OUR OPPORTUNITY IN THE FAR PACIFIC.

Press, Volume XLIX, Issue 14836, 29 November 1913, Page 8

OUR OPPORTUNITY IN THE FAR PACIFIC.

»__ —_ (SPECIAIXT WRITTEN FOR "THI MUCSSI") (Bt the Ret. William Hat.) T~ Wβ often speak of the "Far East." Why not of the Far Pacific? By such a term I moan those parts of the world upon which the surf of the Pacific rolls in diapason, and greete both Eastern and Western shores that are remote from those that lie beneath the ' Southern Cross. The greeting of that surf has a meaning and a prophecy to every shore upon which it breaks.that can only be interpreted by those who have large vision and sane optimism and .something of tho power of 'the seer. Some of us may have but little power to translate into its full meaning the sound of its many waters that seem to have caught the very depth, and mystery of the music of tho spheres, but it docs not require grea,t genius to hear in them the prophecy of a, coming greatness and importance in the world's drama, wherein the race for supremacy is as ceaseless and as surging as the tides of the sea itself—a coming greatness and importance that are already causing the gravitation to the Pacific of tho thought and interest of tho world. "East is East and West is West," and while tho West is erecting its exclusive barriers, and saying through its exclusion laws "We shall never meet—on this side," tho awakened East is driving out the Westerner by competition, by law, by quickened ability, and by a new national consciousness, and saying also, "We shall never meet—on this side." But tho demands of modern relationship between East and West, which make the ' most practical intercourse inevitable, and increasingly prove, in spite of all exclusion, that solidarity of nations in which there is no East or West, or white or colour, make it equally inevitable that East and West must meet somewhere, and if it bo not on land it must be across the far-flung waters that bear tho name which racial hate or strife would desecrate.

THE WEST OF THE AMERICAN CONTINENT. To visit the Western States of America to-day is to find oneself in tho midst, of an almost overwhelming consciousness that tho West of this great land is not merely wooing the genius of the future, but thai it has already wooed and won; that this mystic genius of destiny has now become the wooer, and, by her irresistible magnetism, is drawing a thronging, eager, almost fiercely aggressive ■ humanity into close proximity ' to the shpres of the Pacificj and the very ocean itself seems to fling across this mighty continent a prideful challenge to the moody' waters. of the Atlantic. In our great Canada, stretching out from that "imaginary line" of three thousand miles that lies across this <huge continent from ocean to ocean, that lino over which eager tides of life. aro passing just now from •..■.Republic- ...o Empire, finding the caU of Canada's praivios more magnetic than tho Stars and Stripes, and - acrpss which streams of humanity pass and repaes, only' reminded that that line is ihere by the assiduity of the Customs departments— from that imaginary line which no gun or fort has marked, and nevetff will'as long as the Anglo-Saxon ancestral blood of both runs strong in tsel~ veins, far into the white mystery of the north one can hear the tramp of an immense and increasing army ever passing westward, and still more westward —a stampede of humanity .towarus the cold blue waters of the North Tacinc. The land, the mines, the foresTs, and the fisheries of the Pacific Coast ot North America are among the richest m the world; yet on the entire x'acific seaboard of the .United States and Canada to-day there are. f ewe? people than in the City of New ¥6rli. The combined population of the States of California, Washington, and Oregon, in 1910, was just over four millions. British Columbia had only 460,000 in 1911. Making liberal allowance for immigration in the interval there are not quite five and a half millions of people to-day on the Pacmc Uoast of the xtepublic and the 3>ominion. No wonder the Chinaman and the Japanese, seeking some place in the world for their surplus population, who cannot find a home and a living on the sea, though many thousands do so on the .rivers, look with hungry eyes upon tne TTestern States of the great American continent, as they do upon the British Dominions away - down South, and find it hard to reconcile themselves to a law wiiic™ seems to.say to them: "You have too many people for your land, we have too much, land for our people; but you must keep your too many people and we will keep our too much land."' The Japanese, are reclaiming great stretches of the harbour between Yokohama and Tokio, but work as. hard as they can, they will, never reclaim the Pacific. Settlement on tho Pacific coast of America will, however, it is anticipated, be developed tremendously by tho open-' ing of the Panama Canal. The high cost of transportation has, until recently, been the chief obstacle in the way of settlement. Immigrants bound for the Pacific had to pay more tor the rail haul across the continent than for the ocean voyage from Europe, and as they were for the most part poor in pocket though rich in courage, the Pacific Coast did not attract. The Panama Canal will change this. Mr C. M. Otis, the Vice-consul of Norway at Los Angeles, cays that , more than two million residents of Europe will become of Pacific Coast cities within two years after the opening of the Panama Canal. That is at the rate, of course, of a million per year— almost as- many people as in the whole of New Zealand added each year to the population of the Pacific Coast of America. It is said that in Berlin alone,' 76.000 tickets have been purchased for Pacific Coast points for 1915. The trend in Canada is mainly Westward, and in the last four months a stream of 250,000 immigrants have poured into the country. If half this number goes West, and there will probably be more than half, that adds to the Canadian part of Ihe West of the continent nearly another half million, per year. This will mean that harbours, railways, and public works of all sorts will be required, as well as cooperation in the-establishment of industries. The opening of the North Pacific to direct immigration, from Europe, instead of having to transhin at an Eastern port, and to take the long and expensive journey by rail for SOOO miles across ihe continent, wit£ heavy charges for freight in addition, wul be one of the epoch-making events in the settlement of the Western States of the American continent. In addition to this, there must be a great impetus to traffic across the Pacific to the Orient. A mercEant told mc, in one of tho Par Eastern cities, that it was cheaper to get goods sent from the manufacturing cities of the Eastern States across the Atlantic and then round by Singapore, than to get them «?nt across to San Francisco or Seattle T)v mil, and then shipoed across the Pacific to the Orient. * These, mannfacturing citiea .will. be able to ship

