Evening star., 1928-04-01
AUTO FAST BECOMING POPULAR
AMONG FAR EASTERN NATIONS
American Motor Cars Rapidly Replacing
Ancient Modes of Travel in Cities,
Deserts and Mountains.

Mongolia, Turkestan, Tibet, or other
adjacent countries. The change that al
ready is well under way Is illustrated
by the trip of an American consul last
year from Kalgan TO peking.
Because OF the civil war in China
the consulate at, Kalgan, which il to
the west of Peking, beyond the great
wall. was to be closed. The consul
packed his valuables into a truck and
the trip was made back to Peking over
the camel route. The worst stretch
was through the famous Nankow Pass
This pass through the mountains Is
wild and rugged, the ravine narrow
ing at times to the width Of a motor
car. with great rocks scattered about
the right Of way. Camels can pick
their way through the boulders. Camels
have done this for thousands Of years
as 1t is the entrance to China from
the direction Of India, Russia and
Europe. The consul and his car got
through-with joltings and exertions
that made it narrowing experience.
Motor Road Assured.
The route, however, in a few years
will be an easy motor road, for some
Chinese ruler will have the rocks re-
moved from the Nankow Pass, and then
motor travel will be commonplace. In
all the past centuries it was easier for
camel to walk around a boulder than
TO remove Ii.
Visitors who want to see the great
wall, which is about as miles from
Peking at the point commonly visited.
formerly had an exl1austing trip on a
railroad and by burro. horse or camel.
Now 1t is possible to take an auto
mobile In Peking and ride almost TO the
Nankow Pass In fan comfort A short
train trip Of perhaps a dozen miles
finishes the journey. Self f-indulgent
tourists sometimes take sedan chairs or
a burro or pony to save themselves
some rough walking, but 1t Is not
necessary
China Is building motor roads In
spite Of all the warfare in the country.
In Shanghai Tientsin and other CITIES
where many foreigners live the motor
car Is everywhere. and trafic police
men keep the mass of cars, jinrickshas
carts and other vehicles moving with
skill and authority In Manchuria.
where order has been better preserved
development Of roads Is proceedire
apace.
Auto Market Growing.
The market for cars in these coun
| tries Is considerable now-for instanc,
in Singapore. the center of the rubber.
producing area In the Far East, there
are more than 10000 automobiles-anr'
| VIII become larger as peace settles
down upon the countries and roads arc
opened to remote interior points: In
Manila the old Spanish horse-dravr
victorias so common when the Ameri-
cans arrived in 1898. and thereafter for
/ many years. are losing caste before the
motor car invasion. It is the SANE
story everywhere Of quickening tn.
| pace Of the East, which so often has
been said to defy time
The elephant carrier of Siam and
India is feeling the competition no less
than the camel. jinricksha, burro and
morse. Moreover, the cheapness of la
Dor in the East has made man himself
| a burden bearer of almost incredible
loads over long distances. The automo-
bile Is relieving the human carrier ss
well as the animal How long the
camel may survive Is an interesting
speculation. That IT. may become as
rare as the buffalo in America Is not
as far-fetched an assumption as il
would have appeared TO be before the
advent OF the motor car. The saving
goes that "one touch Of nature makes
the whole world kim 1t may become
the automobile makes the whole world
kim"