China Trade and Treatment of Chinese
At a dinner in Philadelphia, January 26, the Chinese minister to the United States in a very plain and gentlemanly way, and in faultless English, gave notice to the United States that if she wants successful trade in China, she must give better treatment to the Chinese who are within the jurisdiction of the United States. Here is what he said:— If you want our trade, it is necessary for you to study our requirements. It will not do for you to dump your surplus upon China irrespective of their quality. If you do that, then you will rue the venture. There is another hint I may with propriety give to you. That is to be a little civil and polite in your dealings with us. Remember that our notions of etiquette, and, in fact, of everything else, are different from yours. Civility goes a long way, and also remember, in dealing with Chinese, that great saying of President Lincoln, that “you can not fool all the people all the time.” Moreover, if you want to secure a large share of the China trade, a great deal will depend upon your treatment of my countrymen, not only in this country, but especially in your newly acquired colonies. It is my duty to warn you that your efforts to get our trade will be frustrated by unjust treatment of the Chinese, either here or in the Philippines. I am not going to say that my government will take retaliative measures for any such unfair treatment; but I do say that if you want to secure our patronage, you must be fair to my countrymen. You must give and take. You must not take everything and give nothing. If you expect us to give you our custom, you should not preclude the Chinese from coming here. I do not anticipate it, but it is within the range of possibility that some of my countrymen, in view of the severe enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion law, may boycott American goods, but I hope that this will never occur.