122 THE SIBERIAN TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD 



the undertaking. On investigation it was found that building 

 through Manchuria would not only cheapen and shorten the 

 construction of the road, but would present other advantages. 

 Negotiations were begun, and the Chinese government granted 

 a concession. The Eastern Chinese Railway Company was 

 formed to construct and operate the railway. The articles of 

 association were sanctioned b}^ the Czar, and an imperial ordi- 

 nance was issued in December, 1896. 



The association organized under the convention of August 27, 

 1896, b}^ the Chinese government ,with the Russo-Chinese Gov- 

 ernment Bank, is to construct and operate a railroad from the 

 western frontier of the province of Heilung Chang to the eastern 

 frontier of Kirin, which is to connect with the Trans-Siberian 

 railway. The company may, with the permission of the Chinese 

 government, engage in coal and other mining, industrial, and 

 commercial enterprises in China. The Russo-Chinese Bank 

 takes upon itself the duty of organizing this company, which 

 acquires the rights and duties granted by the above-mentioned 

 convention. Shares can be held only by Russian and Chinese 

 subjects, and the company will own the Chinese Eastern Rail- 

 wa}'- during eighty years after the opening of the whole line. 



The Russian government guarantees the resources of the com- 

 pany to the extent of making obligatory the payment of shares. 

 The company takes upon itself on the part of the Russian gov- 

 ernment the following obligations : (1) The Chinese Eastern 

 Railway must be always kept in full order to satisfy all the re- 

 quirements in relation to safety, convenience, and movement of 

 passengers and freights ; (2) the traffic on the Chinese Eastern 

 Railway to be kept up in conformity with the traffic on the con- 

 necting Russian railroads ; (3) all trains of the Russian Trans- 

 Baikal and Ussuri railroads are to be met and forwarded without 

 delay ; (4) the company must transmit, with speed not less than 

 that used on the Siberian railway, all passenger and freight trains 

 in direct communication ; (5) the company binds itself to con- 

 struct along its road a telegraph line connecting with the tele- 

 graph lines of the Russian railroads, and to promptly receive 

 and send through dispatches to and from Russia and China ; 

 (6) if its technical arrangements shall not insure uninterrupted 

 traffic of passengers and freights, then, as the Russian railways 

 require, the Chinese Eastern Railway must take suitable meas- 

 ures to improve its technical arrangements. In case of misun- 



