Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, October 03, 1909, HALF-TONE, Page 3, Image 21

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    Revolution
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"THREE LITTLE MAIDS
(Copyright. 1909. by Frank Q. Carpenter.)
EKINU, im (Special Corres-
P pondenc of The Bee.) I write
I of the greatest Intellectual
movemenr or ail lime, inia na
tion of 400.000,000 la starting to
chool, and thousands of teach
er uio already at work, beginning to In
struct It along the lines of our civilisation.
The movement was started only four years
ago by Vhe great empress dowager at the
advice of Yuan Shin Kat, Chang Chi Tung
and other progressive statesmen. By an
Imperial edict, the old system of examina
tions, under which China has been work
ing for centuries, was wiped off the slato
and the new education begun. Now there
are colleges In every provincial capital and.
modern schools In the 4.000 walled cities. A
government department of education has
been Instituted, and over It Is ono of the
great Imperial boards. In the new consti
tution which was passed last year, a sys
tem of common schools was provided, and
compulsory education along modern lines
will be Instituted at the earliest possible
moment. By that constitution China will
have Its parliament within eight years
from now, and the work of training the
people for self-government is to go on by
fixed steps from year to year.
The lines of the development of the new
education have been carefully laid out. The
composition of textbooks began In lvOg, and
a large number of these will be published
this year. In 1910 schools for easy learning
will be further extended over the empire,
and by 1W3 they will be In all the village
and market towns. The work will go stead
ily on, and in 1916 one Chinese In every
twenty will be able to read and write, and
will have received some education in our
modern civilisation.
Arar of Scholars.
One In twenty! Five per cent. It seems
mall, but it bulks large. Five per cent of
these people means 20,000.000, and this will
be the educational army with which China
will start on Its career under the new con
stitution. At present not one In a hundred
Chinese can read the simplest characters of
his language, and It Is safe to say that not
more than one In COO has an education
along the old lines so advanced as that of
our grammar schools. All this Is to be
changed, and by the next generation it Is
safe to say that the majority of the pso
ple will, all have gone to school.
I cams here from Japan. It Is now thirty
years since that country began a constitu
tional movement like this which Is now
being Inaugurated here. I doubt whether
education was more advanced there at that
time than In China now. Today every buy
Monument to Ansel
NSEL BKIGGS, first rovernor
A. I of Iowa, who died In Omaha in
I 1881, has been honored at
t I A.tHa, T m with m .runUa
monument which was dedi
cated September 22. Mra
Nannie Brlggs Robertson, the governor's
granddaughter, formerly of Omaha, pulled
the unveiling cord.
Governor Brlggs cams to Omaha to make
his homo with his son, John S. Brlggs, In
1878, and remained here until his death.
He had left Iowa several years before and
spent several years in Florence, going
thence to Montana and returning to
Omaha. He was buried In a cemetery here,
but the 1 body was exhumed and removed
to Andrew, la., where the monument was
erected last week.
Mra. John S. Brlggs of Omaha was a
speotator at the exercises.
Mrs. Robertson, who unveiled the mono
lith, is now a resident of Wash t a, la., and
the wife of Alexander D. Robertson. She
From the Story Teller's Pack
Where He Needed a Calendar.
OT so very long ago," said
Nl John E. Young, the actor, "I
I was on a sleeping car going
over a cvrtwu iviu m
Kansas. My watch had stopped.
When the porter came my way
1 asked him for the time."
" 1 haven't got a watch," he replied.
" 'You are a beaut of a railroad man
without a watch,' I Insisted. 'What kind
f a road la this, anywayr
" 'You don't netd a watch on this train.'
he informed me, 'what you want is a
calendar.' "Kansas City Journal.
lor that Killed.
Senator Tillman was praising the humor
of a republican congressman.
"His humor, however." he concluded. "Is
rather grim. I told him the other dav
about a mutual "acquaintance who had
died, a man he had never liked.
" 'And his wife Is dead, too.' I said. 'He
himself died on Monday; his wife died two
days later. The pp.r didn't say what
killed her.'
v 'She was tickled to death, I guess,'
4a id tho congressman, grimly." New York
Times.
- is
The Hoes.
Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish. In the course of a
recent antl-sufffragette argument In New
York. said, with a smile:
Too many et my sister e,ppar U tbinJt
in Educational Methods of China Shows Nation's
FROM SCHOOL."
and girl In the Japanese empire is receiving
more or leps education, and more than one
tenth of the whole nation is going to school.
No one who has not seen the educational
awakening of the land of the mikado can
appreciate what such movements mean.
Here In China they will be multiplied many
fold by the character of the race and Its
vast population.
China's Sew Schools.
This movement Is full' underway. I found
Manchuria stirred up over It, and attended
schools of various kinds In the city of
Mukden. It Is going on In Mongolia and
along the borders of Thibet and away down
south on the edges of Indo-Chlna. Every
governor Is pushing it, and every city , is
organizing new schools as fast as it can.
In Fuchow there are thirty native schools
of foreign Instruction, also a normal school,
a high school and a military school. That
city has a police training school, a medical
school and a large number of private
schools. Tientsin has all sorts of educa
tional Institutions, from kindergartens to
colleges. I have already written of its
half day and night schools. There are
utmtlar ones In Peking, and among them
a half-day school for officials who wish
to Improve themselves along modern lines.
This was closed during the twenty-seven
days of deep mourning which followed the
emperor's death, whereupon one old scholar
of 70 objected because it interrupted his
studies.
China Is establishing industrial schools
where the use of modern machinery Is
taught, and where the boys learn mechani
cal trades. There are several here at the
capital, and some are for Tartars alone.
The Chinese city has an industrial institute
under the board of commerce, which cost
100,000 taels to erect". It was started two
years ago, and it Is now In full swing with
t00 students at work. The school teaches
twelve Industries and It gives a course of
three years. In addition to this there are
seven other Industrial schools In Peking
and the Manchus are starting some in the
Tartar city.
During my stay at Tientsin I visited an
industrial school, established by Yuan Sliili
Kal when he was viceroy there. It has
about 300 students, who are learning weav
ing, sewing, embroidery, porcelain making
and to be carpenters, woodworkers and de
signers. In the weaving room there were
forty or fifty hand and "loot looms operated
by Chinese boys. The work was well done,
and they made beautiful cloth. Another
room was devoted to match manufacture
and others to fine china and glass ware.
Those boys are receiving 10 cents day
during their instruction, and this is enough
for their board and clothes. They have
was born In Omaha and educated In the
Omaha public schools, graduating from
the high school with the class of ISM. She
was christened "Iowa's Granddaughter"
by the late Judge Murdock and Dr.
Beardsley at the seml-centennlal celebra
tion of Iowa held In 1S96, at which she was
the youngest participant. Her marriage to
Mr. Robertson and departure from Omaha
took place the next year. But it is not
only the part taken by Mrs. Robertson
that makes the ceremony Interesting to
Omaha people, for Governor Brlggs was a
very well known and very popular cltUen
of this vicinity for six years. A splendid
floral decoration was sent to the unveiling
by Omahans and Mayor Dahlman appended
a message to the Jackson County Historical
society, expressing the esteem In which
Ansel Brlggs was held In Omaha and Flor
ence. The program at Andrew last Wednesday
Included the presentation of the monument
by George L. Mitchell, president of the
that the woman should be the head of the
house. They would have her dominate
over her husband as Mrs. Cudllp was said
to dominate over hers.
"Mrs. Cudllp to give you an Idea of her
perfect domination aaid one day to her
husband, sharply:
" 'Jethro. who was the greatest general
In history V
"Jethro. not to be caught napping, an
swered, calmly and meekly:
" 'Joan of Arc' "
The Delirious Kind.
H. K. Adair, a western detective, was
being complimented in Grand Rapids about
an absconding banker he had run to earth.
"Oh. the man gave himself away," said
Mr. Adair. "He shied too much. Every
thing seemed, in his morbid mind, to point
suspicion st him. He was like the old
widdy' woman.
"Ai; old 'wlddy woman went to an under
taker's to order a coffin for her deceased
husband.
" 'He was very, very, very good to me.'
she said, and 1 11 have a coffin of tbe best
yellow pine.'
