The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-11-21

1 Barcley Parsons, the average of the population numbers 200 to the square mile, but venture 1t is more than this The 1 country is devoted to tea, silk and other l industries. It is agriculturally rich, and
 We believe that 1t contains extensive de-
 posits of iron, copper and lead. There is l no doubt but that the road will pay
 But can you manage 1t well in four divisions, with four sets of officials di- rected by four different governments?' Yes" replied MT Tsou. "The imperial government has required that the same , gauge must be made throughout that 1 the rolling stock must be standardized,
 and that the rails be of certain pattern
 and weight. Most of the iron work is
 now being made here at Hankow. and the track will be of Chinese steel AS to the
 management, the probability is 1t will be
 consolidated when the system is com
 pleted. The different divisions will be
 joined. and there may be one great gov
 err ment road from Pekin to Canton" China's New Railroad.
 How about the new railroad move ment? Is it to continue?"
 Nothing can stop it. We Chinese are slow to begin, but when we really start
 we keep going. No one now questions the
 value of railroads. Both the government and the people realize that they are an absolute necessity to our existence and progress. We shall keep on building just as fast as we can raise the money We
 would like to construct our railways as
 far as possible with our own funds In our present condition we do not wish to mort
 gage our country to other nations. and
 this we do when we make heavy foreign
 loans. The road from Wuchang to Can
 ton Is now to be made with Chinese money and by Chinese workmen. It will be a Chinese railroad throughout
 Millions for Wooden Nutmeqs. I asked MT. Tsou to tell me the inside story of the concession for this road to the Americans, and what they made out of it. He was chary in speaking of the matter, but said that China had not been fairly treated. From other sources I learn that the Americans played some what the part of the Yankee who sold wooden nutmegs. They gave China gold brick, and carried away millions doubt not that our capitalists acted in good faith in the beginning, and that had Calvin Brice lived their contracts would have been carried out. The concession was granted by the imperial government to Brice and others, through Marquis | Sheng and Wu Ting-fang. on the ground that they would raise s20.Oo0000 to build
 
 ment was to secure the loan by a mort gage on the road and an imperial guar antee; and also by the issuing of gold bonds, to be sold at 90 per cent, and to bear per cent interest Calvin Brice
 had no trouble in getting men to go in
 with him. Among those who offered to
 join in raising the money. as 1t came
 due for building the road. were Pier
 pont Morgan, John D. Rockefeller, E. H.
 I1a-
 Jim Hall and the Vanderbilts. With such
 names but little real money was neces- sary, and the road could have been com
 pleted on credit. Altogether about 6000 shares of stock were issued, and of these over 1000 were stili in the hands of the Americans when the road was turned back to China.
 According to the conditions, the Ameri- cans were to survey the road at once and begin its construction. They were to push 1t rapidly forward to a completion.
 It was also the understanding that they | were not to sell the control of that con | cession to other nations, nor to allow l them to have much stock in it. They l violated these conditions. They made an l incomplete survey and then built about | 30 miles of line and stopped. Later on | they sold 1000 shares of the stock to a
 French banking house and controlling ' Belgian stock was taken by King Leo l pold, who set about trying to gain pos | session of the concession. His people | already owned much of the Hankow- 1 Pekin road, and, if he could have se-
 cured the right to build into Canton, the | Belgians would have controlled the chief trunk line of China. Worse than this, 1t
 Is generally believed here that the Bel
 gians were merely tools in the hands of | ba | afford to have the Russians own their | chief railroad. The result was that China ! upon hearing of the Belgian plans, de- | clared that it would have to annul the ] concession or buy back the road.
 Profit 900 Per Cent.
 This fact was communicated to Wash | ington and the American capitalists took | advantage of the situation. Pierpont Nor gan who was disgruntled at some treach- erous financial transactions which King Leopold had had with him, forced the lat ter to sell his stock back to the Ameri- can company; and the king. not sus- pecting that the deal with China was possible, did so for a low price. Then an arrangement was made with the Chi | nese government. by which the Ameri- l can rights were sold back for 10000 900 | taels. or about $s. 100000 in gold, and this | money was divided among the 4.0O0 odd stockholders. How much hard cash the | Americans put into the scheme l do not 1 know. but that is what they drew out. 1 What China got for all this money Is | only. a little stretch of railroad, 30 miles ] long, running from Canton to the town | of Samshui. which could not have cost, l I should say, more than H,Oo0,000, or | $33,000 a mile It is standard gauge | road, laid with 75-pound rails. and it has
 altogether only about n miles of double 1 tack and IS miles of single track A 1 part of the road is stone ballasted. and l a part is ballasted with sand. In addi- ton to this, the Chinese have the sur l veys made by Barclay Parsons and
 others. but they. in the words of MT.
 Tsou, are not what the Chinese want l and could easily have been mada at A