What have been the chief effects of the British occupation of these countries, so far as the natives are concerned?What is the position of Khaibar Pass with respect to the commerce of India?How has the building of the Sind-Pishin Railway strengthened British occupation of India?Singapore and Batavia are the two great focal points of trade in the East India Islands. At the former all trade is absolutely free; at the latter there is both an import and an export tax. What are the advantages of each policy?From the Abstract of Statistics find the trade of the United States with these countries.
What have been the chief effects of the British occupation of these countries, so far as the natives are concerned?
What is the position of Khaibar Pass with respect to the commerce of India?
How has the building of the Sind-Pishin Railway strengthened British occupation of India?
Singapore and Batavia are the two great focal points of trade in the East India Islands. At the former all trade is absolutely free; at the latter there is both an import and an export tax. What are the advantages of each policy?
From the Abstract of Statistics find the trade of the United States with these countries.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
From a cyclopædia, preferably the Encyclopædia Britannica, read the following topics:CasteLord CliveRattanPepper
From a cyclopædia, preferably the Encyclopædia Britannica, read the following topics:CasteLord CliveRattanPepper
The relative position of China, Russia, and Japan is not unlike that of continental Europe and Great Britain, and the struggle for supremacy in the Japan and Yellow Seas is about the same as that which in times past took place in the North Sea. In the latter case France and Holland were the disturbing powers; in the former, it is Russia.
The Chinese Empire.—A comparison of the Chinese Empire with the United States shows that the two countries have about the same position and extent of latitude. There is also about the same proportion of highlands, arid lands, and fertile lowlands. The similarity of the two countries in geographic conditions is very marked.
The fertile lowland in the east and southeast is one of the most productive regions in the world, and forms the chief resource of the country; on account of its productivity it is densely peopled. The arid and mountain lands are peopled mainly by cattle-herders and nomadic tribes.
China is essentially an agricultural country, and the farms are held in much the same way as in the United States, but the holdings are so small that agricultural machinery is not required for their cultivation.
Wheat, millet, and pease are grown throughout the lowlands wherever they can be cultivated. The cultivation of rice is confined mainly to the coast lowlands. The amount of food-stuffs produced, however, is scarcely sufficient for home consumption; indeed, a considerable amount isimported, and the imports year by year are increasing. This is due not so much to the density of population as to want of means of transportation of the soil products from inland regions. It is often much cheaper to import food-stuffs from abroad than to transport them, even from an adjoining province.
Tea is extensively cultivated, and China exports nearly one-half of the world's product; the total amount produced is considerably more than half. Most of this goes to Great Britain and Canada. Raw silk is an important product, and the mulberry-tree is extensively grown. Cotton is one of the most general crops in the southern part of the empire, especially along the lower Yangtze. It is a garden-crop, however, and nearly all of it is consumed.
The mineral wealth is very great, and with proper management will make China one of the most productive and powerful countries in the world. Coal is found in every one of the provinces, and the city of Peking is supplied with an excellent quality of anthracite from the Fang-shan mines, only a few miles distant. It is thought that the coal-fields are the most extensive in the world. Iron ore of excellent quality is abundant, and in several localities, notably in the province of Shansi, the two are near each other.
Foreign capitalists are seeking to develop these resources in several localities. The Germans have obtained mining concessions in Shantung peninsula, and these involve the iron ore and coal occurring there. The Peking syndicate, a London company, has also obtained a coal-mining concession in Shansi.
EASTERN CHINAEASTERN CHINA
For the greater part the manufactures are home industries.[79]Until recently most of the cotton cloth was made by means of cottage looms, and the beautiful silk brocades which are not surpassed anywhere else in the world are still made in this manner. Porcelain-making is one of the oldest industries, and to this day the wares sold in Europe and America are known as "china." Straw carpet, or matting, and fans for export are also important exports.
The mill system of manufacture is rapidly gaining ground, however, and foreign companies find it economical to carry the yarn made in India from American cotton into China to be made into cloth. In the vicinity of Shanghai alone there are nearly three hundred thousand spindles. This phase of the industry is due largely to the factor of cheap labor; the Chinese skilled laborer is intelligent; he does not object to a sixteen-hour working-day at wages varying from five to twenty cents.
There is no great localization of industrial centres, as in the United States and Europe. Each centre of population is practically self-supporting and independent from an economic stand-point. The introduction of western methods, however, is gradually changing this feature.
