The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-01-02
Cf1i1n'.s New Railways
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.

trunk line to Europe The road was
built with capital borrowed from Great
! Britain. the original loans amounting
to about So, 000. 900. The construction was
i managed by the Chinese government and
the entire cost was only little over
s22,O00000. or about $4,000 a mile. Its
net profits have already been S5,000,o00
or about $1,000 gold per mile, and that
| within a space of ten years. The road
has an immense freight traffic, and 1t
handles about half the trade of TEN
Tsin.
Good Passenger Accommodations
I have recently Travelled over the most
of this railway. and as far as the Chi
nese end of 1t is concerned, I can rec
ommend 1t. The first-class cars are COM
| Portable. They are divided into COM
partments. opening upon an aisle. The
seats run almost across the car, and one
can lie down, If 1t Ia not too crowded. In
the middle of each coach is a drawing
room, with tables and chairs, and with
sofas at the ends The cars are we'll
lighted; in the winter they are heated by
steam supplied by a boiler In freight
| oar attached to the rear OF the train.
| The water for the boiler is pumped in by
hand
During my journey to the Chinese capt.
! tai was much interested In the passen-
gers. They comprised many high-class
officials and other Chinese gentlemen all
| of whom were dressed in brocaded silk
gowns, big black cloth boots and skull
caps of satin. On the latter were blue
buttons, In mourning for the emperor
There were Chinese ladies, who, in tho
solitary granduer of their paint, powder
and gorgeous silk clothes, sat with the
toes OF their little club feet resting on
the floor. There were score Of foreign
men IN European dress, and one or two
foreign w ais Ma
chu girl. with her hair done up. in two
great wings on the back of her head
and there was a sleek haired yellow
maiden who wore pantaloons.
The second-class cars contained well-to-
| do Chinese, many of whom were clad in
silks. They sat on straightforward, rude
benches, and 1t seemed to me they looked
very uncomfortable The third-class was
filled with coolies, who were about as bad
Off as the cattle in our stock cars at
home They had box cars which were
entered at the ends by doors SO low that
one had to stoop to get through them.
The cars had no seats, and the passen-
gers either stood or sat on their baggage.
All the cars were filed, and the road Is
said to be paying.
During the trip lunches were brought
in to the f1rst-class passengers These
consisted of tea, cakes and sweets. We
had candied citron In the shape of little
meats, the full kernels, embedded in SUI
gar. The conductors on this train were
English
A Road to the Great Wall.
While in Pekin I learned much about
the new railroad, which is now building
through the great wall on into Mongolia
This is a branch Of the Imperial railway
system, and 1t is being constructed out of
the profits of the Mukden- Pelin line. 1t
begins at Pekin, and goes northward
past the Ming tombs to the Nankow
pass. One hundred and twenty-five miles
are already built, and a connection has
been made with the Monaghan city4sof
Kalgan on the other side of the great
wall. Kalgan has 10000 inhabitants; 1t Is
the great center of the caravan trade, a
half million or more camels passing it
each year. The road win have consid-
cradle traffic In carrying meat. furs and
grain from Mongolia to Pekin. 1t will
also take tea to the Mongols The pres
ent plan is to extend 1t across the Cobb
| desert to Lake Bailxal, where 1t will con
meet with the Trans Siberian railway and
form the shortest route to Europe. 1t will
put Pekin within thirteen or fourteen
days of London, and the time to New
York by fast express train and steam
| will be about twenty days. When visit
| ed the Nanlzow pass a few years ago I
| Travelled by donkey and mule litter and 1t
took me three days. By this new road
| the journey can be made in six hours or
less
The road starts from PelSin, and. until
| it nears the mountains the country is
comparatively smooth. 1t then rises rap
| idly, and the track ascends 1900 feet in
ten and one-half miles. At the pass itself
a tunnel about three-quarters of mile
long has been constructed, through which
the trains pass under the great wall
| This road is well built, although It has
been planned by Chinese engineers and
constructed entirely by Chinese labor. It
will cost about $15.O0O,000 to extend it to
the Siberian boundary.
China's Big Railway Centers.
China has many cities, already large.
which are bound to grow enormously
through the new railroads now projected
and building The chief of these are
Pekin, Tien-Tsin Hankow. Canton, Nan
king and Shanghai Another railroad
center will be Chengtu, the capitol of the
province of Szechuen. in western China.
and another will be Yunnan, the capitol
of the province of the same name, in the
southwest. At all these places railroads
are either in operation or in projection.
and eventually the iron tracks will go
out from them like the spokes of a wheel.
Tien-Tsin WIFI be second New York. 1t
has already million. and is growing like
grean bay tree. 1t lies near the coast
of the Gulf Of Chill, and is the chief cen
ter of trade for north China with the
enormous coal fields of Shensi and Shansi
tributary to it. It Is on the trunk line
from Canton to Europe, and is the chief
port for the capitol. 1t has connection
with the Hankow-Pekin line. and is now
building a road southwark. through Shan
tung to Marking the Yangtse Kiang.
Another road, little farther eastward
will strike the river at Chinlxiang, and
this will eventually be continued south to
Canton making a great trunk line
through eastern China. That railway WIN
rass through some of the richest lands of
the world, and It will have the traffic of
millions 1t ought to pay almost as well
as the famous Panama road across the
sthmus in the early days of the Califor-
MAN gold discoveries.
Markings Connections.
The railway from Tien-Tsin to Marking
IL fast approaching the Yellow river, and
the cars will be running to that stream
by the first of the year. Its northern
section will be built by German engineers
and the Germans are supplying the
money. Their part of the road Is three
hundred and sixty miles long. II goes
from Tien-Tsin to the southern boundary
of Shantung, the province which they
claim as their sphere of influence The
southern section of two hundred and
forty miles will extend from Shantung to
the little town of Pukou, opposite Nan
king, on the other side of the Yanktse.
It win be built by the British, who claim
the Yangtse valley as the chief field for
their investments.
This railway will be 900 miles long, and