Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-05

| all kinds in these works. and they are all
managed by the Chinese. I saw one Of
four-hundred horsepower which was in
charge of boy and a youth of twenty-five
and notice that numbers Of these Chinese
mechanics are under age. Some OF them
are old men. but 1t Is hard to tell the age
Of Chinaman. as they all shave. and
there are few gray hairs. I spent some
time looking at the men putting up an
engine OF two thousand horsepower. 1t Is
of the most modern variety, and has cost a
fortune. The immense furnaces burn gas
and a look into them would scare the re-
ligion out Of any modern shadrach, Mesh
ach and Abednego II the Viceroy Of Nam
king care to play the part Of the cruel
Babylonian king Of the Scriptures. These
furnaces are controlled by two easily-moved
levers. and q mistake would blow the whole
into atoms. A Chinese engineer Of about
thirty has entire charge Of them, and he
stood for me beside the furnace doors while
took his picture.
The steel works Of this arsenal cover
about four acres. The men are now ex-
perimenting In making ingots for armor
plate, such as We turn out at Bethlehem,
and they are putting In a steel furnace
which will smelt fifteen tons Of steel at
one time If 1t Is a success they will add
others. They have made some small in
gots, and ! saw some steel rails for rail-
roads which they turned out the other day
to show the Chinese authorities that they
could make them. They do all sorts Of
forging. They are now putting In q seven
hundred-ton steel press. which will exert
force of two thousand tons on the ore
beneath 1t. I saw great steel hammers
forging out immense Jumps Of steel, and I
was surprised at the wonderful way in
| which these people handle all sorts Of
metal and n achinery There is never a
mistake. and the men are on hand every
time.
What I saw today has removed from my
mind all doubt as to the ability of the
Chinese to construct and manage modern
| machinery, and I question much whether
they have not the germs of a creative
ability, which. under proper conditions.
| might produce as great inventions today as
| the Chinese mind has done in the past.
| The compass, gunpowder and printing
| originated here. and We may have a Chi
| nese Edison In the future. I asked ques-
| tons of Mr.. Cornish concerning this, as we
| walked through the works. and he told me
that several of the mechanics had improved
| upon the original models which had been
| imported. and 1 saw a machine for cutting
steel which a friend Of Ii Hung Chang had
adapted to the making of candle wicks,
and which, by his favor, he was running
with the arsenal power. Said Mr.. Cornish:
| The lack of inventors in China may
| come from there being no patent law.
| These men tell me they don't care to work
at getting up new things. because their
| neighbors will steal their ideas. Besides,
you must remember that the Chinese mind
has for years run in other directions. A
| mechanic Is not of much account here, and
the man who can write three line poem
more OF than any inventor. Upper, the
poet, had he been born in China would have
outranked an Edison, and the literati look
down on such work as beneath them"
did not have time yesterday to vish
| the powder works where the Chinese are
making all sorts of powder from the brown
cocoanuts which are used for the heavy
guns to the small black grains which are
used for the modern rifles, but 1 saw sam
pies of the powder and Mr.. Cornish says
there is a chemist now on his way from
Germany to China, who will teach them
how to make the smokeless powder which
has been recently invented.
1 asked as to the hours OF work and the
wages of the men. Mr.. Cornish replied
1t Is a curious thing that we have an
eight-hour law in existence in these works
and our employees work fewer hours perhaps
than In any other native establishment in
China The men begin work at 7:30 am.
and work until IL 30 Then they have an
hour for lunch and work on until 4:3O. In
case of necessity. however, of war or other
| wise. we could work them almost twice that
long and we could add to the force largely
without much trouble. Our mechanics get
| from three to six Mexican dollars a week.
| or from dollar and half to three dollars
week in your currency. The very best
OF the foremen receive as high as eighty
dollars a month. and under foremen get
about thirty-five Mexican dollars a mon tn.
Our possible supply Of labor is. of course.
| unlimited"
by the way" continued Mr. Cornish, 81
suppose tne elsnt-nour rule came from the
| fact that this establishment was originally
| organized by an American who came here
| a score and more of years ago and was en-
ployed by the Chinese to run 1t. He ran II
| so well that he made a fortune out of II.
| and for this reason 1t was taken out of his
| hands. The Chinese don't object to money
being made, provided they make 1t them
selves, and they saw that Mr.. Falls was
| getting rich very fast. They now handle
| the thing themselves and il there are any
fat con attracts or sQueezes to be made IL il
| Chinaman who has charge Of them"
AT this moment one of the officers Of a
Chinese naval vessel came in to see about
getting two six-inch guns for his ship.
which was lying at the arsenal wharf.
and with him we took a trip over a
Chinese man-of-war. But Of this I will
write In another letter.
| = II ~