Show n n Chinas New Railway All About tho Imperial Road Which Is Doing Rapidly Built Toward tho Russian Frontier = = = Jl llai Already KettkeJ He Great allA lip Over He AVs Line III 1M iKfmri J Caf olden the Ked aid III rtuifnienllltta CMrM Can laU Can and SAp rktm to Amenta al a haft the CAeafett Car SAc l aHe Vnntne and Ike Cteafeil raniWages of CMneti Kattread Mtn Intlnteti al SJ a JltMtt and 1 > atk lliniti at iirM Amittean Cenlt i a nSUrflary Iotter in China and Hit UonJtrul Keceflion by lie CUnete tc41 farrtenan I fta Nawa l Co laLisa by I r uk U CUIltr ITo W 1 I-To uSof North China June 16 91 lII > lmlcrlnl t rorft railroad hut t J hu-t jU1 bun com aft pleled lu the t1 ti borden 01 I l Manchula and s Pb c r to regular lr ales 1 were r tat 011 j last leek be J lween Tlell I I I TIIIIIIIIlI Shall Iii won This last city b I on c = J the boundary blwun Mall 1 I j chllrla and China at the point where the Chinese wall juts down Into the tea anti you call now go to the great wall by train An army of laborers sat work pushing the road further toward the north and when It If completed I It wilt be about lIi I 500 miles I long I and will almost I reach tie I Ruulan Siberian frontier It will pruli ably at tome time connect with the great Tram Siberian railroad whlli If now being built front Vladivottock to 1clersburg and the Dip from hereto here-to Ilerlin and lane I will bo made by land For I six yearn the trains have been running regularly between here and TienT a distance nl ninety nine miles and this new strip ol road which hal now been opened to traffic Is of neatly the same length There are In fact today about not miles of road hereIn here-In active operation and there arc seventeen seven-teen trains regular trains a day running I I run-ning upon this railroad It If the only railroad In China and It Is I of the great cit Interest In that It Is I the beginning of system of lines which will eventually cover this country as with a net and which may In Its changes revolullonlie the trade not only of this empire but of the whole world The Chinese are now Interested In the subject of railroads 0 = = I they are never been before They intend I In-tend to develop I their vast resources themselves I ands I ice their works in this direction everywhere h1 go Al I Shanghai I 1 visited the Klagnan 1 arsenal where thousands of these people make the Uncut ol modern glint and where I i I I SAW theIr iuccesslul experiments In the I making ol sleet rails with Chinese Iron I and Chinese coal They are now putting put-ting up furnaces and rolling mills Inert for the making of steel and their woik mamlilp shows that they are at expert In men manufacture as any people In the world Al Hankow iSO miles In the Interior of China I found seventy I I five acres of ground covered with the prepi rations for fleel furnices and car works and 1 wrote letter on the top ol lo H steel blast furnace loo feet big I sand s-and something like jo feet Inillimetir At flcn Tsln uhich you know Is LI Hung Changs capital there lire hundreds hun-dreds ol acres of shops ol various kinds and here at long Sham In the very la heart ol the northern put of the great plain there are thousands ol men cm plo ed I In making can inc mining coal and In the manufacture of coke Cong Shan will Its many smoke slicks Its files ol coil and Its modern works Inlet I In inch eII II like n trk of j Pillsbury than n city of North China and HID black faced miners with their long iiieues jce tightly about their heads seem out of place In the picture I It It Ihe center ol the Kalplng I coalmines coal-mines 01 which I will wrlle further on and nlio the junction at which the railroad rail-road of Ihe Chinese hallway and Mining 1 Company and the new Imperial railroad i come together I The road from 1 len Tsln to this points fJdb Lo l I was built by a private stuck company ol which II I lung Chang Is practically I the head unite heel everything progressive I progres-sive In China The line which has josh been opened Is being built by the goy I nrlenl and It in I Intended to aid Ihe I couni y In preventing Ihe aggressions of I Russia Ily It troops and supplies can be carried almost to the Russian frontier fron-tier coin lot I something like live hundred I hun-dred miles through time rich country of Manchuiia and connecting most ol the big cities of the Mongols w ith Tien I 5ncltrn ci lIfil lan An appropriation i of two millions of dollars a year has been set aside lor the building of this rorJ and though lam j l-am told that this appropriation has been cut down this year on account of the money needed for the fireworks on Ihe 1 mpicss Dowagers blrthda there Is I no doubt but that the road will be puihed onward anl that It will be a great trunk line through the nonh eastern part ol the empire At Ilhe pres ml writing the work of surveying Ihe road and liulldmg the embankments Is I going on at n point nbont fifty miles elnd eond l the great wn I and the road to the wall Is at will built as the great Wlahe trunk lines of the Unnid States Here I lulore nil the freight to the north has been carried on camels and the mule Ulteftias been the Chinese