The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-05-29
SURE TO TAKE CHINA'S TRADE
AND MAY COMPETE ELSEWHERE
WIFE OTHER POWERS.
The TraDssiberian Railway-Trade
Coal In. United States Last Year.
Special to the INDIANAPOLIS Journal.

in the current number Of the Summary of
Commerce and Finance. just prepared by
the Treasury Bureau Of Statistics. The
fact that the Transsiberian road, which
will bring the products Of Russia's fields.
forests and factories to the doors of China,
Is nearing completion. and that Russia Is
also pushing for a combined rail and water
route to the Orient through Persia and the
Indian ocean seems to justify a study of
the rapidly developing industries of that
great nation whose contiguous area exceeds
that of any other country in the world and
whose population Is only exceeded by that
of a single nation-China.
Discussing the question OF Russia's trade
relations to the vast Oriental market in
which the people Of the United States now
feel especial interest. the report calls atten-
ton to the fact that Russia. like the United
States, has such variety of soil, climate
and minerals that she is able to produce
within her own borders a large proportion
of the necessities and comforts of life. Corn,
wheat. barley and rye furnish an ample
supply of breadstuffs; vast stock-growing
areas produce cattle, horses. hogs, sheep,
wool. hides and provisions in abundance;
beet sugar is produced in great quantities;
hemp and other fiber plants flourish in
certain provinces: cotton is successfully
grown in the extreme south; virgin forests
promise an enormous lumber supply; coal,
iron and other minerals required for man.
ufactures are believed to be abundant. and
her mineral oil is so plentiful and cheap
that 1t is freely used as fuel and is also
becoming a serious competitor with our own
in the markets of Europe and Asia.
INDUSTRIES.
With these natural supplies of all mate
rails required for manufacturing, she is
strengthening her industrial system. follow
ing closely the lines marked out by the
United States. and now manufactures of
cottons and woolens. iron and steel and
their products, machinery, lumber and other
of the requirements of her people are being
established and increased. Foreign capital is
encouraged TO contribute to this activity,
and with her 125. OOO .OOO of industrious. fru-
gal people she seems likely to increase her
ability to supply her own markets, and in
certain lines may also increase her export.
When to these developments in the produc-
ing lines are added the new transportation
routes by which these supplies may be sent
to the markets of Asia and Europe and.
indeed. of the world. putting rail in COM
1N@t FftAA - anu Nattk dSdl III
competition with railway lines controlled
and owned by the government. and all these
combining to bring undeveloped areas and
resources into development. their i'm
portance to the commercial world and to
the commerce of the United States seems
worthy of consideration.
With the completion Of the Russian
Chinese Railway system, the question nat
urally presents itself: What are the chances
of Russian competition in this immense in
ternational market, where the standard of
wants is. to be sure, low as yet, but where
expansion of wants is sure to follow after
contact with European methods. and where
there is now a growing demand for products
of the United States?
The transsiberian road is now complete
from its junction with the railway system
of European Russia on the western border
of Siberia to Lake Bsikal. nearly two-thirds
the distance toward the Pacific and the
construction of 600 miles of track eastward
from Lake Baikal will bring transsiberian
trains to the n~avigable waters of the Shilka
and Amoor rivers, which flow into the Pa
cifc. and put into operation a complete rail
and water system across Russia and ST.
IBERIA. connecting the Atlantic with the Pa
t"0 kta
consuming countries of the Orient.
The Russian government, however, will
not rest content with the mere connection
of its tr~anscontinental line with the navi-
gable waters of the Amoor and Shilka, but
will push the railway itself along the banks
Of the river to connect with the Pacific
coast section now constructed and leading
to Vladivostok. 1t is also actively at work
preparing to construct a line through Man.
churia to IT'S recently-leaSe d ports of Talien-
wan and Port Arthur in china
THE TRANSSIBERIAN LINE.
The total length of the transsiberian line
is 1850 miles and the date originally set for
its completion 1905. 1t is expected. however,
that through transit will be had much ear
lier than that date by utilization of the
rivers already named, and that the shorter
line connecting the system with the ice
free ports Of Port Arthur and Talienwan
may also be completed earlier than the orig
inal date Of 1906. Traffic over the road Is
now in progress from European Russia east
ward as far as Lake Baikal and across this
by steamer, leaving at the present moment
only 600 miles for transportation by wagons
or sledges. Construction is now going on
at the rate Of about $50 miles per year,
though this naturally varies according to
the character Of the territory through which
the work Is in progress. Passengers and
mails from ST. Petersburg to Vladivostok
now require forty-five days by the usually
travelled route of the Suez canal. Indian
ocean and Pacific. while by way of New
York. San Francisco and across the Pa
ci1c, the time occupied Is thirty-fve days.
IL is estimated that when the transsiberian
road Is completed the time occupied from
81. Petersburg 10 Vladivostok or Port Ar
thur. III China, will be about ten days. The
distance from ST. Petersburg to vladivostok
or Port Arthur by the completed transit
berian line will be In round terms 6.JOu
miles, or about twice the distance from
New York TO San Francisco.
Two other routes TO the OF the
Orient appear also to be the subject of ac-
tive consideration by the Russian govern
ment at the present moment. One of these
is an extension of the transcaspian rail
system to the western border of China
where IL will touch the great caravan route
extending across Chinese Turkestan into
the densely populated section of China
proper, a route along which Chinese tele-
graph lines are already in operation and
over the eastern end of which a Chinese
railway system Is now projected. With the
Russian government pushing its railway
system TO the very western border of China,
midway between the transsiberian road
eminent pushing railway and telegraph lines
eastward toward the same point. a second
great intercontinental line to connect CEN
trail Europe and entra! China from the At
lantic To the Pacific Is at least suggested
by these recent Developments.
from Russia TO China Is by way of a Rus
s@-fh ~ Rrssia across Persia with the Per
man gulf and the waters Of the Indian