14
What Electricity
Can Do in China
(Copyrighted, llwu, by Frank G. Carpenter.) brought tho telegraph Into i'ckln. Tho cltl
SlIANdHAI, Oct. 20, 1000. (Special Cor- zona objected bocnuso of tho Four SIiuI.
respondenco of Tlio lleo.) Some of tlio big- They mild Hint the wlrcH would deHtroy
gest fortunes of thu futures' will coino from their luck, mid that It tho nhndow of n
tho electrical development of China. It polo fell upon the graves of their ancestors
tho powers by their now treaties can make the latter would rlso up and howl and causo
foreign property secure, a thousand cities trouble. At first tho poles were dug out
and towns will ovcntually ho lighted with and tho wires cut. Then the emperor at
electricity, thousands of miles of electric tached a decreo to each telegraph polo to
railroads will lio built, thousands of tele- tho effect that tho man who damaged It
phono companies established and the result would bo killed and there was no more
will ho millions In dividends. trouble.
This Is a laud for tho telephone, not the China Is naturally fitted for electric rall-
rVTTT? TT.T norm) Arunn ti-n-n
iaijj i ; o i a j. x JU1J J J 111 JUi
December 10, MOO.
from which candles can be made. The tree
Is a well-rounded ono about twenty feet
high when full grown. It has heart-shaped
leaves of the size of a silver dollar and
berries about us big as a cherry. The ber
ries have shells much like our hickory nuts.
As they ripen the shells crack and fall off,
leaving white seeds. The whiteness comes
from a wax with which tho seeds are cov
ered. This Is removed by boiling. As tho
water heats the wax melts from tho seed
and It rises In a scum to thu top. It Is
skimmed off and poured Into candle molds
In which nre wicks Just like those In the
candle molds of tho United States.
As It cools It hardens and when taken
from tho molds It Is In the form of candles
ready for burning. The seeds nro nlso
ground and boiled and n second-rate tallow
Is skimmed from them. This wax Is known
UNION MHN IN CHINA-OIUKCT
THLKOHAIMIH,
TO RAILROADS AND
TUN S.MAIiL-KOOTKI) WOM 13 N WILL PATRONIZE TII13
UM3CTRIC CARS.
telegraph. It has already about 1,000 miles
of telegraph which Is paying well, but this
will bo wiped out, and tho telephone will
take Its plare. Tho reason Is plain. Tho
Chinese Is an Ideographic language. It has
no alphabet. Koch word In It Is repre
sented by Us own sign, so that it takes
tens of thousands of characters to write It.
It Is impossible to telegraph every charac
ter, and so the common words uro repre
sented by numbers, and In telegraphing
only thu numbers are sent. The sending
clerk takes down the telegram In Chinese
and translates It Into numbers. He has a
regular code, consisting of page nflcr pngo
of figures and signs, printed in vortical col
umns. There are ten columns an uvury
page anil about 10,000 numbered characters
In the book. After he has translated thu
telegram hu transmits It, anil tho receiver
retranslates It Into Chinese. This takes a
groat deal of time nud In expensive. It
nlHo causes mistakes, and thu result Is
that thu tulephone will lie used Instend.
At present there aro telephone companies
at most of thu open ports. There Is one at
Shanghai which has about 100 subscribers
at $.1.1 a year. Its Instruments are of the
oldest stylu and tho survlco Is poor. There
Is a telephone company In Tleu Tsln and
others nl Canton, Ilnukow and elsewhere.
I bollovo the telephone could hu Intro
duced Into all parts of China. Wo have
hero a business and manufacturing popula
tion, and the demand for quirk communica
tion Is great. There aro ninny largo cities
anil countless villages. When onco tho peo
ple see thnt they can make money out of
tho telephone their superstition In regard
to it will puss away. They will learn that
tho wires aro harmless and not the homes
of spirits, The native capitalists will ho
come Interested and the telephone will bo
everywhere used.
Iltl) N' ToIIHIICK UN lllNlllllllll'S.
At present thu common people think
otory telephone bus a devil In It. They
look upon talking through wires as a work
of magic. They cannot understand It, and
they would surely mob tlio "hollo" girls
If they woro Introduced Into a town with
out proper explanation. 1 heard last night
how a Dutchman living near thu Urand
canal almost lost his life. Ho had had
something to do with putting up the tele
gruph lino thero, and was, 1 believe, ono
of tho repair men.
