New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-05-14
RAILROADS IN CHINA.

TIM ,otost of orr old-time traditions to pass
away Is that Of Chinn's opposition to raiiroads
The story of the first railroad in China ana OF
the manner in which ii was torn up, elimiha'eu
utterly destroyed. is familiar to every school'
boy Since then the permanent absence OF raii-
roads from the Celestial Empire has been as
confidently accepted as that OF snakes from Ice
land But such confidence Is misplaced. 1here
is one railroad in China. and others are Deihs
built, and the end Of the century Will see n
Coodly share of the Empire gridironed Win
those inventions Of the foreign devils. when
the almond-eycd ones are adopting as their own
with all the zcst they displayed In the cult
ure Of roast pig.
The prophet of this new dlspensation Is nor,
However, Ii Hung Chang, but that great mans
uuondam protege, one Sheng Ia Jen. WINE
the ex-ViccrOy was away was the time Tor the
cX-protege to play. He first made an aliihhce
with Chang Chin Tung, the great rival OF ILL.,
with whom he ingrat iated himself easily enough
by simple deserton and betrayal OF IL. FIRST
he got the whole system Of Chinese telegraphs,
created by Ii, turned over TO him. Then he
found Chang had bankrupted himself not 10
mention the public treasury. over the great IRON
works Of Han Yang, and persuaded Chang 10
turn them over 10 him just at the moment when
they were beginning to pay. Next he got nm
self made controlling director Of the China Mer-
chants Company. the chief commercial concern
Of the Empire, and also head Of the Imperial
Bank of China. Finally, just as Ii Hung
Chang was about to sail for home Sheng got
himself appointed director-general Of all rail-
roads existing or to be created in the Empire.
Thus he had-and has-under his control the
Imperial Bank, the telegraphs, the shipping, the
ronworks and the railroads Of ale China.
Truly. a considerable me- n. this Sheng having,
no doubt. q smile that is childlke and bland.
At the present moment Sheng is extending the
one existing Shanhaikwan-Tien Tsin line Of rail-
road 70 Picking. He Is also to build another
from Picking to Hang Kow. great trunk line'
nine hundred miles long. He is actually build
Ing third, connecting Shanghai, Woosung,
Hangchow, SOochow and Chingkiang, some
two hundred miles long. 1t was from Shang-
hal to WOosung, as will be remembered, that
the first Chinese railroad was built, some OF the
plant Of which still lies at the bottom OF the
Yang Use. All the rails and other road material
for these lines Sheng proposes to have fur-
rishcd in China. chiefly from his own works at
Fan Yang The rolling stock must come from
abroad. and keen is the competition for furnish
ing It. no less than forty-two different firms
bidding for q single lot Of only $1,000 value.
Moreover, no foreign loans are to be sought, but
all the work Is to be done with Chinese capital,
of which there appears to be plenty for the pur-
pose.
Several other branch lines are also under way
in Central and Southern China, while In the
northeast the Russians are building their 81
berian railroad across Manchuria as though the
country were their own. which, indeed, 1t prac-
tcally is. The railroad is therefore an accom-
plished and much-increasing fact In China, and
the result thereof no man can prophesy. 1t
will. no doubt, abolish the Likin tax and thus
reyolutonize the whole revenue system Of the
Empire 1t will effect vast Industrial and So
cial changes, and political changes, too. II will
be n good thing for China. Whether or not, in
opening ND that teeming country to more d.
rect competition with other nations, 1t will be
q good thing for the rest Of the world the fut
ure alone can tell.