" -yes, madam. That'll be $14,' said the
undertaker. 'And what kind of trimmings
will you have on ths coffin f
" Trlmmln's!' cried ths 'wlddy woman.
And right well ye know, ye spalpeen, that
I'll have no trlmmln's at all. when ft was
the trlmmln's that the poor lad died of,
bad lock to 'ami' "New York Tribune,
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STUDENTS OF THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, DRILLING WITH GUNS OF MODERN MAKE.
IN THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY OF PEKING.
engaged to work for the government for
several years after their graduation, and
they will then go out to establish Industries
at their various homes. Such schools are
being started In every part of the empire.
Some Schools of Peking.
Peking Is not so far advanced as Tientsin
in the pushing of the new education. Still
it has more than 200 new schools and over
20,000 children and young men are work
ing away in government Institutions. The
schools begin with kindergartens, which
may be attended by children from the ages
of 3 up to T. At the latter age they enter
the second grade primary schools, where
a five-year course Is taken, and then the
first grade primary for a four-year course.
In these schools they are taught the read
ing and writing of the Chinese characters
and they begin arithmetic, history and
geography. In the first .stages of their In
struction the children study out loud, but
Instead of sitting on the floor and sway
ing back and forth, each shouting for
himself, as In the past, they now sit on
benches and read together with one of them
as their leader.
After the primary Is passed, the stu
dents enter the grammar or Intermediate
grades. Here they study Chinese, foreign
languages, mathematics, geography and
history, and also the natural sciences,
ethics and drawing. In some schools there
are courses In law and political economy.
The moat of these schools are, as yet, not
far advanced, but there are something like
10,000 students attending them in Peking
alone, and of them 4.000 or 6,000 are Man
chus. The Manchus have a nobles' school
for the sons of high officials who are be
ing prepared for further education abroad.
The school has now 200 students.
As to the middle or second grade pri
mary schools, they are being established
by the thousands. Dr. C. D. Tennery, who
organized the middle schools of the
province several years ago. then instituted
over 2,700. with something like 86,000 stu
dents, and there are probably one-third
more than that number today. This was
for the province of Pechlhll, in which
Peking Is situated. A similar work is being
more gradually done In each of the other
twenty-odd provinces of the Chinese em
pire. High schools and normal schools are to
be found everywhere. According to the
regulation every town and city has to
maintain one, and every provincial capital
must have a normal school of the first
grade. These schools are all equipped with
chemical, physical and botanical laborator
Brigfgs, Iowa's First Governor, at His
Jackson County Historical society, a re
sponse by Governor Carroll and addresses
by ex-Governor Larrabee, G. A. Feeley,
Senator A. F, Frudeu, Senator J. A. De
Armand and a number of others.
The monument Itself Is twenty-two feet
In height above a concrete base. On the
second section above the ground on the
east side la the name "Brlggs" In letters
five Inches high. On the third section is a
polished surface with a map of Iowa
engraved upon it; on another side a bronze
medallion with a portrait, of Brlggs, and
on the third side is the date inscription.
The whole monument weighs 30,000 pounds.
Ansel Brlggs was born in Vermont In
1804. He was educated In the common
schools there and touk one term In Nor
wich academy. At the age of 24 he went
to Ohio and engaged In running a stage
line. His first political venture was to
run. for county auditor as the whig candi
date, but he was defeated. In last he got
a government contract to carry mall be
tween Davenport and Dubuque and moved
his family to Iowa. His home was made
In the town of Andrew, and he began im
mediately to take an active part In all the
affairs of the. community. He became In
terested In a number uf different lines of
business and established a grocery store,
a saw mill and a newspaper. In 1842 he
went to the territorial legislature for Jack
son county as a democrat. His next of
MRS NETTIE BRIGG3 ROBERTSON.
WHO UNVEILED THE MuNU'MJtNT
TOILER O AAN Dr ATUH.lt
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TIIE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: OCTOBER 3, 1909.
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ies and in some of the cities, such as Tien
tsin, there are also teachers' museums,
where models and books describing the
teachings In foreign countries are ex
hibited. The normal schools are largely
attended by those who wish to fit them
selves for work along the lines of the
new development.
