One of the significant results of the Perry Expedition, the visit of the Japanese Embassy and the ratification of treaties and agreements was increased commerce. The following is from the May 12, 1860 edition of The Polynesian, published in Honolulu, quoting a news story out of San Francisco:
STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH JAPAN. –A company of gentlemen of this city, possessed with the means, have it in contemplation to establish a line or propellers between this port and Japan, by way of the Sandwich Islands. They have collected together all the statistics possible to obtain in regard to the trade present and prospective, between the two countries, and seem to be satisfied that the enterprise will prove a paying one, that is, if the money to build the vessels can be obtained at New York rates of interest.
W.R. Garrison, Esq., of C.K. Garrison & Co., is one of the gentlemen having the matter under consideration, and will soon proceed to New York, for the purpose of laying such data as may be obtained before merchants and steamship men there. The present impression among those having the matter in hand is that it will prove successful.
For our part, we can see no good reason why a line of say three propellers of moderate size should not prove a paying investment. The trade between this port and the Sandwich Islands, together with that of Japan, is amply sufficient, we judge, to freight at least two vessels a month; in addition to this, the passenger trade would be considerable. The project has our hearty wishes for its success, and we doubt not it also has the earnest wishes of every Californian. –San Francisco Paper.
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