The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-03-17
RAILROADS IN INDIA.
Director of One Shows How They Sur
pass American.

At1hOADS I'm tiNGiHs
Director of One Shows How They Sur
pass American.
New York March 1. Alton ". Ingram,
a director of the East indian Railway,
and President OF the Rungpur Steel Works
of Rungpur, India, was in New York re-
| Gently on his way home TO India from
England He talked interestingly of the
progress Of Indian railways and of the
disadvantages of midas present none
tary system.
Just now America has undoubtedly the
greatest railroad system in the world"
he said, but she cannot always remain
supreme in that respect. / predict that
within the next seventy years India will
be, if not ahead, at least equal, to your
country in the matter of territory COW
cred by its railways. At present India
has nearly 100000 miles of railroad, and
we are building on an average, 5000 miles
of track a year When it is remembered,
too, that India is a little more than two
million square miles in extent, more than
half of which has not yet opened up to
civilization, it will readily be seen what
has yet to be accomplished in the way of
railroad building there.
The Anglo-Indian Government owns
practically all the railways of British In
dia, but at the same time most of them
are worked by private companies so as to
obtain the largest possible revenue from
them. The Government has the convic-
tion-and it is a good one-that to secure
a satisfactory profit out of railway,
you must give group of capitalists a
direct interest in working for such pro-
fit. The Bengal and North Western Rail-
way, for instance, has a 1900 mileage, of
which 700 miles is owned by capitalists.
1t is a sort of cooperative plan. and the
railways under it are in highly pros
porous condition. All the Indian railways,
however, are in a sound condition. Not
one of the lines is paying less than per
cent dividend, and some are producing as
high as and 10 per cent to their share
holders.
"One of the most important factors,
however, of the financial success of the
Indian railroads is due to the low rates at
which land has been purchased. In some
instances wealthy land owners have given
the land free to the Government for the
sake of having their names published in
the Gazette, the chief organ of India. as
public benefactors. An Indian prince or
rajah. you know, likes nothing better
than to see his name in print as a philan-
thropist, and OF course the press is always
willing to satisfy him in the matter. The
average price paid by the railroads in
India for land is $40 an acre, although in
Presidency towns frequently $3.50 and as
high as sl,0e0 an acre has been paid.
Another cause of the financial success
l.. l. 81, ~, 1f In,
clan labor Unskilled labor gets . cents
day and skilled labor 20 cents. In
some parts of India, however the wages
are as low as 10 cents a day for ordinary
labor The Hindoos. of course, can live
on almost nothing. Rice and currie, is
their principal food. and the sky is their
roof. They are splendid workers. however.
so long as the eye of the white foreman
is upon them.
Fortunately, there are no trade unions
in India: still. strikes are by no means
uncommon. If the contractor will not
pay his labor regularly they refuse TO
work. Superstition. too, of a most shast-
~ kind is prevalent among the HindOo
laborers. If a bridge. for instance. is be-
ing constructed over a sacred river. and
an accident occurs. nothing will induce
the gangs to resume work till goats. kids,
calves. or other sacrifices have been made.
Il daresay we could learn many things.
especially rapidity. in the construction OF
railways from your engineers. The pro-
cedure adopted in building Indian rail-
roads is not entirely up to date For ex-
ample. earth work is done by baskets and
trucks wagons only occasionally being
employed. and the banks are made from
side trenches or burrow pits. I was
watching some laborers working in your
subway yesterday. and I noticed with
much interest the working of the steel
buckets as they lifted the earth from
the excavation and dumped it into wag-
ons. These buckets are just the very
thing we need in railway excavation and
bridge work in India 1 did not notice
them in use in the underground railway
work in London
In the matter of solid comfort in rail-
road travelling. however. You cannot beat
US / have not yet seen any frst-clsss
railroad coaches on your lines that can
surpass in equipment and comfort car
riages Of the same class on Indian rail-
roads have no doubt the opposite
impression prevails in this country but
l assure you we are right up 10 date IN
the matter OF luxury IN railway travel.
Then. too. our fares are very much cheap
err than yours. In India the fare is one
cent a mile. Il seems TO me your prices
could be somewhat reduced without n
any way damaging the dividends OF the
companies. Why. it costs a man small
fortune TO do any considerable amount OF