All industries of a general character are hampered for want of good means of transportation. The empire is traversed by a network of unpaved roads; but although these are always in a wretched condition, an enormous traffic is carried over them by means of wheel-barrows, pack-animals, and by equally primitive methods.
The numerous rivers form an important means of communication. The Yangtze is now available to commerce a distance of 2,000 miles, and the opening of the Si Kiang (West River) adds a large area that is commercially tributary to Canton and Hongkong. The most important water-way is the Grand Canal, extending from Hang Chow to Tientsin. This canal is by no means a good one as compared with American and European standards. It was built not so much for the necessities of traffic, as to avoid the numerous pirate vessels that infest the coasts. Junks, row-boats, house-boats, and foreign steam craft are all employed for traffic. The internal water-ways aggregate about fifteen thousand miles in length.
A TEA-PLANTATION—PICKING THE LEAVESA TEA-PLANTATION—PICKING THE LEAVES
PREPARING THE LEAVES FOR ROASTINGPREPARING THE LEAVES FOR ROASTING
TEA-BALES FOR EXPORT THROUGH RUSSIATEA-BALES FOR EXPORT THROUGH RUSSIA
Of railways there were less than three hundred and fifty miles at the close of the century, the most important being the line from Tientsin to Peking. About five thousand miles are projected and under construction by American and European companies. A branch of the Transsiberian railway is under construction to Port Arthur. Telegraph and telephone lines have become popular and have been extended to the interior a considerable distance. There are upward of twenty thousand miles of wire communication, the most important, in many respects, being a direct overland line between Peking and European cities. Inasmuch as there are no letters in the Chinese language, the difficulties in using the Morse code of telegraphy are very great. In some cases the messages are translated into a foreign language before they are transmitted; in others, a thousand or more words in colloquial and commercial use are numbered, and the number is telegraphed instead of the word.
Most of the business between the natives and foreigners is carried on by means of middlemen, or "compradors," and these include both the commission merchants and the native bankers. They are intelligent, thrifty, and trustworthy. They are the most capable merchants in Asia, and have few if any superiors among the merchants of western nations. A very large part of the retail trade of the Philippine Islands is carried on by Chinese merchants.
The Chinese Empire consists of China and the five dependencies, as shown in the following table:
StatePopulationCapital orChief TownChina proper380,000,000PekingManchuria7,500,000KirinTibet6,000,000LassaMongolia2,000,000UrgaJungaria600,000Kur-kara-usuEastern Turkestan600,000Yarkand
The five dependencies are mainly arid, unproductive, and sparsely peopled. Their chief importance consists in the fact that they are "buffer states" between China proper and European states. They produce little except meat, wool, and live-stock.
China proper is divided into provinces, each governed by a viceroy appointed by the throne. All business with foreign powers is transacted through a Foreign Office, the Wai-wu-pu (formerly the Tsung-li-Yamen). The government business is managed by a Grand Council whose members are advisers to the throne. The government is controlled mainly by Manchu officials.
HONGKONGHONGKONG
Until within a few years China nominally allowed no foreign traders within her borders; recently, however, about forty cities, commonly known as "treaty ports," have been opened to the trade of foreign countries. Goods going inland any distance are required to pay a "liken" or internal tariff at the border of each province.
Several concessions of territory within recent years have been forced from China by foreign powers: thus, Great Britain has Hongkong Island (with the peninsula ofKaulung) and Weihaiwei; Germany has Kiaochou on the bay of the same name; France has Kwang chau wan harbor. These concessions carry with them the control of the port and surrounding territory. The German concession includes the right to mine coal and iron, and to build railways within a territory of much larger extent. At the close of the war between Russia and Japan, the latter acquired Port Arthur, the gateway to Manchuria.
Whatever may be the political significance of the opening of the treaty ports and the granting of the various concessions, the effect has been to increase the trade of the United States with China about twenty-fold. The imports from the United States consist mainly of cotton and cotton cloth, coal-oil, and flour. The chief exports to all countries are tea, silk goods, and porcelain ware. Most of those sent to the United States are landed at Seattle or San Francisco. Great Britain, through the port of Hongkong, has a larger trade than any other nation. Japan and the United States have most of the remaining trade.
Peking, the capital, is politically, but not commercially, important. The part occupied by the foreign legations is modern and well kept.Tientsin, the port of Peking, is a larger city, with much more business.Canton, the largest city of the empire, andHongkong, are the commercial centres of nearly all the British trade. Most of the American and Japanese trade centres atShanghai.Niuchwang, on the Manchurian frontier, is important mainly as a strategic point.Macao, a Portuguese possession, is the open door of Portugal into China.
The inland divisions of the Chinese Empire have but little commercial importance. Musk, wool, and skins are obtained from Tibet, into whose capital,Lassa, scarcely half-a-dozen Europeans have penetrated. The closed condition is due to the opposition of the Lamas, an orderof Buddhist priests. Mongolia is a grazing region that supplies the Chinese border country with goats, sheep, and horses. It also supplies the camels required for the caravan tea-trade to the Russian frontiers. Eastern Turkestan is mainly a desert.Kashgar, the metropolis of the fertile portion, is the exchange market for Chinese and Russian products. Most of the mineral known as jade is obtained there. Manchuria is a grazing and wheat-growing country, exporting food stuffs and ginseng into China.Harbin, a Russian trading post, is connected with Peking and with European cities by railway.
JAPAN AND KOREAJAPAN AND KOREA
Korea, formerly a vassal of China, became an independent state after the war between China and Japan, this step being forced by Russia. The country is a natural market for Japanese manufactures, and in turn suppliesJapan with a considerable amount of food-stuffs.Chemulpois the chief centre of its commerce.
Japan.—Japan is an insular empire, the commercial part of which has about the same latitude as the Atlantic coast of the United States; the empire extends from Formosa to Kamchatka. It is sometimes called the "Great Britain of the East," and the people are also called the "Yankees of the East." Structurally, the chain of islands consists of ranges of volcanic mountains. The abundant rains, however, have made many fertile river-valleys, and have fringed most of the islands with coast-plains.
Since the opening of Japan to foreigners the Japanese have so thoroughly adapted themselves to western commercial methods that they have become the dominating power in eastern Asia. Their influence has been greatly strengthened by a treaty for defensive purposes with Great Britain. A most excellent army and a modern navy make the alliance a strong one. The Japanese are better adapted to mould the commercial policy of China than any other people.
With a population of more than half that of the United States, occupying an area not larger than the State of California, every square foot of available land must be cultivated. Yet the Japanese not only grow most of the food-stuffs they consume, but are able to export rice. There is scant facility for growing beef cattle, but fish very largely takes the place of beef. The cattle grown are used as draught-animals in farm labor. Ordinary dairy products are but little used.
Rice, tea, and silk are the staple crops. Rice is grown on the coast lowlands, the west or rainy side[80]producing the larger crop. The Japanese crop is so superior that the larger part is exported, while an inferior Chinese grain is imported for home consumption. The quality of the Japanese rice is due to skilful cultivation.
NATIVE PLOUGHING RICE-FIELDSNATIVE PLOUGHING RICE-FIELDS
IRRIGATING A RICE-FIELDIRRIGATING A RICE-FIELD
RICE-FIELDSRICE-FIELDS
Tea has become the staple crop, and is cultivated from Formosa to the forty-fifth parallel. Tea-farms occupy nearly every acre of the cultivable hill-side areas in some of the islands, and the soil is enriched with a fertilizer made from fish and fish refuse, dried and broken. Most of the tea product is made into green tea, and on account of its quality it commands a high price. Formosa tea is considered the best in the market.
Silk culture is confined almost wholly to the island of Hondo. The raw silk is of superior quality, and the exported material is used mainly in the manufacture of ribbons and brocades. A limited amount of cotton is grown, but the staple is short, and its cultivation is not profitable except in a few localities.
Among the forestry there is comparatively little timber suitable for building purposes, and a considerable amount of timber is purchased from the mills of Puget Sound. Bamboo is largely employed for buildings. Camphor is the product of a tree (Camphora officinarum) allied to the cinnamon and the sassafras. It is cultivated in the island of Kiushiu. The best gum, however, is now obtained from Formosa, and this island now controls the world's supply. The camphor product is a government monopoly leased to a British company.
The lacquer-tree (Rhus vernicifera) grows mainly in the island of Hondo. The sap, after preparation, forms the most durable varnish known. Black lacquer is obtained by treating the sap with nutgalls. Lacquered wooden-ware is sold all over Europe and the United States. The lacquered surface is exceedingly hard and water-proof; it is not affected by climate.
Gold, porcelain clay, silver, copper, and petroleum are mined. The gold and silver are used both for coinage and in the arts; the clay has made Japanese porcelains famous. The copper comes from the most productive mines of Asia; a considerable amount is exported, but much is used in the manufacture of Japanese bronze goods. Coal is mined, and this has given a great impetus to manufacture; iron ore is deficient, and steel must be imported. The quantity of petroleum is increasing yearly, and is becoming an important factor in the world's product.
