No mention of the Peking-Muk den Railway is complete without some reminder of the great work done by Mr. Kinder who controlled and has since been operated by two administrations, British and German—-the German until China went to war with Germany in 1817, since when China has controlled the German. section.
The construction of the line was remarkable for German ey m of the revised form of the loan agreement for which they were primary responsible, and fe ¢ defalea tions on the section whose financial supervision they undertook. The construction of the German section was characterized by outrageous exploitation for the benefit of the German manufacturer. The—railway cannot meet the interest on capital. its destinies from 18S! to 1909. Ve was thus the pioneer of railways in China, and to him China owes her adequate gauge, sound standards of railway construction and her education in the value of railway transport. Only those who have had e: perience in railway and mining ventures can appreciate the—skill and tact required to educate a n tion so superstitious and so blindly obstinate, yet so skilled in subtle obstruction as the Chinese, China is too liable to forget this and the services of a man who served her with singleness of purpose and a quixotic disregard for monetary or other advantage.
The railway has been uniformly prosperous. In 1903 it paid 43 per cent., and since 1905 it has paid dividends of the order of 20 per cent. or more.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.