The Sunday Oregonian. (Portland, Ore.) 1881-current, December 08, 1912, SECTION FIVE, Page 2, Image 62

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    PERSONS AND PLACES OF INTEREST SHOWN PICTORIAL I
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1 EW YORK. -Dec. 7. (Special.) I
j Prince Llchnowsky, new German!
Ambassador to Great Britain, Is
bhown. with the Princess. He probably
will figure largely 1n the news In the
coming days. In view of the war sit
uation. Prince Llchnowsky Is the suc
cessor of the late Baron Marschall von
Bleberstein. considered the ablest of
German diplomats and -one of the best
of the Kaiser's statesmen, who died
after holding the British post only a
few months.
The managers of Proctor's Theater
assert that the mysterious masked lady
is to make $100,000 this season by ap
pearing in vaudeville. They say she is
an opera singer of American birth who
has made a reputation abroad and Is
unable to get an engagement In opera
in her own country. To appear In
vaudeville Is to risk her future In
opera. Mme. T. as she Is known to
the stage. Is to wear a domino while
singing. She says she expects to con
ceul her identity in this way.
Csar Ferdinand of Bulgaria and some
members of his staff at the railroad
station on his way to the front are
here shown. The Czar himself has
been in command of his army in the
field.
Queen Eleanor of Bulgaria is shown
awaiting at the railroad station at
Yam Yambols the arrival of the wound
ed from the field of Loxa Lozengrad.
The Queen is an active member of the
Red Cross and has been giving her
attention to the wounded since the be
ginning of the war.
Czar Ferdinand is also shown enter
ing Moustapha Past a as conqueror. He
was greeted by the priests who es
corted hlra through the town. They are
the priests of the Greek Church of
which he is a member. Maustapha
Pasha is the. first town beyond the
border of Bumelia on the road to Adrl-
anople. It was the first place of Im
portance cantured by the Bulgars.
An accompanying picture was taken
by a TurklBh officer and is the first
from the Turkish side received In New
York. It shows a scene at the battle
of Sakis-kevy. On the extreme right is
the direction for Vize. In the" middle
the direction ,for Kargatch and on the
extreme left the direction for Lule Bur
gas. In the center are the troops of
Abdullah Pasha giving battle. In the
foreground Is the Fifth Battery of ar
tillery which lost nearly all Its of
ficers In the encounter. This battery
remained two hours in Its last posi
tion and answered until half past six
the fire from seven batteries of the
enemy.
The picture Is one of the most Inter
esting from the front in the Balkan
war. It shows some of the 80,000 guns
dropped by the Turkish soldiers in their
mad flight from Uskub and Kumanova.
The rifles were thrown aside as the
routed Turks fled In disorder and terror
after the victorious onslaughts of the
Bulgarians. This gives actual and pos
itive pictorial evidence of the defeat of
the Turks. .
-
Myron T. Herrick returned to this
country Friday accompanied by Mrs.
Herrick. Mr. Herrick is the Ohio
banker who was appointed by Presi
dent Taft Ambassador to France. He
expects to return to his post as soon
as he has attended to some personal
business In. this country.
In Oaklani Cal., have been or
ganized two "campfires" for -girls
where young women learn to develop
their own. characters. This organiza
tion is something like that of the Boy
Scouts. The girls go Into camp dressed
In Indian garb and there learn to do
practical things to sew, to cook, to
darn. There is in each camp a system
of elective honor These are divided
into seven groups health, home,
craft, nature-love, campcraft, hand-
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craft, business and patriotism. Honors
are given girls for not missing school
for a certain period, for cooking at
home, for being able to tell standard
folk-stories, for making a garden, for
making a successful shirtwaist.
A girl who joins a campfire becomes
first a wood-gatherer, then a fire
maker and then a torchbearer. Mem
bership is symbolized by the standing
pine, meaning simplicity and strength.
Before a girl may become a firemaker
she must have fulfilled certain re
quirements. She must have expressed
her understanding of the joy of service
in the wards of the campfire: "As fuel
is brought to the fire, so I propose to
bring my strength, my ambition, my
heart's desire, my joy and my sorrow to
the fire of mankind. This is the de
sire of the firemaker."
