The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-01-15
LAPS BUILDING
 NEW RAILROADS thousands of Men Are Active
 In Korea IRUNK LINE ABOUT READY Japanese Government Is Very Eager to Encourage Immigration to Korea and Offers Many
 Inducements.
lRUNK LINE ABOUT READY

Toldo, December --(Correspondence of the Associated Press )-By the first of January the Japanese will be able to run trains from F'usan to Seoul. The military line to Wi1i will be completed as far as Pingyang, and in Manchuria the imperial engineers expect to open railway communication between Liaoyang and Antunghsien. In March ground will be broken for tine seoul-Gensan line. Surveyors have already started work and it is hoped that the road will be finished by the end of 1905. In connec- ton with the Seoul Chemulpo line 1t will form the transpeninsular route between the Yellow sec and the Sea of Japan. The trunk line from Fusan to the Yalu and from Antung to Idaoyang from Fusan to the Yalu and from Antung to Liaoyang will bring Japan into d. rect touch with the. China Eastern rail way, the Siberian rbute and Europe.
 From the moment war was declared rapid transit from Fusan through Ko- req to the scene of hostilities in Man churia became a military necessity. This the Japanese had foreseen. Even before the completion of the Chemulpo line, the first railroad in the Hermit Kingdom" the company engaged in this work had secured the concession to build a railway, also broad guage, to the southern coast. This was in the autumn of 1S9S Eighteen months later work on the .Kei-Fu' rail- road was formally commenced at I onp- tongpo, a small town some six miles from Seoul, and from which point the fn hran nah from hn mulpo line.
 Fresh Impetus to Work.
 Towards the end of lass year the lm- pending war gave a fresh impetus to the work which had been progressing slowly, though steadily. since 1900. Thou sands of coolies were put to work where before there has been but hundreds. The Japanese government, besides guaran- teeing the 25,000000 yen capital, already foated, subscribed an additional 2,500,000 on condition the road should be com- pleted by the end of 1904. If this was rot done the company agreed to repay the amount subscribed with interest. The bonds had a face value of 50 yen and the subscriptions were payable in ten install ments. At present the stock Is quoted considerably below par. It was neces- sary to borrow 100000 yen from Toklo banks to carry on the work, the per cent interest on this loan being paid by the government through the railroad ad- ministration. In the middle of August 1904 it YVES estimated that an additional 2,300,000 yen was needed to complste the line. The imperial department of com -nunications on investigation reported that with various economies 15S0.000 yen would suffice. This sum the government loaned the company on easy terms; no payment need be made for the first five years at the end of that time the sub sidy was to be repaid in annual install ments of 60,00O yen on condition that such an outlay did not interfere with an per cent dividend. With this constant official help the road has been prac- tically completed six weeks ahead of time though the formal opening will not take place until January l.
 More Workmen Put On.
 Before the war began, regular trains had been running some twenty miles over the northern and some twelve miles over the southern branch. In February, 1904 the lines had been extended as far as Usan, thirty miles south of Yontong- DO. Workmen in ever increasing num- bers were put on the embankments, the grades and the bridges From Yontong- DO south and from Fusan north, every thing was hustle and hurry. Great loads 
 England and America were brought into Chemulpo and Fusan. At these ports they were reloaded on flatboats and lowed along the coast and up the little streams to the points nearest the railroad. Here the materials were landed and piled on bullock carts, then dragged across the country to their destinations.
 The terminal points at either end were moved farther and farther afeld. By the beginning of June a regular passenger service had been established to Mitsuyo, thirty-six miles north of Fusan, con- struction trains running about twenty miles farther at Tail1u. Here a mountain spur blocked the road, and 1t was found necessary to run 4000-foot tunnel. There has been no delay on this account, how ever as a switch back has been con- structed to carry the trains over the mountain There are altogether twenty four tunnels with total length of 16, 300 feet generally quite short, and most of them occurring in this same stretch of hill country between Waikan and Kan toku. Here, too, the grading has been sleeper than elsewhere. In some places 1t is as much as one in fifty, while at no other point on the line does 1t exceed one in eighty. Though there have been many streams to cross, none of them are of any great size The principle dif- ficulty has been, in almost every in- stance, the necessity of building much Suits, on the one side, and H. T. Grif- fin on the other, which was carried on in the east, may be transferred to Essex. Today after Canteen, carrying the Grif- fin colors, won the Park Hotel selling