Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-21

Chinese residents OF our country TO start
the subscriptions for tho stock. He then
came back here and raised the balance
IN these shares Of $50 each, He imported
100 Chinese laborcrs who had worked "a
the railroads Of the United states TO help
him. He used them as overseers, and SO
constructed the line. As far as I can learn.
he had neither mechanical nor civil one
gineers. He did most OF the railroad
planning himself, having worked i'm our
country FOR some years as a railroad fore
man and contractor. His road Is equipped
with locomotives and passenger cars made
in the United states. lie has Baldwin
engines, flat cars from Pennsylvania and
dump cars from San Francisco. Tho pas
senger cars are fitted with automatic air
brakes and screw and chain couplcrs anu
buffers. At present this road bids fair
to pay 50 per cent and Upward In dividends.
The PekinR-Hnnhow Trunk LINE.
But let me tell you something about the
northern section OF China's steel vertcbrae,
as I saw Il this week. The Peking-Hau-
kow section was built by the Chinese and
the Belgians. The distance between the
two cities is 100 miles, and the express
trains make it in about thirty hours. The
engineers are Chinese, but the conductors
are English. The fare is s6i in silver, or
about s. In ~gold-that IS, about sls cents
a mile. This includes the sleeping accom-
nodations. There are restaurant cars on
the train. where one can get a breakfast
for 45 cents and dinner and lunch for ~
cents each. The road has good depots at
Hankow and Picking; and II Is fairly well
ballasted throughout. The cars are Euro
pean In make. They are roughly furnished.
poorly built and without adequate heating
arr engagements. The only fire on our train
was In a little stove In a separate com
partment in the middle Of the car, and We
had to 90 to this to get warm.
The passenger coaches are divided into
compartments, running at right angles to
the track. Each compartment has two
sofas, and upon these beds are made up at
night. Shelves are also let down to form
upper berths.
our train was full. We had a number
OF high-class Chinese men and women and
many foreigners. There were American
and French tourists. commercial travellers
representing English, German and French
business houses, a high-up official Of tho
British East Indian service and the rajah
of Sikklm, who had been to school at OK
ford, England, and was taking a trip
through China on his way home. Among
the Americans were an agent OF one Of our
talking machine companies, a Standard oil
man and the representative of a roof and
paint house OF San Francisco.
We left Peking in the morning and ar
rived at Hankow the next afternoon. Our
way was across the Great Plain, which is
said to support more people than the
United States, We passed villages at
every few miles and walled towns and
cities every half hour. The Great Plain
is thickly settled. and every foot Of it
is cultivated. Nearing Hankow the land
becomes rolling, and there are low noun
tain ranges. The sides Of the hills are
terraced In fields OF all shapes and sizes,
and the valleys are cut up into gardens of
walled patches, most Of which contain
rice.
In the north many of the huts are flat
rooted, in the south the roofs are ridge
shaped and matched with straw. They are
made Of stone or mud. The stations are
Of gray brick, rooted with red tiles.
Crowds met our train at every stop, and
they were usually kept in order by native
soldiers, who wore blue uniforms, with
black caps and fat black boots. We took
on and put off passengers at all the sta
tions. The most of these were Chinese.
who rode second class. I understand
that the slow trains, which have cheaper
fares, are even more crowded, and that
the passenger traffic pays well.