The railway, by the way, appears to be harassed on all sides. The military authorities are making demands upon it. Hundreds of cars have been taken off the lino to haul soldiers and military supplies. T understand from a high oficial of the line that the rail officials have faced the issue squarely and have declared they' will stoutly refuse to honour any more orders for cars. They say they can {il afford to spare the cars already removed from the line and have no intention of parting with any mo Their ability to stick to this rosel remains to be demonstrated.
The coal shippers have been loudly raising their voices against any further decrease in ears. Already, they say, there are insufficient ea fat the mines and large quantities of coal remain unshipped. The conditions are said to prevail at Paoshan and Szechuan, "Japanese coal merchants carried. their complaint to their consul-General, Mr. Horinouchi, who took up the matter with his Government. These merchants alleged that the railway had no legal right to deprive the shippers of adequate shipping faci There is a rumour current that the British-American Tobacco Ca. has solemnly declared it will not ship a single pound of tobacco in the province of Shantung until the likin tax is repealed. If this is tr it means a heavy economic loss to both the railway and the province, Reshulling of Officials The railway has been further disturbed of late by a big shake-up and re-organization. Many minor officials have been dismissed, for no apparent reason other than to 10 effect a new departmental organization. Some departments have been merged with others and others have lost their identity altogether. The many changes have brought about a general feeling of uneasiness in railroad circles, a sort fof apprehension of "feeling axe," as one railroader expressed it,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.