Manufacturing industries are giving shape to the industrial future of the country. The cotton-mills alone employ seventy thousand people and keep more than one million spindles busy. More than one million operatives are engaged in textile manufactures. Much of the cloth, both cotton and silk, is still woven on cottage looms. The cotton cloth is sold mainly in China and Korea; the surplus silk textiles find a ready market in the United States. The best straw matting used as a floor-covering is now made in Japan and constitutes a very important export.
Three thousand miles of railway aid the internal industries of the country; several steamship lines to Hongkong and Shanghai, and one or more each to Vladivostok, Bombay, San Francisco, Seattle, Honolulu, Australia, and Vancouver (B.C.) carry the tea, raw silk, and manufactured products to Europe and America. Much, if not most, of the steamship interests are owned by the Japanese, and the lines are encouraged by government subsidies. France and the United States buy most of the raw silk. The latter country purchases most of the tea, sending coal-oil, cotton, leather, and lumber in return. Great Britain and Germany sell to the Japanese a large part of the textiles and the machinery they use. The exports to the UnitedStates are consigned mainly to San Francisco, New York and Seattle.
Tokiois the capital;Yokohamais the chief port for American traffic, and the market for most of the foreign trade. Most of the trade between China and Japan centres atNagasaki, which is the Japanese naval station.OsakaandKiotoare the chief centres of cotton and textile manufactures.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
How has the policy of seclusion affected the commercial development of China?What has been its effect on the social life of the people?How did the cultivation of opium in India become a factor in the opening of China to foreign trade?What is meant by "treaty ports"? Make a list of those shown on the map of eastern China.Name two Chinese statesmen who have been factors in the relations between China and the United States.Compare the position of Japan with that of the British Isles with reference to commerce.What advantages has Japan with reference to latitude?—what disadvantages with reference to cultivable lands?From the Statesman's Year-Book find the leading exports and imports and the volume of trade of these states.From the Abstract of Statistics find the leading articles of trade between these states and the United States.
How has the policy of seclusion affected the commercial development of China?
What has been its effect on the social life of the people?
How did the cultivation of opium in India become a factor in the opening of China to foreign trade?
What is meant by "treaty ports"? Make a list of those shown on the map of eastern China.
Name two Chinese statesmen who have been factors in the relations between China and the United States.
Compare the position of Japan with that of the British Isles with reference to commerce.
What advantages has Japan with reference to latitude?—what disadvantages with reference to cultivable lands?
From the Statesman's Year-Book find the leading exports and imports and the volume of trade of these states.
From the Abstract of Statistics find the leading articles of trade between these states and the United States.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
From a cyclopædia read the following topics: The opium war, Commodore Perry's expedition.
From a cyclopædia read the following topics: The opium war, Commodore Perry's expedition.
Africa is in a state of commercial transition. During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the partition of its area among European nations left but few of the names that formerly were familiar. At the beginning of the twentieth century the British, French, and Germans controlled the greater part of the continent, although the Portuguese, Belgians, Italians, and Spanish have various possessions.
The partition of Africa was designed for the expansion of European markets. The population of Africa is about one hundred and seventy million, and the continent is practically without manufacturing enterprises. The people, therefore, must be supplied with clothing and other commodities. In 1900 the total trade of Africa with the rest of the world was about one and one-third billion dollars, of which the United States had a little more than two per cent., mainly cotton cloth and coal-oil.
Egypt.—The Egypt of the maps is a region of indefinite extent so far as its western and southern boundaries are concerned; the Egypt of history is the flood plain of the Nile. From the Mediterranean Sea to Cairo the cultivable area is not far from one hundred miles in width; from Cairo to Khartum it varies from three to seven or eight miles wide.
AFRICAAFRICA
The food-producing power of Egypt depends on the Nile. In lower Egypt a considerable area is made productive at the ordinary stage of water by means of irrigating canals, but in upper Egypt the crops must depend upon the annual flood of the river, which occurs from June until September. During this period the river varies from twenty-five to forty feet above the low-water mark. In the irrigated regions three crops a year may be produced; in the flooded lands only one is grown.
In order to add to the cultivable area two great engineering works have been constructed. A barrage and lock control the flow of water at Assiut; a huge dam at Assuan impounds the surplus of the flood season. These structures, it is thought, will increase the productive power of the country about one-fourth. Rice, maize (an Egyptian variety), sugar, wheat, and beans are the staple crops.
