328
14
BRITONS V. GERMANS IN CHINA
if these had been previously available, it would hardly be possible to distinguish the share of trade enjoyed by each nationality, for the above good reason that the Chinese native trade is mingled in the total However, let us admit the supposition that they (the Germans) captured more trade head than the British. There is
per nothing surprising about it, and nothing else could have been expected, when, as the liquidations have proved, they gave long and dangerous credits, worked many lines at a loss, obtained their capital by dishonest means, and in fact seemed to vie with one another in a mad headlong scramble to obtain business, no matter whether a profit was made or not. This idea that it was necessay to do a huge turnover at all costs seems to have permeated and ac- tuated all the German houses in Hongkong. There is also no reason to doubt that the
"
BRITONS V. GERMANS IN CHINA 15
same selfish methods have been, and are still being, employed by Germans in Shang- hai and other places in China. There is nothing to admire in these methods, they cannot be called push or enterprise, as they were not conducted with the methodical and meticulous application we have come to associate with other German undertakings, and military preparations in particular. Their whole system of trading is only pa- thetic, considering the vast amount of work put in by their representatives out here and their co-workers in the Fatherland.
Had they made a reasonable profit out of their business operations there would be ground for congratulating them on their enterprise, but the liquidations have proved the results of their trading were in many cases so miserable as to be almost incredible, and one wonders why at least half of them did not pack up their trunks and go home.