The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-09-30
Methods Of Transportation and How
the Country is Hampered in the
War by Lack of Railroads.
THE BEGGARS OF TIEN-TSIN
Squalid Huts of Celestial Farmers
and Men and Women as Cattle.
The American Flag on the Peiho River
Appearance and Dress of the
Country Girls of China.

Copyright, 1884,. by Frank G.. Carpenter.)
The most serious question which is
troubling China to-day in her war with
japan is that of transportation She has a
big population. but it is scattered over a
country one-third larger than the whole
United States. This vast extent of terri
tory has only one railroad about two hum
dred miles long. This runs through one of
the most sparsely settled parts of 1T, ex-i
tending from the city OF Tien-Tsin to the
point where the great Chinese wall juts
down into the sea at the head of the Gulf
of Pechili. All of the traffic of the rest of
the country is carried on in boats, carts
and wheelbarrows, and China has no means
of transporting large masses of men or
provisions to feed them. The roads are
more like bitches cut through the fields
than anything else. They are full of ruts,
and in the rainy season they are turned
into rivers. 1t is said that there are four
thousand roads in the empire, but 1 venture
to say that not one is macadamized, and the
great highway over which the caravans
pass in going to Mongolia is the bed of a
rocky mountain torrent. and the brick tea
which to the amount of thousands of tons
Is carried into Russia and Thibet is taken
over mountain paths so rough that only
men can travel over them. All the in
formation, dispatches and mails which go
to the capital of China have to be carried
over dirt roads. and before the telegraph
lines were put into Picking important news
was sent from all parts of the empire by
messengers with relays of horses.
Such a messenger service exists in some
parts of China to-day, and it is said that
Kublai Kahn had three hundred thousand
horses which he used for this purpose and
his relay stations numbered ten thousand.
Some of the provisions for the palace at
Picking are brought by relays from Tien-
Tsin, and to-day the courier service be-
tween China and Thibet Is by ponies. The
couriers travel night and day. Their
clothes are sealed on them when they start
and these seals cannot be broken until
they have delivered their messages. 1t is
said that they are lifted from one horse
to another at the station and that they
sometimes die on the way from fatigue.
Nearly all the money transactions of
China are done in silver, and 1 saw boxes
OF bullion packed into carts and shipped
from one town to another. The bullion was
nailed up in pine boxes, and such as I saw
being shipped out of Picking did not have
soldiers to guard it. 1 was told at the
banks, however. that all money that was
sent far into the interior had to pay a
commission TO the bands Of brigands and
robbers. A certain SUM was given to some
one connected with these bands, and they
furnished an escort to go with the money.
The robbers in China have a sort of trades
union, and there seems to be such honor
among Chinese thieves that other bands
will not modest caravans which nave paid
toll to the robbers. Some parts of China
are full of brigands, and north of Corea
II thora y oil Cortc of o1,arr;1lo.
TwO IMPORTANT CITIES.
The two. greatest cities of north China
are. you know. Picking and Tien-Tsin. and
these are the most interesting points in the
present struggle. If the Japanese could
take them the war would be practically set
tied, and the Chinese would change their
rulers from TartarS to Japs. Both of these
cities are not very far from the sea- Tfen-
Tsin is about fifty miles back up the Peiho
river. and Picking lies about eighty miles
to the northward. Both cities are frozen up
| during the winter, and from December till
March there is no communication except by
rude carts and ponies which go overland
from Shanghai and Cheefoo. I made sew
eral trips this spring from Tfen-Tsin to
Picking, and it will give you a good idea of
the situation in China for me to describe
the connections or trunk lines between
these two mighty cities. Picking is, you
know, the capital Of the great Chinese en-
| pire. 1t contains between a million and
a million and a half of people. 1t is where
the ruler of five hundred million almond
eyed mortals lives, and it is the greatest
seat of government on the globe. Tien-Tsin
is the home of Ii Hung Chang 1t is the
New York of north China 1t is the port
where are landed all the goods which sup
~Ir fbaca hundradS of millions of thp north
and of those which are carried from it far
beyond the borders of the great wall into
Manchuria, Mongolia and the great prov
ince of Iii Its inhabitants number more
than a million, and upon its wharves goods
are stacked like hay, aggregating in value
every year hundreds of millions Of dollars.
These two cities are about as far apart
as are New York and Philadelphia, and the
land between them Is as fiat as the floor
of a ballroom All of the supplies Of the
capital, including those for the mobiles and
the court, come first to Ten-Tsin, and
there is a stream OF goods flowing contin-
ually from one place to the other fully as
large as that which passes over the rail-
roads between New York and Chicago.
Through what channels does it flow, and
how long does it take to go from one city
to the other?
POOR
I travelled nearly two whole days and
nights in making my journey by land, and
the average trip by way Of the Peiho
river is from four to five days. These two
cities have not even a decent wagon road
connecting them. The slow freight is a
wheelbarrow, and the fast express is, a Mon
goiian pony or a Chinese cart. The Pullman
car is a house boat on the Peiho river, but
this lands you only at the city of Tung
Chow, and you have to make the remainder
of your journey by donkey or cart. i have
travelled both ways. and I ran a race In
nv house boat with the boat Of Secretary
John w. Foster down the Peiho. We both
had American flags floating from our mast
heads, and myNfiag reached Tien-Tsin frss.
The Peiho river winds about like a snake.
II. cuts in and out at places like the teeth
of a saw. and there are points where you
can leave the boat, walk a half mile across
the fields and take a nap before 1t gets
around the bend TO where you are These
house boats are for hire at Tien-Tsin and
at Tung Chow. and It costs from ten to
twenty dollars to make the trip to Pekine'