Shortly after the wires were put up suv
ornl of tho boys of tho neighborhood were
found missing. It Is nut uncommon hero
for a man who has no sun to buy a boy
to raise and take his name, so that his
ancestral Hue may go on without a break.
Uoys uro kidnapped for this purpose and
Bold. Tho Chinese consider It u great mis
fortuuo to lose a sou, nud so when the re
port went forth that this Dutchman was
tho kidnapper tho country rose up In arms.
They gathered about tho Dutchman's cot
tago and accused him of stoallug Chinese
beys and killing them. Said they;
"Wo know very well what you ore doing.
Wo know that each of the glass insulators
on tho telegraph posts contains a boy's
tongue, and that through these tongues
you aro nblo to carry the words from polo
to polo."
Tho Dutchman protested, but It was only
b7 tho aid of tho soldlors thnt ho escaped
with his life.
Not long ago a now tolegrnph lino was
built from Ku Klang to Han Chung, about
160 miles northward. Tho people objected
and cut tho poles down during tho night.
Tho ChlncBO ofllclaU arrested tho offenders
nd bamboocd them, but It was all In vain.
At laBt thoy cut off tho heads of a gang
caught In tho net and stuck a hend on
tho top of ench polo. That stopped tho
cutting.
Tho Chlncso government hnd a similar ox
norlonco about liftecn years ago when It
roads. Thero Is coal In every ono of the
provinces, so that fuel for generating elec
tricity enn bo had at low cost.
Tho people llvo In villages and cities. They
uro not good walkers and the small-footed
women especially will patronize the elec
tric enrs.
Thero Is an enormous trnlllc between thu
different centers. Tho country roads make
you think thero must bo a circus In tho next
town. They awnrni with foot passengers.
Tho Chlncso nro a business nation. A
largo part of them aro devoted to manufac
turing and nearly every houso has Its llttlo
Industry. This fills Hu highways with men
carrying freight. There aro hundreds of
wheelbarrows pushed and pulled by men,
carrying goods from village to city or tho
roverne. There are caravans of donkeys
and long lines of rude enrts. In tho ex
treme north tho freighting Is done lnrgely
upon camels, which take all kinds of goods
from I'ekln and Tien Tsln through the Nnn
kow I'nss over tho mountnlns Into Mongolia
and Manchuria. Thero Is nlso an enormous
tralllc on tho waterways, which cover China
like a not, and a less trnlllc on ponies.
These metheds of transport nro nil slow
and some of them very expcnslvo. A good
electric railroad system could take their
places. Tho people would patronize such
roads, as they do the steam railroads, and
tho roads would pay dividends from the
start. The trouble would be In securing
the concessions, In quieting tho supersti
tions of tho people, and, last, but by no
menus least. In lighting the labor unions
arfected by the change. These unions
honoycomb China. They extend to tho cart
drivers nnd wheelbarrow men and dictate
terms to both capitalists and otllelals.
Thu electric railroad men could also es
tablish electric light plants. At present
this country of 400,000,000 people Is lighted
almost entirely by kerosene, lard oil and
vegetable tallow. Kvtn the yaniens nro
llghUd with coal oil. None of tho natlvo
cities have gas and It Is only In tho larger
cities of the opon ports that you Had oleu
trlc light plants. Tho Imperial palaco at
Tekln has one. There Is one here nt Shang
hai and others nt Hong Kong nnd Canton.
Several of tho viceroys hnvo put In electric
light plants, but such plants aro private
and do not extend to the cities. 1 doubt If
thero nro darker towiiB In central Africa
than tho municipal centers of China nfter
sunset. Tho streets nro deserted. A little
cnndlo or lamp may hang hero nnd there
out In front of n Btoro, but thero Is neither
gas nor electricity.
Tho conl oil consumed conies lnrgely from
tho United States, although within tho Inst
fow yenrs thero hnvo been considerable Im
ports from Russia and Sumntrn. Thero aro
at Shanghai enormous oil tanks filled with
Dutch, Russian nnd American kerosene. I
saw Philadelphia oil for snlo In Tien Tsln,
nnd I hnvo seen cnmols londcd with Stand
nrd Oil cans on tho borders of Manchuria.
A Hoy WiiNtcil.
a lnruo imrt of tho tlnwnro used In Chlnn
Is made from old keroseno cans. Thoro nro
shops In ench town which denl In such
ware, nnd mnny of tho buckets of tho coun
try uro mndo from It. Thu ChlncBo nro
very economical, nnd In buying oil they
llguro on tho money to be had from tho
cans ns well as from tho oil Itself.