Rice is the food of the native people, but the crop is insufficient, and the deficit must be imported. The wheat, maize, and beans are grown for export to Europe, the last named being extensively used for horse-fodder. The sugar-growing industry is protected by the heavy yield and the cheap fellahin labor. The raw sugar is sent to the refineries along the Mediterranean. Onions are exported to the United States.
The cotton-crop is an important factor, and in spite of its own crop the United States is a heavy purchaser of the long-staple Egyptian cotton, which is used in the manufacture of thread and hosiery. The cultivation of tobacco is forbidden by law, but Egyptian cigarettes are an item of considerable importance. They are made of imported Turkish tobacco by foreign workmen. There is a heavy export duty on native tobacco exported, and the ban on the inferior native-grown article is intended to prevent its admixture with the high-grade product from Turkey, and thereby to keep up the standard of the cigarettes.
Egypt is nominally a vassal of Turkey, paying to theSultan a yearly tribute of $3,600,000. Great Britain's is the real controlling hand, because the Suez Canal is Great Britain's gateway to India. By a purchase of the stock held by a former Khedive, Great Britain secured financial control of the canal, a necessary step from the fact that more than half the trade carried through the canal is British commerce.
The country is deficient in the resources that make most nations powerful. There is neither coal, iron, nor timber available, and these must be imported. Great Britain supplies the first, and Norway the last. Some traffic is carried on the Nile, but railways have been built through the crop-lands. One of these threads the Nile Valley and will become a part of the "Cape to Cairo" route.
Alexandriais the port at which most of the Egyptian commerce lands.Cairo, the largest city of Africa, derives its importance from its position at the head of the Nile delta. It is a favorite winter-resort.Port SaïdandSuezare the terminal ports of the Suez Canal; their commerce is mainly the transit trade of the canal.
Other Independent States.—Most of the independent states of Africa are in a condition of barbarism and have but little importance to the rest of the world. Abyssinia has the natural advantages of gold, iron, pasture-lands, and forestry, and the possibilities of cotton cultivation. Valuable mining concessions have been granted to foreign companies. Ivory, coffee, and gold are shipped to India in exchange for textiles. A railway from the coast is under construction, but all the traffic is carried by mule-trains, mainly toHarrar.
Morocco has an admirable strategic position at the entrance of the Strait of Gibraltar, and is most likely, in time, to become a possession of Spain. There are exported, mainly to Great Britain, beans, almonds, goat-skins, andwool. The goat-skins are sumac-tanned and are still used in making the best book-binding leather. Only a small part of the so-called Morocco leather of commerce is genuine. There are no railways; caravan routes from the Sahara cross the country.Tangierand one or two other ports are open to foreign trade. Coal-oil is the only import from the United States.
The state of Liberia was established for the benefit of freed slaves from the United States. The products are those of tropical Africa, including caoutchouc. Coffee cultivation is extensively carried on, and coffee is the leading export.Monroviais the chief centre of trade.
North African Possessions.—French influence is paramount in northern Africa. Algeria and Tunis are both French colonies, and the caravan trade of the Sahara is generally tributary to French trade. The region known as the Tell, a strip between the coast and the Atlas Mountains, is the chief agricultural region, and the products are similar to those on the other side of the Mediterranean Sea. The ordinary grains are grown for home consumption, but the macaroni wheat crop is manufactured into macaroni paste for export. The fruit-crop, especially the olive, date, and grape, and their products, is exported.
Esparto grass, for making paper, was formerly an important export, but the increasing use of wood-pulp for this purpose has had the effect of increasing the grazing area, and therefore the wool-crop. Date-palms grow in great profusion, and the excess forms an important export, going to nearly every part of Europe and the United States. A large part of the crop, however, is consumed by the Arabs. Sumac-tanned goat-skins, for book-binding leather, are also exported.
The colonies must import coal. Manufactures are therefore restricted to the preparation of the fruit and foodproducts. Sponges are an important product. Railways provide the necessary transportation for the crops.Algiers, the metropolis, is a finely built city and a favorite winter-resort.Oranis the shipping-port for grain and esparto grass.Biskrais the market for dates.
The caravan trade of northern Africa is considerable, and the greater part converges atTripoli, to which not far from ten thousand camel-loads of merchandise are brought annually. This trade is carried on mainly by the Arabs, who cover the region fromTimbuctuto Lake Chad. They bring ivory, ostrich feathers, gold, goat-skins, and slaves. In return they carry cloth, fire-arms, ammunition, and various commodities to the negro villages of the Sudan. The district is a possession of Turkey. Its chief exports are esparto grass, sponges, and dye-stuffs.
