OCR Text |
Show UCAN5T0 LOAN HUGE SOI TO CELESTIALS Total Railroad Mileage of China to Increase Fifty Per Cent as a Result. WASHINGTON, Oct. 2. Details of tbe proposed new American $00, 000,000 loan for railroad construction in China, twice the size of any previous similar loan and arranged with a view to increasing- the republic's total railroad mileage by 50 per cent, were disclosed in detail here today by David S. Bose, counsel for the American interests, after the publication of dispatches from Peking Pe-king indicating conclusion of the agreement. agree-ment. Mr. Rose was present during most of the negotiations and drew up the contract con-tract which now hag been signed. Under the agreement, Mr. .Rose said, the Siems-Carey company of St. Paul, Minn., contracts to construct as soon as possible, with money furnished .by the American International corporation, luOO miles of railroad through the richest rich-est sections of China and obtains an optional op-tional contract to build another 1500 miles later. China at present has but 6000 miles of railroad in the whole empire. ISTo official information has reached the state department or interested diplo- ; mats concerning the arrangement. i Treaties Not Affected. Officials of the department say, however, how-ever, that the loan and contract" probably proba-bly would not conflict in any way with the new J apauese-Chinese "treaty and there apparently is no disposition in ; diplomatic quarters to believe that i Japan or Great Britain would undertake i to interfere. Estimating the cost per mile at $40,-000 $40,-000 completely equipped, the Siems-Carev Siems-Carev contract calls for an expenditure of $(50,000,000, with the possibility of doubling that amount if the option is tali en up. The largest previous loan in China's history was the Hukuang loan of 1911 by German, British, French and American bankers, totaling about $J0 -000,000. j Lines Not Specified. j Negotiations for the new project were; started last -May during the visit in China of W. F. Carey. Agreement virtually vir-tually was reached through Tsao Juli-ang, Juli-ang, the minister of commerce, just be-; fore the death of President Yuan Shi: Kai. Late in May Mr. Carey returned j to this country and during July com-' pleted arrangements for the financing! of the undertaking through the American Ameri-can International corporation in New York. The contract does not call for any specific location for the new lines, but leaves that open to later discussion. Peking Pe-king advices, however, suggest that they are to be built largely through the rich mineral and mining provinces of Shcnsi, Kansu, Hunan, Kwangsi, Kwangtung and Cheluang, which are largely in the British and French spheres of influence in China. "Engineers already are at work and orders are expected very shortly short-ly in this country for construction materials. ma-terials. The loan is to be secured by the property prop-erty in the road itself and not by any j concessions or government guarantees, i Surprise over the announcement of j such a. tremendous project was expressed hpre, for the recent failure of a $.'10,-000,000 $.'10,-000,000 loan to the Chinese government because American financiers could get better terms abroad seemed to show i apathy among bankers here toward de- j velopment in China. I Moreover, ever since President Wil-! Wil-! son 's announcement at the .beginning of his administration that the terms of the so-called six-power loan jeopardized the integrity of China, causing the American Ameri-can group to retire, Chini.'se influences have sought in vain to float a loan in the United States. |