The Julesburg grit-advocate., 1920-07-29

their baggage whether they had q
higher class ticket or not. For me
this was a new experience as had
not Travelled by railroad in China be-
fore l returned here this time. We
however changed about and stayed
in the baggage car one or two Of
us at the time. Had we been able
to proceed all the way to Sianfu by
railroad, we would soon have been
there but when we reached the end
of the line we had 200 miles more to
travel by chinese carts, which was
new experience for the new mis-
sionaries in my company. Chinese
carts are very clumsy and hard to
ride in, and the progress is very SLOW
The first half day we made only two
miles. Sometimes one of the carts
upset in a mudhole and we had to
return to help it out and some times
a narrow place where the road was
in the bottom Of a deep draw only
wide enough for one cart. In such
places there would be danger of a
light between the men who met, as
none of them were willing to hitch
up to the back of their cart and pull
it back to a place where it would
be possible to pass each other. Our
cartsmen however never offered to
fight because they knew, that if they
only could get me up to the front.
there would be no trouble at all to
get those whom We met to pull back
To me this was sure sign of q
difference in the attitude toward us
to what it was before the revolu-
ton.
In one place heavy rain had des-
troyed the road so it was impossible
to proceed. We had to stay over for
q day, but at my request the magis-
trate ordered large company Of men
to 60 and fix the road, so as to make
it possible for us to proceed, which
to me was another sign Of a great
change in the attitude towards US.
As we entered the Shensi Province
q soldier upon hearing my name said
that they had been waiting for US
and had an escort ready for US. As
soon as our cartsmen had changed
axles on their carts we could pro-
coed. The carts used in Shensi are
wider between the wheels than those
used in the provinces east of Shensi,
50 all carts entered the Province of
Shensi from the east have to change
axles. In Honan the roads are un-
even, sometimes running through deep
cuts and up and down hills etc, but in
Shensi the remainder of the road,
about 100 miles ran along the river
bottom or the Wei river. which is
between the mountain range on the
south and the river on the north, are
several miles wide. AS the country
was quite peaceful at the time our
escort soon remarked that it was not
necessary for them to 60 with US,
and by taking over their papers
said they could return which they were
glad to do, because food was very
high along the road. The greatest
changes l have noticed in this Pro
vince is the changes in prices of every
thing. This is due 70 the unress here.
For several years there have beer
large armies of soldiers operating in
this province against each Other and
although there has not been war going
on the last year, these aralies has
been here continually levying for their
support in every conceivable way and
devouring the products until prices
has gone so high that prices at home
are nothing to compare with prices
here. The exchange of money being
a great factor in this comparison be-
tween the prices. When we reached
Sianfu early in September last year
the exchange was about $1.10 silver,
for 81 gold, but it went lower still
till about three months ago 81 gold
made only 73 cents in silver. One
Of the first things had to buy here
at Sianfu was Stats for bed, for
which l had to put up the sum of
S4.00 in silver being about 25 cents |
for each square foot of lumber or
s250.00 per 1000 feet. Food stuffs
are about 6 times as high as they
used to be when I was here before,
but owing to the exchange which
then was about 1920 to $3.50 silver
for 81 gold the difference in gold is