Show MISCELLANEOUS Written tor for this All f P Paper per pw CHINAS CHINA'S NEW RAILWAY CC Copyrighted C bT by rr Frank G Carpenter 1 1894 SHAN North China June 16 94 HE imperial ra railroad iI roa d has just been com com- completed completed completed to the borders of Manchuria and andI I A- A regular trains Tt were put on last week be- be between bel between B Blast l tween Tie Tien- Tien Tien-Jy Tien n- n Tsin and Shan Hi K Kwan wan This This This- last city is on the boundary between Manchuria Manchuria Man- Man Manchuria churia and mania a at t the point where the Chinese U down into the sea and you canJI can r K go to the great wall by train An of of laborers is at work pushing the t further toward the north and it is completed it will be about S long ions arid and will almost reach the thes a s p Siberian Si rian frontier frontier It will wil soine some time connect with the Siberian Si Siberian erian railroad which is be f QI built budt from to t and the trip from here hereto hereto to Berlin and Paris will be made by bya L For six years the trains have haves te 5 s running ning regularly between here 00 Tsin lien a distance of ninety nine i ninety ir und nd this new strip of road which hiI 1 been opened to traffic is of oj Jy the same length There are in I et today about zoo miles of road here herein in Ans active e- dve operation and there are seven seven- seventeen teen trains regular trains a day run run run- running ning- ning Upon this railroad It is is the only a i vid in China and it is of the great great- greatt great reat- reat est t in that it is the beginning tem of lines which will eventually eventually- eventually co r with a net and s- s sit it er this country as h may in its changes chan es revolutionize E tie e trader trade not only of this empire but of S rz Y w Itee-w ole world The Chinese are now r i ted rested in the subject of railroads as f nth h ha are a never been before They ini in- in i 10 develop their vast resources f us Id ves and I see their works in ine r e direction everywhere I go AtI At Ata Bes I visited the arsenal f a w i tl of these people make to Ta e gest of modern guns and where I Iy rf y I thi their ix it successful experiments in the a of steel rails with Chinese iron r iron 3 ine ese e coal They are now put- put up dip furnaces and rolling mills there r i of Wr A-Wr steel and their work work- 1 making hows that they are as expert ex ert m m as any people people in w in-w Vold rid At miles in t Ii prior or of ot China I found found seventy seventy- s r cr of ground covered with the for steel furnaces and car tai nd I wrote a letter on the top S blast furnace too feet high highs s like feet in diameter thing ing 50 in Tl n 1 yon which which you know is Li Li's ls l's s 's capital tapita ther there are arc hun of hun hun- hunes es of shops of various kinds f f 7 r rl l v t ci 4 and here at Tong Shang in the very heart of the northern part of the great plain there are thousands of men em employed em- em employed employed in making cars in mining coal and in the manufacture of coke Tong Shan with its many smoke stacks its piles of coal and its modern works looks in fact more like a suburb of Pittsburg than a city of North China and the faced black-faced miners with their long queues tied tightly about their heads seem out of place in the picture It is the center of the Kaiping coal coalmines coalmines coalmines mines of which I will write further on and also the junction at which the rail rail- railroad railroad railroad road of the Chinese Railway and Mining Company and the new Imperial railroad come together The road from Tien- Tien Tsin Tien-Tsin Tsin to this point was built by by a private stock company of which Li Hung Huog Chang is practically the head as he is of everything progressive progressive progressive sive in China The line Jine which has just been opened is being built by the gov gov- government government government and it is intended to aid the country in preventing the aggressions of Russia By it troops and supplies can be carried almost to the Russian fron fron- frontier frontier frontier tier going tor for something like five hun hun- hundred hundred hundred dred miles through the rich country of Manchuria and connecting most of the big cities of the Mongols with Tien- Tien Tsin Tien-Tsin Tsin An appropriation of two millions of dollars a year has been set aside forthe for forthe forthe the building of this road and though Iam I Iam Iam am told that this appropriation has been cut down this year on account of the money needed for tor the fireworks on the Empress Dowagers Dowager's birthday there is no doubt but that the road will be pushed onward and that it will be a great trunk line through the north eastern north north- northeast northeastern east eastern m part of the empire At the pres pres- present present elt ent writing the work of surveying the road and building the embankments is going on at a point fifty miles beyond the great wall and the road to the wall is as well built as the great trunk lines Jines of the United States Here Here- Heretofore Heretofore all the freight to the north has been carried on camels and the mule mule- mule litter litter has been the Chinese Pullman car I traveled over the new line on one of the first trains and I have had the best facilities to make a careful examination of lit it Iam I am with Gen John W Foster our Secretary ex-Secretary of State and Li Hung Chang has put at his disposal his vice vice- regal car Our trip to the great wall has been made on a special train and we are entertained here by the Chinese directors and by the foreign officials who have superintended the building of the road Such an excursion has never been possible in China before When Gen Grant visited Li Hung Chang there was not a line of track in operation and there were no signs of any for the future When Secretary Seward trav trav- traveled traveled traveled through the empire the country was even more backward and the re reception re- re reception reception which has been given Mr Foster has included many things which were impossible to Chinas China's famous guests of the past His trip to Peking for in- in instance instance in instance stance was made in the vicer viceroys viceroy's ys y's steam launch h He reviewed the troops of Li Hung Change Chang's Military School at Tsin Tien-Tsin Tien- Tien Tsin and saw them go through through the theand modern medem maneuvers rs of ofa a sh sham battle and his visit has been enlivened with serenades of our American national airs by Chinese brass bands The viceroys viceroy's private car has heretofore been reserved exclusively for lor his own use and the officials in charge are directed to allow no Mandarin or other person to take it An All sorts of ot excuses have been made to keep it out of the hands of the Chinese officials and andone one of the English officers of the works said to tome me today You cant can't imagine what a series of disasters has happened this car I venture it has had its broken times and its machinery has been out of order a thou thou- thousand thousand thousand sand times We first came over the road belong belong- belonging belonging belonging ing to the Chinese Railway and Mining Company This has been in operation for six years and it is I understand paying good dividends Its capital stock has been watered again in and again and there are undoubtedly many Chi Chi- Chinese Chinese Chinese nese squeezes connected with it Never Never- Nevertheless Nevertheless Nevertheless it pays a dividend to its stock stock- stockholders stockholders stockholders holders and though there was much corruption in its building it is said the road has been constructed as cheaply as as- as any railroad in America The statement was made to me that hat the lawyers fees fees in in America were more than the steal steal- steal steal-l ings of the Chinese directors and that the differences in the prices of labor labor- make it possible to build roads here cheaper than in any er country of the world Today it is found that they can make cars and engines in Tong Shan more cheaply than they can be imported from Europe and Mr Church Church- Churchward Churchward Churchward ward the man in charge of the locomotive locomotive locomotive tive works told me that if America would take off her tariff he could make make- engines and cars here and export them to the United States and make a fair profit the heavy freight charges All An of the cars on this Chinese road are built here They are are lighter than our cars and are more after the the English paterno They are made with higher higner wheels than ours the dia- dia diameter diameter dia diameter meter being 42 4 inches while the American railroad wheel is I believe only 33 inches These Chinese wheels cost more but the English engineers think they are cheaper in the end as they will last five times as long as our wheels without being returned It is wonderful that they can make the cars so cheaply as nearly all of the materials have to be imported The outside wood of all of the passenger coaches is o of Siamese teak the freight cars are sheathed with zinc zinc and the iron rails and the iron used in the making of the machinery of the road come from Europe Even the ties have to be im- im imported imported ported but with all this the road has been een solidly built It is of the regular standard gauge It is is ballasted with stone and the cars move over it as smoothly as they do over ver the Pennsyl Pennsyl- Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Pennsylvania vania road between New York and Washington The length of the line which I passed over is in fact tact nearly as long as the distance between New York and Washington and in my talk with the directors the Pennsylvania company was frequently mentioned and many of its latest improvements will probably be adopted here I saw saw in the car works works- samples from the Pennsylvania rail rail- railroads railroads rail railroads roads of lamps and other devices con con- connected connected con connected with car making and some of these will probably be adopted This Chinese railroad is far different in many respects from an American line There are two classes of cars cars the first and second and the second class second fares bring in the most profit to the country Only foreigners and a few of the big Chinese officials travel first class first and a mandarin and his retinue of from ten to fifty servants usually have passes The fares are I believe the cheapest in inthe inthe inthe the world The first-class first passenger tariff is less than two cents a mile in silver and the second-class second less than one cent a mile or less than half a cent centa a mile in our currency For a distance of thirty-one thirty miles the fare was twenty twenty- twenty seven seven silver cents or about fourteen Am American f can cents The tickets sold are of the same size and shape as our ordinary ordinary ordinary nary local tickets each being about as large as the smallest size of a gentle gentle- gentleman's gentleman's gentleman's mans man's calling card They are on yellow card board the color being that of the emperor and all connected with him and they are printed in both Chinese and English There are no mail cars and if the Chinese had their way they would run the freight and passenger cars in one train As it is there is an open car back of the he engine in which aU all sorts of baggage and freight are carried This is made in the shape of a pen with walls about four feet high and its contents are cattle baggage and freight On our train irain there were a pony and two donkeys in this car They were tied by their bridles to the iron rail which ran around its top and were surrounded by bags and boxes and bales of all sorts of goods The train all told consisted of about a dozen cars Back of this half half- half cattle cattle half baggage half baggage car was one con con- containing containing passengers and freight behind these a large laree number of second-class second coaches the car of ot the viceroy being 1 attached to the end of the regular train These second class s cars were well filled They were of half English and half American pattern each coach being as long as one of our passenger coaches but the seats running in in the same wayon wayon way wayon on the two sides of the car with an aisle between them Each car was divided by partitions running across it into three sections and in some of the cars one section was devoted to Chinese ladies who sat with the toes of their club feet resting on the floor in the solitary gran gran- deur leur grandeur of their paint powder and gorge gorge- gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous ous silk clothes In the mens men's compart compart- compartment compartment ment every seat was occupied and each passenger had his bed land and baggage piled up about him The seats were plain wooden benches with straight backs and were very uncomfortable Many of the passengers had their shoes off off and their gaudy pantaloons of wadded silk were tied about the ankles above their socks of white wadded cotton Some were smoking long long- stemmed long stemmed pipes with bowls no bigger than a thimble and others slept and snored There was only one first first class compartment In this the seats were well cushioned and it was as comfort comfort- comfortable comfortable comfortable able as any American passenger coach The occupants were a half dozen for for- foreigners foreigners for foreigners eigners going to Taku at the mouth of the river river to take the boat for Shanghai and a couple of richly dressed Chinese merchants The s stations all along the line are well wen built They are of one story painted white bitel and their platforms are of stone ston which run almost parral lei with the bed of the cars cars and below which the tracks are sunken They are comfortably comfort comfort- comfortably ably furnished urn ed in Chinese style with different rooms for the different classes 1 of passengers passengers and the people of every class gather about the stationS in the small towns of China just as they do inan in inan inan an American village There are sol sol- soldiers soldiers sol soldiers diers in their red and blue cotton uni- uni uniforms uniforms uni uniforms forms everywhere There are swell mandarins with servants bearin bearing their official caps with the feathers of rank sticking out at their backs There are coolies coolies carrying great loads on their shoulders and naked half-naked men and al- al altogether altogether al altogether I together naked children who stand and look at us the foreign devils in open open- openmouthed openmouthed open mouthed mouthed wonder Now and then they crowd us too closely when the guard makes assault upon them with his red club swinging it about as though it were a scythe or pounding them lustily over the heads with it and starting the hundreds into a screaming run to the rear A bell rings at every station be- be before before be before fore the car starts and the switches and signals are carefully managed No Chinaman is allowed to touch a switch without he is connected with the road and yesterday when the engineer saw a coolie coohe with his hands on the point of one he stopped the train jumped down and caught him He was dragged by his cue to our car and will come before the magistrate tomorrow When I saw him he was ghastly pale and was trembling trembling trembling ling all over He was probably a farmer who had seen a railroad f for r the first time and had no thought of injury to the track Still the sentiment against railroads among the peo people le is so great that the greatest caution is preserved and the least offense is punished punished with a good flogging across the bare thighs with a club of bamboo When this first railroad in China was built the company had to move very slowly in order to overcome if the opposition opposition f 1 T i- i iA A of the |