Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-01
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over thousand skins to make up &
! dozen.
At the station called Chernyaevo, which
| is 1,O64 miles from Krasnovodsk. on the
| Caspian sea, the Central Asia railroad di
! vides. One branch runs north to fash
| kent and then on about twelve hundred
| miles through the desert of Kill Kun
! along the valley of the Syr Daria, and the
| eastern shore of the Aral sea, to the city
| of Orenberg and junction with the Grea
Siberian railroad. Through sleeping car:
run daily from Andiian to Moscow ovel
| this line. and the journey is made in five
days. 1t is possible. therefore, to make q
circular trip from the Black sea, across
the Caucasus, then across the Caspian sea
| to Krashovodsk and from that point by
railway to Moscow. ST. Petersburg. Berlin
| and Paris, the entire distance to the
English channel being about five thousanc
| miles by rail.
| Another branch has been surveyed
from Tashkent northeastward, parallel
with the Chinese boundary. to a junction
with the Great Siberian railroad at Omsk.
| 1t follows the valley of the kuragau rlV-
er and then that of the River Chu. skirt
| eng the foothills CT the AiexandriaA
! mountains south of Lake Balkash. Some
! time this road will be built, which will
| considerably shorten the journey from
|. southern Europe and Constantinople to
| China, Manchuria and Japan
A Through Line to India.
Sooner or later also there will be a
through line from the Caspian sea to
India The gap which remains, between
kushk, the terminus of a branch of the
Central Asia railroad running southwark
from Merv to the borders Of>Afghanistan,
is comparatively short, and route has
already been surveyed by NJ. Lessar, a
Russian engineer, up to the very Walls
of Herat and Kandahar and almost to
the boundary of BaluchiStan, the weSter-
ly province of India.
The distance from kushk to Herat is
only eighty-two miles, and from Herat
to Kandahar $3.50 miles, making the total
distance between the eastern terminus or
the Russian railway system in Turkestan
to the western terminus of the BRUSH
railway system in India only AL miles.
NJ. Lessar reports that there are no en-
gineering difficulties in the way. me
route he selected follows the banks of
streams and requires very little blasting,
few bridges and tunnels, and the con-
struction will not be more expensive than
that of the Central Asia raliroad IN
Turkestan. When the line is built, If ever,
one can travel from the Caspian sea to
Calcutta in about six days, and the jour
ney from London to Calcutta by rail
need not be more than ten or twelve days.
There is another line in contemplation
across the extreme northern borders OF
Atshanistan along the valley of the
ANU Daria or OXus river into northern
India via Kabul and the khyber pass TO
join the railway system OF lndia a'
Peshawur That line, however, will have
to overcome two ranges OF mountains
with heavy grades, and the construction
would be much more expensive and dill
cult than that of the lower route
Opposition of England.
The great obstacle, and one that now
seems insurmountable, is the opposition
of the British government to any scheme
that will bring Afghanistan into closer
relations with Russia or moke its cities
more easy of access for commerce or for
war.
The Russian outposts, strongly Tortured,
are now only fifty-five miles as the crow
dies from Herat, while the British out
posts are AGO miles distant. Herat is tie
most important city of Afghahlstafl eA-
cept kandahar and kabul the capltai.
In the event of war between England
and Russia the latter would, of course,
naturally strike imme diately at India, the
most sensitive spot in the British empire,
with two lines of advance, first from
Merry via kush across to Herat, and
second from Samarkand and Tashkend
via the OXus upon kabui. Russia could
reach both of these places in 10 or ID
per cent of the time that the British
army would require to come from India.
The car has $4,000 fighting men under
arms in Turkestan today. while most
peaceful relations are existing. With
two lines of railway. one to Moscow ana
the other to the Caucasus, he could send
million troops without interruption, while
Great Britain would be compelled to ship
all of her achievements and all of her
supplies to India by steamer through the
Straits of Gibraltar and Suez canal
1t will thus be seen that Russia enjoys
an incalculable advantage if hostilitieS
ever occur, and she would have an equal
advantage i'll commerce if her system of
railways in Turkestan is ever united with
the British system in India.
Afgh2niStan has long been regarded as
the private preserve of English manufac-
turers who distribute their goods by
means of native caravans through the
Khyber pass, which is the terminus of
the railroad system in India. Since the
Trans-caspian railway has been butt the
manufacturers of Moscow, through the
merchants of Bokhara. Same,rkand. Merry.
Kokand and other cities, bave been build
ing up an extensive az. valuable inter-
change of merchandise with the Afghans
Russia has THUS been provided with a
new and profitable market for her mer-
chandise The merchants of Bokhara
and other cities fully realize their adj
yantages. and the trade has affected the
political relations in quiet but influential
manner The Russians are sending cotton
sheetings and prints, WOODEN fabrics
sugar hardware drugs. matches and every
other sort of merchandise into Afghanis-
tan in exchange for wool, skins. indigo,
medicinal plants, tea and other natural
products of India
Getting British Trade.
The cotton goods trade alone. which is