Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1901-12-11

WHAT THEY ARE
TALKING ABOUT.
Observation-Disclosures

|. !
"a Great Asatic" is the headline in
the Hartford Courant. 1t says Ii Hung
Chang was not man of our race.
Christianity to him was merely a
strange foreign religion. Now that he is
Dead 1t is his right to be measured and
judged by Asiatic standards--the only
those of the race from which he sprung
the people among whom he passed his
life, the government which he served.
He spoke the truth when it served his
purpose; when 1t didn't he lied as bland-
ly as a Talleyrand or a Mctternich. He
accumulated u vast fortune-said to be
the second vastest in all Asia-by meth
DDS known TO himself and guessed by
his envious rivals. We are afraid there
is no real doubt that he took brides right
and left. He was not good old man,
as we account goodness. He would not
be edifying in Sunday school book
But he will be a large and impressive
figure in Asiatic history. He had the
astute oriental brain, in it's highest de-
veiopment, and with it the practical
stinct Of things to come, the mastery
ever duller minds and feebler wills. that
added together-make craftsmanship.
IL he worked for his own pocket all the
time. it is only fair to remember that
he worked for his country's interests,
too. He did not accomplish all he de-
sired, nor the hundredth part of 1T; the
conditions were against him, the obsta-
Giles insuperable. But he made begin
nings; biazed the way; laid foundations
TO be built upon by other men in the
sine to come. Chinese to his finger tips.
Confucian scholar of the first rank, he
required his secretaries to translate and
read aloud to him the best books OF the
Occident. AS the New York Post well
says, he came to know the western
temperament, and to foresee that mix
ture OF peril and of advantage for
China which law in her inevitable con-
tact with western civilization" That
knowledge determined and informed his
policy. In constant peril from the jeal-
ousies and intrigues that seethed around
him, he extricated himself again and
again with consummate adroitness. In
dark hours-after the war with Japan.
after the European-American occupa-
ton of Pekin last year-the imperial
government instinctively turned to him
for help. Experiences like that do not
happen to small men. nor to weak men.
Gen. Grant put him, almost at sight. in
the Bismarck class. Marquis Ito, his
old diplomatic antagonist and personal
friend, confirms the rating.
Hartford has a reason OF its own for
thinking kindly Of the dead viceroy. He
was the protector Of the educational
mission. thruout its too brief life among
us. We are indebted to him for Yung
Wins.
Eighty-five miles an hour on an cleo
tric railway shows the possibilities of
the system. The cable dispatches en-
nouncing the success Of the experiments.
on the military railroad in Germany are
of interest to ali whose comfort has been
enhanced by electrician traction. During
the experiments the rate of speed has
been gradually increased until early this
month the cars were running at eighty
five miles an hour. The engineers are
confident that they viii attain a speed
of 125 miles an hour.
Both popular and scientific attention
in Germany have been closely conferred
in the preparation for the present exper-
iments. The preparations were practi-
cally completed early in September and
the trials have been in progress more
than month.
The great significance Of these expert
ments is obvious. If an electric motor
car. taking its current from overhead
wires and running upon an ordinary
standard gauge railroad track can carry
with safety fifty or sixty passengers at
speed OF 125 miles an hour, 1t is evlden.
that the next few years will see tho
means OF travel between many cities
and districts practically revolutionized.
nf course many problems are involv-
ed. Experts have realized that a speed
OF even eighty miles an hour with a
single car involves questions Of air re-
sistance. weight. form and balance OF
vehicle. electrical transmission at high
voltage with easy conversion to lower
potentiality and other equally important
points which have not yet been settled
in actual practice. The study of all
these questions is involved In the exper-
iments on the German road.
The track. 1929 miles in length, ex-
tends from Marienfelde, a suburb Of
Berlin, to Zossen. 1t is of standard
gauge, level and nearly straight, there
being but one curve, with radius OF
LOO yards. Track, ties and ballasting
were put into the best possible condition
before the experiments began. The con-
ductors are ordinary copper wires, about
three eighths of an inch in thickness. SO
hung that the trolley can make a full
contact from beneath.
We are likely to hear any day that
higher speed has been attained. The
program provides that, IL the expert
ments justify the undertaking, a speed
OF from 1875 to 1875 miles an hour shaD
be ATTEMPTED. The aim was, therefore.
to make the electrical apparatus suffi-
ciently strong and heavy to achieve an
extreme speed Of $50 miles an hour with
out danger Of oyerheatinK. The passen-
ger cars We're built with special view
to very high speed. Each Of the four
cars carries four motors, which are at
tached to the front and rear axles of
each truck. the middle pair Of wheels
running free. The ends of the cars are
pointed to minimize wind resistance
Inc WueelS are QFOslucu WIN lHS !iioSe
improved pneumatic brakes. The cars
are, therefore, quite different from any
others in use
Food Changed to Poison.
Putrefying food in the intestines pro-
duces effects like those of arsenic, but
DR.. Kings New Life Pills expel the
poisons from clogged bowels. gently,