The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-03-26
AMERICAN TROOPS
ARRIVE At HARDIN

Washington, D. c., March c5.--Tn
conn ection with the reported arrival
ut Hardin, Manchuria, of a contingent
Of American troops. a part of force
TO be stationed along the trans
Siberian railway. the National Geo
graphic society has issued the follow
ing bulletin:
I'm Hardin East meets West only to
prove Kipiings prophecy that the two
never will blend. Hardin is the loop
hole through which the long. lean arm
of European Russia stretched clear
ssaeross a continent to clutch "A coveted
ice-free Pacific port. and thus pre-
~ ed the Russo ia pancse war.
american soldiers will find in Har
hin AN oriental boom town. cosnn-
/ aoii,an and nondescript. only ten years
older than Gary. Ind, though built in
Il land whose history antedates the
sphinx and the Pyramids.
Russian and Chinese French,
German and Japanese arc spoken
there, but little English, There are
schools OF occidental and oriental
mould: Christian churches and tenn
Piles of the ancient faiths Of the ASH
atics. Even the vices OF the East and
WAst competed until few years ago
the VODKA shops vielng with opium
!. ,dena 10 allure the adventurous visitor
The Russians founded Hardin in
1895 on the site OF an obscure Chi
nose hamlet II was built for a rail-
way and military center. Today it
IN the Manchurian Chicago. where
traffic streams from V1adivostok,
South Manchuria and Europe con-
verge and a far eastern Minneapolis.
with q score OF modern flour mills
sat.et'ng its importance as grain
center.
fhin lies or the Sungari river
hA rf art Avth
is "a little less distant from that port
than tx New York from Detroit and
Sfadiyostok is only about half as far
"a the southeast The Chinese East
ern railway which il the eastern con
tsnuation of the Siberian line, divides
at Hardin with its main arm running
to Nladiyostok and the 0th"r branch
forming another inverted 18th the
prongs resting at Pekina / Port
Arthur
---ta Already the t,rafe4ttssftt,q s.. ~ IT, known
as old Hardin while the 'Ncw~ Har-
him is the predominant commercial
and manufacturing center AS in
many New England towns with large
foreign populations there is an across
Ehe-tracks' district. inhabited in this
instance by the natives who have be-
.sosH9 Asr afssAfA Iiy <f<,. Soy. 22s-.ss ,ags2
a considerable floating population of
coolies. Adding the average native
population of this section. known as
f'u-chia-tien. to the 10000 or SO resi-
dents in Hardin proper the total pop
Biation was estimated, before the
world war. at about 0,00as
when work began on tho railway
to South Manchuria in 1895 Hardin
started it's rapid growth, but IL was
the Russo-Japanese war that brought
phenomenal prosperity to the city
Just as the war now closing did TO
many American cities Fu-chia-tte
prospered SO richly that it became
known as the Six Million Tiao.' a Chi
nese pun Ringing on the double mean
ing of "Tiso.' which signifies either
money or town.
The Chinese Eastern Railway com
pany owns the town--literaliy. II ar-
auired $4,000 acres, a tract extending
beyond the bounds OF Harhin, through
Russo Chinese treaty. The railroad
permitted citizens OF the city to as
sumo some municipal functions. such
as regulating their own schools,
streets. public health provisions and
taxation"