The interests of our citizens in that vast Empire have not been neglected
during the past year. Adequate protection has been secured for our
missionaries and some injuries to their property have been redressed.
American capital has sought and found various opportunities of competing
to carry out the internal improvements which the Imperial Government is
wisely encouraging, and to develop the natural resources of the Empire.
Our trade with China has continued to grow, and our commercial rights
under existing treaties have been everywhere maintained during the past
year, as they will be in the future.
The extension of the area open to international foreign settlement at
Shanghai and the opening of the ports of Nanking, Tsing-tao (Kiao chao),
and Ta-lien-wan to foreign trade and settlement will doubtless afford
American enterprise additional facilities and new fields, of which it
will not be slow to take advantage.
In my message to Congress of December 5, 1898, I urged that the
recommendation which had been made to the Speaker of the House of
Representatives by the Secretary of the Treasury on the 14th of June,
1898, for an appropriation for a commission to study the commercial
and industrial conditions in the Chinese Empire and report as to the
opportunities for, and obstacles to, the enlargement of markets in China
for the raw products and manufactures of the United States, should
receive at your hands the consideration which its importance and
timeliness merited, but the Congress failed to take action.
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