Pullman car traveled I over the new line on one 01 the first train and I have 1 Imd the best fjcil lies to make a careful examination ol It I am with Gen John W foster our ex Secretary of Stale and LI Hung Clung has put at his disposal his vice I regal car Our trip to Ihe great wall his beets made on a sped train and we are enter neenl here by the Chinese directors I and by the foreign olhclils I who cl hive superintended the building l of site road Such an excursion has never lumen posilble In China before When den trint visited Jl1I1I1I1 Chang there wn not a line uf track In operation and there were no signs ol any for the future When Secretary Seward traveled trav-eled through Iho empire the country was even more backward and the re cepllon which has 1 been given Mr J oster has Included many things which I were i Impossible I to Chi L f nous gucsU of I rite pair 1 Ills trip lo Peking for Instance In-stance was made In the s Iceruya steam launch He l reviewed Ihe troops of 11 Hung Chang MillnryHchool at lien lulu and taw them LO through the II modern maneuvers of a sham battle h and his visit his been enlivened wllh serenades ol our American national airs by Chinese brass bands Die viceroys private car has heretofore been reserved exclusively lor his own rae and the olhclals In charge arc din led to allow I no Mandarin or other parson to lake hAll h-All torts ot excutes have been made lo keep II out of the hands of the Chinese ofliclalt and one of Ihe English officers I of the works said In me today You rm Inke ree disasters cant Imagine what a series of disasters hs happened this car I venture It has had Its suds broken yin limes and Its I machinery has been out of order a thousand thou-sand times I We first c me over the road belong hug lo the Chinese Railway and Mining Company lilt 1 has been In operation ion sun I ears and It I It I understand paving good Jn divldenea l In capital 1 attack has been watered agilnand again I and there arc undoubtedly many Chi nesc tiiucciesconnected I with II Nevertheless Never-theless it paiiadlvlduid I to Its stockholders stock-holders and l though Ihere was much corruption In its building It Is said the road has been constructed as cheaply us any railroad In America The statement was made to me that the lalyolI fees In Amcilca were more than the steal lugs of the Chinese directors and that the ihflerencts In the prices of labor nuke It possible to build I roads here cheaper I than m any ot er country I ol the world Today Ills found that they I can make cars and engines In Tong Shan more cheaply I than they can be Imported from 1urope and Mr Church ward the man In charge of the locomo live works told me thai If America would lake oft her tariff he could make engines and cars here and export them lo the felled I Stales and make a lair I profit nmwithillinding Ihe heavy freight charges All ol the cars on thin Chinese I road are built I here They are lighter t eto edl than our tars and are more after the the I nghsli pnern They are nu le with I higher I wheels than ours the duo I teeter being J Ii inches while the American rallroid wheel I Is I helleie only t1 Inches These Chinese vvheeU I coat mure but the Tnghsh engine en think they are cheaper In the endas they will Inst l live times as long as our wheeN without being returned It is I wonderful that Ihey can mike lie cane I can-e o cheaply as nearly all of shin materials t have to be Imported I I The outside wood ol all of thin passenger coaches t 1 + of Siamese teak the freight cars are I sheathed w illume mid the Iron rails and the Iron used In shun making of Im machinery of the road come from I uropc Even the tie have to he Imported Im-ported but with all this Ihe road hit been solidly built It It I ol the regular standard gauge It Is i ballasted with stone unit the cars move over It at smoothly as they do I over the lenm I vanli road bunccn New Turk and 1 Washington i over length of the Inn I which 1 1 passed over It in fact nearly as lush as the distance bel cen Sew lock and Washington and In my talk sills the directors the Pennsylvania company was frequently 1 mentioned and many ol its latest Improvements will probably be I adopted here I saw In the car works samples Irom the Pennsylvania f railroads rail-roads of tamps I and I other dev lies I connected con-nected with car making and some of these will probably be adopted I This Chinese rallroid Is I far different In many respects Irons an American line lucre are two classes of cart Ihe I first and second and the sccondctaM fires bring In the most troth I lo Ihe I country Uuly foreigners and a few of the big Chinese officials travel hint claw and a mandarin and his rclmuu ol I Iron I len to fifty servants Usually have passes The fare arc 1 believe the cheapest In the world The first clat passenger tariff Is less than IMO cents a mile In silver and the second class lets than one cent a mile 1 or less than half I a cent I a mile In our currency For I n distance of thirty one miles Ihe fare was twenty seven silver cents or about fourteen American cents The tickets sod are I of the same site and shape as our ordinary