New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-01-18
A NEW RAILWAYIN CHINA
READY FOR CONSTRUCTION WORK ON
CANTON-HAN-KOW LINE
CLARENCE CARY HAS SECURED IMPROVED
CONTRACT FOR AMERICAN-CHINAD DE-
VELOPMENT COMPANY

CONTRACT FOR AMERICAN-CHINAD DE-
vELoPMENT COMPANY.
Clarence Cary. of Cary & Whitridge, counsel
to the American China Development Company.
in which well known New-York capitalists are
interested, has just returned from extended
visit to China in the interest Of the company.
Construction work on the company's new rail-
road to be built there will begin at an early day.
1t Is said. The railway which it is believed will
be built entirely by American capital will reach
from Canton to Han-Kow, and will, with its
branches, comprise nearly thousand miles of
track. The China Development Company is the
one which was organized largely by the late
Senator Calvin S. Brice, of Ohio, and the prog
ress of the company has been of much interest
to investors in this country for several years.
Mr.. Cary said to Tribune reporter yesterday
that he had been engaged at Shanghai, Peking
and elsewhere in conference with the Chinese
officials, with a view to having the contract
heretofore made with the Chinese Minister at
Washington put into more conveniently work.
able shape and to adjusting certain coal mining
rights and other essential features before the
construction work the line from Canton to
Han-Kow and it's branches was undertaken, Mr..
Cary continued:
These matters now in sufficiently satisfactory
shape f after numerous delays arising in part from
eign rivals Of nationaties other than the British
this as they would any other important American
pied, namely, the Yangtse valley.
es; this Is the railway recently surveyed by the
chief engineer. 1t measures out Including two or
fnree nt Of its Immediately necessary branch lines
w6sn will stand d, for all time as the
way system. There Is vast population already
MIMI %itnn ITS territory and these are hardy indus
one. one Of the chief centres Of rice cotton opium and
compa rativeiy untouched, near at hand
This railway will be known the Yueh-Han
Chinese literary designation of the Canton district
and and Han the first syllable Of Han-Kow. and in
from Iu-Kou-Chao. near Peking, in the north. to
Canton is of course. terminal point of great i'm
ppe6anee pea IN trade and M population lying near the
some seven hundred miles to the northward, and
Yangtse River is a distributing port and point
of the first consequence for the middle and north
western provinces
ADVANTAGES TO AMERICAN TRADE.
AS to the immediate benefits and future advan-
struction and operation of this railway these will
necessarily be Of an extensive and profta6 bic char
struction material and equipment must be be Pur;I our;
its many collateral enterprises must in the future
keep the t6 door & GP for 6 a5 R to
Here viii be found an @ expansion pens nS Of r9
neither coddng nor safeguard
Referring TO your question tito as to the progpest
cans, and the chance Of obtaining concessions. etc
of this subject that in my Judgment such prospect
Is entirely unfavorable. Indeed, may here repeat
in this regard a few words Of what l wrote in
The Forum in January 1885 on this point It
to iRdVida rather s than 1 Corporate efr6rt
I'm business generally China offers greater
err whose skill, energy and foresight count for for
as much in one place as another As FOR the
nothing of this kind exists Any foreigner going
caiist or mere employe. at once raises in Chinese
minds the presumption that he comes because he is
who volunteers his services in China's affairs IS
foredoomed to failure. whatever his degree or Mt
I see no reason to change these views, although
pressed. No one need expect to find profta6
DVfted. ether by the the In Imperial Government or by
one of the existing foreign commercial establish
ments. That there have been and still are many
forlorn examples OF Americans who have gone to
China IN the hope Of s9methinS III & turning up 9a
lively illustrates this view AS to concessions, IT Is
by strong company a substantial group of
capitalists to expect to get hearing from the
sons indeed will now find their road arduous and
present time Is the unreasonable one of want
ing to see some of the various foreign conces-
sionaires produce something IN the way OF re
suits in mines. railways. etc. before further grants
As to the much discussed questions of the spheres
of influence and the open door IN coma nave
practicable nature The latter is the only solution
and it is also the salvation of our great and grow
ing trade interests there If what we hear is true
as to the acquiescence Of the great Powers-nclud-
ing Russian the recent proposals of our State
widely opened and effectively wedged for a con-
siderable period TO come. The times have rapidly
ripened of late for such understanding with the
Powers generally as the United States has here
proposed, and from the latter alone would such a
proposal have received attention.
The world at large has looked with jealousy and
of here ana there and without doubt ali the various
Powers have dreaded meeting the vexlng questions
which would arise II any one OF them should try
taking of a Chinese treaty port, along with some
province or fragment OF one.
RAILROADS DRIVE OUT PREJUDICE.
the possibility of building these without local OBJ
sruction. etc. II would appear from the experience
and of those under construction that the local
superstition. such as the Feng Shuey, and the
ers seem to promptly vanish before the advance of
the rails, just as analogous prejudices have dis
a populace be found which is more ready to make
use of railway facilities than that which awaits
the coming railways of China
who has seen the crowded trains and the
great and growing traffic OF the Tien-Tsin-Peking
line can doubt the success Of any properly placed
railway in the empire This line has been working
opened sixty mile Pau-Ting-Fu section of the Lu-
is no local hostility objection manifested in re-
gard the presence operation Of either of these
railways. That the Shan-Hal-Quan extension, now
under construction for the Northern Railway will
be highly profitable is quite certain.
AS to railway construction generally, the last
mentioned line is proceeding rapidly under the
hands of Mr.. Kinder, the English engineer. while
the work on the Lu-Han road from Hankow north
anpears 10 be going ahead at little better than a
snails pace under the Belgian engineers
work on the knglo-German project between TIen-
Tsin and Ching -Kiang, the various other
large projects, including the British road from