Hay, Secretary of State. 

 For these reasons the Chinese, as a gov- 

 ernment, are under a deep sense of grati- 

 tude, and, as a people, are naturally most 

 friendly inclined toward the govern- 

 ment and people of the United States. 

 Hence it was that I experienced a feel- 

 ing of no little satisfaction when I was 

 honored with the mission to represent 

 the country of my birth in the country 

 of my education. 



The subject about which doubtless 

 you would be glad to hear from me — 

 the commercial possibilities between the 

 two countries — is one respecting which 

 the members of the Commercial Club, 

 with their long experience and keen 

 judgment, are better judges than my- 

 self. But I cannot fail to see that, as 

 China is brought more and more closely 

 in contact with foreign countries, as the 

 people come to learn the necessities, the 

 conveniences, and the comforts enjoyed 

 by the people of other lands, as by 

 travel, by education, by long residence 

 abroad, her demand for foreign com- 

 modities will be largely increased. 

 China is not, to a great extent, a manu- 

 facturing country ; nor is she likely to 



be in the near future. Her people are 

 too easily satisfied with what they can 

 readily purchase in the world's markets. 

 Nor are her people, who have enjoyed 

 art, culture, refinement for centuries, 

 disinclined to modern luxuries and con- 

 veniences. The present foreign trade in 

 that ancient empire is chiefly confined 

 to the coast provinces. It is anticipated 

 that the abolition of the likin tax, as 

 provided in the recent commercial 

 treaties, when fully carried out, will 

 forever destroy that formidable barrier 

 to internal commerce so long deplored 

 by merchants, both foreign and native 

 alike. When her immense natural re- 

 sources shall have been developed, her 

 purchasing power will indeed be greatly 

 increased. 



It is this commercial growth I long 

 to see established between the two coun- 

 tries, and it has been my pleasure, as 

 well as my duty, to smooth all differ- 

 ences which might threaten its complete 

 realization. But there is one difference 

 now engaging the serious attention of 

 the two governments which I may be 

 pardoned for bringing to your atten- 

 tion. The exclusion question and the 

 administration of the exclusion laws are 

 matters which seem to have engaged 

 very little the consideration of the 

 American people ; but they are matters 

 of vital importance to the Chinese di- 

 rectly concerned. While I wish it to be 

 understood that it is not my intention 

 to unduly criticise the laws or the ad- 

 ministration of the laws, the mention of 

 some facts may aid you in a proper con- 

 sideration of this question, which has a 

 direct connection with the improvement 

 of our commercial relations. 



When the American Commissioners 

 went to Peking to negotiate the immi- 

 gration treaty of 1880, in the first memo- 

 randum which they submitted to the 

 Chinese plenipotentiaries in setting forth 

 the object of their visit, they stated that 

 the restriction they desired was " en- 

 tirely of laborers. ' ' An examination of 



