Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-05-26

many of the officials are experimenting to
see what they can do. 1 saw locomotive
which had been recently built by the Chi
rese machinists at the Kiagnan arsenal,
near Shanghai, and II runs as well as any
OF our engines. ! was shown railroad IRON
mean steel rails-which they had made
there with Chinese iron, and there seems to
be no doubt but that they can manage
rolling mill very well. There is a vast deal
of waste now. 1t Is true. and this will con-
tinue as long as the work Is done by the
officials. who expect to get a big living out
Of their stealings; but II will be different
when factories of this kind are started as
private enterprises. Just now the chief
movements in the direction of railroads are
from the government and the idea is TO
render China impregnable in case of war
This Is the purpose of the viceroy here He
hates the foreigners. and he wants to drive
them out Of the country. He Is using them
to build factories, and he has a cotton mill
run by steam and filled with modern ma
chinery, which is one Of the largest in the
world. 1t contains thousand looms and
IL Is located on the banks of the Yangtse in
the city OF Wuchang. 1t is now making
money, am told. and 1t is profiting off the
rise IN foreign cottons through the fall in
the value Of silver.
A Costly Plant.
Speaking of extravagance In railroad build
Ing. 1 doubt whether there has ever been
erected more costly plant than that which
Is now being put UP here by this viceroy for
and the turning out Of full equipment for
the line which Is at some future time to run
from here to Picking The works are being
put up by Belgians as foremen, and about
fifty high-priced men are now employed
here on salaries. / visited the works yes
terday. They are located at the foot of
hill just above the mouth of the Han river
and a short distance back from the Yangtse
kiang. Accompanied by the American con-
sui and Mr. Burnett, an American who has
lived for thirty years In the center of China
L rode In long Chinese boat. sculled by
ragged-haired celestial, up the Yangtse
banks under the shadow of the Hankow
wharves. We passed thousands of boats
loaded with all sorts of freight, from Stand
ard oil cans and cotton bales to baskets of
OIL, boat loads OF peanuts, RATS of poles
with bamboo houses upon them, and through
hundreds of great junks of white pine some
times oiled to rich yellow and in other
cases black with age. Every wharf was
filled with workers, and the coolies with
great loads on their backs. swarmed up and
down them like gigantic ants. The men on
the boats and on shore grunted or sang as
they worked and the air was filled with a
noise as great and as indistinguishable as
that of the tower of Babel at the time of
the confusion OF lungs. Passing Hankow,
We reached the ship-building yards of Han
yang. where men perched in little bamboo
huts. built upon four poles at least fifty feet
above the ground, We're twisting ropes of
plated bamboo. Each hut was not more
than four feet square and was just large
enough to contain the ropemaker who
twisted at the coil which lay in rings within
the poles on the ground beneath. Here and
all along the banks of the river there were
hundreds of bamboo huts, many of them no
bigger than the top of a canvas-covered
wagon and Of exactly the same shape. These
were the homes of some of the poorest of
the million OF Hankow and of many beg
gars. / stopped and photographed some of
these as We went by, much to the conster-
nation of their owners, who ran from the
camera and called me foreign devil at the
top of their voices.
One attempted to grab my camera, but
gave him a shove backward and jumped
into the boat Similar cries greeted US as
we landed at the wharf. where a score of
Chinese coolies were unloading the great
ingots of steel, which had been brought
here from Europe, to make the first rails
and to use until the Chinese shall be able
to turn out their own steel from their own
iron. Other coolies were unloading thou
sands OF bushels of coke, also from Europe,
and this carrying OF steel ingots coke and
machinery has been going on for months.
One of the ships on which l sailed on my
way up the river had about 100 tens Of these
ingots. and its hold was packed with big
boxes OF heavy machinery. 1t carried 1000
bushels of coke, and the captain told me he
seldom made trip without lot of materi-
al for the Hankow rolling mills. Money, in
fact, has been flowing out here almost as
fast as the current of the Iangtse river and
the vfceroy has spent somewhere between
five and ten million dollars already. The
evidences are apparent that he will have to
spend number of millions more before he
gets through. and at the present rate of ex-
travagant mistakes he is likely to bankrupt
himself and his state government before ne
builds his road. In the first place it costs
him a fortune to make the foundations of
his work. He has, Judge at least seventy
five acres. the greater part Of which is COW