The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1903-06-02

route to Russia. and, not Of less i'm
portince. he can place troops in Man
churia at the rate Of 1000 day. H,
can commissary and coal a feet OF
Vladivostok and Port Arthur; cal
snap his fingers at Great Britain ant
laugh In the face of Japan. He cal
cross his bayonets over the doors q
Manchuria. send an army to Tientsin
to Picking and close the north Of China
But Of Whit avail? Russia is no,
mad. She is not a hermit nation. She
has not come into the east to raise
batteries to trade, to dwarf the growth
of her own civilization. to stunt her
w progress. She aspires. as the
United States aspired. to carry her flag
and her civilization across the North
American continent. Her world pol
icy, from Peter the Great to Nicholas
H.. is a history Of expansion. a look
toward seas where her fleets may sail
as free as those Of other nations, with
harbors and ports where her own Tag
bids them welcome.
Russia has not put her millions into
steel rails, iron bridges. telegraph
wires. embryonic cities. vast agricul-
tural stations, to invite destruction and
the enmity Of nations. Her ambition
In the east is no greater than made
England and Germany empiretthe
United States a world power.
II China is to be partitioned, Rus.
sia's position will demand the share
that by racial and natural homogene-
she is heir to. If China's in
tegrity is to be preserved, Russia will
play her part in it's rehabilitation and
v%italization. Her very life and being
depend upon her strength and growth
on the Pacific.
Russia's position in Manchuria is not
a menace to civilization or trade. 1t
has not been in the past and it cannot
be in the future-not until the genius
and industry of America, England and
Germany bow down before the Slav.
At Newchwang, 100 miles from the
guns of Russia at Port Arthur, Brit
1sh merchants are in the ascendant and
carry on the bulk of trade. the China.
mar himself controlling or playing an
important part in every large mercan
tile house in the port. So it is at Shan
haikwan and at Tientsin, while at
Vladivostok German and Japanese
merchants are in the majority. In all
Manchuria, despite the presence OF
Russian engineers and Cossacks, Great
Britain's trade is Owe f3.OOO,OOO Rus.
sia's is practically nothing. eliminating
railroad operations. Such evil
of the 'open door, do not por.
tend. to a sane mind, predatory tend
encies on the part of the car, even
though war alarms continue to ema-
from Picking.
Had Russia spent 500. 1000. 900 in
Great Britain (nstead of in America)
the purchase of her thousands Of
miles of steel. her hundreds of ocomo-
tives. her millions of ties. her tons of !
telegraph wire. her ice crushing ships;
had she bought her cotton sheetings in
Manchester, her -four in Australia and !
her timed goods in England, and had
she borrowed her money in London.
her presence in Manchuria would not
have been heralded as a menace to the
world. a slap at the ''open door," a
step in the break up of China.
Great Britain is alarmed and imbit-
Eered. Her trade is no longer para
in Asia. Her feet in Chinese
waters Is not supreme. The Musco-
Ute has out-BritOned the Rriton in the
forth of China. and the Briton, dream
ng of what he has been. now rises
green eyed at the calm. ~forceful policy
# Russia and cries. "Wolfr'
We have nothing to fear from Rus.
'1a's position in the east. Two-thirds
If the imports into Manchuria are the
'roduct of American industry Our
'ails. II engines. II bridges. our
vindmills. our wire, our scales, our
AIMED goods, cloth, plows. moving
reaping and sewing machines.
electric lights and d thousand and II
'ther. products of our skilled labor are
to Siberia and Manchuria by the
They will continue to 60
While Russia pursUes her policy of eX-
'ansion in her .Asiatic empire. a mil
ion and Il half IONS Of steel alone
will be required to double track her
'ranssiberian railway. and this feat is
tussia's dream. And she will not
tand by idly while Germany girdles
with her GOO miles of track.
vhile the Belgians construct II line
rom Peking to iIankow. the Ameri-
ans from Hankow to Canton and the
British connect Tientsin with the vast
oal mines Of Shensi.
Russia. too. will continue to extend
er activities, but they will not sig
ify conquest of territory or sover-
ignty to a greater extent than do the
of other nations in China
like undertakings. Her conquest is
rimarily commercial, strategic and
in a sense that she has
n eye to future expediencies, but she