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tion is that the agricultural products can best be transported to the river ports during the winter, but the river and the port of Newchwang can be navigated only during the open season of about six months; this means the storing of large quantities of soya beans and grain during the spring months. The handling of this traffic by railway has made a great improvement in the situation, in that the grains can be transported immediately to the ice-free port of Dairen. This has resulted in the loss by Newchwang of much of its commercial importance since the completion of the railway and the opening of the port of Darien.

II. MANCHURIAN RAILWAYS.

SOUTH MANCHURIA RAILWAY CO.

INTRODUCTION-EXTENT OF LINES.

The South Manchuria Railway Co. is one of the most interesting and instructive developments in this part of the world. The conclusions that can be drawn from the working results are particularly significant as to what can be accomplished by similar methods in other parts of the Far East, and attention will be called later to some of these points. The main line extends northwestwardly from the port of Dairen (formerly called Dalny) to Changchun, a distance of 437.6 miles, of which 238.4 miles at the southern end is double tracked. At Changchun connections are made with the Harbin-Changchun branch of the Chinese Eastern and with the Kirin-Changchun line of the Chinese Government railways. At Ssupingkai connection is made with the Ssupingkai-Chengchiatun line extending northwestwardly toward northeastern Mongolia. The Mukden-Antung line leaves the main line about 5 miles south of Mukden and runs in a southeasterly direction to Antung, a distance of 170.8 miles, where connection is made with the Korean railways. In addition, there are important branches, as follows: To the Fushun coal mines, 30.9 miles; to Newchwang (Yingkow), 13.9 miles; to Port Arthur, 28.9 miles; to the Yentai coal mines, 9.7 miles a total of 981.8 miles, not including the Liushutun branch of 3.5 miles.

At the present writing no extensions of the South Manchuria lines are contemplated, but the proposed extensions of the Kirin-Changchun and the Ssupingkai-Chengchiatun lines will, for all practical purposes, effect extensions that will act as traffic feeders to the South Manchuria system. There has been much discussion concerning the possible acquiring by the South Manchuria Co. of about 75 miles of the southern end of the Harbin-Changchun branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway, which would give access to the Sungari River and, by means of river transportation, to all of the Sungari and Amur River ports. This would be a very valuable acquisition, and would probably add a substantial volume of traffic to both outbound and inbound shipments. As the South Manchuria Railway Co. is not only an organization for the maintenance and operation of this railway property but is also a very efficient means by which the Japanese Government maintains and operates an investigation, development, manufacturing, and transportation organization in Manchuria and Chosen, it is probable that additional branch lines will be built for the future development of the country.

FINANCIAL STATISTICS-OPERATING RESULTS.

The tables following present financial statistics and operating results of the South Manchuria Railway and its outside undertakings; values are expressed in gold.

106229°-1913

193

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PERFORMANCE STATISTICS FOR YEAR ENDED MAR. 31, 1916.

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4,028,128

147,791

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Average ride per passenger, miles..

Average number of passengers carried per passenger train mile

3, 200, 557 233,567, 100 $2, 185, 453 $0.00877 73.0 192

$7,908,392

$0.00673

193.9

567,977 21,694, 846 $228, 453 $0.00950

38.2
59

1,390, 734 112,487,947 $696, 045 $0.00614

80.9

3,708, 165 255, 261, 946

$2,413, 906 $0.00883 68.8 167

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6,053, 103

1,173, 834, 902

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RECEIPTS, EXPENSES, AND PROFITS FOR FOUR YEARS ENDED MAR. 31.

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In addition to its railway mileage, the South Manchuria Railway Co., as indicated in the above tables, owns and operates outside undertakings, with a capital investment of about $40,000,000, not including the value of the concessions and property turned over by Russia at the end of the Russo-Japanese war.

The railway company maintains a research department with a central laboratory and a geological laboratory. The central laboratory has eight divisions, as follows: Analytical and applied chemistry; tussah filature; dyeing and weaving works; ceramic; brewing; hygienic; electrochemistry; and experimental bean mill. The laboratory aims at pursuing the study, from both the scientific and the commercial point of view, of the analysis of coal and iron ores in Manchuria, the employment of clay and siliceous stone as materials for glass making, the method of manufacturing salt, the uses of beans, the manufacture of pulp for paper from kaoliang stalks, the distilling of kaoliang spirit, the reeling of tussah silk, and the potentialities of the botanical products of Manchuria.

The geological laboratory is intended mainly for the investigation and analysis of the soil, mineral products, etc., in Manchuria and Mongolia, the surveys of which from a geological point of view have been practically concluded. A geological map and a pictorial table of mineral products of Manchuria are in preparation, and careful search is being made for all mineral products, particularly coal and iron.

By further reference to the table on page 194 it will be seen that the mines, tramways and electric plants, harbors and wharves, and gas plants are showing reasonable profits. The hotels are operated at a small loss. The land operations show a loss, probably on account of certain enterprises that are undertaken for the development of the country. The largest item of loss is the one of general expense, which includes the investigations and developments going on in the research department and other similar expenses that are not being allocated to the various enterprises directly.

In addition to those mentioned above, further developments are under way, among the most important of which are the two 250-ton blast furnaces now in course of construction at Anshan, where later it is planned to erect a complete steel plant, particularly for the manufacture of ship plates and similar materials. In this general connection it may be mentioned that the Kawasaki Dockyards Co., of Kobe, has a shipbuilding plant at Dairen, and there are a number of other growing industries at this point, representing entirely Japanese enterprise and capital.

HISTORICAL SURVEY-ORGANIZATION.

A detailed history of the South Manchurian branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway and the South Manchuria Railway Co. since its acquisition by the Japanese would be entirely too long to be included in such a report as this, but the principal facts will be briefly stated. The line from Harbin to Port Arthur and Dairen was built by Russia under the terms of the supplemental agreement shown in appendix No. 2. The track was all standard Russian 5-foot gauge. One result of the Russo-Japanese war was the surrender of the line south of Kwanchengtze, a point about 2 miles north of Changchun, to Japan. The field railway department of the Japanese Army administered the property until April 1, 1907, on which date the railway and all the outside undertakings, including the coal mines, were turned over to the company, which had already gone through the following formative process: On June 7, 1906, an imperial ordinance (No. 142) was issued concerning the establishment of the South Manchuria Railway Co., and on July 13 of the same year Gen. Viscount G. Kodama was appointed president of the organization committee, composed of 80 members. But, in consequence of the death of Viscount Kodama, which occurred on July 24, Viscount Terauchi, Minister of War, assumed the presidency on July 25.

On August 1 the Government forwarded to the committee the conditions pertaining to the establishment of the South Manchuria Railway Co., and after the formation of the company had been prepared by the committee on the basis of the imperial ordinance and in accordance with the conditions of the Government, the articles of association were approved by the Government on August 18. The authorized share capital was 200,000,000 yen, par value of shares 200 yen. The right to hold shares was limited to the Imperial Japanese Government and the Imperial Chinese Government, now the Republic of China, and subjects of these two countries. probable, however, that very few, if any, of the shares were ever held by Chinese. For the property turned over, the Imperial Japanese Government received a total of 500,000 fully paid-up shares, or 50 per cent of the total amount authorized. The subscribed stock

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