Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 229, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 September 1914 — RAILROADS IN ORIENT [ARTICLE]

RAILROADS IN ORIENT

EUROPEAN SYNDICATES TAKE UP WORK IN EARNEST. ■ ■ -d - Many tinea Being Laid and Others. Projected—Americans Devoted to Other Interests In the Yel- - low Republic. Unsettled as the Chinese government is, the building of railroads and tile development of .other concessions continue, the Indianapolis News observes. The present movement is not unlike that of the year 1898, known in the history of the'far East as that of the. “battles of concessions." Many nations are participating ifi the present activity. Great Britain has engaged Itself to construct a line starting from Bhasi through Hunan to the Kweichau, opening the latter province for the first time to the commerce of the world. More important, however, are the plans of Russia and France. On May 20, 1911, what was then the “four power” syndicate, concluded with the Chinese government the socalled Hukuang railway loan of £lO,000,000, which gave the syndicate the power to build 1,500 miles of line in the provinces of-Hunan and Hupeh, with an eventual prolongation into Szechuan. Then the revolution developed and all enterprise lay dormant The Belgians were the first foreigners to Awaken. In September, 1912, they made a new railway loan with Chlpa for £10,000,000. The Belgian company concerned, was the “Society of Railways and Tramways of China,” behind which stands the better known Banque Sino-Belge, an institution which, ever since the days of King Leopold, has closely co-operated with Russian diplomacy. This introduces the Russian foreign office into the Belgian transportation schemes, and adds international interest to railway construction in China. From' that time on the Banque SinoBelge has obtained valuable concessions. Were all the enterprises controlled by Russian-Belgian Interests to be developed immediately China would experience a great revival. French capital is to be found throughout China and French engineers are occupied in surveying prospective lines through provinces as yet untraversed by any except caravans. The posts and telegraphs in some of the provinces ai> also in French, hands. American- interests are not .so much concerned with transportation as with mineral products. The Standard Oil company, having obtained the Chinese oil concession, has a monopoly in, comparison with which some of the railway enterprises appear cheap and insignificant.