Central Africa.—Central Africa is divided among the chief European powers. Great Britain and Germany divide the lake-region and the Zanzibar coast. On the Guinea coast the French are an additional factor. The trade of these regions consists of an exchange of tropical products—palm-oil, rubber, ebony, camwood, ivory, and hides—for cloth, tobacco, fire-arms, beads and trinkets, and preserved foods. Most of this trade is carried on by companies holding royal charters.
The Kongo State is a semi-official corporation of this character, the King of the Belgians being its chief executive officer. The active administration is carried on by agents of the company. The chief of each tribe or village is required, under penalty, to furnish a certain quota of crude rubber and other products; and between the agent and the Arab slave-driver the natives have little to choose.
The Kongo River is the outlet of the state, and to facilitate the transportation of the products, railways have been built, or are under construction, around the rapids. Thisregion is about the only remaining source of elephant ivory, but most of the supply consists of the tusks of animals long since dead. A fleet of steamboats carries the commercial products to the coast.Stanley Pool, at the head of the rapids, is the chief depot for collection. Ocean steamships ascend the river to a point aboveBoma, the place of administration.
Nigeria and Ashanti are British possessions on the Guinea coast,[81]having a trading company organization. Sierra Leone is an organized colony, a product of which is the kola-nut. British East Africa is important for strategic purposes, inasmuch as it includes the upper Nile basin, a territory sometimes known as the Egyptian Sudan.Akrais the trading port of Nigeria, andKhartumof the upper Nile Valley.Zanzibaris the metropolis of the east coast.
The French possessions include a large territory at the mouth of the Kongo, the western part of the Sahara, and the islands of Madagascar and Reunion. In German East Africa the commercial development has been substantial, and large plantations for the cultivation of tropical products are in operation. A railway from the coast to the lake-district is under construction.Mombasais its commercial outlet.
The Italians have nominal possession of a territory facing the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, and also of the peninsula of Guardafui. Their actual possession, however, is restricted to the island and trading-post ofMassawa. Their attempts to conquer Abyssinia have been unsuccessful.
Cape of Good Hope and the South African Colonies.—Up to the time of the Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope was a sort of half-way house between British ports andIndia, and this position made it commercially important. Even at the present time more than fifteen hundred vessels, many of them in the Indian Ocean trade, call at the chief port of the colony every year.
Agriculture is the chief industry of these colonies, though not the one yielding the greatest returns. Enough wheat, maize (or "mealies"), and fruit are grown for home consumption, but the climate is too arid for any excess of bread-stuffs. The aridity is a resource, however, in the matter of wool, the superior quality of which is due largely to the deficient rainfall. As a matter of fact the whole country is a great grazing veldt; wool, a very fine quality of Angora mohair, hides, and cattle products are exports.
From December to March the fruits ripen, and these, especially the grapes, are carried in cold-storage vessels to British and other European ports. The wine is likewise of excellent quality and is becoming an export of great value. Both the fruit and the wine are similar to those of Australia and California.
The business of ostrich farming is in the hands of several large companies, and, next to the wool-crop, ostrich plumes are the leading product. There are about a quarter of a million birds, and each produces about one pound of feathers. The ordinary quality of plumes varies from five to ten dollars a pound; very choice plumes command as much as two hundred dollars a pound. London is the chief market for them, but most of them sooner or later find their way to the milliners of the great cities.
The diamond-mines of Griqualand West furnish practically the whole of the world's supply. The mines are operated on a most thorough business system, and the output of rough stones is carefully regulated to meet the demand. All wholesale dealers know the output from year to year, and no more stones are put upon the marketthan the number required to meet the demand. All the Kimberley mines are now consolidated under one company. The yearly output does not vary much from twenty million dollars' worth of stones. The stones are marketed from Kimberley, but London dealers buy most of them.
The mines that for several years produced more gold than any others in existence are in the Transvaal.[82]Other undeveloped mines in the territory of Rhodesia are known to be extremely rich in precious metals; indeed, there is much evidence that the famous mines of Ophir were in this region. Copper ore is an important export.
The industries of Natal colony do not differ materially from those of Cape of Good Hope. The rainfall is sufficient for the growing of sugar-cane, and sugar is an important export to the mother-country. The colony has productive coal-mines, and these are destined to become an important resource.
