military in Competition with Me monopolizing Railways:
-Shipping Own Goods Free and Taxing Out Everyone Else: A Coal Famine and Winter Coming ey Guncer Peking, Oct. 29.
Recitals of the various impositions Chinese and foreign commerce on the railways are getting monotony ous and now make little impression upon either the traders or the consular and diplomatic folk who have the impossible task of protecting them. While the Chinese consumer's capacity to pay gets smaller and smaller, the insufferable taxes which the military impose upon transport, when they are not interrupting communications altogether, are pushing prices of all foreign commodities up very near to the prohibitive limit, while even such essential and fuel are rising so rapidly, throughout the North that the) millions who are never more than ahead of starvation are! taken by cruel want, taken for granted, but a few feature of the situation Is developing which promises to make Li ime ult for the masses and to legit mate commerce, and that is the) military participation in trade. The: ingenious Chinese merchant, in the: face of heavy taxation and expensive! communications, contrives to move) goods and find' a market for them While he meets no more serious! competition than that of his rivals in the same line of commerce who labour under the same disabilities; but. when he has to compete with military monopolies his courage, patience and ingenuity are of no Avail whatever. He simply "quits That the military, from privates up, to generals, have conceived the notion of "going into trade" and are acting upon the inspiration, is evident at every turn in North China, The Coal Famin"
This is the second year that the, coal trade of North China has been very largely in military hand; year their grip upon it is more-firmly; plished than ever, Their right to' commandeer all means of transport, from the railways, camels, down to donkeys and pushcarts, gives them a monopoly} which no commercial organization can rival.
In Peking there is now a coal famine and prices are absurdly high, although there are inexhaustible supplies of coal within easy reach. Under normal conditions the anthracite from the Western Hills, which are within sight of the could be sold on the streets reasonable profit at about $8.60 a 'This coal now costs anything from $15 to $18, and is hard to get., Shansi subanthtacite, which, ought to sell at $12 a ton, ix now bringing' anything from $20 to $30 and ho who can get a few cartloads at any price, without currying favour with a general, considers himself lucky. Soft coul, which once brought about $5 per ton, is quoted ut all sorts of prohibitive prices and the difficulty of getting it under any circumstances has moved the Kailan Mining Com= pany to close its agency in' Pekin Not only has every freight truck hat comes into Peking a soldier on it, but virtually every string of coat carrying carts or camels. that one meets in the streets is accompanied by men. in, uniform. Thdependent transporters, countrymen who. own a cart or afew camels, bring coat to the vicinity of the city by follow-. ing circuitous yontes at night and then naturally charge the price that the military monopoly has put upon coal to compensate them for their risks,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.