Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-02-28
EAST OF TIE ROCKIES.
Features Of the Clan-na- Gael that are
Of Interest in Amsricl.
DIsC0sTENT AMONG ITALIANS.
Railway Building in the United
States and Canada-The Case
of Father McGlynn.
EAST OF TIE ROCKIES.
ESPECIAL DISPATCHES TO THE nEooRD-umos.l
THE SIBERIAN RAILWAY.
1t VIII be a Menace to China and
English Rule in India

1t VIII be a Menace to China and to
English Rule in India.
NEW YORK, February 27th-The news that
the Russian Government has ordered work to be
begun on the great overland railway through
Siberia to parallel the Chinese frontier and yir-
tually bring China within range of her arma-
ments has excited much comment here, and is
full of significance. Practically the whole
world is watching Russias movements in Asia:
England, for fear of India; Germany, because
of her Asatic ambitions; the United States, be-
cause of its menace TO commerce and the life
of her great western shore.
Interviews have I obtained with Generals
Sherman and Crook and with the Chinese Lega-
tion as to the meaning of this new move. At
Washington little information could be CLEANED
from the Chinese Legation about the extensive
system of railroads projected to the Pacific
ocean and closely paralleling the Chinese from
tier
"You may rely on one thing" said member
of the legation "any railroads constructed by
the Russian Government which touch or par
allel frontier at strategic points will be met
by equal railroad facilities on our side. 50 as to
put the Chinese Empire on an equal footing, in
so far as concentration of military forces pro-
lection of her territory might be necessary.
'Our Government has been considering for he
past two or three years the advisability OF con-
strucsing system of railroads to unite the var-
GUS provinces of the Empire for commercial
purposes. as well as for possible concentration
of military armaments
at is understood that such plan has finally
met with favor. and it is not improbable that
at an early day our Government will begin to
carry such plan into execution, but no foreign
companies or syndicates would be permitted to
run railroads through Chinese territory That
would be utterly out of the question. Any rail-
road system projecved and built on Chinese ter
ritory would be controlled by our Government,
and foreign Governments or individuals will
not be allowed TO have any connection there
with"
General Sherman said: Russia knows what
she is about in these railway matters. / have
no doubt that in time, ten or twenty years, if
not much sooner, Russia will have railway
along her southern boundaries from the Volga
to the sea of Okhotsk."
do you look upon such railway activity in
Asia as military in origin?'
mot primarily. The roads are mainly COM
mercial. AS we built our railroads. and as Can
ada built railroads to reach the Pacific, so Rus
STA is building to reach her Pacific border. 1t
will develop her possessions; it will develop her
commerce to be able to bring goods by direct
railway line instead of sailing them around
Ceylon by the Suez Canal
Msjor-General George Crook, when seen at
Chicago, said Il will not pretend TO say what
Russias object may be in building down TO the
Chinese frontier, for the Government of the
Gar keeps such things close, but it is easy TO
see and appreciate the value of railroads con-
structed in a southeasterly direction from two
great seas-the Black and Caspian.
'In the first place there is India, in the second
China in the third Turkey in Asia. As the
contemplated railways are to be built through
a country that is not developed. a region that
could not possibly support railroads as they are
supported in this country, it is reasonable 10
presume that they are to be built for military
purposes alone"
Eminent diplomatists at Washington said this
action on the part of Russia would force Eng
land to form defensive alliance with China,
or force Russia to make China part of her own
territory. An officer of the United States army,
who would not allow his name to be used, said
the great question was whether Russia intended
first to a. tack China or India.