--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Hewlett, Frank J. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 10 number: 10 published: 1907-08 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Frank J. Hewlett, "The New China and Japan," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 10 (August 1907): 813–819.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera10010unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera10010unse start_page: 813 end_page: 819 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-08) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera10010unse publication_year: 1907 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The New China and Japan — THE NEW CHINA AND JAPAN. BY HON. FRANK J. HEWLETT, FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF THE SALT LAKE CITY COUNCIL. [Mr. Hewlett has recently returned from an extended trip in these countries, and his impressions of their business affairs, and the character of the peoples, will be read with great interest. The awakening of the Orient, and its meeting with Western civilization on the Pacific, are topics of special interest to the in- habitants of the United States at the present time. Editors.] A few years ago a company of foreigners were granted a franchise to build and operate a short railroad system in China. On the day following the opening of the road, an accident hap- pened, whether by design or otherwise is not known, but it re- sulted in the death of two persons, and this so enraged the popu- lace that an angry, frenzied mob immediately tore up the track with the cry "no foreign inventions wanted here." When the first telegraph line was completed, the superstitious Chinese cut down the poles, and carried the wire away and hid it, and it was never discovered until the Chinese-Japanese war. Nearly all modern inventions met a similar fate, but because of the successes which Japan and other nations have won over her, both in war and peace, China at last is beginning to get her eyes wide open. Shortly after the Chinese-Japanese war, the Empress Dowager of China sent for Mrs. Conger, the wife of the United States minister to China, and through the good work of this splen- did lady, assisted by others, the awakening of China commenced, and now in several cities they have sewerage systems, electric lights, churches, schools, and hospitals, and in different parts of the empire short railroads are being successfully operated. When I was in Shanghai last May, they had just finished lay- ing the tracks for an electric car line, and anticipated running the cars within sixty days. There was a strong feeling among the 814 IMPROVEMENT ERA. foreign residents of Shanghai that the opening of this electric line might be the signal for serious disturbances. A rather sen- sational article which recently appeared in the South China Ga- zette, a paper which is widely read, and which has perhaps the largest circulation of any native newspaper in the empire, is char- acteristic of the tone of the vernacular press. The article de- scribes the evils which may be expected to follow the installation of the electric system, and proposes a boycott, and in a subtle way suggests the carrying out of more drastic measures, should the boycott prove ineffectual. The writer further points out the danger that will arise because of thousands of jinrikisha men be- ing thrown out of employment, and emphasizes the probable loss to business because of the inability of pedestrians to use the streets on which the trams will run. Of course, time alone will tell whether any and whether this serious difficulties will arise, first electric road will have to meet the same fate that befell the first railroad that was built in the empire. The light of a higher civilization is rapidly dawning, however, and it is likely that it will be more fortunate. The more intelligent Chinese are begin- ning to realize very keenly that in order to maintain their own, they must adopt the methods and contrivances of the foreigners. In Nankin modern methods have been adopted in policing the city. The police force is well organized, and neatly uniformed. They wear highly polished, high-top boots, dark red trousers and coats, small skull caps with tassels, a long cue, and each has a sword. They make a nice appearance. One of these policemen is stationed at every important and others are placed crossing, short distances apart along the streets. The principal street, the Maloo, which is five miles in length, is as well policed, and the traf- fic is as perfectly handled, as on the Strand or Regent Street in London. The Maloo is well lighted at night with oil lamps, and in many respects has the appearance of a well-kept avenue in some of the larger western cities. Up to the present time, they have no sewerage system, and the water is supplied from the rivers and wells, principally the lat- ter; however, they have good telephone service, and in the yamens, the large foreign-goods stores, restaurants and business houses use telephones. They also have phonographsi n Japan, and one THE NEW CHINA AND JAPAN. 