Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-04-24

sage. and nearly an are equipped With
American rails or Is pounds In,
railway material imported last ycu
( amounted 60 more than S2,0OO0l0 and
over onc-third OF this came from tho
| United states An the roads have
! American bridges or bridge material
| The one on which ] crossed the Han
| river consists OF 10 spans Of about 2)0
| feet each and IL was made by the CAR
negIe Steel company. The most Of ;hs
pixies of the roads north of here came
from tho Illinois Steel company, and
| The ties are largely American. on tho
! northern route many OF the bridges are
/ of wood. built un piles. They were con-
/ structed as a military necessity. and
/ viii have 90 be replaced by better ma
! tcTfal. The bridges between Seoul and
/ Fuean are OF steel. Last year 90 spans
/ Of iron girders We're imported from our
country FOR the system and more are
wanted
: An of thcse roads are operated with
| American locomotives There are now
more than 100 I'm use. the most OF them
! Baldwins. made at the Philadelphia
works There are ~ Baldwin loclmo-
| lives Of 80 tons each on the line between
/ Seoul and Antung. and some of the
| cars came from the Unlted States. The
rolling stock now employed here Is more
| than half American, and IL includes 100
| locomotives, 30 passenger ears and
something like 600 freight cars.
PASSING OF THE NARROW GAGE.
The Japanese find our standard age
far better for their traffic than the mar
row gage. which now prevails through
out Japan proper. There are over 5000
miles of narrow gage railroads la the
| island empire Of the mikado. and thcy
are by no means sufficient To carry
| the traffic In an Interview which ] had
with Baron Goto. the imperial minister
| OF communications. 81 told me that the
/ roads would have to be standardized.
and that eventually they would have
| tho same gage as ours The govern
mont IS very anxious 10 do away with
the bad strip between the Yalu and
Alukden SO that through sleeping cars
can go from Fusan to MOSCOW, St
Petersburg and Paris. Such cars would
travel 600 miles over tho Korean PEN
insula and hundreds Of miles further
before they reached Russian territory.
As it Is now, the accommodations are
SO bad from Korea 90 the Trans ST.
bcrian system that passengers come
down TO Dalny and there take shin for
Japan; or 90 out TO NladiVostoS and
get steamers there which. In the course
Of % few days, land them at Nagasdki.
With the new road there viii be only
the ferry at the Korean straits to cross
and this is done In q night with no
moEe trouble than the voyage from
Boston TO New York or from Buenos
AiIcs to Montevideo In coming here
my train reached Shlmoncscki at s
pftfrsE Ina fha gVnnfuns IavF7s.4r-
the next morning we wero In sight of
the thirsty mountains OF Korei. aui
Tn hour or SO later were landed on the
pier of Fusan.
CHEAP RAILROAD FARES
The railroad fores i'm this part OF ;he
world are lower than ours. on an
trains there are first, second and third
class cars. and tho rates are under 2
cents per mile over here in Korea, q
frontier country just opening up for
trade the third class fares are far b.
low those OF our immigrant traffic, Up
10 30 miles such passengers pay ~
cents mile and from that distance 90
100 miles one-quaIter of Ca cent less.
The rate for 20 trip OF from 100 20 200
miles rs only 1 cent and for ona of 900
miles or more Onc-h3lf OK 1 cent per
mile. At these rates ono could go
than 81. Communication tickets are is-
sued Tor parties, and 20 or more ARE
taken az 90 per cent under the regular
rates, while a rouud-trip ticket cuts
down ones fare just onc-hfth
In coming from Kobe 10 Shim0inese-
Ri / rode on what might be called tho
japanese limited express The distance
was 5l5 miles and 1 had sleeper. al
though 30 was On the daytime. The cx-
a I.If. a rfI
thc superior accommodation was %
cents. on just what one pays Tor O.
seat iu "a chair car from Washington
t0 Philadelphia, which ls only a. little
more than ono-third tho distance.
STATION LUNCHES AND THE DIN
NERS.
The eating is very cheap ON AN the
japanese roads. This De- go f1r both
natives ami foreigners, and especially
the former ln Japan peddlcrs COME 90
the cars at every stop with hot toa
and cold lunches Tho usual price for
tho hitter is lia cents and fOl thc tea,
including tho earthcnware pot and the
cup which goes with iL only Cruta OF
our money. The tca Is served fresh the
green leaves being dropped into the pot
ana thc hof water poured on while you
lon.l 10 .s tncn covered and the cup
can take BE into che car with you ANA
carry poe and all h0m. 10 you like
The t-cent lunches are put up ln uttlr
pine boxes uu iuUh thick four inches
Wide ana six Inches long Two OF
such boxes contain ono lunch. THE
upper ono has several slices of omelet
some vegetables ana scaNeel dried and
cooked On the tup are chop sticks
uHo" uf inHh pine wood and Boo such "a
way that sou have to split them apart
before you u-o them. thus proving that
they have nut bseu lcfi over from some
previous meal ln thc lower box There
is about pint 0f tue Nhitrst Juuanese
IIrr. wen s.Dnmed hut served cold Tho
customers e4t this as bread. Fh0tcuug
it into tneir mouths with Iho stleks
49, to tha dinInF-oar meals. thcy are
an foreign .ttlc. With ulatos. kntes
aud forh ANA thc usual accountant.
maut of au American dinine-car. L
hove before me inc menu which was
served lt carte nu my way uYm
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