In East Asia are included Korea, China, Hong-kong, British India, French Indo-China, Dutch East Indies, the Straits Settlements, Siam, the Philippines, and Russian Eastern Asia. If Hong-kong, an essentially transit-trade port, is excluded, the East Asiatic trade of Japan amounts to 264,476,239 _yen_, or 43.6 per cent. of the entire foreign trade of Japan. See the _Kwampō_ (Official Gazette of Japan), No. 6199 (March 4, 1904), p. 74, table 4. Of the three great divisions of Japan’s markets, Europe sells her machineries and articles of general consumption, and buys in return such peculiar products of her soil as silks and teas. East Asia, including India and the southern islands, takes coal and manufactured goods in general and furnishes cotton, food-stuffs, and other articles of more direct need than the European goods. America occupies a unique position in regard to Japan, as it combines to a large extent the peculiarities of both Europe and East Asia: it exports to Japan cotton and flour, besides machinery and goods of general consumption, and imports from her, not only raw silk and tea, but also smaller manufactured articles. Footnote 22: Oil-cakes are used as manure. As to rice, wheat, and flour, it is unnecessary to say that their importation depends largely upon the conditions of the crop at home. Footnote 23: The present author has often met persons who misinterpreted the “open door” to mean the complete throwing open of a country to the ruthless exploitation of the foreigner. The “open door,” it is needless to say, merely negatives a differential treatment in favor of one or more foreign nations at the expense of all the others. It does not necessarily imply a wide opening, but an impartial, even if narrow, opening for all nations. Footnote 24: Consult the British _Diplomatic and Consular Reports_, Annual Series, Nos. 2995 and 2999; the U. S. _Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance_, January, 1904, pp. 2410–1; the _Kokumin_, September 19–21, 1901; Minister Kiyoura’s address before the Osaka Chamber of Commerce, February, 1904. Footnote 25: The figures were taken from the _Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance of the United States_ for February, 1904, p. 3006. Footnote 26: From _ibid._, p. 3006. In 1903, rice imported amounted to 51,960,000 _yen_ in value. The _Fourth Annual_, p. 77. Footnote 27: See the U. S. _Monthly Summary_, February, 1904, pp. 3006 and 3013. Footnote 28: At present, Chinese merchants in Korea compete with the Japanese only at the ports on the western coast, principally in the import trade of silk. The number of the Chinese residents in Korea is one tenth that of the Japanese, or about 4000. Footnote 29: The _Kokumin_, January 30, 1904. Footnote 30: Based on the figures in the _British Diplomatic and Consular Report: Trade of Corea for the Year 1903_, pp. 11–13. Footnote 31: