S Introduction OME years ago Ex-Premier Kang Yu- Chinese in California made a statement that if China had been a strong and aggressive empire, California would be to-day a part of Chinese territory.' If we reflect for a moment that at the time of the American occupation of the Pacific coast, China was nearer to it than any other great empire excepting Japan, and that travel between China and California was less difficult, before the time of railroads, than that across the continent, we shall see that this utterance from the wise Chinese is not an empty remark. As early as 1860 there were 34,933 Chinese in the United States. And it would have been a comparatively easy matter for 1 Kang was premier under the late Emperor Kwang-Hsu, and was the leader of the reform movement of 1898. He has been the head of Pao Huang Hwei (empire reform association), and is known among the Chinese as the "Modern Sage." He made a trip around the world in 1905-06 at which time the writer heard him in California. 2 "Thirteenth Census of U. S., Abstract" (1910), p. 79. China, had she been a powerful nation, to send colonies to the Pacific coast before that part of the continent became a part of the United States. It is also easy to believe that had the American Government, impelled by imperial tendencies, encouraged its merchants and seamen by subsidy and ample protection, the American "sphere of influence" would be to-day larger than that of any other nation in China, and American merchants would be enjoying the lion's share of the Oriental trade. The enterprising Yankees who sailed to all parts of the globe as merchants and fishermen were not at all slow in getting their share of the Oriental trade. Thus the first American merchant vessel appeared in Chinese waters in 1784; and the commerce of the United States in the palmy days of its Oriental trade was second in volume among that of the Western nations. But American statesmen of the early period believed that there was "room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation" on this In 1850 California had a population of 92,597 (most of whom went out there after gold was discovered in 1848); Oregon had only 13,294; and the territory of Washington was not yet set off from Oregon, which act came on March 2, 1853. For a full account, see Callahan, "American Relations in the Pacific and the Far East," Johns Hopkins University Studies, XIX: 13 ff.; also, Coolidge, "The United States as a World Power," 313 ff. |