Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1909-12-24
HELPING AGR|CU[TUR|STS

| htulOIcu ulleS. Ailu, dlleE SOlne
Investigations there, he came down
the Yang-tze-kiang, the great
waterway of China, to Shanghai
again, having made in all a great
circle of more than three thous-
and miles by rail and water.
In the spring of 1906 he start
ed for Manchuria, going first to
Picking again, and thence by rail
road to Niu-chang where he was
held by the Japanese officials, who
refused to allow him to go any
farther into the country, But, de-
termined not to be stopped, he
went south to Dalny and Port Ar
thur to see the general in com
mand of the district. Mr.. Meyer
and the American consul spent
six weeks arguing with General
Ochiai, who was in command: But
it was fruitless talk. The gen
eral s final decision was that. since
Manchuria was a dangerous coun-
try, and since Mr.. Meyer was a
citizen of the United States, a
friendly power which had been of
great assistance to Japan during
the war, he could not allow Mr.
Meyer to go into the country eX-
cept along one or two main
thoroughfares; for, if anything
should happen, he would be re-
sponsible for the misfortune of an
American citizen. He would, how
ever, grant permission for travel
into Korea if that was desired.
1t being the best that could be
had, Mr.. Meyer accepted this per-
mission and went up to Mukden
to fit out for the journey which
ultimately brought him into those
parts of Manchuria to which he
wished to go; and he achieved
this also without violating the
permission granted by General
Ochiai.
From Mukden to Lioa- yang,
there was a road that permitted
the use of Chinese carts; but,
when the party left there and
turned southeast toward An-tung
on the Korean boundary at the
Gulf of Pe-chi-li, Mr.. Meyer and
his seven men were on foot and
his baggage was packed on five
small Manchurian ponies. In this
manner he travelled 1900 miles,
for the most part through a wild
and unknown mountain country,
to Nladivostok His little com
pany left Mukden early in June
and arrived at Vladivostok early
in September, having walked, on
an average, twenty miles a day
for ninety days. From An-tung
lthey followed the mountain chain
Inortheastward, crossing the many
streams and rivers that rise in
those mountains and flow west
and north into the Yalu river
Some of the smaller streams were
spanned by rickety bridges. but
the program at all the larger riv-
ers was strip and wade. This did
not add to the comfort of travel
ing in a country five thousand or
six thousand feet above sea level,
where the streams are always cold
and where there was a sharp frost
as early as August Dist Then, too
the inns were miserable affairs,
dirty beyond words and swarming
with vermin In the Chinese inns
Mr. Meyer placed saucers of kero-
sene under the four legs of his
bed to keep off the attacks from
the floor and hung a mosquito net
over him as protection against
the vermin that fell from the'ceil-
| ing. Everyone was crowded in
to a single room. This included
the horses, for, although they
were wild, ferocious beasts, they
were brought into the inn at night
and fed on cooked foods, either
boiled potatoes, boiled soy beans,
or boiled straw. To add to other
discomforts, the inns were often
full of smoke. There was a fire
at one end of the building from
which the smoke escaped in fues
built along the floor under the
beds to keep them warm. The
fiues, however, were generally so
badly made that they leaked and
the smoke poured out through the
cracks and filled the room-and
this is the same as saying filled
the house, for there were, as a
1lle, no partitions, and, when there
were any, they were not as high
as mans head. In the Korean
inns the fues were underground,
and, therefore, did not leak in
the same manner, but this advan-
tage was more than offset BIZ the
lack of beds, which prohibited the
use of Mr.. Meyers kerosene de-