In style of construction. Chinese railways are a compromise between European and American. lines. The only double-track line is that between Tientsin and Peking. The track is of the American type; the locomotives are partly American and partly English; and the cars, both passenger and freight, are an adaptation of both American and English patterns. A Chinaman hates to be separated from his baggage, and so the second-class passengers are carried in open cars resembling an American coal-car, with all the baggage of the passengers distributed around them. Mr. Parsons says that whatever opposition has come to railway construction in China has been largely from the official class, who, fearing that the new order of things might reduce their own power, have either been apathetic or have prejudiced the ignorant people against innovations. Mr. Parsons thinks there is no doubt that when the Chinaman gets his railroads he will use them. He cites the statistics of travel between Hongkong and Canton by steamer as nearly 1,000,000 passengers annually, besides the large travel by junk. He thinks there is no doubt that the Oriental will patronize liberally the better mode of conveyance.

America's Part in China's Railroad Development.

The building of the Chinese Eastern Railway is commonly regarded as a distinctively Rus

sian enterprise, but the important share which American and British engineers and manufacturers have had in the work should not be overlooked. Mr. Alexander H. Ford, writing in the Engineering Magazine for June on Anglo-Saxon Enterprise in Asia," describes the operations in Manchuria incident to Russia's acquisition of Port Arthur, and the announcement of her purpose to extend the Trans-Siberian Railway to that harbor. AMERICAN RAILROAD EQUIPMENT.

"It did not take the news of the opening of this great territory long to reach America. Soon the finest business house in Vladivostok was erected by an American, the most spacious Chinese structure in Port Arthur was secured as an agency, and the introduction of American tools and American locomotives was begun. American activity was abroad in the land, and while the Russian engineers at first laughed at the idea of American manufacturers competing with Europe, they were induced to give a few orders. To their astonishment, the goods arrived in less than three months, and proved the most durable and efficient tools up to that time imported into Manchuria. The Russian officials suddenly realized that just across the Pacific pond, not five thousand miles away, they could supply all the needs of the new railway, and all hurry orders were promptly cabled to America, whose markets were some fifteen thousand miles nearer

Eastern Siberia than those of Europe. American engineers who could speak the Russian language fluently enough to converse in technical railway terms with the Russian officials of the railway found that a golden stream flowed through their hands to the manufacturers in America. Last summer the Chinese Eastern Railway went so far as to send over two of its engineers, as a committee, to visit and report on the outlook in the United States of procuring every kind of railway appliance. They reported that more than three-fourths of the material and equipment still needed for the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, as well as

the steel bridges, could be procured in America, of a better quality and more cheaply than in any European country."

AN AMERICAN-BUILT CITY.

"Since then Russia's railway projects in the far East have been greatly augmented, and recently cablegrams were sent over for material for a branch line on to Peking, so that now Russia is building with all speed from four Pacific Ocean ports (Tientsin [Peking], New Chwang, Port Arthur, and Vladivostok) toward her great Trans-Siberian system, and tons upon tons of machinery from the United States lie stacked upon the wharves of these cities, so adjacent to the western seaboard of the United States. Already the railroads extend for many miles into the interior from these ports; and in fact, before spring navigation is opened, it is expected that they will all be connected with Harbin, on the Sungari River, which is the central point of meeting for the lines in Manchuria.

This city is not yet a year old, but it contains many thousands of inhabitants, spacious office buildings, splendid machine-shops, asphalted pavements laid down by American steamrollers, and a Yankee electric-lighting plant. Harbin is also the winter-quarters and general terminus for the line of English steamers and barges."

trine to Asia is offered by Wu Ting Fang, the Chinese minister at Washington, in an article on "America in the Orient," appearing in Ainslee's for June. The arguments for such a course, as they appeal to this astute diplomat, are set forth at the end of his article, as follows:

There are those who say that this is too rapid. But is it not logical? The possession of the Philippines brings the United States within. 600 miles of Asia-nearer by far than some portions of South America to which the Monroe Doctrine is now held to apply. It is a measure of self-protection, founded on justice; and if the United States is to be an Asiatic power, I cannot see why logically it will not find itself in time compelled to guard against the encroachments of European powers in that part of the world. It

is true that the Monroe Doctrine was intended originally to apply to the American Continent alone, but the principle is the same wherever foreign encroachments might interfere with American interests. It will not be necessary to interfere with existing conditions. When Presi.

dent Monroe issued his caveat, he intended it to apply to the future, not to that which already was. He did not go so far as to undertake to drive from the American Continent those European nations which were already there.

