The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-07-25

II was through q letter from his SA-
| celIency, Count Cassini. the Russian
ambassador at Washington, that was
| accorded an interview by Prince Hill
koff, the great Russian railroad build
/ er and manager. Prince Hilkoff is one
of the chief members Of the cars
cabinet. He is an actual privy coun-
cillor and is the minister Of public
works and railroads of this the great
est empire of the world. He has held
this position since 1895 and it is large
~ through him that the Russians have
become the most advanced railroad
constructors of the nations. During
his administration almost thirteen
thousand miles of railroads have been
built, or considerably more than one
third of the railroad mileage of the
land of the car. He has pushed the
Trans Siberian road to completion, ne
has extended the lines in southern
Asia and has built thousands of miles
in European Russia. No man in the
world is better posted upon railroad
matters than Prince Hilkoff. He has
an accurate knowledge of every road
in Europe, he knows Asia better than
many Americans know their own
state, and he carries a map of the
world on his brain.
FROM ENGINEER TO CABINET
MINISTER.
Many have the idea that Russia is
ruled by an hereditary nobility; they
think there is no chance here for
-f.1n n &c
is a. mistake. The ordinary citizen has
almost as good opportunities here as
in the United States, and the ablest
men of the empire are self-made. Mr.
Witte the Bismarck of Russia, now
secretary of the treasury and business
mana ger of the car, began life as
a railroad clerk. Prince Hilkof came
of good family, but he has risen from
the ranks He was we'll educated, and
| after graduation chose the railway as
his life work. He had studied civil
engineering. but he wanted practical
knowledge, and therefore went TO the
United States and entered the employ
of an American contractor, a Quaker.
who was building roads in South Am
erica. The young prince started out
by carrying a surveyors chain. and
continued as a civil engineer. laying
out and experimenting railway build
ing for this man. He was employed
by him in Argentina, and while there
aided in the construction of the road
which now runs from Rosario to Cor
dova. Later on he accepted other
similar positions. and gradually rose
until he became the head of the vast
system of railway communications OF
this empire.
A CHAT WITH PRINCE HILKOFF.
1t was at his St Petersburg palace
that 1 met Prince Hilkoff. The ap-
pointment was fixed for IL o'clock in
the morning, and at that time l found
his eXcellency at work in his study
He laid aside his paper as l entered,
shook my hand and addressed me in
English. He speaks English fluently
and it was in that tongue that the
interview was conducted. AS the prince
talked I had some chance to study
him. He is a straight, well-formed and
rather heavily built man of fifty. He
has a broad forehead, bright piercing
eyes and hair and beard of frosted
silver. He looks more like a practi-
cal business American than ones or
binary idea of a Russian prince, and he
impressed me with his force of char
acter and common-sense ideas.
The first subject that came up was
the Trans-Siberian railroad, and in
the course of the talk 1 asked his eX-
cellency If he thought it would be
commercial success. He replied.
THE road was built as a military
and state enterprise, and the emper-
or's idea was that it would develop
Siberia for our surplus population. 1t
was believed that the increase in val
ues would eventually make the road
nav. but the outlook now Is that II
will he q very profitable undertaking,
and will eventually give good divi-
dends on the cost OF construction.
..Tbe traffic has grown beyond our
widest expectations. We are already
running ten trains each way per day.
and we shall have to increase this
number to fifteen or sixteen very soon.
The passenger traffic is growing and
II will some time pay a large part OF
the expenses Of the road. The freight
traffic is growing in the same ratio
As for the whole line it already pays
its operating expenses and about two
nor cent on the capital invested. The
traffic is so heavy that the rails VIII not
stand IT. They are too light we
shall have to relay the whole road ana
reDIace them. did not approve OF
ttasa light rails. but I had no idea Of
the nrGElnlllfltS Oh Al4E AaAAN-
,,acted at first TO have to run about
tbraa trains each way daily The road
was hardly completed before we had
to have twice that many, and. as
have said. We now have more than
three times that number"
RITTER TRAINS FROM SIBERIA
GIVE me some idea Of your freight
YOUR excelleucy," said l.
..T. q. far different from what we
e,,-,,,,saa il would be-" replied Prince
TIiILsoff. I'VE expected to carry grain
cattle. farming machinery, meTchan-
dis ana military supplies, and SO we
do But. in addition. we have Dig
business in dairy products. Inc sIaSS
-, siberia is very rich. There
o-a vast pastures and the cattle feed
inc, mon them produce the finest OF
milk and butter. Siberia is already one
of The chief dairy countries Of the
yrorId. and butter from there is snip