ordi-nary local tickets each being about as large as the smallest site of a gentleman gentle-man S calling card They ore on yellow r orT UI card board the color being a thai of the emperor and all connected with him ants they are printed in both Chinese ootmail and ngllth I There are no mall cars and lII tha Chinese had their way they would run the freight and passenger I cars In one train As It Is there Is I an open car back of Ihe engine HI which all sorts ol baggage and freight are carried This is nude In the I shape of a pen with walls about lour lect high I Ji Its contents are cattle baggage and freight On our train there were a pony 1 and 1 rata donkeys In tliil car They were tied by their bridles to the Iron rail which ran around Its lop and were surrounded bj bags boles and bales ol all sorts ol I goods The train all told consisted of about a doien cars Hack of Hilt half cattle half baggage car was one con talnlng passengers and freight behlui these a large number ol second class coaches the car ol lie viceroy being attached the end of the regular tmln These second cla scan were well filled They were of half English and half American pattern ease coach being as long at one ol our passenger COd nn but the Seats running in the name way on the two side ul the car with an aisle between them 1 sch car was divided by partitions running across it Into three sections and In somi ol Ihe cars one section wit devoted lu Chinese ladles who sal with the toes of Ihelr club feet resting on the floor In the solitary grandeur gran-deur of their paint powder and gorge out silk clothes In the mens comparl men every seat was occupied and each panenger 1 had I Ili I a bed hinds baggage piled hind-s up about him The seats were plain woolen benches with straight I lucks and were very uncomfortable Many of Ihe pjisengert had their shoes I oil and their gaudy pantaloons of I nodded silk were tied about the ankles above their socks of while wadded I I I cotton Some were smoking lal lunge lung-e lemmed Ipes wills I owls no l bigger I I I than a Humble and others slept and I i snored them was only I one first class I cumvlrtmene W the compartment In this the I seat were Nmil cuhlune l and It was at cotnforl I I able us any Ameilcau passenger coach The occupants wire a half dozen foreigners I for-eigners going la rake at the mouth of tile Pelno river lo lake Ihe boat t for shanghai and a couple of richly I dressed Chinese merchants The station all along the line are well built They are of sumo story painted white and Ihelr plilfurms are of atone widen I run almost parrallel w Ith the bed of she cars and below w hlch the tracks are sunkin they arc comiort ably furnished In Chinese style with ile frIrn different rooms for the different classes of passengers and the people of every class gather about the italic s In the small totviis of China just as they do In an American village There are sol slier In their red and blue cotton uniforms uni-forms everywhere There are swell mandarins with servants bearing their ofhclal caps with the leathers of rank sticking out at Ihelr backs There are coolies carrlng great loads on their shoulders r and half rl naked al men and I altogether al-together naked children who stand and look at us Ihe foreign devils In openmouthed open-mouthed wonder Now and then they crowd us too closely when the gaatQ makes assault upon them with his l red club swinging It about 11I though It were a tcyine or pounding them lustily over Ihe brads with It and slatting the hundreds Into a screaming run to Ihe rear A bell rings at every station before be-fore the car slant and the twitches and signals are carclully managed No Chinaman It allowed lo touch II switch Without he Is I connected with Ihe road and yesterday when I the engineer saw a coolie with Ills hands on the faint r of one he slopped the train jumped down and caught him He I WA draped by hit cue to our car and will come before the magistrate tomorrow When I taw him he wat ghaillv pale I and was Iremb ling all over He l was probably 1 a farmer who had teen a railroad for all dm lime and hAd no thought ol Injury lathe la-the track hull the tuillment against railroads among the people Is I so great that the greatest caution is preserved soil Ihe least olfertie Is punls led with a good Hogging across the bare thighs with a cluo of bamboo When this lint railroad In China was built the company had to move very slowly Jr order to overcome the oppo union I of the people Vj Is hard lo under Rand the real 1 power of the mattes In this country t The government seems to be nutocnillc but there Is I no place where the voice of the people has more weight and 1 China Is to a Uric extent ol le democratic The country r It 1 divided up Into I clauses and the power of orgnnln lion Is I well atomi Every trade from the beggar to the banker has Us union and when the line was but I I planned the carters guild I made a great outcry against nera This f kept It back for some time and the mining company dug a canal at a cost of halt a million doll us along Ihe line ol the railroad and for Mine yeA a hauled their cost lo the sea In barges