The Ely miner., 1929-09-06

lowered and tOrtuously curved gate
way in the wall of the Chinese city.
Uneasy smells increase into a distinct
malodOrous certainty. One-stOried
gray brick, gray tiled houses line
deeply rutted roadway. Blue cotton
Clothes are worn with the mOnOtony
of uniforms. Cheerful, unwashed yell
low faces flow past in continuous
streams. Perpetual and strfdent bar
gaining fills the air. Coal balls, sweet
cakes, fly swatters and boiling tea wa
ter are hawked with shrill cries and
ringing bells.
Given Up to Trade.
Such is the ancient Manchu capital
from which the dynastic throne was
moved to Peiping in the Seventeenth
century, after the Manchu conquest Of
China. The huge palace of the sue
cessors of Genghis Khan still DOM
mates the city with its gaudy emptf-
ness, and tombs of Manchu rulers
with columned halls and curving ewes
brood in lonely magnificence in for
ests outside the city walls.
These few heirlooms from his
toric past lie like soiled jewels in the
mud-colOred monotony of dirty COM
mercial city. Modern Mukden is Who'll
ly absorbed in trade. Lying in the
center of rich agricultural plain, it
forms the meeting point of two great
railway systems. One, running east
and west, connects Tokyo and Chosen
(KOrea) with Peiping; the other north
and south joins Port Arthur and
Dairen to the Trans Siberian railway.
A monument to its commercial i'm
portance as we'll as to fallen soldiers
is the modest war memorial of the
japanese heroes who fell in the his
toric battle of Mukden during the
Russo-Japanese war.
Although in the same latitude as
Chicago and Boston, Mukden has
rather severe climate of the so-called
continental" type. Winters are long
and cold; summers short but torrid.
The hot season, however, ripens sur
rounding miles of beans and giant
sorghum, making Mukden the bean
cake and bean oil market as well as
the alcohol distilling center of North
China. Cold winters bring a season
of intense activity in the fur market.
Buyers from the New York fur houses
bargain with traders from the North
for all sizes and grades Of skins from
dog to marten and from Siberian
squirrel to Manchurian tiger.
Surrounding coal mines furnish
abundant supplies for a bustling rail-
way center. On the other hand water
is comparatively scarce for large
part of the year. The relative dispro-
portion between these two elements Is
probably responsible for the grimy
complexion of Manchuria's somber but
seething capital.
Land of the Soy Bean.
Manchuria, like new England IS the
land of the bean, this time the soy
bean. Beans, bean oil, and bean cake,
or leavings from the oil presses, are
chief exports.
The soy beams rise from obscurity,
only 20 years ago, to its present inn
merce. Today its products, manufac-
tured by the wholesale at Mukden, are
shipped all over the world. Not only
does the soy bean provide a sauce
which is the worcestershire of China,
but it also masquerades as cheese,
candy, fertilizer, flour, and oil for
lighting and lubricatihg.
The japanese use it widely as the
basis of confectionery. In this form
it is highly palatable and the Japanese
consider their candies and pastries
more wholesome than ours-indeed
they are appalled, by the quantity Of
sugar which Americans consume.
Dairen, just north of Port Arthur,
on the Liaotung peninsula, exported
in one year nearly 10000 tons Of bean
oil, and most of this came direct to
the United States. Many of the ulti-
mate consumers thereof probably were
no more aware that soy bean oil was
the basis of delicious mayOnnaise
dressing than that hair-seal oil was an
important Ingredient of the bonbons
they ate after dinner.
The region generally referred to as
Manchuria really comprises three
provinces Of China, which are Tsitsik-
har Kirin and Liaotung. The latter,
which also is known as ShingKing or
Fengtien, is the most southerly and
gives it's name to the peninsula where
Port Arthur and the japanese reser-
vation are located. 1t was here that
the encroachments of Russia, in 1898,
brought on her war with Japan.
Chinese in Manchuria are, as rule,
not native sons. They have immigrat-
ed hither from all parts of China,
driven from their homes by war and
famine The recent shortage of food
and political turmoil in Shantung have
sent millions of farmers and laborers
from that province alone.