Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-03-05
THE GROWTKOF HARBIN
Russia's Base of Supplies In
Manchuria.
KNOWN AS THE MOSCOW OF ASIA

DeveIoVment of the City In a Few
Years One of the Wonders of the
wonId. but Americans Are Kept
Out-piet G1ctIy a Russian City-Fer-
tile ARrfca lIturaI EnvirOns.
The war ina he far east has made in
eeresting readIn out of the narrative
of Henry B. MA er, United States con-
suI at Newchw8ag g, Manchuria, whose
report for the yen 1903 of conditions
in the district of "a anchuria has been
recently published b. the department
of commerce and Iabo" at Washington
Mr.. Miller devotes his main attention
TO the remarkable grow or the toWn
of Hardin, whose dew eIopment ne
characterizes as '-oue of the greatest
achievements in city consartctlon the
world has ever Witnessed Nlceroy
AIexeieff has made Harbin his head
quarters and will conduct his cam
paign from that point.
Hardin, which is called the MOSCOW
of Asia. is located on the Ssmgari r1v-
er. where the ManclHIria spE1r of the
Siberian railroad crosses and where the
Chinese eastern branch stretches south
to Dalny and Port Arthur III is 800
miles west OF Vladivostok ard about
600 miles north of Port Arthur, the geo.
graphical center of ManchuTia-
Surrounding the city. spreading out
on all sides for hundreds of mises, lies
an extremely fertile agricultuCh coun-
try, yielding corn, wheat, oats, barley,
beans, milIet, hemp, tobacco, Tegeta-
bIes and various fruits. There aR also
vast tracts of timber and mineral lands
and stretches Of grazing country Inc
Mace is now divided into the old town,
some few miles from the central 0epot;
Preston. the river town and present
commercial center, and the administra-
ton town, in close proximity to the rail-
road station. The whole town or Har-
bin Mr.. Miner calls a Russian product,
nonexistent before the advent OF the
railroad engineers. The city was ere
ated by the Russian government under
the supervision of the Manchurian Rail
way company.
'It 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 10 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 i'll
fluence 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 AIanchu-
ria some form of municipal organiza-
ton will be permanently established?
An idea of the rapid growth of Har.
bin may be gathered from Il few statis
tics. Four years ago the town began
TO assume shape In 1901 the pOpula
ton had grown to 1900 Russians. by
1902 it jumped to 10000. by May OF
last year it 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 n special settlement lives
the Chinese population of more than
10000. The employees of the railway
company. with their families. contrib
ute II 900 more to the sum total. AT
the present time it would be conserva-
tive to estimate the aggregate popula
ton at $4,000.
Hardin has few of the characteristic,
of the boom city of western United
States, for 1T is founded on an endur
ing basis and not on II speculation. Il
is the center of the entire railroad adj
ministra ton of Manchuria, and, since
the Russian commercial enterprises Of
the far east are under the direction oil
the railway company, it is the opinion