815 can hear anything from grand opera to the most weird Chinese music, which no one but a native could describe. Sixty miles below Nankin is Chinkiang, the most important commercial city in the consular district. In the native part of this city, they have an electric light plant, but in the foreign set- tlements they have none, owing to the differences tiiat exist be- tween the two localities in relation to the charges that should pre- vail for introducing the system among the foreigners. Canton is coming rapidly to the front She has large schools, hospitals, and many municipal improvements, and in the other large cities of the empire there is a general awakening. We have a large flour trade in the Orient. The shipments made from Portland, Oregon, during the month of May broke all previous records, the total amount shipped being 244,000 barrels, which were valued at $906,616. It required more than a million bushels of wheat to produce and the wheat was worth this flour, $596,456. During the past eleven months more than four million barrels of flour have been shipped to the Orient from Oregon and Washington ports. For the first time in history, the amount of flour shipped to the Orient has exceeded the amount of wheat. The figures for the season ending May 31 show that a little less than fourteen million bushels of wheat were shipped from the Ore- gon and Washington ports, and that it took over eighteen millions of bushels of wheat to produce the flour that was shipped. Our flour trade with the Orient will increase rapidly from now on. The foreigners all use it, and the natives are beginning to prefer it to rice, as they believe that many of the diseases with which they are afflicted are caused by their eating too much rice. The business integrity of the Chinese is unquestioned. One of our American merchants told me that during the last eighteen months he had sold $750,000 worth of merchandise in China, and that he had received all his money with the exception of $175, and that he knew he would also be able to collect this amount. China has also been awakened from her leth argy in regard to Christianity. The persecution of Christian missionaries has ceased almost entirely, and they can go about their work unmo- lested. While I was in Shanghai the missionaries were holding a con- 816 IMPRO VEMENT ERA. ference in that city. About one thousand delegates attended the meetings, and they represented four thousand missionaries, be- longing to seventy-four different denominations. They held three meetings every day for a week, and the burden of their discussion was, "How shall we make the Chinese Christians?" The conference was called at this particular time to do honor to the memory of Robert Morris, the great evangelist, who landed in China just one hundred years ago. All of the missionaries reported progress in their work, and all seemed happy in the callings in which they were engaged. The Methodist Episcopal church has eight hundred missionaries laboring in what is called the "China Interior Mission." These missionaries are accompanied by their families. They are fur- nished a home and paid a salary. They dress like the Chinese, even to the cue, but recently an order was issued which will per- mit them to use their own discretion in the matter of dress in future. These missionaries are expected to remain from eight to ten years at a time in their mission fields. Then they are giv- en a vacation for eight months, to visit their native homes. Dur- ing these vacations they are paid their salaries, and their ex- penses. The American mission is by far the wealthiest. A committee returned on the S. S. Minnesota, which arrived in Seattle, June 9. They had $500,000 for the explicit instructions to collect purpose of building churches, hospitals, etc., and they expected to be able to easily raise this amount in a few months in the New England States. The Japanese have had a more meteoric awakening than the Chinese. They are weak as originators, but the quickest imita- tors that the world has ever known, and they have rapidly copied after what they have seen in the civilization of Europe and Amer- ica. Their railroads are conducted somewhat along the same lines as the railroads of England, and their system is almost as perfect. Dining cars and sleepers are attached to all first class trains; the engineers, firemen, conductors, and even the porter boys are neat- ly uniformed, and are ornamented with plenty of brass buttons. The government owns and controls most of the railroads, and even the electric car systems. THE NEW CHINA AND JAPAN. 817 At the present time there is an electric car system in Tokyo which is owned by a private corporation, and both the general government and city authorities are trying to buy and control it. It is an interesting contest, with the odds in favor of the govern- ment, and it will probably be another case of where "might makes right." When the railroads were first introduced into Japan,- foreign- ers were employed to handle them, but they have made a hasty exit, and today the Japanese operate as well as own their own railroads. They are manufacturing their own firearms, cannon, ammuni- tion, and are building their own battleships. These operations are being carried on on a large scale. At the Tokyo Industrial Exhibi- tion they are making a wonderful display of miniature battle- ships, monster cannons, and shells. Japanese soldiers are drilling incessantly. They practice hard from early morning until late night to learn how to execute all kinds of maneuvers, and yet I believe that they have no desire to fight with us or with any other nation, but are preparing to defend themselves if it shall be ne- cessary. Japan is no longer held down with old, superstitious tradi- "tions about the ignobleness and degrading influences of trade. For brightest men are being continually sent to the great nations to obtain new ideas, gain new