Institute of Pacific Relations

Memorandum on Railway Construction in Manchuria

Source: Memorandum (Institute of Pacific Relations, American Council), Vol. 2, No. 15 (Aug. 3,
1933), pp. 1-3
Published by: Institute of Pacific Relations
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AMERICAN COUNCIL
INSTITUTE OF PACIFIC RELATIONS
129 EAST 52D STREET, NEW YORK QITY
Issued fortnightly
Annual subscription
- $ 2.00
Vol. II - 15 August 3, 1933
ORANDUM ON RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION IN MANCHURIA
For over thirty years, the history of Manchuria has been closely
linked to the development of its railways.
The original construction
of the main trunk line by Russians was followed, after the Treaty of
Portsmouth, by a period of Japanese
administration over its most im-
portant section and of construction by Japanese of subsidiary and feed-
er lines. The third period coincided with the rise to power in Manchur-
ia of Chang Tso-lin,
and produced
a flanking network of
lines
to the
west, built and controlled largely by Chinese enterprise, although
occasionally with Japanese capital. The potential tbreat to Japanese
railway control presented by these new lines was one of the threads in
the situation which produced the recent conflict in this region and which
appear to have ushered in yet a fourth phase.
Whatever the final outcome of the negotiations between the Soviet
Union and "Manchukuo" over the Chinese Eastern Railway, the character
of the new development is already fairly clear. One of the principal
factors in these negotiations concerns the degree to which the commercial
and the strategic value of the Chinese Eastern has been undermined by
the construction of new lines9 Plans have recently been announced for the
extention of this construction. With the apparent termination of anti-
bandit activities and with the at least temporary subsidence of local
Chinese military opposition,
the new state has turned its energies to the
exploitation of its industrial and commercial possibilities. In this pro-
cess, the building of railroad lines is playing
a dominant part.
Tunhua-Tumentsiang
Railroad - By all means the most important link in
new consTrueion s1 line linking Tunkua with Tumentsiang. This
line has played
a large part in Japanese plans for some years, but it was
only after the establishment of the new state of "Manchukuo' that con-
struction could begin. Linking Kirin and other large cities to Korea
and to Japan itself, the line has an enormous potential importance, both
commercial and strategic. The length of construction required was small,
being only
187
kilometres, running
from the town of Tunhua on the already
constructed Tbnhua-Kirin line to Kaiakudo, Korea, which lies on the actual
border of Korea and "Manchukuo". At this point it connects with the rail-
road which runs along the whole eastern coast of Korea. The construction
work required was completed on June 8, and the line was expected to be run-
ning on full schedule, it has been announwced, by August 1.
The importance of this line can be estimated only in connection
with the Japanese construction of a new port at Rashin, on the Korean
coast. For this construction, 40,000,000 yen have already been assign-
ed, with a further 20,000,000 yen to be expended at a later period.
The port will serve as a new outlet to the Pacific for all of the cen-
tral and northeastern sections of "Manchukuo". It is estimated that it
will be able to handle, when completed, 9,000,000
tons of cargo annually.
Some of this traffic will undoubtedly be at the expense of the South
Manchurian Railway
and
Dairen,
but the new
competition
will be most severe-
ly felt by the eastern branch of the Chinese Eastern and the port of
Vladivostok, hitherto the principal outlet to the world for north Man-
churian products. With the construction of supplementary railroad lines,
the port will provide the nearest outlet to the sea not only for Kirin,
but also for the Harbin district and nearly the whole of Heilungkiang
Province. The sea route from Rashin to Japan of 486 miles compares with
the distance to Japan from Dairen of 586 miles. A regular steamsh-ip
service has already been announced; it will be possible for travellers
to journey
from Changchun (Hsinching), the capital of "Manchukuo" to
Tokyo in about 50 hours.
Lafa-Harbin Railroad - Second in importance only to the line linking
Korea with Kirin is a project to link this line itself with Harbin and
the fertile northern sections of the new state. The line is planned at
present to run from the station of Laha on the Kirin-Tunhua line, through
either Yushu or Wuchang, to
Harbint
With the construction of a bridge
across the Sungari at Harbin, this line will establish a direct trunk
line from Hailun in the far north of Manchuria to Rashin and the Korean
coast.
Construction of this line, which is to be 220 kilometres long, is
expected to be completed before the end of the year. A contract for the
construction of a
bridge
across the Sungari has already been given to a
Japanese concern. A Russian railway expert, writing in the Manchurian
Monitor, a Russian monthly published in Harbin, has explained the im-
portance of this new line. "Great excitment has been aroused on the
question of accomplishment of the project of construction of the railway
line from the station Lafa on the Kirin-Tunhua line to Harbin, and this
is easily understood as the significance of this line is exceedingly
great. In connection with the accomplishment
of the linking up of the
Hu-Ha and Taitsihar railway lines and the construction of the Lafa-Harbin
line, the direction of the Kirin-Korea main line has been sharply altered.
