[73]. The Tsūshō Isan for June 23, 1903, pp. 34–35. Pood = 36.112 lbs.; ruble = 51.5 cents.
[74]. Under this and other differential measures the commercial importance of Vladivostok is said to be fast passing away. Local merchants made a strong plea of their case before M. Witte when he traveled in the East in 1902, but on his return he reported to the Czar that the interests of the Empire demanded a large sacrifice at Vladivostok for the sake of Dalny.
[75]. The effect of the new duties levied on tea at other places than Dalny is seen in the following comparative table. The figures for 1902 are taken from the U. S. Monthly Summary for January, 1904, p. 2420, and those for 1903 have been converted from data given in the British D. and C. Reports, Annual Series No. 3280.
In 1902, the Russian Empire took 882,893 out of the 1,519,211 piculs of tea exported from China, while in 1903 the corresponding amounts were 1,010,580 out of 1,677,530. The distribution of the imported teas to the Russian Empire, according to the routes, was as follows:—
| 1902 | 1903 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Via Odessa and Batum | 206,699 | piculs | 200,391 | piculs |
| Via Kiakhta | 403,648 | 244,668 | ||
| To Russian Manchuria | 272,546 | 191,679 | ||
| To Port Arthur and Dalny | 373,842 | |||
We presume that most of the teas exported to Russian Manchuria went through Niu-chwang. The table plainly shows an increased importation at Dalny at the expense of all other points. It is not known how much of the 373,842 piculs imported at Dalny and Port Arthur was reshipped to other ports not mentioned here. (Picul = 133⅓ lbs. av.)
[76]. See the Tsūshō Isan, April 18 and August 3, 1903, and the U. S. daily Consular Reports, January 21, 1904 (No. 1856). Reduction apparently had not reached its minimum point. It was unknown whether Dalny handled much of the Manchurian export trade.
[77]. The Kokumin, March 7, 1903. The ex-Japanese Consul at Niu-chwang, Mr. K. Tanabe, doubts that Dalny will completely displace Niu-chwang as an exporting centre. The latter is geographically the nature outlet for the grain from the Liao Valley, and, in winter, the handling of this product is apt to be done more at Mukden than at Dalny, the latter becoming in that case a mere port of transit. Moreover, mercantile customs differ so much at Niu-chwang and Dalny that it is not possible that the conservative Chinese merchants should readily transfer their business from the one place to the other. See Tanabe’s conversation in the Tōyō Keizai Zasshi (“Oriental Economist”), No. 244 (September 25, 1902), p. 16.
[78]. The central distributing station at Vladivostok has a capacity of 600,000 poods, and the one to be built at Dalny will hold 1,500,000 poods, to which a special tank steamer will bring oil from Batum.—The Tsūshō Isan, May 3, 1903. Americans tried to build warehouses at Dalny, but were opposed by Russians. The importation of American kerosenes at Niu-chwang decreased from 3,172,000 gallons ($410,500) in 1901 to 603,000 gallons ($77,000) in 1902, and the decrease was in no small measure due to the Russian competition at Dalny.
[79]. The Tsūshō Isan, October 23, 1903, pp. 1–21; the U. S. daily Consular Reports, May 7, July 16, and August 28, 1903, and February 23, 1904.