The Weiser semi-weekly signal. (Weiser, Washington Co., Idaho) 1904-1911, 1904-04-02

Years one OF inc S'Vh~&S ~
world, but Americans Are Kept
Out-DfstinctIy a Russian City-Fer-
tile Agricultural Environs.
The war in the far east has made in
teresting reading out of the narrative
of Henry B. Miller, United States con-
sui at Newchwang, Manchuria, whose
report for the year 1908 of conditions
in the district of Manchuria has been
recently published by the department
Of commerce and labor at Washington.
Mr.. Miller devotes his main attention
to the remarkable. growth of the town
of Hardin, whose development he
characterizes as zone Of the greatest
achievements in city construction the
world has ever witnessed" Viceroy
Alexeieff has made Hardin his head
quarters and will conduct his cam
paign from that point.
Hardin, which is called the Moscow
of ASIA is located on the Sungari riv-
err, where the Manchuria spur of the
Siberian railroad crosses and where the
Chinese eastern branch stretches south
to Dalny and Port Arthur. 1t is $50
miles west of Vladivostok and about
600 miles north of Port Arthur, the geo.
graphical center of Manchuria.
Surrounding the city, spreading out
on all sides for hundreds of miles, lies
an extremely fertile agricultural coun-
try, yielding corn, wheat, oats, barley,
beans, millet, hemp, tobacco, vegeta-
bles and various fruits There are also
vast tracts of timber and mineral lands
and stretches of grazing country. The
place is now divided into the old town,
some few miles from the central depot;
Preston, the river town and present
commercial center, and the administra-
ton town, in close proximity to the rail-
road station. The whole town of Har-
bin Mr.. Miller calls a Russian product,
nonexistent before the advent of the
railroad engineers. The city was Gre
ated by the Russian government under
the supervision of the Manchurian Rail
way company.
ut is as distinctly a Russian city,"
says the United States representative,
las though it were located in the heart
Of Russia, and none but Russians and
Chinese are permitted to own land,
construct buildings or engage in any
permanent enterprise. The land for
many miles has been secured so as to
make it impossible for any foreign in
fiuence to secure a profit or foothold
close to the city, and foreigners are not
recognized as having any rights what
ever, but are permitted there by suf-
ferance. The chief railway engineer is
the administrator of the city and up to
the present time has had complete
control of everything, but in the new
scheme for the government of Manchu-
ria some form Of municipal organiza-
ton will be permanently established"
An idea of the rapid growth of Har-
bin may be gathered from few Stats
tics. Four years ago the town began
to assume shape. In 1901 the popula-
ton had grown to $1,000 Russians, by
1902 it jumped to 10000, by May of
last year 1t more than doubled itself.
and five months later the census
showed a population of 10000, not
counting soldiers. Over 9S per cent of
these are Russians, 400 are Japanese,
and 300 more include Austrians,
Greeks, Turks and Germans. Hardin
has no Americans.
Located in special settlement lives
the Chinese population of more than
10000. The employees Of the railway
company, with their families. contrib
ute 1000 more to the sum total. At
the present time it would be conserva-
tive to estimate the aggregate popula-
ton at 125,000.
Hardin has few of the characteristics
of the boom" city of western United
States, for it is founded on an endur
ing basis and not on a speculation. II
is the center of the entire railroad adj
mfnistration of Manchuria, and, since
the Russian commercial enterprises of
the far east are under the direction of
the railway company, it is the opinion
OF Mr.. Miller that it will also be the
center OF Russian industrial and COM
mercial development 1t is the head
quarters of the civil courts and the
chief military post and the point of
control of the great army Of railway
guards. The city therefore contains the
principal administration buildings and
the residences Of the officials and en-
pioyees OF the Manchurian Railway
company. The outlay for administra-
i've purposes on the city has alone
mounted already to the sum of 100000
600 rubles, or about $15,500,Ooo. To
mention but a few of the other promi-
nent structures, a Russo-C Chinese bank.
hotel, technical school. hospitals. a
commercial and girls school, a club
ana store for employees, and eight
schools for teaching Russians Chinese
ana for teaching Chinese Russian have
D1en a 4.