August 7, 1895.]
COTTON MILLS IN CHINA,
"
(OMMUNICATED.)
CHINA OVERLAND TRADE REPORT.
97
action
When it is remembered that in China, as in other countries, the fate of the government
its times depended upon has at with regard to the currency, and that more than one Chinese dynasty has been over- throwu as a direct result of bad judgment in this dire tion, thus deeply affecting if not entirely changing the whole course of the subsequent history of the nation, it will readily be acknow- ledged that anyone who deals with the history of the coinage is not merely labelling a case of specimens for a museun,
-from-hose stores
A casual rarity is singled out And has its brief 1erusal, then gives way To others, all supplanted in their turn, -he is dealing with a vital part of the national constitution, signs and tokens of health or dis- ease in the life-blood of the people. That this mere empty metaphor will be clearly seen from the follo ving quotation from Liebig's Familiar Letters on Chemistry:-
is no
"Silver and gold have to perform in the or-
blood-corpuscles in the human organism. As these round discs, without themselves taking an immediate share in the nutritive process, are the medium, the essential condition of the change of matter, of the production of the heat and of the force by which the temperature of the bo ly is kept up, and the motions of the blood and all the juices are determined, so bas gold becoma the medium of all activity in the life of the state."
Nor does the comparison enl hero. Not only are coins like blood-corpuscles in their functions and in the fact that they are not cousumed in nutrition, but they are further like them in that the number which passes in any considerable
cver them. The trouble, far from ceasing, than 14 per cent., which, after providing for got more serious. The Rev. Mr. Stewart, who agents' commissions, depreciation, etc.. should is among the slain, had grave fears for the safety return 6 per cent. dividends to shareholders, and of the native missionaries. Never before had this without allowing anything for the higher he had such a strong presentiment that the price yarn made from China cottou should, fol- rising would calminate in an awful tragedy. He lowing the precedent established in Japan. com- beseeched the Chinese officials to send adequate mand over the price of Indian yarn, and which protection, but the protection never came. upon actual sales of Shanghai yarn is from T. Gradually aversion was shown to the foreign 1 per bale above best Indian to Tls. 7 per bale missionaries, but why, Bishop Burdon does not above common Indian spinnings. Given the lowest know. As our special te egram says, no pro-margin of Tl. 1 per bile and it raises the profit at vocation whatever was given for the massacre. once 24 per cent, so that really there is not much The foreign missionaries showed every sign of to be dreaded until the Shanghai market becomes good feeling, and worked smoothly in their swamped with yaru of a certain standard, which various di triets, and there was, apparently, no ill either kills the imported article or is killed by will shown toward them. But at length there was
it. Everything is in favour of mills in Shang- a sudden change. The foreign missionaries were bai at least holding their own against Indian attacked, with what painful result is shown in mills, but it is a mistake to present them to the our telegram. How the American missionaries public as vast money making coaceras nutil it is escaped is a mystery for they were working with ascertained from actual exprience that they are, their English friends, and would therefore be
uor should profits be estimated on paper with near the place at the time of the massacre. the recklessness one associates with mining
ventures. Cotton spinning may be very pos sibly will be-over done, but spinning is a begin-ganism of the state the same function as the ning, not an end, and as cotton spinning, pure and simple, in Julia has run its course, all fresh plant now laid down is for the purpose of weav ing; and so it must be in haughai in the not distant future, and cotton spinning will be but a prelude to weaving, which is not killed yet even in Lancashire, Whether Shanghai cotton is cheap or dear is a matter of opinion. It may be dear for low numbers, while at the same time cheap for counts Shanghai proposes to spin. but it is a point for the decision of experts, of whom a number will be on hand when mills get to work. The caution conveyed by the prices of mill shares in other parts of the world is not one likely to influence company promoters and may moreover be explained, in the case of. Iudis, by the industry being overdoue, because yaru can be spun from In lian cotton without very slow working of the machinery, which des not pay, and there must necessarily be a limit sometime or other to the consumption of coarse yarn. Besides, Indian mills are at present taxed by adverse exchanges, which is a very sufficient reason why they should suffer in the same way Lancashire does. It is not in Lancashire only that mills become ancient and out of date and consequently quoted at a discount; the same can be seen all over Yorkshire, or, to bring the parallel nearer home, we have new steamers building every day and paying, while old steamers lose money and are laid up until they can be sold for something over the price of old iron. Import ance need not therefore be attached to quotations of Lancashire mills while information whether they are old coucerus or new ones is withheld, The gain, the undisputed gain, which Shanghai bas is in cheap labour, not necessarily cheaper than in India, but if we allow as cheap, then India can only compete at the cost of carriage to Shanghai. Lancashire does not dread cotton spinning so much as it fears wearing in the East. There is much less labour put into spinning than into. weaving, and it is the price of labour which tells. Except the work-a-day clothes of labourers, the cloths chiefly consumed in the East are made from yarus fiuer in count than 26 and in the production of such yarns Lancashire is unrivalled. It will be an evil day for her when the milis of India, China, and Japan, having exhausted the profitableness of spinning thick yarns from their own cotton, take to importing fine varns from Lancashire, and turn them into cloths with their cheap labour on the looms she herself supplies.
