Present Conditions in China 



66 3 



sands of people. It was feared with 

 much reason that the introduction of 

 railroads would leave this capital and 

 labor without employment. 



But the construction of the railway 

 lines from Peking to Tientsin and the 

 Manchurian frontier and from Peking to 

 Hankow has demonstrated their utility 

 and that they will be profitable when 

 wisely planned. The old opposition has 

 given way, and the entire country seems 

 seized with a strong desire to build rail- 

 roads. Mr Hayes, the American consul 

 at Nanking, in a report made in Septem- 

 ber last, states that 9,000 miles of such 

 roads are in operation or under construc- 

 tion. He gives a detailed list of more 

 than a score of railroads "which have 

 been or are being built by Chinese in- 

 itiative and under entire Chinese con- 

 trol." 



Foreign interests in and out of China 

 insist that the Chinese are not competent, 

 without foreign direction and assistance, 

 to build or operate railroads, and that 

 neither native nor foreign capital in suffi- 

 cient amounts will be forthcoming for 

 such enterprises under native control. It 

 is probable that such enterprises will en- 

 counter serious disappointments and 

 undergo costly experiences, and that it 

 would be better to have a participation of 

 foreign skill and capital ; but, if the Chi- 

 nese desire and are ready to enter upon 

 such experiments, I see no reason why 

 they should not be allowed to do so, nor 

 why such action on their part should be 

 construed into a spirit of hostility to for- 

 eigners. It may be added that a race 

 which constructed the Great Wall and 

 the Grand Canal, two of the greatest en- 

 gineering achievements of all time, 

 should naturally have a laudable ambi- 

 tion to build their own railroads. 



THE CIVIL ENGINEERS AND ALL RAILWAY 

 OPERATORS ARE CHINAMEN 



An intelligent American observer, who 

 has spent the last few years in China and 

 traveled extensively in the country, says : 

 "I think it probable that during the next 

 twenty years more miles of railwav will 



be built in China than in any other part 

 of the world ; and while foreigners may 

 assist in furnishing the capital, the prime 

 movers will be the Chinese themselves, 

 who will insist, as far as they are able, 

 upon retaining substantial control." He 

 adds, that the "Chinese are reaching the 

 point where they can dispense with for- 

 eigners in operating their railroads. The 

 entire northern division of the Imperial 

 Railway of China had not, the last time 

 I traveled over it, a single white em- 

 ployee."* Apropos of the ability of Chi- 

 nese engineers for railroad construction, 

 Mr Haynes, already cited, reports that 

 the most difficult bridge, 2,300 feet long, 

 on this line of 526 miles was built by a 

 Chinese civil engineer, who graduated 

 from the Sheffield Scientific School of 

 Yale University. 



A number of concessions have been 

 granted to foreigners for lines of rail- 

 roads, and they are now under construc- 

 tion, notwithstanding the desire of the 

 natives to monopolize this class of im- 

 provements. The effect of the operation 

 of all these lines of public traffic will be 

 to stimulate trade, both domestic and for- 

 eign, make the inhabitants by intercom- 

 munication more intelligent and homo- 

 geneous, and greatly consolidate the Em- 

 pire by bringing its remoter sections in 

 rapid contact with the central govern- 

 ment. 



A CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT 

 PLANNED 



The reform movement in China which 

 is attracting most attention abroad is the 

 action of the imperial government look- 

 ing toward the granting of a constitution 

 and a representative assembly, or parlia- 

 ment. The step taken is very notable, 

 but not so radical a departure from the 

 existing regime as might be supposed. 

 The government of China is an autocracy 

 in form, but in few of the countries of 

 the world is the spirit of democracy so 

 manifest and potent. This has had a 

 marked illustration in the changes which 



*The New Far East, by Thomas F. Millard, 

 1906. 



