Evening star., 1922-01-19
ALLIED OPERATION
| OF RAILWAY LIKELY
Arms Committee. Considering
Continuation Of Technical
Board for Chinese Road.
BY JUNIUs b. WOOD.

Continuation of the inter-allied
technical board which has operated
the Chinese eastern railroad since
March, 1919. is the. salient feature of
the plan which a conference Of the
technical subcommittee on far east
ern railways is working out. A new
agreement will be necessary. as the
present organization, of which John
F. Stevens is chairman. would auto
maticslly terminate If the Japanese
expedition evacuates Vladivostok.
The creation of a railroad militia
force under inter-allied command to
guard the LOO miles of railroad from
OF Manchuria Is an innovation in the
plan.
The Chinese Eastern, by it's connec-
tion with the Ussuri railroad. links
vladivostok, the sole remaining open
door into Asia north of Shanghai
Manchuria. It is Russian built and
owned. though it appears as part
Of the Chinese agenda. Chairman
Hughes emphasized its importance to
the future Of that portion Of the far
cast when he brought it before the
owner Of the road. Is not represented
en- the subcommittee in the confer
ence. but does have representative
on the technical board and will con-
tinue to. have one.
Controlled by Japanese.
| At present one Japanese expedi.
ton at V1adivostok controls the rail
route into Siberia. Another Japanese
expedition in the Sakhalin district
controls the water. route of the Amur
river The Chinese eastern is a link
in the trans-Siberian route. stretch
from Vladivostok to Petrograd.
Another longer route. entirely within
Russian territory, runs north from
Vladivostok to Khabarofsk. where it
turns west. paralleling the Amur un-
til 1t connects with the trans-Siber-
Russian railroads are not to be con-
sidered until Siberia is reached by
the conference, even though the
Chinese Eastern is part of the ,sys-
TEN.
Russia, China, France. Great Britain,
Japan and the United States each have
a representative on the interallied tech
nical board. 1t was created at the time
OF the allied assistance to Kolchak. when
a corps Of American railroad engineers.
was enlisted and sent to Siberia to
operate all lines east Of Tomsk- With
the exception of half a dozen assisting
Mr.. Stevens in executive positions. they
committee also is included in the present
arrangement. though for some time 1t
has been merely perfunctory. consisting
Of the Vladivostok consuls of the six
nations.
Two Nations Want Road.
Mr. Stevens and Charles H. Smith.
the former American representative
on the committee, are in Washington
now. Japan and China both want the
road The former Is Wiling to ad-
vance sufficient cash to secure con-
troll and the latter wants to annul
the treaty granting Russia a right Of
way which does not expire until 1885.
with an option by which China may
purchase in 1871. At the time the
road was opened in 1905 that portion Of
Manchuria was uninhabited. except
for a struggling Chinese village at
Harbin. Russia was given strip
varying from three to ten miles in
width on terms that it and all, i'm
provements should revert to China in
eighty-one years.
Japan hae long wanted the road.
Commercially it is serious competi-
tor through vIadivostok with the Jap
anese-owned South Manchurian rail-
road. whose terminus is Dairen. Con-
troll of the Chinese Eastern would
make Japan economically supreme In
north Manchuria and eastern Inner
Mongolia. 1t would also serve a mill
tary purpose. and for years there has
been a demand that the extra wide
Russian gauge of the branch south
from Harbin to Changchun be chang
ed to the standard gauge of the South
Manchurian.
French Large Stockholders.
The former Russian imperial gov
ernment furnished the cash to build
the road through the Russo-Asiatic
Bank. 50 per cent Of whose stockhold-
ers are French.
AS the road paid all the expenses of
schools, churches, police, soldiers and
courts In the long. narrow zone, 1t
never was a money maker. 1t was
typical of Russian paterna1isnl fur
nishing houses for its employees, clubs
and parks and even business blocks
where retired pensioners were given
Offices or storerooms at nominal rents.
About 100000 Russians live in the
railroad zone. They we're under Rus
sian laws and Russian officials. AS
soon as China abolished extraterri-
toriality for Russians. Chinese off,
cials took charge and Chinese troops
from three provinces were stationed
in the zone. Their protection of the
Inhabitants and the railroad property
from bandits was uncertain, while
the outrages inflicted on the white
residents and damage done were con-
siderable.
Copyright. 1921