direct to China and Japan, disnensmg with rail haulage across the continent, and transhipment at Pacific Coast ports, and by a much shorter route than formerly when sent by sea via the Atlantic and Singapore.

JAPAN'S EXPANSION. The growing fleets of modern Japan give one visions of a strong, progressive, commercial nation, whose* ships and' commerce even now thread the waterways of all the world, and visit the harbours of almost every shore. At the same rate of progress during the next fifty years what will be Japan's contribution to tho trade of the Pacific? Ask the seer, for the narrowvisioned man will be sure to lead you astray If Japan has trebled its imports of wool from Australia in tho last three years, which is actually tho case how much is she likely to require in thirty years ? The chimney-stacks of Osaka remind you of Birmingham and Bradford, only, at the present time, on a somewhat smaller scale. New capital is being invested in industrial enterprises at the rate of over 50 million yen per month. (To convert yen into pounds, divide by ten, the result is the number of pounds sterling.) Tokio has a population about equivalent, or almost, to that of Chicago, and larger than any city in the British Empire except London. Japan has emerged from an old world into a new one, and been transformed from an obscure and isolated unit among the nations of the world into a strong, confident, aggressive empire that claims to bo the peer of the foremost nations of the world, in a much shorter time than New Zealand h\is developed from the days of its "old identities" and ''new iniquities." It has, of course, had tho population to work with. Count Oknma was by no means immodest when he wroto in regard to the honour bestowed upon Japan by all the Great Powers at the funeral of the late Emperor:—"At the time of tho revolution, no one could have imagined that, in the brief space of forty-five years, tho outside world would have itself so changed towards us, so ns thus to concedo us such consideration and respect. Tho sudden rise of this island empire in the Orient sea to such a height of fame, attracting the attention and sympathy of tho world, is something so extraordinary in tho annals of history* as *° command the respect of the foremost minds." Japan's mineral output _ last year showed an increase cf 5,770,000 yen over the figures of the previous yenr, and an increase of twofold compared with ten years ago. According to investigations made by the Japan Cotton Spinners' Association, the net profit of twenty-four comnanies for tho first half of tho year "aggregates 5,698,730 yen. which shows an increase of 1,807.000 yen on the figures of tho second half of the previous year. This means that the quantity of raw cotton taken by the spinning mills of Japan in tho period showed an increase of 3,270,000 kwamine compared with tho preceding 7ialf-year. The increase in the demand for America's cotton is remarkable, amounting to 4,G01,000 bales. That is merely the increase. The importation of cotton-spinning machinery has Ixjen very active. Machinery imported during the first ten months of last year represented 600,000 spindles. Many have been imported since, two spinning companies ordering between them 80,000 spindles. Last year the increaso in the export of hemp braid was 7,260,064 yen, or nearly five times the increase of 1911. The amount of the export of raw silk has increased this year by about half of the total of last year's export, and a much greater quantity is sent to America than to Europe. There has been a great increaso in tho export of tea in spite of the fact that last year the Japanese exported tho low-class of tea to' America in such abundance that there was experienced a large accumulation of the stock in tho American market, with the consequent result of tho decline of the quotation. Tho annual amount of,the production of sugar in Formosa has gone ' below 1,000,000 bales, which compels importation of sugar in abundance into Japan from Java and: other places, and tho authorities concerned are continually concluding contracts for the import. Sugar is also being brought now from Java into China. Figured mattings are being exported to America to the amount of eight million yen annually.