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After inflation comes reaction, but as neither " in " nor re are yet imported into cotton mills, whatever course intending subscribers to mills in posse may deem it wise to pursue, share. | holders in mills in esse need not take alarm at the first note of newspaper warning nor be in hot haste to put in force a very good old trade maxim that first loss is always the least" by sacrificing their shares simply because several new prospectuses are being issued and companies promoted. The prospectus of the first cotton spinning and weaving company was guardedly worded, and while there may be a difference of opinion as to what constitutos. a handsome net profit on capital," it did not figure out profits of 25 per cent., which should carry their own refutation to any thinking mind and only require to be preserved to bring confusion upon those who contrive or connive at such alchemy in their indecent scramble for commissions. It is the simplest thing in the world to say if cotton costs this and yarn sells for that, work- ing expenses are the other and there is your 25. per cent. profit. Were such estimates put forward by those whom people trust, it would have weight and would tell; when put forward without a moment's consideration of the ultimate consequences of such haphazard reasoning it must produce lasting bitterness, if it does not create irreparable injury and degrade the industry it seeks to promote. Cotton spinning in China is for the present a lottery; it ought to turn out well, but there is no assurance that it will. It is quite true there seems to be some uncertainty about the scale of Customs duty Shanghai yarn will be liable to, and it is possible that to protect the Chineseoward mills built round about Shanghai and which pay a royalty on their output, the production of foreign owned mills will be taxed to the extreme the treaty allows, but that is only one of the items which should enter into any promoter's calcula- tion of cost, and should it be overlooked it would' be doing small justice to thos (and they are practically the public) who are invited to sub. scribe to an undertaking. The prices at which cotton can be bought and yarn sold require most careful consideration, and while it is easy a price for cotton of Tls. 11-5-0 because some time or for a long time that has been its price, it by no means follows that, when cotton spinning increases aud demand for cotton increases with it. Tis. 11-5.0 will continue to be the price; the chances are against it, for there is always some relation in an established industry between the price of the raw material and the maunfactured article. Re-opening of the Indian mints, as bearing on the price of yarn, may or may not be worthy of consideration, but the result in that direction would seem to be that if Indian mills are losing on their present working, they would rather strive to get a higher price for their yarns under altered and moro favourable conditions than they would continue to face losses, which must be met out of something and cannot be continued indefinitely. However, any one who confronts públic criticism with figures may do so on a safe basis by taking the prices over a number of years of Shanghai cotton and Indian yara and, given the cost of working, cau realize that cotton spinning in Shanghai onght not to gross less
to take
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REVIEWS.
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83
The Currency of the Farther Mast, from the Earliest Times to the Prosent Day, by J. II. STEWART LOCKHART, F.R.G.S., M.R.A.S, Colonial Secretary and Registrar General, etc, Hongkong. Vol. I-A Description of the Glover Collection of Chinese, Annamoșe, Japanese, Corean Coins; of Coius used Amulets; and Chinese Government and Pri- vate Notes. Vol. II.-The Plates to Vol. I. Hongkong: Noronha and Co. WHAT is perhaps most needed at the present time by the student of Eastern civilization is a systematizing of the knowledge we already possess, and it is with pleasure that we recognise in Mr. Lockhart's new work a very decided step towards the systematizing of our knowledge in a very important department of this civilization
period of time through a given centre is anermons compared with the actual amount iu circulation. Moreover, in both cases it is only at a certain stage of progress that these circulating disos mako their appearance. The blooi of the lower auimals coutains no blood-corpuscles, and the lower societies do not use money.
Amongst the primitive Chinese, as amongst most primitive peoples, the earliest form of ex- After an indefinite period change was barter. during which goods of one kinl, such as grass- cloth, silk, aud sait, were exchanged for goods of, another kind, such as wheat and rice, there came a time in which goods were exchanged for one kind of article only: the cowry, or shell of the pearl-oyster, then regarded as a valuable commodity. This system continued for many years, but pieces of metal of various shapes and sizes gradually took the place of the shells. These metallic pieces were at first rough repre- sentations of the articles exchanged, e.g., oloth or skin coats, knives. ete merchandize of a most important kind in the first stages of civilization. In many cases these cumbersome coins had rings or holes at the upper end, so that they might be strung together for the sake of con- venience and as a precaution against loss. Then in the lapse of time the parts representing the blade of the knife or the sleeves of the coat dis- appeared, leaving the circalar ronud-or square- boled coin of subsequent dynasties. Though the size and weight have varied, the shape has, almost without exception, remained unchanged to the present day.
A very good way of estimating the complete. ness and value of a collection of cois is to com- pare the gaps in the collection with the gaps in the series of coins actually minted during the course of the natio's history. If these coincide the collection will be complete, and gaps in the Collection unrepresented by corresponding gaps in the coinage will indicate its relative incom- pleteness. Having done this as far as the time at our disposal permitted with regard to the col lection so ably and carefully described by Mr Lockhart in these fascinating volumes, WO are able to fully endorse the state- mout in his preface that, 80 far as the coins of China are concerued" the Gloror collection is
of the one
most complete in existence." To be more complete, a collection of Chinese coins would have to include such very rare specimens as the Chou Yan and other issues, and it may well be doubted wh ther any of these are to be found in the possession of foreigners. Regret must always be felt, moro especially when studying a representative collec- tion, that it did not occur to the early Chinese coiner to put something on his coin beyond the mere date and name of the coin or reign in which it was issued. How much more advanced
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