FRENCH VIEW OF PHILIPPINE SITUATION. The French consul at Manila has sent to his Government a dispatch containing a long list of enterprises which Americans are establishing in the archipelago, and warns his own people that they must be up and doing unless they want to be left far in the rear. I translate briefly: The appearance of Manila is destined to change in a short time. The introduction of a new and powerful factor in the commercial problem of this country will compel Spanish merchants to close their houses or to entirely change their business methods. American competition has commenced, in fact, to assume alarming proportions. What will be the importance of this current when these newcomers are free to direct the commercial destinies of the Philippines-to flood this market with all the products of their industries? The English and German merchants, formerly masters in this colony, watch with keen interest the events now in progress and await, with undisguised impatience, the termination of the struggle between the Americans and the insurgents, that they may discern the turn that things will take. No one, however, doubts that a strong rivalry is about to arise, and they regret the past condition of affairs and the advantages they then possessed. Many of the wealthy people, mixed breeds, and Indians have left for Hongkong or suspended business, and, as their expenditures and style of living will be reduced in the future, the value of the market, as an importing center, will diminish. It will be more than ever necessary for the French merchants to study their interests in this market, not by depending upon consular reports, but by sending commercial travelers here to investigate special lines of business. It is probable that under the enterprising and energetic methods of American business men, a new and richer market will soon be opened on these islands, both in imports and exports. LYONS, June 14, 1899. JOHN C. COVERT, Consul. COTTON-SPINNING MACHINERY IN JAPAN.* I can not ascertain that any machines have yet been imported into Japan for spinning yarns with which to manufacture either vigogne, shoddy, carpets, or fustians. The textile business here chiefly requires machinery for the spinning of yarns for manufacturing goods in cotton, silk, flax, ramie, wool, and worsted. All cotton-spinning machinery in Japan, except some of the reeling machines and some other accessories, has been imported from *The above report was made in answer to inquiries by the Philadelphia Commercial Museum, to which Advance Sheets have been sent. England. The total number of mule and ring spindles is about 1,300,000. Woolen machinery has been chiefly supplied by German and French makers; some by English firms. The manufacture of woolen goods in this country, however, remains as yet in a very primitive condition, not more than 20,000 spindles being in place. Silk, flax, and ramie machines have been mostly supplied from England, but a small number of them have come from Germany and France. The total number of spinning machines is about 50,000, and they are said to be working satisfactorily. In conversations with prominent manufacturers, I have learned the English manufacturers do not send their cotton and other machinery here to be dealt with by unskilled Japanese workmen, but that they send their own expert workmen along with their machinery, who carefully instruct the Japanese in its use. The latter quickly learn to handle it. The fact that English manufacturers do this creates a strong feeling in their favor, which brings buyer and seller in much closer connection. Japanese manufacturers inform me that spinning mills have proved quite profitable from the start, and that that consequently they have found no difficulty in capitalizing their business. They also say that hitherto they have ordinarily preferred spinning machinery made by the same manufacturers; but, having become more and more used to all kinds, they do not now feel so tied to that practice, but are prepared, other things being equal, to welcome competition from any quarter, and this new condition I would especially commend to our American manufacturers of machinery. The field should be entered by them, in order to supply a fair proportion of the cotton and other spinning machinery and equipment in the great manufacturing city of Osaka and elsewhere. In exporting to Japan other lines of machinery, the United States has made notable progress, and there is no doubt we would succeed if we exploited the market for a good share of cotton-spinning machinery. also, as the Japanese mill owners are looking for American estimates. The demand for textile machinery, other than for the spinning of cotton yarn, is not large. As to terms of payment, it is usual to advance one-third the value on confirmation of the order; the balance on delivery, a proportionate amount being paid on each invoice received. I subjoin the following price list for a certain power loom made in England, used in the manufacture of ginghams, the same being with brake, strap, weft, and positive taking-up motions, plain treading motion, wood cloth roller, cast-iron yarn and back rollers, polished bay-wood hand top, with Clegg's picking and box-lifting motion and two shuttle boxes on one side of loom, including one set of chain links and pins, weighting chains and fluted and chased surface roller, slip catch to taking-up motion and cast-iron bush to loose pulley: Wooderofts tappets 6 shafts, 12 to round in lieu of plains... .do.. ......per loom..., o 1 pair of self-acting double-capped temples, 2 rollers each, rods and fixings: Iron rollers and iron caps.......... Iron rollers and brass caps............ Steel rollers and iron caps...... Steel rollers and brass caps... Brass rollers and brass caps......... .............................per loom... .........do...... 5 O 7 O 6 3 C 1.22 1.76 Lathe for large shuttles in lieu of ordinary sizes: For looms with 2 shuttle boxes on one side. .do.. Tender and stay to long end crank......... Yarn beam in two parts........ Wrought-iron yarn beam (in lieu of cast iron), 28 inches reed... Wrought-iron yarn beams (malleable iron flanges), 28 inches reed......... Platts' improved loose-reed arrangement..... 