Marietta daily leader. (Marietta, Ohio) 1895-1906, 1900-10-10
The Chinese Checker Board
IE--
Position Of the Players.
BY Associated Press.

BY Associated Press.
Tongko, China, Sept 9.-Along the
improvised and fiimsy wharves which
line the Pei-ho river at this point lie
dozens of curious little steamers and
iunks discharging every conceivable
variety of supplies. Anchored out
stream in the swift and tortuous chan
mel are dozens more waiting wharf
room to discharge cargo The winding
little stream is alive with craft from
here to Tien Tsin and from there up to
Peking, for the nations of the world
are rushing in supplies to feed the ar
mics before the rigid North China
winter seals the harbor and stream.
From steamships and junks, sampans,
lighters and tugs fly the flags of many
lands, and side by side on the decks
toll blue shirted Americans, white uni
fored Russians. sturdy Germans, in
defatigable japanese. busy as ants and
saying no word to anyone, French,
English, Sikhs, Goorkas, of all branch
es of service. Day and night the toll
goes on, with thousands of coolies
laboring in behalf of the conquerors,
and the great piles of bales and boxes,
house high on the wharves seem not
to be diminished. Busy little cargo
boats ply out to the anchorage, twelve
miles seaward from Taku, and laden
charged from the big transports, labor
back over the treacherous bar and feel
their way up the winding Pei-ho to
Tongku. Cumbersome junks with
huge square sails of mating creep be-
hind them in endless procession, for
anything that will float is pressed into
service for the transshipment of car
goes. Only vessels of the lightest craft
can pass the bar at Taku. At low
water steam launch will go aground
and at dead high tide there is at best
only scant eleven feet of water over
it. Only at one tide in the twenty
four hours can vessels pass. for the
night trip is dangerous to even the
most skilled of Taku pilots. From the
forts at the mouth of the river to
Tongku is hardly good rifle shot as the
crow flies, yet by the river it is good
four miles or more and the tide runs
like mill race A narrow and SER
pentine channel swift. current, lack
of wharf room, scarcity of vessels and
a reeking climate are some of the diff
culties which The powers have COM
batted and are daily surmounting, in
the landing of supplies, but all of them
have succeeded, and there has been re-
markably little friction. One thing
alone is plentiful, and that is labor.
Coolies without number are to be had,
and they are the saving features of the
situation. The railway is utilized as
much as possible for transportation,
but little less than troops and immedi-
ate supplies are hauled over it. One
track, hastily constructed, small cars
and light engines, and under Russian
control, 1t is not used for general
transportation purposes. 1t is man
ned by Russian soldiers from the
Trans-Siberian Railway, and all
things considered is conducted in a
very creditable manner. At each
bridge and culvert is a Russian out
post, and the whole line is patrolled.
AT Tongku the Americans have Sc
cured about the best wharfage. The
wharf extends well outstream and is
accessible at low tide, while there is
plenty room for discharged cargoes.
Major Hugh Gallagher, the Commits
ion officer in charge, has divided his
force between here and Tien-Tsin,
and supplies are being handled very
eXpeditously. The whole of the yell
low and China seas has been secured
for vessels suitable for the work, and
the United States authorities have not
come out behind in the scramble. The
liberal wages paid coolies and native
Doatmen have given us a great advan-
tage, both here and in Tien-Tsin. AT
the same time, our treatment of the
natives has been mild and humane, /
the soldiers in charge of the gangs ap-
parently regarding the Cinnamon as
great fun. The Russians are most Sc
we're in handling native labor, and the
sword belt or bayonet scabbard is the
usual form of persuasion. 1t has been
a wonderful race of the supply depart
ments of the armies of the world and
The United States has shown up splen-
didly. Things are conducted with a
vim and rapidity in strong contrast
70 the slipshod methods of most of the
nations, and the result is shown in the
quantity of supplies now accumulating
lp-riyer and in the storehouses here.
From all comparisons, however. the
Iapanese must be excluded In all de-
'artments the Japanese army of occu-