Evening star., 1904-03-26

Korea has been compared by strategists
to that part of Florida lying east of the
Chattahoochee river. With equal facility
Manchuria, both geographically and as a
battle ground, can be compared to that
part of the United States which lies above
Florida in the same relative position as
Manchuria does above Korea.
In this analogy Tampa bay is Chemulpo
harbor; Appalachee bay is Korea bay and
Port Arthur is the tip Of that part of
Alabama which projects farthest into the
Gulf of Mexico and forms Mobile bay.
Draw a line, curving slightly seaward'
from Mobile bay to Atlantic City and the
position Of Khabarovsk, the important 81
berian town on the Amur at the north
eastern corner of the Manchurian border
is located Khabarovsk is the northern
terminus Of the Ussuri railway, which con-
meets with the Trans-Siberian railway at
Vladivostok 1t is also the eastern termi-
nus of the line of river steamers plying up
the Amur and the Sungari to Harbin This
line marks the eastern Manchurlan Dor
der, and it passes through Macon, Column
bia and Raleigh in Georgia, North and
South Carolina, respectively; chesapeake
bay, and so on to Atlantic City.
To mark the northern boundary OF the
bone of contention between the combatants
run line southwest from Atlantic City
to Washington, thence northwest through
Cumberland, Md; Pittsburg, across Lake
Erie a few miles east of Cleveland, Ohio;
through London, Ontario and across Lake
Huron to the Straits of Mackinaw. The
line then curves to the southwest down
the center of Lake Michigan to Milwaukee,
and thence, with a slight concavity, 10
Davenport, Iowa. There it goes south, Iol,
iv, yvaV
river to Burlington and crossing into Ill1-
nois at that point. 1t continues through
the state to Springfield. where 1t turns
east and crosses Indiana to Cincinnati
Here the line bends south across Kentucky
to Knoxville, Tenn; thence southwest TO
Chattanooga, and diagonally across north
western Alabama to jackson, MISS Lao
tung gulf begins a little to the east Of
Jackson and takes in the gulf part of Mis-
sissippi and the valleys of the Tombigbee
and Alabama rivers as far up as central
Alabama.
An Idea of Distances.
In this American replica of Manchuria
Davenport represents the point where the
East Chinese branch of the Trans-Siberfan
railway enters Manchuria from the Trans
Baikal province of Siberia. Cincinnati then
becomes the city Of Tsitsikar; Bristol, In
the extreme northeastern corner OF Ten
nessee; Harbin, Russia's war base. and
Wilmington, N. c., is Vladivostok, the ter
minus Of the line. With Bristol as Hardin.
where the Port Arthur branch Of the rail-
way leaves the main line and runs little
to the west of south to its terminus, Ashe-
ville N. c., becomes Grin; Atlanta, Muk-
den, and Selma, Ala, New-chwang. jack
son occupies the position of Chin-wang-tao,
China, where 1t was reported the japanese
wanted to land force, and thus get in the
rear of Port Arthur, but were prevented
from doing so by China, in her efforts to
,fro1t law ,drio tvn frsol
Louisiana, has the same relative geographic
cal position to Mobile that Peking has to
Port Arthur.
All this gives the idea of Manchurian dis
tances, which are truly magnificent for an
army to march and fight over. New -chwapg,
Mukden and Hardin, important Russian
bases, are $50, 800 and 700 miles, respect
lively. north of Port Arthur. They are as
far in the interior as Selma, Atlanta and
Bristol are from Mobile. Grin, which va
rious reports have said the Japanese are
threatening, is some 45O miles inland from
Georgetown, S. c., on the Atlantic. which
has a comparative position to Possiet bay
Mountains and Valleys.
AS for topography, the Appalachian noun
tain system corresponds in a general way
to the eight mountain ranges along the
eastern boundary Of Manchuria. They are
known as the Chang -pai-shan system. and
offer a forbidding barrier to the Japanese,
and give natural protection to the Rus
sian bases in the plain to the west. The
position of the two systems would be al
most Identical If the American mountains
instead of being clustered along the bound
ary lines of the Virginias, Tennessee and
North Carolina, ran through the central
parts Of Virginia and North Carolina, and
in addition filled the western half of South
Carolina, Georgia north from Augusta and
Macon, and the greater part Of Alabama
with numerous parallel and rugged spurs
f0
Alabama and Georgia would then have to
8. dot the topography of the Liao-tung PEN
insula and province, with that part of the
Chattahoochee river which flows dia aponallv
down through central Georgia. marking in
a general way the PROVINCES only decent
waterway, the Liau-ho river, emptyfng into
Liao-tung gulf.
1t ID along the Liau-ho valley that the
Port Arthur branch of the Manchurian
railway runs northward following the lines
of the only real highway of which Man
churia can boast. This highway. for CEN
turies used by innumerable camel caravans
and contending armies. runs from Picking
Central Louisiana) to Chin-wang-ta Jack
son), follows the western coast of the Gulf
Of Liao-tung, goes up the Liau-ho valley to
Mukden (Atlanta), skirts 1t for $50 miles,
then turns northeast to Grin (Asheville),
and there branches in two directions.
Manchuria's Roads.
One branch turns west down the Sungari
valley Tennessee river) to Bodune, seventy
five miles west of Harbn (BristoD. Thence
1t leads north up the Nonni valley clicking
river, Ky.) to Tsitikar t(CincinnatD, and on
to the Amur river opposite Blagovestchensk,
Siberia (Cleveland) where, during the Boxer
outbreak, the Russians relentlessly slaug-
tered thousands of Chinese, choking the
river with their bodies.
The other branch goes northwest $50
railes to Ninguta along the western foot
hills of the Chang pai-shan mountains.
Here 1t turns southeast down the valley of
the Gai-khe 0he Yadkin, N. CD to Hunchun
and Possiet bay Georgetown, s. c.. The
GaI-khe is tributary to the Tumen, which
marks the northeastern boundary line of
Korea and Manchuria.
What might be called a third branch-in
reality distinct highway-begins at Muk-
den. 1t goes southeast to Wiju on the Yalu
ri-,er. and down Korea to Seoul, passing
through Anju and Ping-yang. This is the
highway along which the opposing armies
have been skirmishing.
Thesesare the only roads in Manchuria
that can be dignified by the name. and even
they are more like trails than well-defined
~ ~.