1.46 2.01 10 O 2.43 I have not succeeded in obtaining a price list of power looms with positive valvular frames. Prices for this port should be quoted "c. i. f.," delivered at Hiogo (Kobé), so that the entire cost may be clearly placed before purchasers. HIOGO, May 18, 1899. SAMUEL S. LYON, Consul. ELECTRIC INDUSTRY IN JAPAN. Consul-General Gowey transmits from Yokohama, May 11, 1899, a clipping from the Japan Times containing interesting information relative to the electric industry in Japan, as follows: ELECROPLATING. This branch of the electric industry dates back to about 1887, when a workshop was first started in Mita, Tokyo. For six or seven years the workshop had to contend against great odds, leading to repeated changes in its ownership. The outbreak of the Japan-China war did very much towards reviving the business. Subsequently, it experienced more or less vicissitudes incidental to the economic changes at large, but it may be said to have fairly taken root. Our electroplaters, however, are placed in a disadvantageous position in contrast to their Western confrères, the art being kept a secret in the West and there being no Japanese electricians who can teach them on this subject beyond broad theories contained in books, and even these not up to date. The consequence is that our artisans have no better alternative than to find out by dint of perseverance and repeated experiments and with imported samples before them the process they wish to discover. Taking all these things into consideration, the progress attained by our artisans is said to be quite creditable, especially since they have begun to use gas engines, for they are now enabled to turn out articles not much different in finish from those coming from abroad. There are at present some two hundred electroplating shops in the city, but of these there are only one or two where the business is carried on on a large scale, the others undertaking the work merely as jobs. Nickel plating is most in demand and more profitable, compared with silver and gold. No definite informa tion can be obtained as to the volume of yearly output of electroplated goods, though the demand is reported to have doubled during the five years ending 1897. Some shops in the same line appeared a few years ago in Osaka, and, like nearly all the industrial pursuits in that southern city, began, in competition with their Tokyo confrères, to turn out a cheap and inferior class of articles. The Osaka artisans have been beaten in this contest, so that at present Tokyo may practically be regarded as monopolizing the business in Japan. TELEPHONE APPARATUS. The manufacture of telephone apparatus has so far advanced in Japan that, with the exception of springs, for the supply of which foreign aid is still depended upon, all other necessary paraphernalia can be made at home at about one-half the cost of foreign goods. At present, therefore, only a very small portion of telephone apparatus is being imported. Foreign instruments are used only in such places as Tokyo and Osaka, where the telephone connections are in brisk demand. Again, when the Communications Department is in need of a large supply for immediate use, it is obliged to patronize the foreign makers, it being not easy to procure the supply of Japanese instruments within a short time in any large quantity. The manufacture is carried on both at Government and private shops, between which no particular difference is noticeable regarding workmanship. It is thought in some circles that, to encourage the development of the industry, the Government shops ought to be closed and greater patronage accorded private enterprises. There are in Tokyo quite a number of such factories, of which only two or three are doing business on a large scale. There exist also a few in Osaka, as usual turning out a cheap and inferior quality. ELECTROMOTORS. The electromotors made for the Kawasaki Electric Tramway at the Shibaura Engineering Works are the first of the kind made at home, those heretofore used by the Kyoto, Nagoya, and other tramway companies having been obtained from abroad. The Kawasaki Tramway is highly satisfied, we are told, with the Shibaura dynamos; for it has found them, so far as its experience goes, just as good as those of foreign make employed by other establishments. It is said that the Shibaura works have since secured orders to construct a number of the same apparatus for the Hoshu Electric Tramway Company. Of the materials required for their construction, the Shibaura works can obtain at home everything but wheels and springs, which have to be imported. PASSENGER TRANSIT IN JAPAN.* In addition to abundant steam communication by coasting and inland-sea vessels, there are now in operation here over 3,000 miles of railroads, part of which are Government lines. An electric tramway is in operation in Kyoto and horse cars run in Tokyo. Owing to the general use of the handy and ubiquitous jinrikishas and abun dant coolie labor, passenger transportation by other means has not received much encouragement. The rates of fare on railroads average about 2.1 cents per mile for first class, 1.4 cents per mile for second class, and seven-tenths of a cent per mile for third class. Jinrikisha fares frequently depend upon bargains made at the time of hiring; otherwise they are about 10 cents per ri (21⁄2 miles) in the country and in the cities about 31⁄2 cents for a short trip and about 9 cents per hour. On the tramways, fares are cheaper, and depend upon the length of a trip. The number of passengers that may be carried is restricted by regulations. On the railroads, overcrowding is a frequent cause of complaint. As to duration of franchises, amounts paid for them, and taxation, I can only say that there is quite a diversity in terms of charters; that some of the lines have received Government assistance; and that generally taxes are levied as upon other private property. YOKOHAMA, April 25, 1899. JOHN F. GOWEY, * This report was written in answer to inquiries by a Chicago firm, to which Advance Sheets have been sent. No. 228- -7. |