"KEEPING THINGS AS THEY ARE."

"To apply the same doctrine to Asia means simply that things are to be left as they are; and this will be for the interest of the United States as well as for the whole Asiatic Continent. I may be a little ahead of time, but by and by the United States will come to this. The possession of the Philippines is a new thing; but after a while, perhaps in ten years, it will be seen that, for

Photo by Clinedinst.

MR. WU TING FANG. (Chinese Minister to the United States.)

self-protection and for the maintenance of peace, it will be necessary to have all nations understand that no further encroachments on the Asiatic Continent will be allowed. When that time comes, there will be no more war. After the United States gets a firm hold on the Philippines, and begins to establish American commerce and to branch out in every direction, they will become more and more impressed with the necessity of keeping things as they are. No man

can tell how long the open door' can be maintained in the East, unless further aggressions are prevented."

OUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHINESE.

IN

N the June Forum, Mr. Ho Yow, the Chinese consul general at San Francisco, discusses the attitude of the United States towards his countrymen, as shown in the Chinese exclusion laws passed by Congress. He says:

"The laws of the United States prohibiting Chinese immigration are without parallel in the codes of the world, and can only be compared to the regulations of the Chinese nation itself in a period of its history to which we would under no consideration revert.

Moreover, in addition to its inherent injustice, the statute is based on a misconception of conditions and a mistake in facts. It had its origin with the rabble. Its promoters were speakers from the tops of soap-boxes and the tailskids of drays. It was caught up by politicians when the clamor had gathered strength with the mob, and when appearances indicated that the latter could poll votes enough to elect its ringleaders to office. Whenever a calm and dispassionate inquiry into the conditions was held, the verdict was sure to be in favor of the Chinese ; and it was on this account that the friends of justice in Congress held out so long against the demands upon that body for measures of exclusion.

THE CHINESE AS RAILROAD BUILDERS.

"Nevertheless, the situation here as regards the Chinese was remarkable, and, in the nature of things, could not occur again. The Chinese were brought here to grade and build the Central Pacific Railroad. A thousand miles of railroad had to be laid across deserts and over mountains -perhaps the most difficult feat of railway construction which, up to that time, had been attempted in the United States. The road was to

be built, too, in a part of the continent that was practically without inhabitants, and therefore in advance of settlement. White workmen could not be had. Three thousand miles yawned between the reservoirs of population, and the jour ney was tedious and slow; so the building of the railroad had to be pushed at once. Ten thousand men were needed, and rake and scrape as the builders would, only 800 whites could be gathered to engage in the work.

"In this exigency the experiment with Chinese laborers was tried. At first it was thought that they would prove inefficient-that they were too light of body to stand the heavy work; that they could not endure the fatigues of the occupation. A few were put upon the lightest parts of the work; and since these proved their ability to perform well all they were set to do, the experiment was extended, and before long Chinese were doing all the unskilled labor which

the work required. They received but thirtyone dollars per month and boarded themselves, while the whites were paid forty-five dollars per month and found. Yet, according to the testimony of James Strobridge, superintendent of construction, and Charles Crocker, one of the five proprietors of the road, who had charge of the construction, the Chinese were more reliable and more efficient laborers than the whites. They could excel the whites in any branch of the work, whether light shoveling or the heaviest rock-drilling; and a body of Chinese even excelled in results an equal number of picked Cornish miners who were set to drill one end of a tunnel through a mountain. The Chinese were put upon the other end, and the two gangs started from a shaft at the center.

"In order to supply the thousands of Chinese required for this great work, the coolie-ships were kept running to and from China, bringing their loads of immigrants from Kwangtung Province. There was no trouble concerning the Chinese so long as the road was building. Hittell's History of California' recites how the white laborers and the China Boys' marched together in parade, and how the former made speeches to the latter, extending their hands in comradeship.