This deslro to snvo rocently caused the
death of on almond-eyed servant of a mis
sionary nt Cheo Foo. The mlsslonnry had
bought a can of oil nnd hnd ordered tho boy
to open It. Tho boy thought It would be a
pity to tujuro bo good a can, so ho tried to
remove the soldor with a red-hot poker.
The result wub an explosion, which wasted
both tho oil and the boy.
Much of tho light of tho Ynngtso valley
Is from a vogotablo tallow. Indeed, they
have trees In westorn Chlnn which grow
tallow cnndles. At least, they grow borrleB
as vegetablo tallow. It Is one of the 'chief
exports of the Ku Klang region.
Chlnn Is glutted with money, much ns the
United Stntes, and In organizing electric
light, street railroad and telephone com
ponies a lnrge capital could be raised from
the natives If tho powers will demand tho
right treaties as to the safety of Invest
ments. I am told there are thousands of
rich Chinese who have trouble to make
their money bring n fair Interest. At pres
ent tho only outlets nre In pawn shops
grnln shops nnd houso property nnd the
risks aro so grent that money rarely real
lzes more than 2 per cent. The Chinese
nppreclato what Interest means. They are
savors nnd economizers. They nro not
afraid to Invest In nnythlng that promises
well If tl.ey know Hint the men at tho head
of It aro safo and that the undertaking Is
freo from tho olllclal leeches. They hnvo
faith In foreigners nnd will go Into schemes
which nro under foreign superintendence.
How 1,1 IIiiiik CIiiiiik llonuiM StoeliN.
Just now there Is much Chinese capital
Invested In cotton mills, silk mills nnd rail
roads. I hovo before me a proclamation
which LI Hung Chnng Issued when ho built
tho Tien Tsln-Knlplng railroad In order to
Induco tho people to buy shares. In this
ho offers 1,000,000 tools' (about J750.000)
worth of stock and asks for subscriptions.
Tho clrculnr shows how tho Chinese look
upon such undertakings and how they may
be mndo Interested In them. I quoto only
In part. Says LI Hung Chang:
"This railroad will be of ndvantngo to the
government and convenient to tho people,
Thu company will bo carried on In n
strictly commercial manner nnd Its otllelals
will protect Its rights nnd see that It Is
honestly directed. A cnpltnl of 1.000,000
tnols Is to bo rnlsed. Printed prospectuses
have bpen distributed, but In order that
you may put faith In the scheme I Issuo
this proclamation. It must be understood
Hint railroads aro In use In all foreign
countries. Our people who hnvo traveled
havo seen with their own eyes the advan
tages and wherover there nro rallronds the
trado will flourish.
"All rich peoplo In foreign countries in
vest their money In rnllroad stock as an ln
herltnneo for tholr children. China In fol
lowing tho example of foreign countries
Bhould bo saving and deal honestly with the
shareholders. When a profit Is realized by
the railroad company It will bo divided
JitBtly nmong the stockholders, nnd the
mnnngors nro not to profit theroby. This Is
lmportnnt to tho government, nnd tho oftl
clols must soo that It will bo lnstlng nnd
work honestly. All tho work must bo car
ried on ns In a foreign country nnd tho
business sealed by tho shareholders and
mnnngers. Although ofuclnls nro connected
with It they hnvo no powor to trnnsnet
business, and nro only to seo that it Is car
ried on honestly. Anyono In the Clio Klang
provtneo desiring Bhnres will apply early
Do not loso this opportunity.
"Dated tho 13th year of Kuang Hsu, 4th
moon, 24th day. LI HUNO CHANG,
"Viceroy of Chili LI."
In striking contrnst with this proclnmn
tlon nnd Ulustrntlve of how tho Chlneso
ofuclnls nnturnlly clnlm everything loose is
a story I henrd of LI Hung Chang ns to this
snme rnllroad. It was when tho road was
completed and his excellency, tho viceroy,
hnd tnkon his first trip over It In n speclnl
car. The enr was probably mado for tho
superintendent of tho road. It was finished
In mahogany, nnd Its furniture wns up
holstered In tho richest satin brocades. It
contnlned sofas, tables and whatnots. As
LI Hung Chang rested his lnrge frnmo In
one of tho ensy chairs ho greatly admired
tils surroundings nnd said to tho directors:
"Oontlemen, tills Is flno furniture nnd I
(Continued on Fifteenth Pago.)
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