The home government has encouraged railway building, and a trunk line through Rhodesia affords an outlet to the ports of the south coast. It is the policy of the mother-country to extend this road along the lake-region and the Nile Valley (known as the "Great Rift") to the Mediterranean Sea. This plan when carried out will give Great Britain a practical control of the trade of eastern Africa. The imports are mainly textiles, machinery, and steel wares.
Cape Townis the most important centre of trade in South Africa. A considerable trade, however, is carried on atPort Elizabethand atDurban, the port of Natal.Kimberleyis the seat of the diamond-mining interests, andJohannesbergof the gold-mines.
Germany and Portugal divide the southwest coast.Walfisch Bayis the outlet of the former. Portuguese East Africa is an outlet for the trade of the Transvaal region, with which it is connected by rail. The portLourenço Marquezhas a fine harbor.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
Has the partition of Africa been an advantage or a disadvantage to the native races of the continent?What advantages will accrue to Great Britain from the Cape to Cairo railway?Compare the basin of the Kongo with that of the Amazon with respect to climate, products, and civilization.From Commercial Africa prepare a list of the exports and imports between the United States and the various African countries.
Has the partition of Africa been an advantage or a disadvantage to the native races of the continent?
What advantages will accrue to Great Britain from the Cape to Cairo railway?
Compare the basin of the Kongo with that of the Amazon with respect to climate, products, and civilization.
From Commercial Africa prepare a list of the exports and imports between the United States and the various African countries.
FOR COLLATERAL READING AND REFERENCE
Statesman's Year-Book.Commercial Africa—pp. 3679 and following.From a cyclopædia read the following topics: Ivory, Suez Canal, Gibraltar, Livingstone, Diamonds, Canary Islands.
Statesman's Year-Book.
Commercial Africa—pp. 3679 and following.
From a cyclopædia read the following topics: Ivory, Suez Canal, Gibraltar, Livingstone, Diamonds, Canary Islands.
Oceania, the island division of the world, includes Australasia and the great groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the larger islands are regions of great productivity; others are important as coaling-stations; still others have positions of great strategic value.
When it is considered that more than half the people in the world live on the slopes of the Pacific Ocean, and that they depend on the metal-working and manufacturing people of the Atlantic slopes for clothing and commodities, it is apparent that the commerce of the Pacific Ocean must reach enormous proportions.
For this reason the various island groups of Oceania have been acquired by Europeans, and from the moment of their occupation their commercial development began. The great majority of these groups are within the limits of the sago-palm, bread-fruit, cocoanut, and banana, and these yield not only the food-stuffs of the native people, but the export products as well. Copra, or dried cocoanut meat, is the general export. It is marketed in Marseille, London, and San Francisco. Sago is prepared from the pith of a species of palm. Considerable quantities are also exported, and it is used as a table delicacy. The banana is the food-stuff upon which many millions of people must depend. In spite of their small aggregate area, the food-producing power of these islands is very great.[83]
On account of its central position, Honolulu, the capital and chief port of Hawaii, is the most important mid-ocean station of the Pacific. It is almost in the direct line of traffic between the Pacific ports of the United States and Canada on the one hand, and those of Australia, Japan and China on the other. It is also in the route of vessels that may hereafter use the American isthmian canal in going between European and Asian ports.
In the cultivation of export products native Malay labor is almost always employed, inasmuch as Europeans cannot bear out-of-door labor in the tropics. The natives are generally known as "Kanakas," and there is not a little illicit traffic in their labor. Chinese and Japanese coolies are also employed as laborers.
The Commonwealth of Australia.—The commonwealth of Australia consists of the various states of Australia together with Tasmania. Their position corresponds very closely to that of Mexico and Central America, and the climate and products are not unlike. A considerable part of Australia is a desert, and a large area is too arid for the production of bread-stuffs; the eastern coast, however, receives abundant rains.
Australia produces nearly one-third of the wool-clip of the world. On account of the climate, the quality of the wool, much of it merino, is excellent. More than half the clip comes from New South Wales. Two-thirds of the wool goes to Great Britain to be manufactured; nearly all the rest is purchased by France, Germany, and Belgium. Less than two per cent. is sold to the United States.
Since the introduction of cold-storage plants in steamships, Australia has become a heavy exporter of meat. Areas long unproductive are now cattle-ranges; mutton constitutes the heaviest shipment. Inasmuch as the transportation is almost wholly by water, the cost is very light, and the mutton can be sold to London dealers at less than four cents per pound.