Chinese Students Abroad.
Many such went to Japan at the time
the movement was started, stayed there a
year or so and have come back to take
their places In the new education. During
my stay In Toklo last year I found some
thing like 3.000 Chinese students In the
colleges there. Some were In the Im
perial university, some in the teachers'
training schools and others In the military
and technical schools and In the si hools
for railway engineering. Not, a few were
studying law and medicine, and some,
politics, economics, history and literature.
About one-fifth of the whole were In the
teachers' training schools and they were
largely made up of men who had stood
high In the classes and who expected to
come back to China to teach.
I am told that thousands of the "literati"
went to Japan at the time It was decided
by the government to open up China to
the new education, and that especially
because the government had said that It
would give the preference to literary giad
uates who had such Instruction, In the se
lection of Its Uacheis for its new schools.
On this account, 10,000 went there at onre
and enrolled themselves. The mill uf them
stayed less than six months and then came
back to teach. Nearly all have received ap
pointments and are now acting as profes
sors. They are not fitted for the higher
branches of modern Instruction, but they
believe In the new (duration, and by this
action of the government have been made
its supporters instead of its enemies, as
they probably would have been had they
not been given the chance to teach.
Higher Schools of Peking.
During my stay here In Peking I have
visited many of the higher schools 'and
colleges. This city has its law school,
government and medical schools. One of
the law schools was founded by VV'u Ting
fang two years ago, and It now has M)J
students. It teaches law and government
as well as political science, and one may
see 600 students there at some of the lec
tures. There Is also a language school of high
fice was that of sheriff. In the meantime
Iowa was admitted as a state and at Iowa
City, September 24, 1846, the democratic
party hold a convention to nominate a
governor. Jackson county waa known as
the "banner county" because it had given
the largest proportional majority to the
constitution which bad Just been submitted.
MONUMENT TO THE I -ATE ANSEL PR1GGS, FIRST GOVERNOR OF IOWA,
RECENTLY UNVK1LED AT ANDKEW, JACK&O-N COUNTY, 1A.
I
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grade where Chinese boys are prepared for
the foreign office and for the diplomatic
service abroad. It Is open to any who can
pass the entrance examination and give
certificates of good character. In addition
to the modern languages, the school gives a
good academic education along foreign
lines. Every boy Is required to take at
least one foreign language. He may choose
either English, French. German or Rus
sian. English Is now the most popular, and
about eighty students are studying It.
French -anks next and then German, and
after them Russian and Japanese.
I visited this school yesterday. It Is
within the walls of the imperial city and
not far from the Forbidden city in which the
emperor lives. I had to go a mile or so
around the wall before 1 reached the gate
of the compound where the college build
ings are located. They are of modern style,
and of one and two stories. The material Is
gray brick with doors and .balccnies of
wood. The latter are painted bright blue,
making the buildings look gaudy.
The school has a campus, drill ground
and a large examination hall where the
students sit at tables under the eyes of
their Instructors and write their essays and
answers to the test questions. The exam
inations usually last about three duys.
Upon finishing his paper, each student
writes his name on a corner In such a
place that It can be rolled up and sealed.
The paper Is then numbered and the Judges
must pass upon it without knowing to
whom It belongs. Only after the decision
Is made is the name unsealed.
Turning China Coslde Down. -
As 1 went through the classrooms of this
academy 1 saw many of the things that
are now turning China upside down. Every
schoolroom had maps showing that tho
world Is round and not flat or square. On
the walls hung maps uf the various con
tinents, and some represented China In Its
proper scale in Asia. These maps are a
constant reminder of the big world away
from home. Tiny are In strange contra
diction to the pians uf the world which
the Chinese used only a few years ago.
The latter represented a vast space de
voted to China, with a few patches around
the edges. These were the lands of the
barbarians, and comprised all of the world
that belonged to the rest of mankind. In
one classroom I saw a large wall map of
the United Slates, with Huston,- St. Louis,
New York and Chicago printed in type
half an inch long, and in other rooms
were mineral maps and others illustrating
physical geography. 1 heard a lecture on
For that reason it was given first say In
tie placing of a candidate In the field,
and John J. Dyer, a fellow citizen of An
drew, namea Ansel Brlggs. The first bal
lot was decidedly In favor of Brlggs over
two others, and In the following election he
was chosen over the whig, Thomas Mc
Knight, by a majority of 247.