experiences, and bring back to Ja- pan the most advanced methods, and it is only a matter of a short time when her industries will be directed and managed by the most advanced specialists, and she will produce goods with the most improved machinery in a thoroughly modern way. The question as to Japanese honestv and integrity often arises. Are they honest between themselves, and can the for- eigner place confidence in their business integrity? They are more tricky in their dealings than are the Chinese. A Chinese mer- chant will mark his price on his wares, figuring on a legitimate profit,and one may purchase them or not just as he chooses, but the merchant will not vary his price. In Japan it is different. The prospective purchaser is "sized up," and a price is asked that will correspond with his purse, and then it is a matter of barter, and, of course, the shrewdest man gets the best of the bargain. 6iS IMPROVEMENT ERA. Even at the hotels it is necessary to arrange the terms in advance; that is, if one wants to save money. If you are cheated in your business transactions, it is your own fault, for really the Japanese have no intention of being dishonest, but their standards of what ishonest and what is dishonest may differ from your own. He may sell you a broken piece of furniture which has been so skill- fully glued together that you overlook the defects at the time, but which really makes the goods very much inferior, or he may sell you a vase thet has been broken but that has been dexterously put together again, or a piece of spotted silk. This, however, is not dishonest, from his viewpoint, but merely an evidence of his business acumen. If you discover the defects, he will willingly replace the article, and with a gracious "smile that won't come off " will explain to you that he cannot understand why you should feel provoked at having had to come back several miles in vour rikisha, when you might just as well have attended to the little matter when you were making the purchase. There was never a Scotchman or a Hebrew who loved his close bargain more than does the Japanese merchant. He watches every point to get the best of the trade, but in other ways his integrity is unimpeach- able. A case in point happened while I was in Nikko, the Eden of Japan. In one of the curio shops I purchased twenty packages of fancy postal cards, and there were six cards in each package. Nishimura San did not have the required number of packages to deliver at once, but he promised to bring them to my hotel at six o'clock that evening. He was there precisely at the time ap- pointed, and when he handed me the packages I opened the first one and it contained but five postal cards. The merchant was clearly annoyed. His honesty had been questioned, and he opened the other nineteen sets and found that they were all complete. "Me very sorry, sorry, that boy San make lig mistake," was all he said, and with a polite bow withdrew from the room. That night just as I was about to retire there was a gentle knock at the door. When I opened the door I saw Nishimura San. In his hand he held the single postal card that had been missing. He must have gone to nearly every store in the city before he finally secured a dupli- cate of the card that was missing. THE NEW CHINA AND JAPAN. 819 One continually hears of large business contracts that are be- ing carried on with absolute fairness. The Scotch contractor who built one of the electric roads in Tokyo said that he had been in Japan seven times and had made enormous deals, and in every transaction the most scrupulous honesty was manifest. The banks of Japan are right up to date in their methods. Boys working there, some of them not over ten years of age, are entrusted with thousands of yen to deposit, and they prove faith- ful and honest in their work. Whether you go to the big bank of Japan, or to the humblest merchant at a street fair to deal, your change will invariably be correct. The Japanese are making rapid progress in handling the ocean traffic. The Nippon-Yusen-Kaisha (Japan Mail Steamship Co.) alone have a fleet ofover one hundred vessels whose total tonnage is 350,000 tons, and her white flag with a red circle in the center is flying in nearly every harbor in the world. James J. Hill saw the magnificent opportunity of securing the large Oriental passenger traffic and built two gigantic steam- ers —the Minnesota and the Dakota to control it. These two ves- sels had a tonnage of 28,000 tons each, and cost about six million dollars. Unfortunately, however, the Dakota went on the rocks near Yokohama about four months ago and was totally wrecked. Whether another vessel shall be built to take her place, or wheth- er the Minnesota shall be sold to the Japanese are questions that are being debated at the present time by those interested. There is a big field in the new China and Japan for American products. There are some splendid openings for American busi- ness men, and it is to be hoped that our people will fully appre- ciate the opportunities that await them there, and that our states- men and merchant kings will so conduct the diplomatic and busi- ness affairs between us and the Orientals that our business rela- tions will be pleasant and mutually profitable. Destiny has made the United States one of the strong powers in the far East, and proper management ot our business interests there will enable us to successfully compete with England and Germany, and secure to us a just share of the trade in China and Japan. Salt Lake City, Utah.