These pictures were posed by Louise
Jergensen, a prominent memberof the
senior campfire of Oakland.
Wah-Hah-Gun-Ta, which, translated
Into English, means Wiley Wimpuss,
chief firemaker, the 131-year-old
Blackfoot Indian from Glacier reserva
tion, will attend the United States land
show In Chicago. Chief Firemaker is
the oldest human being In the world,
having been born in the region now
known as Glacier National Park in
1781, according to well authenticated
tradition. His wrinkled countenance
bears this out.
He was the first red man In that ter
ritory to visit the great white father,
and his journey to the National Capital
when President Jefferson was in the
White House was a memorable event in
his life. He is regarded in his tribe
as an oracle.
At the time ot his birth, so the In
dian legend goes, the father of all spir
its, standing on a mountain, shot an
arrow near his father's tepee. The
prophecy, as Interpreted by the medi
cine men. Is that he would live for
ever and assist the gods in their coun
cils. The aged Indian is a chieftain of
his tribe and in his younger days was a
great huntsman. He has killed 3000
buffaloes.
' '
The children of New York celebrate
Thanksgiving as the children of other
cities Halloween. ...They dress In out
landish costumes and parade the
streets, stopping pedestrians- and ask-
ing for money or begging at house
doors. Most of the "disguises" consist
of skirts on boys combined with old
hats out of the ash barrel and a little
paint daubed on the face. Some of the
devices used are elaborate, however.
Young men band together to form a
band of cowboys and get their costumes
from a costumer. They go about on
horses. Others dress extravagantly as
policemen with fl-amp. etc These
groups afford more amusement to one
another than to the casual pedestrian.
However there are always passers-by
who throw pennies Into a crowd of the
youngsters to enjoy the fun of seeing
Chem scramble for the coin.
LUHAN ROAD MAY SOON
GO AS CHINESE ASSET
If Policy of "Immediate Dividends at Any Price" Is Continued, New
Republic Across Pacific Likely to Lose Valuable Way.
BY ALFRED TINGI.E.
THE Lu Han Railway is the longest
link of what will be the great
north-to-south trunk line of
China.
When it was first planned it was
with a very different-object in view.
Its beginning dates back to the years
between the Chino-Japanese war and
the Boxer rising the concession hunt
ers' golden age. China was then sup
posed to be on the point of breaking
up; the powers were busy cutting the
map into "spheres of influence." while
the so-called "statesmen" of the em
pire, headed by the arch-traitor, Li
Hung Chang, began to "realize" on their
holdings" and filled their private purses
by selling the resources of ther coun
try to the highest bidder.
Axuoaar the concessions granted at
this time was one for a railroad from
Pekin to Hankow.- It was one more In
a pretty little political intrigue, made
possible by the co-operations of Russia,
France and Belgium. The road was to
be .nominally a Belgium enterprise,
since nobody could object to a second
class neutral power, such as Belgium,
securing a modern financial plum. Al
though the railroad might become a
commercial success, it was not being
built with a commercial object. Rus
sia was standing., behind Belgium in
this matter. If China broke apart,
Pekin would fall hito the paws of the
Bear, while England would lay claim
to the Yangtzu Valley. How would
England's claims look If Russia had a
railroad from her own sphere right
down into the very heart of that val
ley, tapping its richest city? Strong
Russian influence and great Russian
interests at Hankow would do more
than weaken the position of England
Hankow would be a fulcrum by turning
about which Russia might well hope
to oust (all her competing neighbors,
one by one.
A big diplomatic row followed the
announcement of thjs concession; the
quarrel was not finally adjusted till
the Boxer rising had come and gone
in fact, it" was one of those quarrels
which, by dividing the Powers, weak
ened them so much during the peace
negotiations. Before the rising com
menced, rails had been laid as far
south as paotlngfu, the nominal capital
of Chlhli Province, and In the Summer
of 1900 the engineering staff, as well
as the missionaries In that city, were
brutally murdered. (The missionaries
are immortalized as "martyrs to their
faith." but no honorlflcs have yet been
bestowed on these "lay brothers.")
