Pen Picture by Mr. Fox of Railway Sorrow sand Suffering "ox, Commercial Coun-the British Legation, Peking, gives am amusing account fof conditions of life and commerce ina, in his report on the indus-Arial and economic situation, Some fof this hus already. been reproduced these columns but the following is new:
"No one," says Mr. Fox, "can hive the best part of a lifetime in country of such vast and unlimitfed possibilities as China without Being an incurable optimist as the future of the country and its: people, but it must be admitted that: the events of the past two years have made heavy drains on one's fund of optimism.
Tt would indeed seem that almost every ill that trade is heir to has ately descended on this unfortun. ate country... Yet a ray of hope cerns to lic—and here the optimist, easterrs himself—in the sterling food sense of the Chinese people, specially the agricultural and merchant classes, their innate love of peace, their' remarkable capacity for carrying on' in the face of ap parently insurmountable obstacles and in particular their ability Fesume business as usual' whenever they are given even the shortest Dreathing space.
the question a market in China for British goods?" Mr. Fox replies: "Undoubtedly there is, and a growing one—but one is obliged to add that, for the time being, the demand is restricted owing to the prevalence of civil war.
The railways, Mr. Fox remarks, "nave been reduced to a deplorable condition by military interference! and abuse, and many are on the verge of bankruptcy." He describes railway sidings "littered with the Temains of derelict locomotives. and crippled cars," and add:
"One of the commonest and most depressing sights in China to-day to see the wreck of what was. once a fine British locomotive, coated with rust, and oozing steam at every pore, hauling at some miles an hou a scratch lot of freight cara taken from half a dozen different railways, filled with a misecl-Tancous assortment of field guns and aeroplanes, mules and motor-ears, and household. furniture and applinnces—the latter acquired' by the military in the course of their hard-fought campaign!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.