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36 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEARWhile there is not any trans-oceanic steamer under theChinese flag, Japan, with her big fleets of heavily subsidizedsteamships, was prepared when the war s demands came toher doors to make the most of this, her grand opportunity.The Japanese Government very wisely refused to permit thesubsidized lines raising their rates more than seventy-liveper cent over those obtaining prior to the War At the sametime these ships have been obliged to give Japanese portsand Japanese shippers preference in calls for cargo space.Japanese shipowners have added hundreds of tramp steamers to her ocean services and Japanese ship yards are busyday and night completing orders which will mean an additionof 400,000 gross tons to her mercantile marine by 1018.The returns of trade for Japan for 1015 reflect the resultsof the condition of preparedness in which the calls for wartrade found her, for her exports for that year exceeded herimports by Yen 175,000,000. Only two or throe times inthe history of Japan s foreign trade have exports exceededimports.Had China been prepared as was Japan to avail herselfof the opportunities which 1he War offered her, the nationwould nor to-day be facing a serious financial situation.But, for want of ships, these opportunities brought to Chinaa fraction only of the prosperity that would have been other1wise obtained.Exports for China did, however, reach the highest pointin the history of China s export trade, being Tls. 440,000,-000 an excess of Tls. 20,000,000 over the highest figures previously reported, and but Tls. 30,000,000 below the importsfor the same year, which is the closest approach the exporttrade has ever made to the returns for imports.The low exchange value of silver whileInfluence offavourable to export trade naturally had Foreign a. , Jdeterrent elLectExchangeupon imports. Exports aresold in silver and imports purchased in gold;thus, when gold is at a premium compared with silver,exports move more easily and imports with greater restriction. The end of 1015 found silver on the incline and byMay, 1016, silver reached its highest point in thirty years.Thus the conditions for the year 1016 are likely to be the

ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL CONDITIONS IN CHINA 37reverse of those for 1915, as imports will be encouraged andexports discouraged by the higher relative value of silver.Although ships are coming back on the Pacific trade andthere is soon likely to be sufficient space for all tonnageoffered, with prospects of lower rates, yetit is unfortunatethat these, advantages will be offered to the import ratherthan the export tr^ide. China s foreign trade shelves areapproaching a condition of emptiness, but to fill them sheneeds to be able to dispose of her native products.Rai fwaThe European War has also reflected onConstruction China s internal developments. At the timeof the outbreak of the War, China ha:l enteredinto agreements with foreign capitalists which called for theconstruction of nearly ten thousand miles of railways. Theseroads are badly needed. Furthermore, their constructionwould involve the employment of large sums of foreignmoney in developments in China which would have addedgreatly to the prosperity of the country. The outbreak ofthe war forced the postponement of the construction of theserailways in most cases. The railway between Hankow andChangsha, being constructed under the Hukuang Agreement,has, however, been continued and it is expected will be completed by April, 1917. It is the opinion of many that Europewill not have much capital for enterprises in China for someyears following the conclusion of the War. China willprobably have to look to the United States for financialassistance in industrial developments, and Europe will alsobe bidding for American capital after the War. Prior tothe outbreak of the War, the Quintuple Loan Group wereconsidering a loan to China for the reformation of hercurrency. This very important question, it appears, isdestined to wait some years longer before an effective remedywillbe in augur itecl.TTThe fact that China has not been able. TInternal Loansto secure money trom abroad since the outbreak of the War has fortunately resulted in forcing thecountry to look to its own resources for financial assistance.An internal loan of $24,000,000 was successfully floated,in fact, over-subscribed, during 1914 and 1915. A secondloan was successfully floated. The revenues from the Salt

36 GENERAL REVIEW OF THE YEARWhile there is not any trans-oceanic steamer under theChinese flag, Japan, with her big fleets of heavily subsidizedsteamships, was prepared when the war s demands came toher doors to make the most of this, her grand opportunity.The Japanese Government very wisely refused to permit thesubsidized lines raising their rates more than seventy-liveper cent over those obtaining prior to the War At the sametime these ships have been obliged to give Japanese portsand Japanese shippers preference in calls for cargo space.Japanese shipowners have added hundreds of tramp steamers to her ocean services and Japanese ship yards are busyday and night completing orders which will mean an additionof 400,000 gross tons to her mercantile marine by 1018.The returns of trade for Japan for 1015 reflect the resultsof the condition of preparedness in which the calls for wartrade found her, for her exports for that year exceeded herimports by Yen 175,000,000. Only two or throe times inthe history of Japan s foreign trade have exports exceededimports.Had China been prepared as was Japan to avail herselfof the opportunities which 1he War offered her, the nationwould nor to-day be facing a serious financial situation.But, for want of ships, these opportunities brought to Chinaa fraction only of the prosperity that would have been other1wise obtained.Exports for China did, however, reach the highest pointin the history of China s export trade, being Tls. 440,000,-000 an excess of Tls. 20,000,000 over the highest figures previously reported, and but Tls. 30,000,000 below the importsfor the same year, which is the closest approach the exporttrade has ever made to the returns for imports.The low exchange value of silver whileInfluence offavourable to export trade naturally had Foreign a. , Jdeterrent elLectExchangeupon imports. Exports aresold in silver and imports purchased in gold;thus, when gold is at a premium compared with silver,exports move more easily and imports with greater restriction. The end of 1015 found silver on the incline and byMay, 1016, silver reached its highest point in thirty years.Thus the conditions for the year 1016 are likely to be the

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