Up to the present it was considered that the object of the Kirin-Korea
main line was to get in touch with the Mongolian frontier and the whole
of the railway line was calculated to carry out the colonization of the
enormous area bordering on Mongolia. The present construction is direct-
ing the main line to densely populated districts of developed agriculture,
forming a larger base for goods traffic. Of course, this does not mean
that the project for extending the Kirin-Korea main line to the west, in
the direotion of Mongolia, is to be given up, but the railway which will
link up the Kirin-KZorea main line with Harbin must be very significant
for the Chinese Eastern Railway, as it will be a new comDpetitor taking
away north Manchurian goods to north Korea."
Tsitsihar-Koshan and Harbin-Hailun Railroads - The third important
project
at
present
under way
is the construction of a connecting link
between the railroad lines from Tsitsihar to Koshan and from Harbin to
Hailun. Both of these lines were built and financed by Chinese between
1928 and 1931 as a part of the plan for an independent network to feed
the projected port of Hulutao. Even before the establishment of the new
state, their competition had begun to be felt by the Chinese Eastern
Railway. With the construction of a line joining these two roads, this
competition should be made considerably more severe. It will then be
possible to transport grain and beans from all of the northern districts
of Manchuria either to Rashin in Korea or to Mukden and Dairen in South
Manchuria entirely independently of the Chinese Eastern Railway. It
will be immediately possible to route traffic to the south, through
Taonanfu, and with the completion of the Lafa-Harbin line above referred
to, connections will be completed from Tsitsihar to Korea.
The completed construction of this series of roads has particular
importance to any understanding of the present position of the Chinese
Eastern Railroad. Referred to now in Japan and 'Manchukuo" as the
"North Manchurian Railroad" this latter line faces a serious impairment
of its earning power and of its tactical importance to its owners. How
large a consideration this may prove to be in the readiness of the Soviet
Union to complete the sale negotiations, it is difficult to say.
With
settled conditions, however, and any revival of world demand for Manchur-
ian products, particularly soya beans,
the new network of railroad lines
are expected to offer every serious competition to the C.E.R.
Repairs to Western Lines - At the same time as new construction is being
ipuhed
te vernmentot "Manchukuo" has announced a program of repairs
and reorganization for the existing lines which form the principal arteries
of transport for the rnew state. These lines include, besides the South
Manchuria Railway,
the Supingkai-Taonan, the Taonan-Angangchi, the Tsitsihar-
Koshan,
and the Hulan-Hailun lines. The actual work is being carried on
by the South Manchuria Railway Company, on behalf of the government of
"ManchukJuo',
Most of these lines were constructed recently, largely by Chinese.
They have been controlled for almost two years by Japanese officials, and
plans for their reorganization are said to have been prepared in detail.
All bridges are to be replaced by steel structures on the principal lines,
and heavier rails are to be installed. Bids have already been received
for a bridge spanning the Hulan River on the Hulan-Hailun line and for a
bridge over the Nen River on the Taonan-Angangchi line. The Nen bridge
is estimated to cost 1,300,000 yen and to be completed by September,1934,
and the Hulan bridge, to cost 600,000 yen, is to be finished before the
end of 1933.
The outlet for these lines, when they were first constructed, was to
be a new port at Hulatao, which was being built for the Chinese by
a
Netherlands construction fi4m. The present status of this contract is8
not
clear, but it has grown increasingly doubtful if the new government
will continue with the
project.
The construction of Rashin on the
Korean coast, together with the careful linking of all existing lines
in such a manner that their traffic may easily and cheaply be diverted
either to Rashin or to Dairen appears to indicate that the development
of Hulutao will not be continuedo Without it, "Manchukuo" will still
have a fully-integrated railroad system in its own control, and even
without possession of the Chinese Eastern Railway will be able to trans-
port its produce to ocean ports from by far the greater part of its
commercially productive territbry. The next phase of construction,
rather than Hulutao, would appear to be the building of railroad lines
to the west. Both in order to open large districts for colonization
and to provide the basis for commercial development of Mongolia and es-
pecially Inner Mongolia, these plans may be expected to take shape as
one of the major sections of the program of the new state, when the pre-
sent construction is completed.
