Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-03-19
LEGATION IN PEKIN
ERECTING THE BUILDINGS IN
THE COMPOUND.
Interesting Letter From Architect Sid.
H. Nealy, Having the Construc-
ton in Charge.

Assistant Secretary H. A. Taylor Of the
Treasury Department has received most
interesting letter from Mr.. Sid. H. Nealy, as
treasury architect, who was sent to Pekin
to construct the new legation buildings in
the capital Of the celestial empire. Secre-
tary Hay requested Secretary Taylor. who
has charge Of all matters relating to public
buildings, to send a man to Pekin, and Mr..
Nealy was chosen.
In his letter Mr.. Nealy relates some re-
markable facts concerning the water sup
ply Of Pekin and the troubles resident
Americans and Europeans have with 1t. He
also gives interesting accounts of the ways
of the Chinese laborer, his work and the
remarkably small wages he receives. Skilled
American workman who are Industrious
can, according to Mr.. Nealy, make for
tunes in Pekin for the next few years, there
being SO much employment to be found on
the new European city which Is In the
course of construction in Pekin, all the
contracting and labor for which is now be-
Ing done by the Chinese, whose work is of
the crudeSt sort.
The letter is personal one, and was not
written for publication, which makes it all
the more interesting. Because he thought
1t would be Of interest to the public Mr..
Taylor agreed to let 1t be printed The
following is copy Of the letter:
"A 1SOuSA OOu1ASy.
After a journey lasting just forty-sx
days I arrived at Pekin, reported to Mr..
Conger on the 3Oth of December, and after
ten days spent In preparation commenced
work on the drawings for the legation
buildings here
During the Journey across the Pacific
from Vancouver we encountered terrible
weather, commencing with a hurricane,
ending a hurricane lasting
told, sixteen days. During this time two
Of our sailors were killed and six persons
on board injured, myself among the latter.
One Of my ribs was broken and my side
otherwise hurt. We were blown over one
hundred miles out Of our course, and the
sea journey alone from Vancouver to
Shanghai lasted just thirty days.
Upon my arrival here I was very much
around the Memorial Pai-loo erected upon
the spot where Baron Ketteler, the German
ambassador. was killed at the beginning Of
the Boxer outbreak In 1900.
The entire structure was Of cedar and
bamboo poles. from four to five and a half
inches in diameter. any one of which a
man could easily lift. There was not a
nail entering into the construction of this
scafOlding, but all the hundreds OF mem
bers were tied together with ropes Those
poles that were in compression were most
ingeniously notched together so that the
entire structure embraced all the elements
of truss. With this aggregation Of small
poles they dt was built entirely by Chi
nese) lifted some single stones weighing not
less than thirty tons.
Work Is Crude.
Like all the Chinese buildings, however,
this "Pai-loo." or street arch, Is crudely
done. And when I examine the very best
Of their masonry and other work I can al
most feel my hair turn gray at the prospect
of having to utilize their labor on the lega-
ton buildings. They are willing and as pa
tient as Job, but they have had no expert
ence aside from their own primitive build
ings and they cannot do half decent work.
But there Is absolutely no American or Eu-
labor to be had here.
Many nations are putting up legation
buildings here but the contractors and the
labor are all Chinese and the toughest work
ever saw entering into buildings that
should be good is here in Pekin. Two or
three f1rst-class working plasterers, carpen-
tiers, timers and bricklayers could make
their fortune here in the next few years.
There is a European city, half a mile wide
and a mile long going up here in the heart
Of the Tartar city. 1t Is delightful eli
mate. healthful naturally, and this new
city may continue to spread.
The American compound Is unfortunately
divided by that Of the Netherlands. The lot
where 1 am to build is practically 400 feet
square. and Is under the shadow Of the
great wall Of the Tartar city. For the most
effective distribution of the five buildings
I am to erect wish our lot were 100 to $50
feet longer. But this wish cannot be graft
fed for we cannot work up trade with the
Netherlands.
A Gray City.
Picking Is a gray city. All their brick
and tiles are gray. SO Is their dust, which
Is ordinarily ten bricks deep. With MIR.
Conger l visited the best Of their kflns at
the Pao-hsiang Yao, where they make the
ting-ni brick that shall use in our build
ings. This brick, 21zx5x11 inches, when it
comes from che kiln, is twisted and dis
torted, but every one Is squared by hand
and c1lisel before 1t Is laid. In stone cut
ting the Chinese excel, but before execut-
ing a carved stone they labor1ously carve
a fuH-sized model in wood first. Chinese
carpenters receive 30 tael cents co cents
gold: bricklayers, 80 tael cents. and labor
ers. 1S tael cents per day.
1 am very much handicapped here as
regards heating the legation buildings. The
climate Is a uniform cold throughout the
winter with no sudden or severe changes;
therefore hot water should be the best
heat. But Picking is in the alkali country.
The water is all bad. Even the deepest
wells driven here since the occupation by
the allied forces (by the Japanese) pro-
duce water that foams so that 1t isn't fit
for boilers. The country here is exceed
ingly fat, but the western hills are not far
and l am satisfied that by boring
l 600 or 100 feet deep good soft water
could be found in abundance. There would
be a never-faiing supply for heating, and
our own people could have something fit
to drink. The water they are compelled to
drink now is absolutely unfit for use.
Every quart of it has to be boiled and dis.
titled before using and even then 1t is a
menace to health.