Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-11-21

years as a railroad foreman and con-
tractor. His road is equipped with loco
motives and passenger cars made IN the
United States. He has Baldwin engines,
fiat cars from Pennsylvania and dump
cars from San Francisco. The passenger
cars are fitted with automatic air brakes
and screw and chain couplers and buffers
At present this ROAD bids far to pay %
per cent and upward in dividends
But let me tell you something about
the northern section of China's steel YER
tebrae as | saw it this week. The
Peking-Hankow section was built by the
Chinese and the Belgians. The distance
between the two cities is $50 miles. and
the express trains make it in about
thirty hours. The engineers are Chinese,
but the conductors are English. The fare
is S64 in silver about SO in gold
that is. about 31s cents a mile. This in
cludes the sleeping accommodations.
There are restaurant cars on the train.
where one can get breakfast for 40
cents and dinner and lunch for 80 cents
each. The road has good depots at Han
kow and Picking: and it is fairly well
ballasted throughout The cars are Eu-
ropean in make. They are roughly fur
nished, poorly built and without adequate
heating arrangements. The only fire on
our train was in a little stove. in a sep
arate compartment in the middle of the
car, and we had to go TO this to get
warm.
The passenger coaches are divided into
IlSuI les 10
the track. Each compartment has two
sofas, facing each other, and upon these
beds are made up at night. Shelves are
also let down to form upper berths.
Our train was full. We had a number
of high-class Chinese men and women
and many foreigners. There We're Amer
lean and French tourists, commercial
travellers representing English, German
and French business houses, a high-up
official of the British East Indian serv-
In Do ol of -ho ho1
been to school at Oxford England, and
was taking a trip through China on his
way home. Among the Americans We're
an agent Of one of our talking machine
companies. Standard oil man and the
representative Of roof and paint house
of San Francisco.
X
We left Picking in the morning and
arrived at Hankow the next afternoon.
Our way was across the Great Plain.
which is said to support more people
than the United States. We passed vii
lagos at every few miles and walled
towns and cities every half hour. The
Great Plain is thickl$ settled, and every
foot of it is cultivated. Nearing Han
kow the land becomes rolling, and
there are low mountain ranges. The
sides of the hills are terraced in fields
of all shapes and sizes, and the valleys
are cut up into gardens or walled
patches. most of which contain rice.
In the north many of the huts are
fiat rooted, in the south the roofs are
ridge shaped and matched with straw.
They are made of stone OF muu: uS
stations are of gray brick, rooted with
red tiles. Crowds met our train at every
stop, and they were usually kept in or
der by native soldiers. who wore blue
uniforms. with black caps and faL plack
ot,I .1If -
sengers at all the stations. The most
of these were Chinese. who rode sec
ond class I understand that the slow
trains, which have cheaper fares, are
even more crowded. and that the pas
senger traffic pays well.
The most remarkable piece of en-
cheering on this railroad is the Yellow
River bridge, which we crossed during