THE COMMERCE OF THE PACIFICTHE COMMERCE OF THE PACIFIC
AUSTRALIAAUSTRALIA
Wheat is grown mainly for home consumption. Grapes for wine and for raisins are good-paying crops in Victoria and New South Wales. Both products find a ready market in Great Britain. Australian claret is a strong competitor of California claret for public favor, and the two are similar in character. Cane-sugar is grown in the moist regions of Queensland; it is the chief supply of the commonwealth and the neighboring islands. The forests produce an abundance of hard woods, but practically no building-timber. Jarrah wood paving-blocks are an important export. British Columbia, Washington, and Oregon supply much of the building-timber.
Gold has been the chief mineral product since thesettlement of the country. The mints convert the metal into coin. As a rule the value of the exports exceeds that of the imports, and the excess swells the amount of metal exported. The most productive mines are in the district of Ballarat. Coal is abundant on the east coast, and a considerable part is sold to California, and more to Asian ports. Tin is extensively mined in Tasmania.
More than fifteen thousand miles of railway have been built to carry the traffic of the country. Most of them were built by private corporations, but on account of financial difficulties and poor service they were acquired by the government. The policy proved a wise one.
Great Britain encourages the trade of her colonies, and gets about three-fourths of the traffic of the commonwealth, the imports being manufactured goods. Of the foreign trade the United States has about half, nearly all of which is landed at San Francisco and Puget Sound. Wool, cattle products, and coal are exported to the United States, and the latter sends to Australia structural steel—mainly rails—printing-paper, and coal-oil.
Melbourneis the largest city.Sydneyis the port at which most of the ocean trade is landed.Brisbane, mainly a coal and a wool market, is connected with British Columbia by an ocean cable. Steamships by way of the Suez Canal generally call atPerthandAdelaide.HobartandLauncestownare the markets of Tasmania.
New Zealand.—This colony is one of the most prosperous and best administered states in existence. The cultivable lands produce enough wheat for home use, and an excess for export. Cattle and sheep are the chief resource, however, and pretty nearly everything—meat, hides, wool, horn, and bones—is exported. Dairy products are not forgotten, and under the management of an association, these are of the best quality.
New Zealand flax (Phormium tenax), a kind of marsh hemp, yields a fibre used in making cordage. The kauri pine furnishes the chief supply of lumber. A fossil kauri gum is collected for export; it makes a varnish almost equal to Japanese lacquer. Gold is mined, and there being no mint, all the bullion is exported. The only manufactures are those which are connected with the meat export and the dairy industry. The exports noted more than pay for the manufactured goods. Most of the trade is carried on with Great Britain.Wellington, the capital, andAucklandare the centres of trade.
New Guinea.—This island, one of the largest in the world, is somewhat larger than the State of Texas, or about one-third larger than Germany or France. The gold-mines first led to the exploration and settlement of the island, but it was soon apparent that the agricultural resources were even more valuable, and it was divided among the British, Germans, and Dutch.
The western part of the island is distinctly Asian in character; the eastern and southern parts resemble Australia. Coffee, rice, and tobacco plantations have been established in the former; grazing is the chief industry in the latter. Ebony and bamboo are among the forest products.
British Possessions.—The Fiji Islands are among the most important British possessions. They number about eighty habitable and twice as many small islands. Sugar is the chief export product, and it goes mainly to Australia and New Zealand. Cocoanuts are also a large item of export trade.Suvais the chief trading-port.
The Tonga Islands are nominally independent, but are practically a British protectorate. Among other British possessions are Cook, Gilbert, and Ellice archipelagoes, and Pitcairn Island.
German Possessions.—The Samoa Islands areperhaps the most important German possession, and German planters have made them highly productive. They were formerly held under a community-of-interest plan by Great Britain, Germany, and the United States. A joint commission awarded the greater part of the territory to Germany. In addition to the ordinary products, pineapples and limes are exported. Most of the trade is carried on by way of Australia.Apiais the trading-port.
Bismarck Archipelago, and the Solomon, Marshall, and Caroline groups have also been acquired by Germany. The last named was purchased from Spain at the close of the Spanish-American War.
French Possessions.—New Caledonia, together with Loyalty Islands, Fortuna, and the New Hebrides group, have great wealth in the matter of resources. New Caledonia, a penal colony, has productive mines of chrome iron ore and copper. It is the source of a considerable supply of nickel and cobalt. A railway to the coast has been built for the carriage of these products.
Tahiti is the principal island of the Society group, and under the missions long established there, the natives have become civilized. In addition to the usual trade, sugar and mother-of-pearl are important exports.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION