| Show MANCHURIA M A P station on the south manchurian Man churlin railway Pre prepared by the th national il society Bo cloty Was hitten D C T I 1 IS S nn an unusual year in which IT manchuria does docs riot not produce an upset in far eastern affairs in 1020 1929 there was friction between chinese and russians over the man argement of the chinese eastern rall rail way ft ay of northern manchuria friction that brought a threat of war now manchuria Is the scene of grave dlan biffi cuttles between japanese and chinese and again a railway Is at the bottom of the trouble this time it to Is the south manchuria rall railway way owned and operated by a japanese corporation in a struggle centering around the railroad property near mukden cap ital of manchuria both chinese and japanese lives have been lost the world has grown to expect excitement cit eft ement from manchuria tor for in t that a country as in egypt and mexico it seems that drama never dies from hereabouts before columbus was born rode a mongol horde to conquer asia and harass europe from here scaling the great wall which timid chinese had raised against them came giant danchus to oust the and found a new lew dyna dynasty sty at peking crossing the sea in clumsy junks 1200 years ago the same bold man chus took tiger lind leopard skins ermine and wild ginseng to trade with japan for silks and brocades brocaded bro cades later when the near world empire of kublal khan rolled from the yalu balu to the danube a mongol fleet of a thousand ships sailed against the shoguns shotguns sho guns only to be smashed by god cods s wind on the coast of kyushu here through turbulent years i ears three ancient empires met the bear the dragon and the rising sun their struggles shook the earth korea succumbed absorbed by the rising sun the he dragon mothered manchuria war mang mangled led the bear and to the nor north I 1 h rose an evanescent far eastern republic two great events yet in all its repertoire of high adventure political martial and economic two events loom largest in the stirring story of manchuria they sway not only the destiny of ancient manchuria itself but they affect the fortunes and the future of japan china and russia these events are the coming of the russian built railways and the immigration of millions of chinese farmers in the last three decades these forces railways and immigrants have bare jumped manchuria ahead by 1000 years moved her from a region of feudal lords bandits and nomad herdsmen to a land of huge trade and agriculture in many as pacts strangely like part of the amerlean american west so swiftly these changes have come that very often old and new still clash in oddly visual violence thus now across south Mane manchuria burin you may ride a crack smooth shiny and fast its as any limited oi or frisco flyer a solid train it Is of american pullmans drawn by a big baldwin locomotive made in philadelphia yet from its observation car you sou may see pen peasants ants pushing wheelbarrows with sails on them a type of vehicle old in china when confucius was a baby steam shovels made in milwaukee are moving mountains yankee tractors jerking a fleet of plows scurry across the virgin plains past walled hamlets where yellow men scratch garden patches with wooden hoes as oln OIL bible times I 1 developed by the railway As early as 1010 russia Ri iila of course had found her way to the amur by 1860 she had acquired the vast maritime province n v veritable empire stretching from the ussury river to the sea of japan and comprising on an area as big as mexico across this domain in the she was pushing he her r great trans siberian railway to at strike ri e the sen at vladivostok but as the map shows allows the original siberian road to reach vladivostok over ru rus s stan territory had to run a roundabout course along the amur valley and via six hundred miles would be saved if tile the russians could build directly from chita on tile the siberian road straight southeast across Man manchuria churla to rejoin the trans siberian system near on the heels beels then of her friendly gesture in 1695 1895 when russia aided china to regain the area lost to J japan at the bear asked the dragon for the right to build a rall rail way across manchuria and by bv agree ment signed september 8 ISTO 1810 that concession was granted from it flutes dates the rise of modern manchuria Manili urla abat line anil and that original branch of nf it now balled III alic south manchuria rall ballway way with tile the PeOn ninie illitia they cari INI ware ne to clr 11 rim r what the union pacific did for the american west like magic these new railways were to turn a wild thinly peopled nomad land into a modern canaan a granary of the east drawing new settlers at the rate of anywhere from to in a single year because of its conspicuous importance and its vast influence on migration industry and agriculture it Is worth north while to review the development of this railway and of its extension the south manchuria railway all over the civilized anorij orld newspaper readers know this famous line now as the chinese eastern railway by t the lie terms of the original agreement signed between china and the russo chinese bank later the russo asiatic bank it was to be a joint enterprise the czars azars engineers built it and the russians had charge of its shops maintenance and technical operations erat ions lons but chinese were supposed to share equally with russian directors in its lt general management when completed in june 1903 it had cost in excess of of tills this cost china supplied about and shared proportionately in its profits towns owns became became busy cities when finished the main line of the chinese eastern ran from its terminus at matchull Man chull one the northwest border of manchuria to Ich naya on the eastern boundary from harbin now a busy important city and then a mere fishing village on the river a branch una line was dropped south to dalny dainy now dairen on the day bay of korea most of this section or that part from changchun south to dairen Is now known as the south manchurian Manc hurlan railway rall nay dalny was v as literally a magic city built quickly by imperial command I 1 it t was the talk of the par far east on ill this s b barren arren then empty point of rocks engineers architects and workers of the czar car spent millions of rubles to build wharves streets business blocks and houses for a population yet to come A magnificent vision that the vision of a great seaport terminus of a mile railway tying europe to the orient now how observers laug laughed ped at this amazing spectacle vast aaa train trainloads loads of tools food tents work animals scrapers and building material being dumped on a rocky shore of faraway asia to build a city where there were no people yet today dalny dairen Is the second or third most important seaport on all the china coast I 1 in manchuria something Is always happening I 1 it happened again in 1001 when japan fought russia one saw the holes in the armored sides of escaping russian battleships holes big enough to lead cows through holes made by bogos guns in strait port arthur the impregnable fell ancient mukden echoed and shook under the heaviest gunfire asla asia had ever known kuropatkin Kuro lost and president roosevelt mediated in the peace conference at portsmouth N n russia ceded to japan her lease on the Llao Liao tung peninsula and possession on tile the south Man manchuria churla railway as far north as changchun china confirmed this and later extended japans lease for a period of 99 09 years but in manchuria drama never neer dies tragedy stark and terrible stalked across the east when imperial russia collapsed refugees by the thousands fleeing the horrors of postwar political chaos in siberia came east to beg borrow or starve in neutral manchurian towns tons after dussias Rus sias collapse in this chaos the allies took over the operation of the chinese eastern railway r from rom their base at vladivostok they needed it to move men and supplies an american engineer famous for hla his work on the panama canal was in charge later the newly formed soviet government took im dussias Rus sias old place as partner with the chinese in 1824 1924 by a new treaty china enjoyed an equal sharp share with the soviets in the profits of the railway it was agreed too that china should govern the railway zone inhabited now by many thousands of whites and that each nation in the compact should refrain from propaganda against the others social and political systems that stripped of details Is the brief story of the now famous chinese eastern railway up to june 11 1029 1929 when it was seized by the chinese its itus russian sian personnel arrested causing thouds 1 of war once more to loom over this stige stage st ige of so BO many historic alej this threat of war var was later primed when chenee and russians lintn nErl Pl to a joint management of the rall railway way |
