Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-09
MANY LINES PROPOSED
Thirty-FNe Railways Projected
in China.
GREAT ACTIVITY IN VIEW
The Empire Jealous About Granting
Concessions.
WANTS NATIVE CAPITAL UsE]
French and the English Reaching
After Vast Undeveloped Markets.
!. Steel Trust Alert.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

| BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Written for The Star and the Chicago Record
| Herald.
Thirty-fve railway projects are now
contemplated in China Several OF them
are under, construction, concessions nave
been obtained for others and the remain
der have been surveyed. The proposed
roads combined will give a mileage OF
more than 1900 miles and reach every
provincial capital and commercial city
of Importance in China. They involve an
expenditure of. several hundred million
dollars Some of them will not be built
within this generation: others will I'M
doubte dly be in operation within the next
eight or ten years., The railway de-
velopment of China will he quite as rapid
as that of. Japan and India, and the In
dustrfal expansion Of the people will keep
pace with it.
There are practically no roads In China
Notwithstanding the great age of the
| country and the remarkable industry IN
genuity and intelligence OF the people,
| they have always been behind IN their
| transportation facilities. and most OF
| their commerce has been conducted on
| the rivers and canals. The canal sys-
| tenn Is quite extensive, and millions or
people are engaged in boating. Most Of
| them live on their boats. and are born
| and die in the cabins OF little junks and
| boats. They have known no other home.
and their parents and grandparents spent
| their lives in the same way. The trafnc
| on all the rivers and canals Is very large
Although the boats are small, they are
innumerable: their progress is slow, but
they have furnished facilities for the
handling of an enormous commerce
Freight Carried by Coolies.
There being no roads and few horses
or oxen, the freight is brought to the
river banks and carried into the interior
on the backs of men. A coolie trained
to this business will trot along hour
after hour bearing a heavy burden bal
anced at the ends Of g. pole which rests
on his shoulders: and it is said that they
be come so accustomed to their load that
they cannot travel without them and
after having discharged their cargoes
they put heavy stones IN the hampers
to weigh them down on their homeWard
journey.
This primitive system now feeds the rail-
ways that are already in operation. MOST
of the short distance freight that Is
brought into the stations along the rail-
way lines comes on the backs Of porters
and this method will probably continue
Indefinitely. because there are few oxen
and few horses in the empire. The long
of camels, which move in caravans over
the mountains and deserts, often Tor
Journeys of thousands of miles, as they
did in the time of Marco Polo. Caravans
from Mini Novgorod In Russia still ar
rive in Picking laden with manufactured
merchandise and return over the roof OF
the world laden with tea. But gradu-
ally these primitive methods must give
way to cheaper and quicker faculties, and
the thirty-five railroads now projected will
fur CHI all tho nYlnCiD1l markets
with communication and traffic facilities
with their sources of supply.
The INSTRUMENTATION Line.
The greater part Of these roads are
short, but several Of them will be i'm
portant trunk lines. The most important
line now proposed is that intended to con-
meet Hankow, the great commercial city
of the interior and the limit of navigation
by large steamers, on the Yang-tse river.
with Canton. the southern metropolis or
China and furnish a continuous line from
that city northward to Picking. AS told
you in a recent letter, the Belgian ROAD
between Picking and HankoW Is now unoer
operation with sleeping and dining cars,
and if our American syndicate had been
equally enterprising 1t would now be pos
sible to travel from the northern to tho
southern boundaries Of the celestia! en-
pire on Pullman cars. The late Calvin
~.
promoter; William Barclay Parsons,
famous engineer, had charge of that de-
partment, and the syndicate was COM
posed of some of the largest capitalists
and most prominent bankers and railroad
men in New York. The attorneys were
Cary & Whitridge. and Thurlow Weed
Barnes has recently secured a verdict OF
$500 600 or SO as his commission In OBJ
tanning a concession from China. through
the influence Of WI Ting-fang, the former
and future Chinese minister to WdSh1nR-
ton.
Chinese Against Monopoly.
The Belgians who built the northern half
| of the road were anxious to obtain a con-
cession for the southern half, but the Chi
nese government is trying to avoid mo-
| nopolies and big combinations, and will
not grant more than one concession to the
same persons or to syndicates from the
same country. 1t divides Its faVOrS as
| impartially as possible among the appli-
cants from the several European countries
and Japan, but prefers to give concessions
| to it's own subjects. For that reason most
| of the railway projects have been under
| taken Jointly by Chinese and European
| capital.
The Americans made survey for the
| line between Hankow and Canton, and
| actually built fifteen miles at the southern
| end from Canton to Wongsha, the west
ern and most popular suburb of that city.
| That short line is now under operation,
and pays 80 per cent dividends.
| When the Americans abandoned the
project the Belg1ans tried to buy 1t up.
but the Chinese government interviewed
and purchased all rights and property be-
| longing to the American company for
about 5000 600, which was a good deal
more than they were worth. The money
was borrowed from the municipal govern
ment of Hongkong. but, fearing that
| Great Britain would get hold OF the con-
cession, the officials and prominent citi-
zens of the provinces Of Kwantung. HUI
nan and Hupeh collected 100000 gold
by public subscriptions, and by contribu-
/ tions from seventy-two different guilds Of
merchants and nine different charitable
institutions. The company is now re-
organized with a capital of $2O.OO0,OO
| gold, in shares Of 80 each, SO that the
poor people may participate. and the dis
4 lance of 100 miles has been divided into
sections which are to be built by different
local organizations of merchants and
| bankers under the direction of Chinese
and Japanese engineers. The work is now
| proceeding at a cost Of about $4,000
| mile. without including the equipment 1t
will be several years before it is COM
pleted.
French Line From Tonkin.
| The next most important lines are those
| which enter the southern provinces Of
China from the French colony Of Tonkin,
and are being pushed northward toward
| the interior by French engineers and