Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-13

amalgamation with imperial Germany Be
sides this there are many other obstacles IN
the way OF such union. But Bismarck's
masterly skill and iudomitable will may find
q way of accomplishing his purpose, though
not without a bloody war.
-.
The Russian minister OF commerce has
submitted to the emperor the plans for the
great Siberian railway. The Importance of
this great trunk line cannot easily be over
estimated. 1t will open up vast empire Of
wonderful mineral and agricultural re-
sources and superior climate. immigration
will be attracted from eastern and south
eastern Europe, and capital will follow in
the wake of the emgrant. There Is no
doubt in the minds of well informed people
that Siberia will ultimately become one of
the richest and most prosperous countries IN
the world The western terminus of the
great Siberian railway will be Siatoust,
mining city in the province Of Orenburg,
connected with the general Russian railroad
system by a branch road now in process Of
construction. 1t will touch the cities of
Omsk, Tomsk and Irkutsk, and strike the
great river Amur at a point which has not
yet been definitely located.
80
The returns Of the new railway enterprise
of the Argentine Republic show steady and
remarkable development of that country.
The report of the Buenos Ayres Great South
ern railway, recently presented to its stock
holders in London, showed that in the latter
half Of 1888 the company had been called
upon to snip to South America twenty-eight
locomotives twenty-four passenger cars and
nearly nine hundred freight cars. This is
remarkable increase, vet it seems to be fully
justified by the traffic returns For the first
quarter of the present year the railroads net
earnings showed an increase over the same
period last year amounting to $500, 060. The
secretary observed, in making his report:
1.-THE country has been advancing so rapidly
that at times we feel that we have not been
able to keep pace with it," and the figures of
the report show this to pe no exaggeration.
Ten years ago the district now traversed by
this railway was almost uninhabited. The
climate and natural resources of that coun-
try are such as to assure it great future.
Its chief danger now lies in bad financial
government. The crude principles on which
its banking system IS founded make the Ar
gentine Republic peculiarly vulnerable to
financial disaster. A money crisis in London,
under present conditions, would paralyze the
industries OF the South American republic.
Fortunately, there seems to be little danger
now to apprehend from that source.
SO
MThe proposed extension of the railroad re-
Gently opened in China has been stopped.
The road is eighty-sx and a half miles long,
and the engineers in the field mad located
forty-fve miles of the extension when they
were ordered to return to Ten-Tsin. While
the warning of the court astrologers that the
recent fire in the palace at Pekin had been
caused by the malign influence Of the rail-
road appears to have served as pretext for
the interruption of the work, the protests
of thousands of boatmen and cartmen, who
declared that the road would ruin their busi-
ness, undoubtedly had some weight. 1t is
feared that work may not be resumed for
years. The introduction Of railroads is ia
vOred by the empress and the seventh prince,
but the seventh prince is i'll, and those who
oppose the roads have their own way.
There is danger that if the seventh prince
should die the road now in use would be torn
up. The officers of the railroad company
have repeatedly been threatened with assass-
ination, even in memorials sent to the gov
ernment. The influence of the progressive
viceroy, Ii Hung Chang, by whose labors
the government was induced to permit the
construction of the road, seems to have been
overcome by those who cling to the old
ways.
~
France, Austria and Germany have adopted
smokeless and almost noiseless gunpowder
for their armies. When the next great Euro
pean war takes place the battles will bear
but faint resemblance to any that have
preceded them. There will be little noise
and less smoke, and if half the new inven-
tions answer expectations the loss Of life
will be so terrible that the issue will be very
speedily decided.