The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1913-01-23

Discussion of railroads in China in
wolves a recital of past and present
construction and history, and an out
line of gigantic plans now afoot which
would change the face of the country.
At the present time there are less than
5000 miles of railways in all of China.
Sun Vat Sen, the famous Chinese re-
former, hopes to be instrumental in
building fully 10000 miles Of line
within the next 10 years, and in this
great undertaking he has the hearty
support of the republican government.
Many observers think this dis
citizen of the world has
hitched his new wagon to a star en-
tirely beyond human reach. On the
other hand, his earlier visions, once
seemingly impossible, have become re-
alities while he is in his prime, and
he still working with the same steady
purpose that has characterized all his
~endeayors. Almost any reasonable ac-
complishment now seems possible for
China in view of the successful revolu-
tom of 1911-12 and the new era which
it is uShering in.
Railroading began in China in the
year 1875 with a small, narrow
gagged line from Shanghai to Wusung,
a distance of 20 miles. 1t was a dis
NAL failure, and would be a poor
augury for this phase of modern COM
mercialism in old Cathay were it not,
in it's very unusual ending, SO typical
to the alert spirit of new China. The
-n,>,, 4Iir-. 4l>,+ {J1 TI,--.a .--
and resisted a few years ago they
now clamor for the loudest.
This pioneer railroad in China was
intended for freight and passengers
from the sea UP to Shanghai. 1t was
privately owned, and was built with
out any particular objection or COM
mendation from the Chinese govern
ment The road did well for a few
months until a Chinese was killed
by an accident on the line. The nat
ives then boycotted the o and de-
manded punishment for the foreign
deVi'a.' An arrangement was effected
whereby the line should BE- nan
aged by the foreign experts under the
direction of high Chinese officials for
n year, after which a definite ad-
J"''iiiSiit "oulb We IIdQt.
The foreigners saw to it that the
officials were not unpaid for their in
terest in the project, and naturally al
culated that a years revenues from
this new source would induce the
mandarins to permit the line to run, in
consideration for which, all due and
proper reward would doubtless have
been paid. Regardless Of profits, how
ever, at the end of the ear the track
n rails were torn up, and with the
rolling stock, shipped to a remote part
of the already sufficiently remote
island of Fornosa, and there allowed
to bleach and rot on the beach. 10
cap their deed these high Chinese Of
ficials RACED the Shanghai depot to
the ground, and on the spot erected a
temple to the queen of Heaven in order
that the ground so lately polluted by
foreign Wltchcraft might again become
sacred. This dismal fate of western
ambition to provide means to China
for the development and t~ransporta-
ton of its great potential resources
all other attempts of the
same nature for several years.
Slowly, however, a handful of the
empires leading men began to see the
necessity of railroads. The idea took
such possession of the celebrated Iii
Hung Chang in 1886, then v~iceroy of
Chill, that he caused a line to be
built for the moving of coal from the
kaiping mines to Taku bar, at the
mouth OF the Peiho river, a distance
possibly 80 miles. 1t was doubly
remarkable, in view of the w~recking
of the first railroad, that this little
coal line was made possible by a Chi
nese and was controlled by the gov
eminent. Two years later a native
merchants company was organized bv
imperial sanction to extend the line
80 miles to Tientsin. In 1907 another
so miles led the iron horse TO m.
outside of Pekin's Tartar wall. The
entire line is now a link in the In
perial Northern RAILWAYS.
Chang Chih-Tung, vicer)v Of Can
ton, also believed in railroads, and
had a vision Of a great trunk line
which would cross China from Can
Ton at the southern tip t. ancient
Szechuan province, a distance of near
y 1000 miles. He meinorolized he
,hrone to such good effect that he was
transferred to be v~iceroy OF Iionar
INC Hupeh, with headquarters at
dankow, and ordered to pujld his
abroad. The line is being built now
oy degrees. In order to push along
obstruction, and make tha project en-
Chinese Viceroy Chang put up
The Hanyang steel mills at Hanl<o,y.
to unskilled labor, inaptitule
With foreign machinery and other
causes the cost of turning out steel
ra1ls at Hanyang proved to be greater
the price of foreign rails shipped
v n laid down at Hankaw. IT is
understood that $4,000. 600 was lost in
this venture. but the mills are still
running with some succes.