The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-21
VALLEY OF THE YANGTSE
SAID TO BE THE RICHEST PART OF
THE VAST CHINESE DOMAIN.
A Great River NavigabIe 1000 Miles
Market All Along Its Length.


Kiu-Kiang Letter in London Telegraph.
1t has come to be generally admitted in
the present welter of Chinese affairs that
the Yangtse basin is marked by England as
her own We welcome the whole world to
free competition with us for Chinas good
or theirs, but if ever any other power seeks
TO dominate central China politically then
the cry is Hands off! This is Britain's
domain The Yangtse makes the valley.
it has done so physically in the past and
is doing so to-day. Were it possible to un-
fold in one view the whole course of this
stream from the mountains and highlands
of Thibet TO the sea, with hundreds of tribu-
tares from north and south, we should
have a striking panorama. 1t might recall
Tennyson's description of the work of rivers
10 bring down Eonian hills and SOW the
dust of continents to be-" For countless
ages the rich current has been depositing
on the TANKS of ancient mountains-many
Of them now worn 10 mere stumps-the
level alluvial plains on which the millions
OF modern China live and still from gen
Grafton to generation laying by its overflow
fresh layers of virgin soil to keep up an
unsurpassed fertility.
The Chinese denote rivers by the sylla-
bes no and kiang. Pei-Ho and Whang-Ho
are Northern and Yellow river. respective
"; Yangste-Kiang is the great Yangste
river, and provinces and towns on its banks
take their names from it, like Kiangsu
Kiargsi. Chinkiang and Kiukiang. YangsJe
pronounced very much as if written Yangts,
the final vowel being nearly elided, is often
said TO mean Son of the Ocean, which
would be quite in keeping with poetic Ce-
lestiaI nomenclature; but another rendering
associates it with the old Yang country,
and the more prosaic derivation seems to
be the correct one. 1t deserves the pre-
eminence of being called the river of China.
il will compare with the Amazon for length,
with the Mississippi for volume, with the
st. Lawrence for navigability, and with any
river in the world, not excepting the Nile.
for its muddy sediment. 1t has been COM
puted that the Yangste contributes to the
ocean 30,000000 cubic feet of water on an
average every minute, so that if only one
part in thirty is earthly matter there would
be 100000 cubic feet of sediment every
hour spread over the floor of the China sea.
Any one who has steamed for a whole day
through the shallow waters of that sea-
thickened by the outflow of the Yangste,
will not deem this an excessive estimate.
over an area as large as Ireland the dust
oc the central Asian highlands is being
spread the sea Swallowed and the coast line
pushed seward year by year 1t is man s
fault it, through lack of embankment floods
spread devastation around from time to
time; by proper engineering work the
stream might be restrained within its chan
mel and still be made, by controlled irriga-
ton. to fertilize an area many times .ls
large as that watered by the Nile.
A GREAT RIVER.
For the purposes of commerce the Yang
tse is l think, unrivaled. II amazes one
10 see a 5000 or S,OOO-ton liner at Montreal,
100 miles from the mouth of the ST. Law
renee. but the largest ship in the British
navy may go to Han-Kow, 600 miles above
Woo-Sung, and vessel drawing twelve
feet to fourteen feet may proceed to Ichang.
1,000 miles from the mouth of the river. We
passed a Russian tea ship of twenty-six feet
draught steaming down from Han-Kow.
True. this is not possible in winter, when
the river is at its lowest but even then YES
Seis like the kut-Wo, one of Jardine- Math-
crson, large fleet, carrying 5000 tons cargo
and several hundred Chinese passengers,
can always come and go to Han-Kow, and
lighter craft to Ichang: There is no river
in the Old world, nor, l think. in the new,
where these things would be possible. The
consequence is that, even under the imbe-
Gle government of Picking, which does ev-
denOunces ana lunacy suggests, the Yang
tse is still a great commercial highway.
Between Shanghai and Han-Kow are eight
cen large steamers-China merchants four;
JardneM atherson, three: Butterfield &
Swire three; McBain, two GreaveS 81 Co.
tour. and Japanese Company, two. On the
ofilcered and pioted by British. Americans
and Australians, and is continually increas-
ing. But these represent small portion
OF the traffic. The surface of the great
river bears hundreds might perhaps say
thouSands-of Chinese junks and RATS,
whose owners, despite the eternal squeeze.
the iniquitous likin, and the positively mon
strous export duties. manage to live. AT one
part of the stream we counted eighteen
huge timber RATS mored to the bank, near
a lilSin or squeeze station. where they are
mulcted-not the first time on the voyage
down-of some $50 each for the privilege
of moving necessary commodity from one
part of the country to another. To this !
doubt if you would find a parallel in the
rest or the civilized world.
We shall change all that. Whether China
remains an integral empire or goes to
pieces, there must be fiscal reforms. In the
ore case China must do it herself-and. alas.
nobody thinks she is capable of it; in the
other the foreign powers will effect ii in
their respective spheres. In the parliament
tary debates 1t seems to have been over
looked that. If England regards only her
own interests, it is a moot point whether
we should lose or gain by ACKNOWLEDGMENT,
with equal commercial rights over the
whole country, or with the central and best
part Of it specially British, and with such
rights as we can enforce elsewhere. Under
the new policy of differential tariffs. the
largest empire in the world, with unrivaled
markets. supported, as we should be in this
cause by America. can exact her own con-
ditions. How would it suit Russia, for in
stance if she prejudices our trade in north
China to have a duty of ; Shillings quar-
ter levied wheat from the Black sea
The mere threat of such a measure would
prevent the Russians dreaming of the in
justice. Their interest in Mark lane would
he ten times as great as any exceptional adj
vantage in Manchuria.
WORTH ALL THE REST OF CHINA.
The hostile power which the British en-
pire possesses in this respect. If she chooses
to exercise it, is incalculabe. But how
would British rule be accepted? am max
ing this trip up the Yangtse to get an an
swer to that question. One cannot look on
these vast cities that crowd its banks, on
these teeming populations with their an
Gent and complex civilization, their vast
and varied industries. without feeling that
something else than the craven fear OF be-
ing great might give pause to British
cabinet before they took over the govern
raised in the House, What does the Yangtse
valley mean? Nature. which is usually in
confederacy with Great Britain, has settled
the poiTN. IT means. and can only mean, the
basin OF the Iangtse between the Polling
tNorthernl mountains on the one hand and
the Naming Southern mountains on the
other. II includes, as a glance at the man
VIII show. the whole of the province of
Kiangsu, Anwhei. Hupeh Honan Fuhkien
and Chektang. and parts of Shensi and
khanSu Tt means probably two hundred
millions of people-fve times the poptla-
ton Of the United kingdom-and the rich