CHINA. In these days, when the industry of nations is being frequently paralysed by strikes and lock-outs, it would be well to look to the Orient, and note thedevelopments which are taking place in countries which only a' few years ago did - not require to bo taken into consideration when studying industrial conditions. It has been stated that if China reforms her currency, and develops her resources, she will manufacture not merely cottons, but steel rails also, for the whole world. She will, indeed, manufacture a good many other things for the world. Once China has fairly started on the manufacturing and general industrial highway with the industry and frugality of her people, where in the world will one find successful competition? Mr Charles ; Schwab, lately President of the United States Steel Corporation, who has.recently been in China, cays:— It may surprise our people to know that I buy pi"- iron in China and brins it to San Francisco. China can make pig iron cheaper than any other country, and is on the eve of a development that may astonish the world." The truth is that the opening up of the trade and commerce of China, according to modern methods, is tantamount to the discovery of a new world. The Tageh iron mines, located on the Yangtee, about 69 miles below Hankow, have' an annual, output of 1,000,000 tons. They are so rich that it is estimated they will lrtst some 200 years. The. Hanyang Iron and Steel Works are equipped with thoroughly modern appliances, capable «of turning out annually 140,000 tons of pig iron, and 70,000 tons of steel. Connected with these two works are the Puighsien coal-mine, in which , 3000 miners are employed, and these aro under the joint management of Chinese and Japanese capitalists. Here there is lying, from 800 feet to 1000 feet below the surface, an almost solid bed of splendid coal, varying from 120 feet to 175 feet in thickness, which is known to thus extend, with but a few trivial faults or partings, for ten square miles. Last year the output was about 5000 to GOOO tons per day of good coal, which was all quickly sorted and sifted by machinery, and divided into different grades within a very few minutes after reachiug the surface. In Korea, quite near tho seaports, are rich beds of very hard, bright, -and almost smokeless coal. In "the Island of Saghalien, especially the section ceded to Japan, are great coal and oil fields, and the whole central regions of China, north and south of the Yangtso river, are known to have abundance of coal. So that there are all the resources and conditions in these Far Eastern lands lying around the shores of the North Pacific, to , constitute the great industrial centre of the world. Japan has moved far along the road of manufacturing enterprise and industry. China has begun to move in the same direction. The Orient is on the march, and China mnst play her part in the advance, even though she moves less rapidly than many had hoped. With modern education, which has now been established, up-to-date ideas are permeating the ranks of the people, and with her enormous wealth, .and the industry and frugality of her people, China must become a huge factor in the industrial economy of the world, and in the commerce of the Pacific. Her needs must increase every year. Development means greater needs and more numerous needs. A high standard of modern civilisation makes tremendously great and complex demands. The Orient's needs of what the Western world can supply will increaso with the passing of every year.

This is being realised more and more in commercial circles in Great Britain, for, besides the new view being, of the commercial value to .the , via Country of the Panama Exposition in securing a considerable share of tne new trade of the Pacific, at a meeting of the London Chamber of Commerce, held recently, which was attended t>y representatives of leading firms interested directly or indirectly «* J?ar Eastern trade, it was resolved t 0 , 00 ?" stitute a Far Eastern section, or tne Chamber, comprising members trading with China, Japan, and the Federated Malay States. Such matters as foreign steamship subsidies in the Eastern trado, conditions in cotton contracts, shipments of Japanese goods, and standard samples of Chinese prod" o ™ were discussed; and there was evident the consciousness of the growing importance of trade with that part of the world. The interesting statement was made that already China and Hongj kong together rank fourth in tho list of the nation's foreign customers.

! THE PHILIPPINES. In the Philippines there is a great prospective partner in tho trade of the Pacific. Its twenty-five million acres of virgin timberlanfi in this day of rapidly diminishing forests, constitute an enormous asset, and tlio woods are among the most valuable cabinet materials in tho world. Rubber, gums, and rattan,* dyestuffs. and tanning barks are hero in abundance. The islands are tho best hcmplands in the world, and lead the world •in the export of copra. Tho present exportation of raw material Is is regarded as an economic crime that is needless, since only capital is necessary to turn them into finished products that would, double tho wealth o.f the country, without making even the two proverbial blades of grass grow. Some of this needed capital is now being supplied by American financiers and corporations. Seven million acres of virgin valleys aro awaiting the plough, and were it not for the ease with- which the.Filipino can satisfy his creature wants, that deprives him of initiative and enterprise, it is , said these . islands would .produce a hundred times their present export traffic. But American initiative and enterprise, while finding it difficult to maintain its native swiftness of hustle in a tropical clime, is, nevertheless, doing much to stimulate enterprise and industry on the part.of the Filipinos, and American,capital and activity are developing-tho-resources.. The Philippines will consume of imported commodities what they aro ablo'to pay for. Their purchasing capacity will always be measured by their production of export commodities.

Manila is fast becoming a great modern city of steel and concrete, and American enterprise and commerce. It is the American. aim to make Manila an American commercial warehouse for China. Under the present status of trado in .China, weeks, and even months, must pass from the time goods are ordored in Europe or America, before they are received, whilo the "daily variation in the rate of exchange introduces a tremendous hazard into such conditions. The great ports .of China,- on the other hand, are but. a few days' voyage from Manila, and with stocks there upon which to draw, American goods will be available to the merchants of China as • readily as they are. to dealers in the United States itself. And, as I wrote some months ago, America is not likely to withdraw from the Philippines for a long, long time to come.