Sources: This memorandum is based on information published in Russian
in Harbin and on news dispatches from "Manchukuo" to the Japan Chron-
icle and the Japan Advertiser, both published in Japan.
From: American Council, Institute of Pacific Relations,
129 East 52nd Street,
New York City.
Plaza 3_4700,
Ext. 415.
U. B. IMPORTANT
(This release is sent for the information of all subscribers to
the I.P.R. Memoranda. It is not to be released to the press
until August 7.)
FOR RELEASE MONDAY, AUGUST 7.
With the opening of preliminary meetings at Banff this
morning, the fifth biennial conference of the Institute of Pacific
Relations will get under way. The conference itself will begin next
week, on August 14, with discussion of economic conflict and control
in the Pacific area slated to be the principal subject of the round
tables. Meanwhile, the Pacific Council, the governing body of the
Institute, and its International Research and Programme Committees
will begin their sessions today.
The Philippine independence question, the United States
Exclusion Act against Orientals, and naval preparedness in the
Pacific are some of the questions which will be considered when the
sessions open next week. Principal emphasis, however, is to be
placed in the round-table agenda on questions of tariffs and trade
restrictions, international commodity agreements, shipping subsidies
and other problems of economic conflict, Although the conference
itself is not open to the public, and although its meetings have no
direct political significance, the sessions which begin
next week
will be concerned with immediate problems of economic conflict in
the Pacific area. The conference is an unofficial international
gathering, attended by selected leaders from all the countries of
the Pacific, and is expected to provide the setting for a frank
exchange of views between representatives of different nations.
The rise of economic nationalism and the tendency towards
national or regional self-sufficiency will be studied in the round
tables. At the same tine, an attempt will be made to appraise the
value of existing machinery for the settlement of international eco-
nomic conflict, and to suggest possible devices for its improvement.
The discussions will be based on dociumentation submitted by each of
the countries represented and on the international research work of
the Institute itself.
The Honorable Newton D. Baker, Chairman of the American
Council of the Institute, wvill lead at Banff an American group
of
representatives who have been chosen as specialists on diff'erent
aspects of these problems. Aerican business contacts w7ith the
Far East and with the Pacific in g;eneral will be represented by
Mr. Wallace Alexander, vrice-president of the MOatson Navigation
Company; Mr. J. D. Mooney., Chairman of the Board of General Motors
Export Corporation; Mr. Frank C. .Atherton, president of Castle and
Cooke Ltd., Honolulu; and Mr. Alfred I. Esberg, a prominent businless
manl of San Francisco. Mr. Lewig L. Strauss, of ZCuhn, I,oeb and CQ.,
2
-
and Mr. Maurice Wertheim, of Wertheim and Co., will
brirg to
the
discussions a background in international finance. In the
field
of international law, bosides Mr. Baker
himself,
the American
group
includes Professors J, P. ChatAberlain and
Philip C.
Jessup of
Columbia
University, Professor Quincy Wright of the
University of
Chicago, and
Professor Jerome D. Greene, Wilson Professor of International Politics
at University College, Wales. Professor C. K. Leith, president of
the
Geological Society of America, will bring to the conference
expert
knowledge of world mineral resources, while in Dr. Robert A. IMillikan
the American group has a physicist of world reputation, winner of the
Nobel Prize in 1923. Mr. Henry R. Luce, editor of Time and
Fortune,
and Mr. Walter Millis, of the editorial staff of the New York
Herald
Tribune and author of The Martial Spirit, will represent journalism.
Dr. Harold G. Moulton, director of the Brookings Institution, and
Dr. Lewis L. Lorwin of the Institute of Economics are the economists
of the group, while food problems will be specially served by
Dr. Carl L. A,lsberg of the Stanford Food Research Institute, and
Dr. Royal N. Chapman, Dean of the Graduate School of Tropical
Agri-
culture at the University of Hawaii. The field of education will be
represented by Miss ALda L. Comstock, president of Radcliffe College,
and by Mr. Frank Midkiff, president of the Kamehameha Schools in
Honolulu. Mr, Edward C. Carter, secretary of the American Council
of the Institute, is a leader in adult education on international
problems in this country, in which field Mrs. F. Louis Slade and
Mrs. John Paul Welling are also active. iLlmost all of the American
representatives have lived at some time in the Far East, but few of
them as long as Mr. Owen tattimore, explorer Df the Gobi Desert,
expert on Mongolia and author of Manchuria: Cradle of Conflict.
From the other countries of the Pacific are coming groups
similarly qualified to speak with authority on these problems.
Sir Herbert Samuel, leader of the British group and former member
of the British cabinet, will be accompanied by Professor T.E. Gregory
of the University of London, H.V. Hodson, econoraist and one of the
editors of "The Round Table", the Right Honorable A.V.
