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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



was reaching tens of millions of dollars 

 in value, and within ten years' time 

 should aggregate annually hundreds of 

 millions in amount. 



Although a Russian block-house flanks 

 every railway station, and its garrison 

 doubtless rules with a rod of iron, yet 

 the long-established Russian policy ob- 

 tains and the racial susceptibilities of the 

 Chinese are regarded to an extent that 

 would be impossible for Americans to 

 observe. In addition to other instances 

 in evidence, there was noted the decora- 

 tions of the small attractive railway sta- 

 tions at lempo. The ornamentation was 

 strictly Chinese, the graceful roof-trim- 

 mings being a series of the symbolated 

 Chinese dragons pursuing their fleeing 

 prey. All along the railway Manchurians 

 of every grade and class were seen mix- 

 ing with Russian civilians and soldiers, 

 pursuing their various affairs with such 

 freedom and assurance as would not be 

 tolerated in most localities in the United 

 States. 



THE AI.ADDIN CITY 



While Russian activities have thor- 

 oughly affected the peoples of northern 

 Manchuria, yet they have centered in the 

 Aladdin-like city of Harbin, which very 

 lately was unpleasantly brought to the 

 world's attention as the scene of the 

 deplorable assassination of that great 

 statesman, Prince Ito, of Japan. 



The most populous of European cities 

 in Asia, the former medical center of the 

 Russian army — with a hospital so im- 

 mense that 10,000 patients were cared 

 for at one time — it seems an irony of 

 fortune that Harbin should recently have 

 lost thousands by pestilential plague. It 

 is, however, a logical outcome of the 

 governmental defects at Harbin. With 

 unsanitary habits almost universal among 

 its cosmopolitan population, there was, 

 strangely enough in autocratic Russia, 

 no dominant central authority over this 

 collection of cities to enforce proper 

 sanitary regulations, even if £"ch were 

 ever planned. 



The existence of Harbin is due to the 

 conjoined action of the Russian govern- 

 ment and the Russo-Chinese Bank. The 

 -corporation obtained from China exclu- 



sive rights for 36 years to a region 100 

 miles square. Lavish expenditures, ag- 

 gregating from 10 to 12 millions of 

 dollars, built up a modern town near the 

 point where the Transiberian Railway 

 crosses the Sungari River over a fine 

 steel bridge of modern type and standard 

 construction. 



With great and fluctuating business 

 interests, Harbin has varied in popula- 

 tion from 50,000 to 100,000 or more. 

 It appeared to be a collection of hetero- 

 geneous communities rather than an 

 administrative unit. There then existed 

 nine practically independent administra- 

 tions — the official, the army, the mili- 

 tary hospital, the business, the manu- 

 facturing, the milling, the river, the Chi- 

 nese quarter, and on the outskirts the 

 original Manchurian village. 



The milling facilities are adequate to 

 care for more than one and a quarter 

 millions of souls ; the railway equipment 

 is so extensive and well arranged that an 

 army corps with its entire impedimenta 

 can be entrained or detrained in a day.* 



From observation and by report the 

 Russians maintain a most conciliatory 

 and tactful attitude towards the Chinese 

 in general and Manchurians in particular. 

 The enormous expenditures of the Rus- 

 sians yet continue at Harbin, whereby 

 the Chinese — laborers, traders, and offi- 

 cials — have profited beyond their wildest 

 expectations. As we tarried, there were 

 in evidence a number of Chinese officers 

 of the new army, smartly uniformed, 

 alert in action, and prepossessing in ap- 

 pearance. 



While many public and some private 

 buildings are large and costly, there was 

 that unmistakable cast of crudity to Har- 

 bin which causes it to somewhat resemble 

 a thriving frontier city of America. The 

 cosmopolitan character of the city was 

 markedly emphasized by the incoming 

 South China mail-train, which brought 

 naked coolies and full-robed mandarins, 

 the turbaned Hindu and the German 



* Mr. Putnam Weak Simpson names nine 

 flouring mills at Harbin with an output ca- 

 pacity of about 1,700,000 pounds daily, and nine 

 others near that city which raise the capacity 

 of Central Manchuria to more than 1,500 tons 

 of flour daily. 



