Los Angeles herald., 1909-09-01


IN E ness men recognize the tacs
| lN ksfS9lI that the railroad systems OF
/ In EskSl the country must be EXTENDED
sAgEA1eAsl if China Is to keep step with
the advancing Orient. At the
! same time they recognize another TACT,
| quite as patent, that these railroad eX-
| tensions must be under Chinese con-
| troll or else the Chinese governmental
authority will become nothing more
| than a farce. With Russia and Japan
practically ruling a large portion OF
| Chinese territory by military occupa-
| tion under the pretense of keeping
| soldiers in the country to guard their
| railways; with she gradual edging up
| of French railways and French lnflu-
! ence at the south; with the Germans
! extending German prestige along the
| line of German railway in Shantung
proyince, and with the British using a
| British railway As the basis for ex-
| c1usiye claims upon the valley of the
Yane-tse. the situation teaches China
what some other nations are begin
ming to suspect-that the men who
own the railroads are the men who rule
the land The inspiration of all Chi
nese political activity today Is the
passion for rights recovery. IL Is
most important in its bearing upon
the railroad building of the nation put
it may some day become vital is,
sue with respect to seaports anu
spheres of influence"
Therefore it is the positive and seet
fled policv of the Chinese government
that no more railroads shall be pullI
evcent nv Chinese and under Chlnese
| control Wherever it is possible Chl-
nese capital will be used Untortu-
natelv. China has not sufficient capt
| +al to divert from the regular channels
| of business to embark on the great
program of railroad extension Whlch Is
necessary, and therefore 1t must i0oA @
to foreign financiers for loans. Iii', ne
$40 600 900 loan recently divided equally
| between the United States, England.
| Germany and France is but the first OF
a series of railroad loans which the
| Chinese will negotiate in the near Iu-
! ture .
China now has fourteen railway sys--
TENS, with an aggregate or ABOUT 4Ooo
miles of line. These railroads pass
through nine of the eighteen provinces
of China proper and through tnree
provinces of Manchuria, and, while
they are entirely inadequate to meet
the demands of the country for trans
! portation facilities, they are a substan-
| tial beginning for the great system
which will gridiron Asia with rails
even as North America is now belted
and crossed with steel. A score or rail-
ways are projected and few of them
are actually building, but 1t Will re-
quire many years to complete the pres
ent program.
Railroad building in China has been
chiefly under foreign control and the
conduct of affairs has not been such
as to increase the Chinese respect Ior
foreigners and their methods. In the
beginning, about fifty years ago, for
eigners obtained a concession to build
horse railway from Shanghai to
Woosung, about ten miles, steam power
being expressly barred. The foreign
ers surreptitiously brought in steam
engine and began to operate the road
as a steam railway. This led to riots
and bloodshed. The matter became q
diplomatic incident" the first OF q
long series connected with Chinese rail-
ways. The Chinese government finally
bought the road, operated 1t for year
according to contract, and then tore
| 1t up and sent 1t to Formosa, where II
! became the nucleus OF the first Chlnese
built railway system.
Then followed a period In which
under the leadership of Ii Hunt
Chang and the superintendent of WI
Ting Fang, China began to build rail
ways itself. Progress was slow ant
that era of railway development wa'
brought to a close by the disastrous
war with Japan in 1894. Then fol
lowed the era of concessions, wher
outright franchises were granted t.
ties. This had the effect of extend
ing building operations rapidly, buf
it also led to increased foreign inter
ference and added fuel to the fires Of
the anti-foreign agitation.
After the misguided and unfortunate
zeal of the anti-foreign element hat
resulted In the convulsion of the
Boxer outbreak, and after China hac
been barely saved from actual dis
memberment, the Chinese made Il
known that no new concessions
would be granted Then foreign rail
way loans were solicited. An agree
! ment was reached between the repre-.
sentatives of British, German and
French capital whereby loans would
be made upon certain terms, dictated
by the European financiers, which
were very advantageous to the money
lenders.
Loans for some railways, such as the
KoWloon-C Canton road, which connects
the southern metropolis of Canton with
IHe BrlllSH COlOny OI I1OhB hOhS, WSle
made upon terms requiring the en-
gineering work to be entirely under
British supervision-the loan was
hoated in England-and stipulatine
that all materials were to be pur-
chased in England. The auditing de-
partment was also to be under British
control. This closed market provision
meant, of course, that China had tc
pay high prices for material. A joint
German and British loan upon the
Pukou railway offered terms slightly