When, In 1902 ana succeeding years,
it became evident that China was get
ting riveted together again, the Lu Han
Railway .quietly took new shape as a
purely commercial enterprise. By 190S
the whole line was completed. Includ
ing the first bridge ever made across
the Yellow River. One clause in the
concession provided that China should
have the option of redeeming this rail
road from Its owners. Nobody expect
ed before 1900, that China would ever
redeem this road, but conditions
changed, and it was no surprise when,
eight years later, two loans totaling
$25,260,000, were negotiated with an
Anglo-French syndicate on other se
curity, and the Lu Han Railway be
came the unencumbered property of ths
Imperial Government.
Though there are good political rea
sons for thinking It unlikely that this
line will ever be offered as collateral
security for a foreign loan, yet it is
worth glancing at its financial pros
pects, because it is one of tne very few
lines which China has an honest right
to pawn if she wlsnes.
The railroad la 764 miles long, run
ning somewhat west of south from
Pekin to Hankow. Its construction pre.
sented only one engineering problem of
any difficulty, which was the bridging
of the Yellow River. This problem does
not seem to have been successfully
solved, for almost every year, In flood
time, the bridge is reported unsafe and
traffic Is Interrupted. The fact that
the present bridge will probably not.
stand long Is less Important than It
might seem. It may well outlast tha
river.
According to European engineers
who have studied that great stream and
the Chinese methods of maintaining it
in its present channel, it is likely to
change its course, in most disastrous
fashion, between 11 and 16 years hence.
If the Lu Han Railway bridge will en
dure 20 years It probably will be needed
no longer.
In the whole length of this railroad
there is no city of any commercial im
portance, though there are several that
look large oh the map. Paotlngfu is an
administrative and military center. A
strong garrison was stationed there
till lately; It Is also the "West Point"
of China and has a large provincial col
lege. Its trade was never great, and
must be much smaller since last Spring,
when the troops of the newly-made
"Republic" looted and burnt the busi
ness section as a protest against the
policy of "no pay, no queues, and Can
tonese domination."
The line does pass, however, in Its
northern part, through -an extremely
rich mining section, making the large
bituminous coal deposits of southwest
Chihll available for manufacturers at
the coast. '
The terminus, Hankow, Is one of the
four great markets of China. There is
here a quadruple city the foreign con
cessions, Chinese Hankow, Hanyang
and Wuchang. The last three are
separated from one another by two
navigable rivers, the Han and the
Yangtzu. This group may be con
sidered at once the Chicago and tha
Pittsburg of China, so that any rail
road touching It can hardly fail to
prosper, that Chinese Hankow has been,
since the Revolution, little more than
a heap of ruins is unimportant. It
cannot remain so.
How has this line been managed
since It came Into Chinese hands?
Certainly It has been a source of rev
enue.though exactly what the return
has been Is a secret of the board of
communications, But the revenue has
been obtained at serious cost. From
the moment the Government took over
the road every foreign employee whom
it was possible to dismiss was dis
missed. Apparent working expenses
were cut down to a mlnlmum.thougn
there was little check on the squeezing
propensities of native officials. Re
pairs were neglected, and the policy
followed was that of "bleeding the
road to death."
It Is a short-sighted policy, out one
eminently characteristic ; of China,
where funds can always be found I to
start a new enterprise, no matter how
extravagant, but where malntainance
charges are never met
A well-built railroad might stand up
under such treatment for some years,
but the Luhan was not well-built. In
the later stages of Its construction It
was built "to sell to China" a phase
with a very definite meaning to con
tractors. Ai
I do not make these assertions on my
own authority, but on that of eminent
engineers well acquainted with the
facts. Roadbed and rolling stock have
alike suffered. I am even credibly
informed that for more than two years
past passengers in the first-class sleep
ing cars have been subject to the at
tacks of the smaller carnlvora of Asia.