| Show COTTON IN CHINA alio american cotlon growers and ho american ralli oads arc aag to enlarge ho market for our cotton in china and the action taken by of the northern pacific and har alman of the southern in send ang out a commission p investigate the possibilities of iho cotton trade in tho empizo has made the question one bf more than parsing importance on this subject J W son the british commercial in china has written a lengthy report in which he says there are 17 establishments lish ments in china and hongtong Hong kong operated by means of steam driven machinery their total number of being of these 9 establishments with spindles are located in shanghai alone and one at hongtong Hong kong with spindles the spinning of cotton into yarn says mr jamieson Jam leson and the weaving of that yarn into arc industries which while not anterior to tho manipulation tion ot silk and ot hemp fibers hae existed in china lor over one thousand years carried on practically throughout the whole empire their great center has for centuries been the country where cotton Is grown to tha best advantage that is to say tha seaboard around the mouth ot the yangtze and the bay and the level plains ot the provinces ot hupel and it Is tharo have been established the various mills for ti eating raw cotton by means of steam brhen machinery the initial experiment on modern lines was made in 1891 when a kemt chinese syndicate started at shanghai ltd originators claimed for themselves a quasi monopoly and outsiders who were not prepared to pay a fixed royalty for the privilege from engaging in similar undertakings although certain chinese accepted this onerous condition foreigners it as an undue interference with their treaty rights and it was oaly when japan in 1895 after her war with china inserted in the treaty of shim article pi ceding tor the freedom of japanese subjects to engage in all kinds of manufacturing industries dus tries in the open ports of china and permitting them to import machan cry tor uch purposes that outsiders were afforded an opportunity of exploiting ing the field for commercial development thereby thrown open the hongtong Hong kong cotton spinning wea ing and dyeing company was started in 1898 with a bew to catering for the wants southern of china and hoped to find in borneo a souich of supply af pf raw material such hopes however w ere in 1900 agot into serious difficulties A reorganization on ne b aels of writing down alg shares to 10 each followed and it has succeeded in paying a its reduced capital this mill obtains its supplies duty fieo as against an import duty at the rate of 1 per pounds on cotton from abroad the counts it spins are low chiefly ive and such of tho output as is not disposed of locally goes principally to amoy and buchau the chinese customs statistics recoil the imports of hongtong Hong kong yarn into china as baling been pounds in 1901 dounda in 1902 and pounds in 1903 four of the mills at shanghai depre pounds of european capital sunk jn cotton mills after the japanese war on the assumption that with the aid of cheap labor skilled management and abundant supplies of excellent cotton a handsome profit thereon would be earned they all paid small dividends in 98 but hae been struggling to keep their heads above water ever since one of tho shanghai establishments the shanghai cotton spinning company is under japanese management and control the preheat owners having bought it at half tho cost pi ice from a foreign bank into chosa hads it fell through inability to discharge its financial obligations it waa originally ch n abe owned in the of the china mission of the blackburn chamber of commerce which shanghai about tho time when the mills under foreign management were in their infancy will be found certain speculation regard to their future and to the manner la which they aio likely to imports from one of the conclusions at which fhe membris of the commission arrived waa that while the new mills could not bo considered as directly competing with the productions of the united kingdom BO raW ibie the surrounding circumstances and conditions to the expansion of trade that lancashire must eventually suffer serious indirect josa |