by means of steam tugs They Ynr r rl IIIZ next built I n road I for cars to be pulled by mules making It strong enough for heavy engines and gradually put on I cars and locomotives inaJ thin lint I locomotive I loco-motive I used was one made at the works here and called The Rocket of Cnln It was patched l out of old pieces ol I Iron and machinery gathered from Jitler enl parts I of the country the I Ixiilcr I was I hat of stationary engine which had been Imported years before insets Inl 1 land The wheels were American and other pant ul It were stray pieces Iron dlllerent rp seta of I urope I MW Hilt engine in Ihe shop here aamett1ar I It 1 It I kept us a curiosity but It hat tarried trclght cars for more than loo ono miles and did the whole work of the line for one > ear When Ihe road was hint built no freight was rained except the coal belonging to the company In order to keels the carters lill a good humor but now all classes of goods are taken and the freight rates between lien Itln an1 I fong Shan a distance of nearly loo miles are eight and one hall American cent a plcul of lu pounds for Tint cl its freight and hall that for second freight Another Instance of the power of the people hi China was seen when the road was extended from the seacoast at rung Ku I wheio It first slopped lol len T ln It came uti on thin opposite I side of the Ill Jr n river and U I ult Chang naturally wanted It to tco right Into the city uf rienltin A bridge was begun and a vast amount of money was spent In the sinking ol the foundation and In Importing Im-porting Ihe iron work When the tlruc turn was almost completed boatmei who carry on a tralhc up and down the Ieihoorganited a movement agahut It and their voice was to strong Hut I lung I Chang directed Hut the work le Mopped and the station be placed on I J11 the other tide I ot the river and there li remains today a monument of the power of the masses In China You can almost throw a stone Across the river at thl point and If ou sill Imagine I a clly ol the i size of l 1 hlladelj hla IIIIIIIC trade jountlng loperhaps hundred millions of dollars a year c nnectcd by the seacoast i sea-coast with only one railroad and bordered bor-dered on one Hue by a river not as wide I as the bchuvlklll separated from Us I railroad station by Hie snake of a lot of I American cab drivers you will get the situation of Tien Itln with regard tolls railroad station the viceroy hat to travel three milt from hit olliclil palace to thin depot and when 1 took HID train yesterday I was hauled In ajlnrlkiha lo the ferry and after crossing the liver my baggage had lo be carried by coolies i several blocks before the nation was reached In Ihe building ol the new railroad I < however Ihere hat been much lets I = < ouble Tin Chinese respect the ed cts h I of the emperor and hula Is an Imperial road If the government at eking I r i should decide to build roads nil over China there would be no t trouble In their ronstrncilon and the wagtt and 1 7 labor are such that they could be laid and equipped more cheaply here than hi any other part of the world Ordinary Ordi-nary coolie labor emit about eight American cents a day and the farm I wages In this pun of Ch na are about four of our cents for len r hours work The brakemen on the t trains get six silver dollars or not much mure than three American dollars a month at w lies firemen receive from AVI to len dollars m silver and engineers get from I eight lo thirty American do l n month I The best engineer and the hut wtrk r I men come from slit south ol China and I these receive the hlghet saga Cue Cantonese engineers start In at thirty i silver dollars and they can else In nine r I years II they are good workmen at high 4 fA nh I as sixty dollars a m tan i h but they cannot make more than HIM Northern men begin all I f and cm rite lo Jjs a month These wages are for sixty hours a week anvthlng over that being paid for at the I rale of 15 cents an hour Conductors I receive less than the engineers and certain cer-tain classes of workmen get two Sundays Sun-days oil In each month as holldiys In ofditta I ordinary labor Ihere are no holidays In China and Ihe contractor expects hit I hands lo work Sunday and every day except a week or ao at the Chinese new ear In the works here there are a J large number of blacksmiths carpenters and miners enllo red Tile northern carpenters get from five lo eight silver dollars a month and Canton carpenters I receive Irons 1 twenty to thirty dollars a W month Illacktmltht get all r the 1 way Irom five to forty silver dollars month I and Ihe wages of miners are eighteen cents a day At such wages skilled men can be gotten by the thousands In ynl part of Cnlna and the building ol it railroads Is I merely a mailer of decision on the part of the government that Ihey mil be built anti of Ihe little time and comparatively little money required to i make them In my next letter I shall i 4 eHI show something T what tin Chinese I have done In the building of the great wall and how with Ills rudest ol machinery ma-chinery they can accomplish Ihe great eat of undertakings CFonI < I 11 In i 1 1 I |