The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-07-06
THE SIBERIAN RAILWAY.
Road Poorly Constructed Much Dam,
age to Freight.

A correspondent writes from Mos
COW: The unsatisfactory manner in
which the arrangements of the 81
berian and particularly the ManChu-
rian, railways discharge their obliga.
tions to the Russian trading com
munity is the subject of bitter com
plant. Trainload after trainload OF
goods dispatched from the Far East
to Moscow has been blocked in tran
sit at various points on the railway
lines since their official opening to
traffic" \ leading Russian importer
of Chinese tea informs me that not
only considerable inconvenience, but
serious loss has been caused to in-
porters by the annoying breIkdowns
on the railways during the last six
months, which my informant rOundly
declares are due in the main either TO
faulty construction of the line and
its yiaducts or to lack of rational
traffic organization. Several large
cargoes of Chinese tea dispatched
from the Pacific Coast for Moscow
three months back only reached their
destination couple of weeks ago.
The handling OF the freight by the
railway employees is most careless,
damaged castings and paciings being
lamentably frequent. Collisions on
the Siberian and Manchurian lines
have, he adds, been so frequent that
one might almost imagine the rail
way paid a premium to its drivers
and pointsmen for reducing its roll.
ing stock. The rolling stock itself he
declares to be totally inadequate. Side
by side with a Moscow Port Arthur
train de luxe, which compares
sort either in Europe, locomotives.
and covered vans, and the general
haphazard goods organization, stand
out in a contrast which he describes
as truly Russian"
Many portions of the line through
Siberia are stated to have been laid
with Il want of technical supervision,
which is almost criminal Some of
the very bridges and viaducts which
have given serious trouble under a
by no means heavy traffic were built
under the supervision" of con.
tractor who, prior to their compile
ton, found it expedient hurriedly to
quit Russian territory for good, after
making hundreds of thousands of ru.
bles out of his contract by dishonest
means. Nor, adds my informant,
was this an isolated case. 1t has
repeatedly been declared that strict
Government inquiry was to be held in
st. Petersburg for the purpose of ex.
amining into various cases Of official
/ dishonesty and mismanagement in
connection with the construction Of
the ransasian trunk line.
My informant declares that, in
spite or the apparent advantage afford.
ed by the specially differentiated
duty on tea imported into European
Russia through Odessa and Batum
from Shanghai and Hong Kong by
Volunteer Fleet steamer, the lamenta-
bic frictions, the damage in transit,
and the delays in connection with
tea and other cargoes carried over
the Manchurian and Siberian rail
ways bid fair to induce Russian i'm
porters for some time to come 10
give the new land route a wide berth.
No such delays are experienced with
cargoes brought by sea, which are de.
in,
quays in from twenty-four to twenty
eight days from Chinese ports of ship.
ment. After the recent arbitrary ap.
preparation by the Russian authori-
ties for military transport purposes
of considerable portion of the roll
ing stock on the Siberian and Man
churian lines, and the temporary COM
plete breakdown on the Manchurian
system, the quantity of goods black.
ed at various points along the Trans
asian line reached close on five mil
lion pools.
lie is convinced that the line has
a great future before it, but he is no
less convinced that it will never sue
SSSu III successfully LOT
many Of the best cargoes with well.
equipped steamer fleets plying
through the Suez Canal. Moreover,
he thinks it quite possible that the
Siberian system may yet have to face
the competition of rival line in
Asia. Something he declares, has
been heard in certain quarters in Rus
sia of a project for the linking up of
India with the plains of the Yang-tse
by means of an 'all-red" line of rails
The possible extension of this railway
at some future date until it becomes
competitive Transasian trunk line
extending from the Pacific to Arabia
and practically linking up with the
gigantic Cape Town to Cairo trunk
line through Africa has also been
taken into account in the same quar-
ters. In passing, | may he allowed
To nd hnt I a, 4