The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-09-25
TO THE FAR EAST
Popular Bishop of M E. Church South Begins Series of In terestng Articles On His Observations In Japan
 Corea and China
By BISHOP E. E. HOSs

those fields and as my secondary pur- pose, the general study of existing con- ditions, religious, social and political, in the far east. Having choice of many routes. I concluded to go to St. Louis,
 taking the Wabash Hhence to Kansas City, and the rest of the rail journey by the Union Pacific through Denver and Ogden to San Francisco. Thirty eight years ago, soon after the Pacific road was first opened, I went over vir- tually the same route. It was then a more formidable undertaking than now, involving frequent changes on the way, and requiring at least eight days of time. At the present time the sleeper goes through without break from St.
 Louis Passengers are no longer in
 doubt about something to eat. I did not see a single lunch basket on my train.
 Everybody formerly carried one, and
 wisely so. for the dining houses were
 the worst ever. l remember missing a
 connection-it was in November-at
 Omaha, and finding the following morn
 ing that the snow had drifted into my room during the night and made a
 white covering-a good deal winter than
 the sheets on my bed. The breakfast
 that came later, though it was the best
 house of entertainment in the town, was not one to tempt the hungriest man. s appetite. But all such things are mem ories. The dining car with its elaborate bill of fare and It's frightful charges has
 brought an immense change. Wonderful,
 too. Is the improvement in the sched- ules. Rolling out of St. Louis one after noon, Denver Is passed the next day,
 the bay is crossed at Oakland and there is San Francisco. I cannot truthfully say that 1t Is wholly a pleasure excnr- sion; for beyond the fat lands of Mis- souri, which look as if they might yield breadstuffs enough for the world, come the dog upland plains of Western Kan sas, bare, dusty and hot. Even Colo rado, except in favored spots, has little that appeals to the eye of man
 brought up in Tennessee. Wyoming is desolate, the boom literature to the con- trary notwithstanding. I would not give Maury, or Williamson, or Davidson county for the whole state. Utah is redeemed by it's lovely irrigated val leys, which. after all, are only a minor fraction. Nevada, the rotten borough favored districts like the Humbolt and the Tuckee river valleys. where water abounds. has been made to blossom like the rose. For the rest, till the Sierras, with the wooded sides and snow clad heights are reached the chief thing of notice is the clouds of alkali dust that get into the eyes. the ears, the throat. anu make exlStenCe dS nedfly dS pOsSl- ble uncomfortable. Up the slopes and over the crest of the Sierras, and down into the golden valleys of California, is an enchantment. Who that has seen 1t through the enthusiastic eyes of youth as did can ever forget 1t? Even a
 man of three score and beyond who does not feel his imagination kindling in the presence of such stupendous nat
 ural phenomena must be slow of mind.
 San Francisco itself was an amaze
 ment to me. l knew, in a general way. | that 1t had recovered largely from the | effects of the earthquake and the fire, but what l actually saw far transcended all my expectations. Here and there are | still signs of wreck and ruin. But from | the water front and back for more than
 mile great blocks of buildings have
 been erected far surpassing in solidity
 and beauty those of the old days. The
 Palace hotel, covering It's three acres of i ground, stands once more in it's former l splendor, and up and down Market
 street and on all the cross streets struc-
 lures have arisen fit to match It. Four decades ago l knew the city very well. l But now, in these rehabilitated sections of 1t everything was new and strange to me. How has 1t all come to pass? With
 more than $200. .00O.0OO worth of property
 absolutely wiped out. whence came the
 money for the vast new ventures? The
 most of 1t, am told. was borrowed cap- ital. Mortgages are plentiful and heavy.
 Interest must be met ay day comes