Suddenly, however, the road was finished; and this army of 15,000 laborers was idle and at large. In a strange land, among a strange people, with no capital but their ability and willingness to work, they flocked to San Francisco. Here they swarmed upon the streets, and, conspicuous from their racial characteristics, gave the impression that there was an immensely larger number of them in the district.

HOW TRADE RELATIONS ARE AFFECTED.

But with all the harshness of the exclusion laws, they were never designed to affect any but. the laboring classes. They were not intended to be used as an instrument to exclude educated men traveling in pursuit of knowledge, merchants. coming from China to this country to buy goods or to start an industry here, or those going from this country to China and returning. Such are the men on whose shoulders trade rests, and it was never for an instant proposed that the stat ute should act as a sword to sever the trade relations of the countries. Yet we recognize that this very thing is now being done ;-though, I believe, unwittingly.

"Since the law denies to Chinese laborers the right to enter the country, there should be, as an offset, a liberal policy regarding the classes allowed to enter. Yet this is not the case. The utmost rigor is exercised towards the merchants and travelers coming to the United States; and

no mechanism which ingenuity can devise could more effectually operate to keep these classes away. Scarcely two months have elapsed since sixty-three merchants from Southern China, coming to the United States for commercial purposes, were prevented from landing at San Francisco, because their certificates disclosed that a word had not been translated from the Chinese original into the English-a lack which may have been as much the fault of the American representative in China who viséd the papers as of the Chinese official who issued them. The English version recited that they were merchants, but did not state what kind of merchants.

"The Chinese official representatives in the United States tried hard to secure the landing of these people upon some kind of an arrangement whereby they would not be put to the loss and inconvenience of returning to China merely to have such such a small defect corrected. But the department was inexorable, ignoring all former decisions and precedents. No regard was paid as to how much these intending purchasers in American markets lost by the delay, nor was there any doubt expressed as to whether or not they had come to this country to buy their goods. They were compelled to return to China, and the reports received from them state that they will make their purchases in England.

"Nor is this harshness confined to the visitors from China. It is extended with even more severity to resident Chinese merchants who go to China intending to return to their business in this country. Many of the Chinese merchants of the United States are exporters to China, and find it necessary to go there once in a few years to look after their affairs. Under a recent ruling of the department this trade promises to be entirely broken up; for it cannot be imagined that henceforth any merchant will attempt to go to China with any serious hopes of ever getting back to his business in this country."

IN

IS THE "OPEN DOOR" GUARANTEED? N the National Review for June, Mr. R. Yerburgh, M. P., has a paper entitled "Count Muravieff's Triumph," in which he quotes from the correspondence of our State Department with the European powers in the matter of the "open door" in China, and seems to show that Russia has given no definite assurance as to equal treatment at all. The following is an extract from Count Muravieff's letter of December 18:

"In so far as the territory leased by China to Russia is concerned, the Imperial Government has already demonstrated its firm intention to follow the policy of the open door' by creating

Dalny (Talienwan) a free port; and if at some future time that port, although remaining free itself, should be separated by a customs limit from other portions of the territory in question, the customs duties would be levied, in the zone subject to the tariff, upon all foreign merchants. without distinction as to nationality."

WHAT THE UNITED STATES PROPOSED.

Mr. Yerburgh interprets this to mean that Russia only guarantees that foreign merchants will obtain equal treatment, but that Russian merchants, not being foreign, may obtain preferential treatment. The exact proposals made by the United States were that each power should guarantee

"1. That it will in nowise interfere with any treaty port or any vested interest within any socalled 'sphere of interest' or leased territory it may have in China.

2. That the Chinese treaty tariff of the time being shall apply to all merchandise landed or shipped to all such ports as are within such sphere of interest' (unless they be free ports '), no matter to what nationality it may belong, and that duties so leviable shall be collected by the Chinese Government.

3. That it will levy no higher harbor dues on vessels of another nationality frequenting any port in such sphere' than shall be levied on vessels of its own nationality-and no higher railroad charges over lines built, controlled, or operated within its sphere' on merchandise belonging to citizens or subjects of other nationalities transported through such spheres' than shall be levied on similar merchandise belonging to its own nationality transported over equal distances."

