A Constant Succession Of Villages, Towns
And Cities Would Be Transformed Into A Picture Of Bustle And Business.
The internal economical conditions of China to-day are very much the same
as were those of India when railways were introduced.
The only difference
is that the Chinese people are better off per man, and that the Chinese
and Indo-Chinese, unlike the natives of India, are born travelers and
traders. Yet, even in India, contrary to expectation, the passenger
traffic on the railways has, from the first, exceeded the goods traffic.
In 1857, the number of passengers carried by railway in India was
2,000,000; in 1896, it had risen to 160,000,000. In the first named year,
the quantity of goods transported was 253,000 tons; in 1896, it was
32,500,000 tons. There has been witnessed in India during those forty
years an expansion of commerce which, at the outset of the period, would
have been deemed incredible. The imports and exports rose in that time
from 400,000,000 to 2,000,000,000 rupees. Forty years ago, India was
merely a dealer in drugs, dyes and luxuries; now she is one of the largest
purveyors of food grains, fibers, and many other staples. Few persons are
aware how favorably the earnings of Indian railways compare with those of
other countries. The average earnings of railways in the United States are
3 per cent; in Great Britain, 3.60 per cent; in India, 5.46 per cent.
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