The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-05-10
RUSSIA AND MANCHURIA
CONQUEST OF THE LATTER COUN-
TRY GAINED THROUGH A RAILWAY.
Perfidy and Cruelty the Price of
Slavic Progress to the Com
merce-AbOunding Sea.
Boston TRANSCRIPT.

JUST DeIOre Mr.. Archibald COlqunOun lett
Boston 1 had the pleasure of introducing
him to Mr.. George KEENAN,, and then the
still greater pleasure of listening to an
hours conversation concerning Russia and
Russian expansion. The Slav would never
abandon Manchuria; the Russian railway
stations in Manchuria were Russian forts;
the st. Petersburg newspapers were al
| ready dating their Manchurian dispatches
from Russian China" absolutely no re-
| lance could ever be placed upon the as
sertions or denials of Russian officials-the
Slav was Oriental, he lied with ex-
quisite finesse. And so the talk ran on.
Yesterday when 1 read of the coup by
which, in the face of promise after prom
Use, Russia had formally demanded the
practical cession of Manchuria / would
have given my ears for another talk with
KEENAN, and Colquhoun. But at that very
moment Of distraction there fell into my
hands by happy chance Mr.. Writ Gerrare's
stirring book on Greater Russia" Ger
rare had lately come out of Manchuria.
His story was just what 1 wanted; it out
lined the whole process by which the Car
has kidnapped Manchuria; better yet, it
painted fine row of pictures-each vivid,
impressive, fascinating.
Now, the way to steal a nation is first
to build railway across its territory. This
you arrange for by diplomatic chicanery.
Next you get into quarrel with the ma
tives; you can trust them to throw the first
brick. Then you bring soldiers and quick
firing guns and establish military occu-
patton. You have not yet taken the coun-
try, you are merely protecting your inter-
ests. Nevertheless you encourage your
compatriots to emigrate thither by the
thousand, and town after town becomes
yours by a process of packing; the influx
of Objectionable foreigners is of course
most scrupulously prevented. Meanwhile
you tell the world that very soon you are
going home-to stay. Native courts of JUS
tice are left unmolested, no matter how
vile they are as proof that the country is
not in any sense yours. AT last when you
can no longer conceal your ownership you
proclaim it from the housetops, and with
| a leer ask the nations what they are going
to do about il. You are there, you are
backed by your emigrants, you have meta
have covered ii with blockhouses, you are
armed TO the teeth. VOLTA tout.
WHAT GERRARE SAW
So now let US ask what Mr.. Gerrare saw
in his travels. He first saw trouble. Be
ing an Englishman, he could not enter the
| forbidden territory-Britons and Japs were
not wanted. But impossibilities can't stop
Gerrare. He assumed a disguise, forged
papers, told lies, bluffed, told more lies,
fabricated a humbug ticket (the conductors
| couldn't read. and laboriously beat his
way.
He found the Manchurian Railway Ga
branch of the Siberian) the nastiest of
Tn, h
train twice jumped the track. Whole Sec
lions of the road were laid without ties
heaven knows how. The trains crawled.
Everywhere he found evidence of out
landish wastefulness on the part of the
builders. Sometimes part of the finished
line had been abandoned because ii had met
an obstruction. Here and there the course
deviated from that planned by the survey
orS in order to obviate unforeseen diff
culties. Coils of telegraph wire had tum-
bled into mountain streams; crock insul-
ators, dog-nails, nuts and bolts, screws
and spikes were literally sprinkled in
bitches. The work of construction had been
Of a primitive order--Chinese laborers
shovelled up the earth and carried ii in
baskets-and this in the twentieth century,!
A great tunnel was swamped with water,
and may never be finished unless given
over to foreign engineers.
And everywhere soldiers, soldiers. Most
ly they were Cossacks, but Gerrare saw
also some infantry and several parks of ar
tillery- At Fu-h-ahde is a modern fort,
WITH edrtnWOrkS, pits, trenCnSS ana
walled barracks. So elsewhere repeatedly.
Patrol parties range the country, communi-
eating with Cossack outposts. Lookout
towers frown grimly. Deetachments Of in
fantry quartered in well-kept yurtas,
protected with rifle trenches. And so the
Russian army, which put down the uprising
of the Chinese, has taken care that there
shall be no more uprisings. Also no danger
OF foreign interference.
The Russians got leave to build the Man.
churian Railway as return for their good
offices in preventing Japan from reaping
the rewards of her victory over China.
There is no proof that they afterward pro-
voked the hostilities which brought in the
troops. But war came-how could 1t well
help coming?-and to-day Russia Is just
where she wants to be-in complete control
of a territory three times as big as the
Transvaal. territory which we may regard
as Turkestan, Bokhara and the other Gen.
trail Asian states are Complementary to
west Siberia. 1t is territory she has need
ed, and which, once acquired, could never
be let go.
COSSACK HORDES CAME.
But Cossacks and cannon are not all. Ever
since the first regiments came Russia has
been sending emigrants into Manchuria.
They came with rush. Imempo is already
largely Russian. Kharbin entirely so. Khar-
bin has a Russian church, a Russian me-
neurological observatory, a Russian bank
and Russian park, with kiosks, a band
stand and an open-air theater. Kharbin's
business houses. hotels and restaurants are
Russian. Kharbin quay is the present term
mus of the Port Arthur line. The riverside
port is growing Russian settlement, with
brick houSeS-Gerrare met contractor who
had engaged to build 500 for railway officials
and soon the Sungari suburb Will become
the best business center in Manchuria.
Even the characteristic Chinese village Of
Jalantun has Russian stores, Russian work.
shops, Russian houses. At Khailar-the
leading cityjof the Mongols-Russianizatio
has set in with vengeance. The Chinese
have been wholly displaced. Russian mer-
chants sell goods in the old Chinese Shops
a Russian runs the hotel: Buddhist tenn
pie is a Russian arsenal; another tenn
pie is the home of the Russian commandant;
a new Russian church is building; the Rus
sian tricolor is everywhere, and on Russian
holidays the merchants must suspend busi-
ness Indeed, many towns In Siberia are
less Russian than Khailar.
At Dalny, close to Port Arthur, the Rus
slams have built a superb seaport town
built it Of stone, paved ii splendidly, lighted
ii with electricity, given 1t a fine park and
n TINT