Alexander,
Member of Parliament; Mr. Richard D. Holt of the shipping firm of
Alfred Holt and Co.; Sir Andrew MacFadyean, reparations
expert,
and
Sir Christopher Needham, Governor of Manchester University.
Mr. Sydney P. Mayers, chairman of the board of the British and
Chinese Corporation Ltd., Mr. Archibald Rose, of the British American
Tobacco Co., Mr. G.M.
Gathorne.Hardy, honorary sec:etary of the Royal
Institute of International Affairs, Sir William Shenton, a prominent
lawyer from Hongkong, Mr. W.L. Woodward of All Souls College, Oxford;
and Professor I.A. Richards of Carabridge University will also be
members of the British group.
The Chinese group will be led by Dr. Hu Shih, probably the
most famous of modern Chinese philosophers. With him on the Chinese
group will be Dr. Wong Wan-hao, Director of the National
Geological
Survrey; Dr. t!.T. Tsur, former president of Tsing
Hua University;
Professor P. C. Chang of Nankai University; Mr. L.K. Tao,
director
of the Institute of Social Research, Mr. Y.S. Djang,
executive
secretary of the China Inlterxiational Famine Relief
Conimission;
Mrs. Sophia Chen Zen, professor at Peiping National
Univrersity;
a
3 -
Mr. K.C. Li, president of the Wah Chang Trading Co. of New York;
Dr. Shuhsi Hsu, adviser to the Chinese Delegation at the League
of Nations; and Mr. Chen Han-seng, director of the National Research
Institute of Social Sciences of the Academ'ia Sinica at Nanking.
Sir Robert Borden and Sir Robert Falconer will, in leading
the Canadian group, act as hosts to the international gathering.
Included on the Canadian list with them are Professor Norman MacKenzie,
D.13, MacRae, C.J. Burchell, W?.M. Birks, Dr. R.C. Wallace, Professor
H.F. Angus, Mrs. H.P. Plutree, John M. Inrie, Mme. Charles Fremond,
Robert England, Percy Bengough, H.R. MacMillan, M. Lawrence Rillam,
Honorable F.B. McCurdy, George C. MacDonald and Colonel A.C. Gardner.
Professor H.A. Innis, Dr. H.W4. Riggs, Professor G.S. Simpson,
Mr. Justice
Clarke,
Professor F.A. Knox, Professor G. de T. Glazebrook
and Mr. Escott Reid are also listed in the Canadian group,
Honorable Downie
Stewart,
the colorful leader of New Zealandts
delegation to last yearts Ottawa Conference, will be at the head of the
New Zealand grouip at Banff. W(ith him will be Professor
W,T. Airey,
Sir Ja&ies Allen, W.N. Benson, and Guy Scholefield, honorary secretary
of the group. Mr. F.W. Eggleston, the leader of the Australian group,
will be accompanied by Mr. Stephen Roberts, M4iss Eleanor Rinder,
Miss Nora W. Collinson and other off'iers of the Australian unit of
the Institute.
Dr. Mack Eastran, chief of the section of general studies of
the International Labor Office at Geneva, and Mr. G.A. Johnston of
the League of Nations will be present as observers. From France,
which is vitally interested in the Pacific area through its colonies,
an observer is expected.
Six members of the newly formed Philippine
Council
of the
Institute of Pacific Relations are to attend the B-anff sessions.
Judge Manuel Camus, former judge of the Court of First Instance,
will have with him in the group Dr. Vidal Tan of the University of
the Philippines, Dr. Leandro H. Fernandez, Dr. Serafin Macaraig,
and Professor Verne
Dyson*
Under the leadership of Dr. Inazo Nitobe, Member of the
House of Peers and Chairman of the Japan Council of the
Institute.
the group from Japan includes Mr. Yusuke Tsurumi, author and lecturer,
and former member of the House of Representatives; from the Tokyo
Iraperial University, Professors Shiroshi Nasu, of the Department of
Agriculture, Yasaka Takaki, professor of American Constitution, and
Kenzo Takayanagi, of the Department of Law; Professor Teijiro Uyeda,
of the Department of Economics at Tokyo University of Commerce;
Kaiaekichi Takahashi, journalist; Sobei
Mlogi, writer on Political
Science,. Tokyro Institute of Political and Economic Research;
Professor
Jumzpei Shinobu; Masahara
Ainesaki; Shinkichi Tamra;
Major.General Yasunosuke nato; and Mr. Toshi Go, of the South
M6anchuria Railway CoL1pan.y New York*