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CHINESE SCHOOL
ethics delivered In Chinese by a celestial
professor, and saw about thirty-two boys
practicing mathematical drawing. In the
latter room I asked one of the boys If he
understood English. He smiled:
"Only a little," but added that he was
studying German. I then addressed him
In German, and fuund that he could speak
the language better than I could.
I examined the dormitories to see how
the boys live. There are six students to
every room of about fifteen feet square.
The beds are single, and are arranged
against the walls at the two ends of the
room. In the center is the study table,
and about stand the boxes where tbe
young men keep their clothes. There Is no
privacy, and an American boy could hardly
study In Buch surroundings. Still, the rate
of tuition and board Is, all told, less than
13 a month, and many of the students who
have scholarships are charged only for
their food. The boys work hard and learn
easily.
In the Peking I nlverslty.
From this language academy, In company
with Dr Tenney, the Chlnebe secretary
of our legation, I went to the Imperial
University of Peking. This Is also In the
Imperial city, not far from Coal Hill, in
which the emperor was temporarily burled
a few months ago. The buildings are alto
gether Chine?. They are low one-story
structures running) around paved courts.
The walls have largo" windows of a beau
tiful lace work of wood, backed with white
paper, und the heavy tiled roofs so over
hang that each court has a promenade
round it, reminding ono of the quadrangles
at Oxford. There are many courts und
many buildings, and the whole has a col
lege atmosphere quite equal to Princeton,
Cornell, Harvard or Yale.
I was especially Interested In the library,
with its thousands of old Chinese vol
umes, now mixed with a sparse and scat
tered collection of books In English,
French, German and Russian. The Chinese
books are on fine tissue paper, printed In
characters like those one sees on the tea
boxes. The most of them are bound In
paper or cardboard, nnd some of the works
comprise many parts. There Is an ency
clopedia, for Instance, which closely fills
a set of shelves tweive feet In height and
thirty feet long. It contains over 6,000 vol
umes and has perhaps 2.000. 000 pages. It
was printed from blocks within the Inst
five years and each of Its characters had
to be specially cut. Thrse characters must
run high Into the millions.
This book is only one of about nine en
cyclopedias which are now in use In
China. The most of them are equally
The principal administrative problems
that he faced were In the affairs uf build
ing up the state institutions for the thou
sands who were coming In and getting
the financial system under way.
In regard to banks, Governor Brlggs ex
pressed the sentiment of his party in the
famous declaration, "No banks but Iowa
soil, and they well tilled," and he main
tained that position during his service in
the executive office.
During his term of office his second wife
died and he married again In Andrew.
After the death of his third wife In 1869
he took little interest in public affairs and
retired to private life. By nature he was
a pioneer and he grew tired of the town
that he had helped to build and started
off for new fields. He found them In
Montana, and later In Florence and Omaha.
In Florence he was one of the Incor
porators of Omaha-Florence Land com
pany and took sn active part In the work
of building cities Just as he had In Iowa.
John 8. Brlggs was the only survivor of
Short Reach
HE table d'hote dinner the
"'" I famous "dollar dinner" of the
I I American railroud is fast dis
appearing, x no constant in
crease In the cost of foodstuffs
is largely responsible for this.
The Pullman company long since gave
up this particular feature of pas
senger luxury save in a few isolated
cases. It had ceased to be a particularly
profitable business this serving of fine
meals for $1 each and the railroads took
It up, prepared to make It a cost business
for the advertising value. Each ' railroad
plumed Itself upon Its dining car service
and was willing to lose a little money if
It might Induce travel to come Its way.
But, as the price of foodstuffs continued
to rise, this form of advertising began
to be more and more expensive and so tbe
"dollar dinner" Is dying out. In its place
is the foreign a la carte system, where the
price of each dish Is fixed according to
coat. In this way the railroads are begin
ning to worry less sbout the advertising
value of their dining cars and even to es
tablish their commissary upon a money
making basis.