6

WERE THE PROPOSALS ACCEPTED?

All the powers, with the exception of Russia, agreed to make the declaration asked for on the condition that a similar declaration was made by the other powers concerned. But only Great Britain and Italy have expressly agreed to make it. Mr. White, the American chargé d'affaires, sent Lord Salisbury copies of the replies received from the powers, adding that, as all the powers had complied with the United States' proposals, he would consider Lord Salisbury's consent final and definitive. Lord Salisbury consented to this; and Mr. Yerburgh naturally wants to know how Lord Salisbury, with Russia's reply before him, could have admitted that the United States was justified in asserting that her proposals had been accepted. It is another triumph of the astute Muscovite over the confiding AngloSaxon," says Mr. Yerburgh, philosophically.

IN

THE PROBLEM OF CENTRAL ASIA.

N the Fortnightly Review for June, Mr. Demetrius C. Boulger makes a plea for a definite agreement on England's part with the Afghan Ameer as to the defense of his country, and at the same time for a definite declaration to Russia of England's determination to uphold its integrity. The article is a very reasonable one, and is interesting just now as recalling the fact that the far East is not the only spot over which Great Britain may at any moment find herself in acute antagonism to Russia.

THE TWO POLICIES.

Practically there are only two policies which England can adopt with regard to Afghanistan. The first is the maintenance of its integrity, and the second the division of the country with Russia. It is the former policy which Mr. Boulger advocates; and the further purpose of his arti cle is to show how to make this policy definite and effective. England should, he says, first give a definite pledge to the Ameer to uphold his sovereignty under all circumstances. present pledge is merely a qualified one. She should then make a definite statement that she should regard a Russian advance as a casus belli. She should pacify the Ameer by receiving a diplomatic agent in London.

NO DIVISION.

The

The advantage of this policy is that it would. conciliate the Ameer and remove his doubts as to England's reliability; thus drawing him probably to England's side, and making him her ally. Russia could not resent this step, as she has often declared Afghanistan to be outside her sphere of interest.

For the alternative policy of dividing the country with Russia there is nothing to be said. The most difficult and intractable part of the population would fall to England's share. If the Russians were to seize Herat, the Afghans would not regard it as a serious blow to their independence; whereas if England, acquiescing in the Russian advance, were to seize Kabul and Kandahar as compensation, they would look on their independence as destroyed. Such a step would alienate the Afghans and assist the Russians. England's prudent course would be to keep within her present frontiers and allow Russia to advance, leaving it to the Ameer to decide when the Anglo-Indian army should advance to his support. Any other policy might result in throwing the Afghans into Russia's arms, and there would be no reason why they should not act as Russia's advance-guard of invasion, as they did for Asiatic invaders in the past.

"The independence of the Korean kingdom has always been looked upon by Japan, before and since it entered the arena of the great nations, as essential to its welfare, if not to its very existence. The Japanese have fought to preserve it; and in 1894, when they entered upon the war with China, they fully believed that they were about to settle the question one way or the other-if not forever, at least for many generations to come. Unfortunately for them, as we now know, they were reckoning without all their hosts. At the conclusion of the war, three European powers, at the instigation of one of them, stepped in to deprive them of the fruits of victory; and, as it turned out, a permanent solution of the question was farther off than ever, owing to the come-to-stay' appearance on the scene of a great power which claimed a voice in any settlement which might be proposed. Since the Treaty of Shimonoseki was ratified, there has been a perpetual struggle-checked for a time, perhaps, by the convention of April, 1898, but since renewed with redoubled vigor on both sides -between Russia and Japan to obtain a predominating influence in Korea. The pendulum swings first to one side and then to the other; at one moment Russia seems to have at length obtained the firm footing in the peninsula for which she is incessantly striving, but at the next it becomes evident that this is more apparent than real. The pendulum then swings in favor of Japan, who ousts her rival from the premier position only to be herself ousted in turn. This has happened so often, and the struggle is so persistent and continuous, that shrewd observers on the spot declare that there can be only one end to it all, and that hostilities alone can settle the question as to who is to permanently obtain a predominant influence. Japan, with her formidable fleet and highly trained army, will not lightly consent to be overridden by Russia or anybody else on a question which she considers