Salt Lake Tribune | 1905-12-06 | Page 2 | Says Boycott is Getting Worse

SAYS BOYCOTT IS GETTING WORSE Nonsense to Talk of Its Dying Out, Declares Capt Baker. AUSTRALIANS AND JAPS DRIVE AMERICANS OUT Impossible to stem Movement, Which Is Jusl Reaching Interior. SAN FRANCISCO. Dec o.-Capt. A C. Baker of the erulxer It.ileiph, who has been deiaehed for several months to study commercial nnd political conditions In Ciilnn. was a passenger on tho Manchuria, arriving today from the Orient on his way to Washington to lay before the President anrl hln advisers the results of his Inventifjatlons. Boycott Not Dying Out. "It Ip nonsense." said Capt Raker, "to tnlk of the boycott as dying Oul The Commercial situation In the south of China Is absolutely t the mercy of the guilds. There aro soventy-ono of these, anrl they control trade With an Iron hand, and llii s hiive plven orders not to handle American Rood:-: It la almost Impossible to get at them. Of course, we have treaties guaranteeing the free circulation of our goods, hut supposing the coolies on thr docks, the carriers on the streets end everybody connected with the handling of good refuses to touch them, what are you to do? American Warehouses Full. "American warehouses In Canton are full to the roof with flour, and they can't budge It. In the nnantlme Australian merchants are chartering everything they can get their hands on to rush their Inferior flour Into the market to take ad-vantage ad-vantage of our difficulty. Tho Chinese merchants admit that the flour Is not as good as ours, but they are committed to this war on American products and are prepared to make sacrifices to carry It out. When a Chinese merchant Is ready to make sacrifices for a principle ho has been mightily stirred up over the Issn.- "The hoycott Is Just reaching the Interior, In-terior, for mi-thods of communication are slow, and If the strike were called off today to-day it would take a year for the news to reach th- provin is up the river. Japs Take Advantage. "Not only the Australians but the Japanese also are taking advantage of the boycott to get our business. Cotton mills are being established In China by Japatiesr- houMt-8, and with cheap labor and no transportation charges they are In a position to drive ue out of the field. They will also develop the steel ore of Korea and probably the oil In this way our vast kerosene and steel business there will be taken over by the Japs. Worse Every Day The only thing that could raise the boycott would he to rescind Chinese cx-cl cx-cl islon laws and this, of course, will not I" .'.n. It looks as though our business In the south of China was doomed Tnc boycott Is getting worse every day there."