The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1903-05-12

New York Engineers Views
Upon the Outlook.
HOW RUssIAis AUTHORITY AIDS Us

seFgey Frfeae says # We Urged
Her 20 Withdraw From Eanchuria
American Merchants Would BE De-
/ prived OF millions AnnualIy-Tn-
dustrIous Natives Prefer Russian
Rule.
The story Of Americas commercial /
4 conquest of Afanchuria belongs to New
/ York, for 1t was a New York engineer
who first penetrated the wilds Of Nam
lchuria to meet the Russian engineers
surveying the railroad and to secure
/ for America the contracts for construc-
ton material and equipment, says the
New York Tribune. He was NJ. Sergey
Friede, a young engineer, who in 1895,
learning of Russia's intention to build
railroads in Manchuria, determined to
explore the land in advance OF all ri
4 walls. and even the Russian engineers
4 themselves, and TO await their arrival
H In central AIanehuria to convince them
that America could supply more cheap
" than could any other nation the ma
/ terials and supplies Russia needed for
/ the development of her new acquisl-
ton. So successful was Mr. Friede
that he soon began cabling orders home
for the construction material and equip
\ ment necessary for the building Of the
H new railway, and as the road advanced
and Russia poured in a new population
and built cities to house the newcomers
i it was necessary TO bring other Amer
leans to Manchuria to establish branch
Offices in these growing Russian cities,
until now there is a considerable Yam
kee colony in that part of Asia.
@Knowing Manehuria as | do" said
Mr.. Friede, .from the pioneer days
OF 1896, when I crossed 1t alone at the
peril Of my life in tiny native wagons
along trails that could never be called
4 roads. until / saw the country trans
formed by the expenditure Of Russia's
4 millions, cities springing up in waste
/ places, railways racing across noun
tains and plains more rapidly than had
ever railways been built before, and
the whole land brought under the civ
liking influence Of the American loco
motive and the Yankee electric light
j cannot but feel that the time has
come for Americans to look at Man
ahuria with our own eyes and not as
we have always done-through British
glasses. Russia, with Americas aid,
has made IT what it is. We are the
nearest to Russias possessions in the
Tar east, and will always be the ones to
receive the greatest benefit by Russia's
prodigal expenditures. She has built
: her railroads to develop trade, not
! stifle it; she gladly buys our -four mills
to grind wheat grown in Manchuria;
paws hundred of thousands Of Nam
churians wages that enable them to
buy our cottons. and induces merchants
Of an nations to settle in the cities she
builds along the line of the railway.
In our first flush Of excitement we
must not forget that, If we urge her
to Withdraw, under Chinese rule our
merchants would not be permitted to
remain for moment except To the
open ports OF which VIE ask for two,
one Of which, Mukden, the capital' is
struggling city Of 10000 persons,
hundreds of miles away from the sea-
coast and reached only by the Russian
railway.
aFor Russia to retire from Manchn-
ria Is impractical It would deprive
American merchants and manufacture
+ ers Of millions annually and would
4 mean that the country would relapse
{, into barbarism and the hundreds OF
7 millions Russia has expended would be
& lost to her. for the Manehurians still
successfully waylay travellers and even
wreck trains, SO that it Is necessary to
guard the railway for almost Its entire
length. Americans are welcomed ~
Manehuria. the Russians taking up ca
gerly our new inventions in labor say,
{. Ing devices: in fact it was the adoption
: Of one Of these, the American steam
II rock drill that brought about the ilrsi
= strike known In Russian Asia. hao
induced the engineers to order sam
II Die lot. and on their arrival we started
" them to work. The Manchurians, who
lis had been accustomed TO chipping away
ii the rocks ana powders by hand, sul
or lenIv watched the Yankee machines
ils humping away, guided By invisible
y; hands, and then at the touch OF but
~ ton the charge of dynamite sent tn
IL powders flying in every direction. !
he was more than they could comprehend
So they threw down their tools, refus
ing to work with the white mans spirl
devils. The engineers were annoyed
Z, but, thoroughly convinced that the.
could complete the railway perhap
years in advance Of the time hoped 70
- by use Of the American steam roe
Il drill. they refused to give way, u
y Manchurians returned sullenly to wof
and from that day to this Russia IN To
far east has looked to Us to help Nc
out Of many difficulties The Manchl
rians shortly after became involved
the Boxer outbreak, and many foreigl
ers were imprisoned 10 the little Ru
IL sian cities already springing Up n
rails were torn up and the woode
& i,,;gas4na x8rara hurnnd bV the Boxers.