Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-02
i'm MODERN CHINA
XIII-Chinese as Railroad Builders
By Frederic j. HaSkin

n nEKING.-Close upon the heels of
the recent British failure to
4 control the Hankow-Sze-Ch
railway loan. a campaign was begun IN
the newspapers and in other quarters
to discredit the Chinese ability to con-
struct railways. This instantly pre-
cipitated a sharp controversy III
which opponents went to remarkaDIe
lengths. For instance, the new Snans-
hai-Ningpo railway is line punt ,rI py
the Chinese without foreign AID. me
british forced the government to hoat
n loan on the road, on the basis OF an
old promise, but none Of the foreign
money was used, and the road was
constructed by Chinese engineers.
An English newspaper in Shanghal
published a story that bridge on III Tue
Ningpo railroad had collapsed, nne ,u'5
story was not true, but the Ensllsh
newspaper declined to Tetract ~ 80, or,
the ground that lit wasn't wise 10 open
controversy" Even the LONDON
Times took part in the affair and pup
lIsbad accounts of the collapse OF the
hyidga and other calamities along the
line Two expert American civil en-
gineers visited the bridge the day aIter
the report of the collapse was pun
lished. and they declare that the Drlse
was absolutely safe. Furthermore,
trains cannot run over collapsed
bridges and the traffic on the line old
not stop a moment.
Then came the other side. The
Chinese press asserted, for the sake oI
comnarison. that the Ningpo railway
was good enough, although 1t admit
ted that it was not quite as goou %
the Nanking road, which the BRUSH
built at three times It's necessary Us ',S
in order to make the loan plsSoi anu
LONGER.
compared to ordinary first-class rail-
roads in America, both the BRUSH
built and the Chinese-built lines arc
Far above the average. The British
built line In question is laid upon
foundation of solid concrete. II is rock-
ballasted above that, its Nils ana GUS
are protected by walls Of masonry ana
It cost several times as much per Alile
as a first-class American road.
The Chinese line is rock-ballasted'
hut lacks the solid concrete foundatloh.
It's cuts and fills are also protected py
masonry. its smallest culverts guarded
nv rip-rapping, and it also costs more
per mile than most American ROADS, al
though it was much cheaper than It's
British-built neighbor. An American
engineer who has devoted his llfetlne
IN railroad building went over the road,
and after a careful examination de-
clared that 1t was superior In almost
every respect to what are known as
high grade roads in America and the
equal of even the best American ROADS.
The British have no idea of the char
acter of the pioneering roads Wnlch
pushed out through the American
western wilderness; they count any
road bad that does not come up to the
verv highest standard of English con-
struct1on, regardless of the difference
In the demands made upon the road by
its traffic. 1t is to be feared that many
American railroad men would thlnk
money IS being wasted in masonry and
pip-rap work out here.
The Chinese engineers do some queer
things in railroad building, and these
queer things invite adverse criticism
from foreign engineers who think their
way is better. For instance, when
foreign engineer builds a bridge he Sc
lects favorable place on the river,
constructs his piers and throws the
bridge across the water The under
water work on the piers is frequently
the heaviest item of expense. A Chi
nese engineer, moved by a peculiar
sense of economy and perhaps by an
instructive dislike of the water, selects
a favorable place near the river, builds
his bridge completely upon dry land,
digs a trench under the bridge and
turns the river INTO II. IHeH ne liToWS
a fill with inclined walls Of masonry,
across the old bed of the river and
proceeds. He has saved the high cost
Of the underwater construction. How
his system will work when the river
god gets homesick for his old banks
only time can tell.
Despite captious criticism and caus-
tic controversy, the Chinese have
proved beyond the question of a doubt
that they can build railroads (and
high class ratlroads) without ,foreign
help. The Ningpo road and the Kali
gan road are monuments to Chinese
engineers. The Kalgan Pass railroad
runs from Peking northwest through
the Nankou pass in the Great Wall to
Kalgan on the Mongolian frontier.
Eventually it is proposed to extend
this line to connect with the trans