The dining car idea la being extended
all the while to branches and tratua that
Progress
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BOYS I.V UNIFORM.
voluminous, nnd all are largely based on
the great encyclopedia written during one
of the first Ming emperors. That work
contained 22,937 books; It took 22,000 schol
ars to write It and required sixty volumes
for Its table of contents. It was never
printed, but I understand thut the manu
script Is still In existence.
In looking at the new encyclopedia I
asked one of the professors If It was re
vised from year to year and kept up to
date. He replied that It was not, but that
extra volumes were added from time to
time recording the changes. I doubt serh
ously If the work is of any value, It will
probably soon be consigned to the archives
of the old Chinese past.
The Peking university Is the same Insti
tution which was founded years ago under
Dr. W. P. Martin. It was reorganized
after the Boxer rebellion and It Is now
teaching the modern languages and
sciences, through Japanese and European
professors, and the old Chinese literature
through Chinese. It Is not a university In
our sense of the word, but Its courses will
be added to from now on, and It may
ome day become one.
While at this university 1 saw the stud
ents go through their regular afternoon
drill. Every boy carled a gun of ths most
modern make and the companies marched
like veteran soldiers. And still they seemed
odd. Thpy wore blue uniforms with low
crowned, broad-brimmed hats of sky blue
felt. The hats looked as though they came
from a millinery store, and as the boys
wheeled about and ' showed their long,
brulded queues, they made me think of
girls dressed lit boys' clothing.
Nevertheless, they marched well, and are.
learning to shoot. I saw a similar drill at
the language school und In the schools
everywhere a constant military training
Is now required by the government. This
is so, even in the primary grades, and the
result will be that tho new education will
make the Chinese a nation of soldiers.
It will also give the boys physical de
velopment. Athletic sports are now popu
lar In all of the schools. Every playground
has Its gymnasium, and the students play
base ball, foot ball and cricket. There are
college meets, over which high officials
preside and the spectators go wild over
the 100-yard dash, the pole vault and tho
broad Jump. Not long ago 8.000 competitors
entered In an athletic meet at Canton, and
at one In Hankow, Chiang Chi Tung, a
grand councilor of the empire and lis niost
famous scholar, along the old lines,
awarded the prises. Truly strange things
are now going on In this old Chinese em
pire. FRANK G. CARPENTER,
Old Home
the eight children of 1 la second marriage
and was at that time a man grown. He
came to Omaha und settled and when his
father wanted to retire altogether from
active life he took up his home here. Gov
ernor Brlggs died In his seventy-fifth year.
His death was noted with resolutions of
sorrow by the officers of the state of
Iowa and flags were at half-mast all over
the state.
The speakers at the unveiling of ths
great monument laid much stress upon
those qualities of mind and heart that
made Ansel Brlggs an active, Influential
and popular citizen In every community
which he Joined. They spoke of the faot
that his untiring Interest in the active work
of building up new Institutions and olttes
led him to forsake his earlier home and
Investigate Colorado and Montana, coming
later to eastern Nebraska and ceasing his
work here from the disability of old age.
Even in his short stay here in Omaha ho
left his Impress and Nebraskans share In
the honors which are being given him.
of the Dollar
could not support full sized cars. To meet
these needs smaller cars generally called
cafe cars In which the dining compart
ment la much reduced In size, are being
put in use. Two cooks, two waiters, and a
steward form the working force and the
fixed charges of the outfit are currespand
lnly lowt
They are further reduced in the so-called
broiler coach, which is nothing more than
a day car with a kitchen built In, the entire
service being performed by one or two
cooks, and a like number of waiters. Sumo
sleeping cars and parlor cars still have
kitchens where a slrgle gifted negro may
act as both cook and waiter; these cats
are designated commonly as buffet sleepers
or buffet parlor cars.
The dining car department of tho rail
road will probably have more to do than
merely to supervise tbe operation of theso
various sorts of employment. Restaurant
and lunchrooms at terminals and stations
along the line may fall under the direct
supervision and It may also conduct the
oulslne of tbe private cars of the railroad
officers generally called business cars.
In the dlplomatlo parlance of the modern
railroad. Outing Magazine.