1898 by the Colonial Council in connection with the program for a
network of railways in and about French Indo-China.

To Lao-kay there are no less than one hundred and seventy-five bridges.

The completion of this line realizes in part the ambition of a
celebrated Frenchman, who--once a printer, 'tis said, in Paris--dropped
into the political flower-bed, and blossomed forth in due course as
Governor-General of Indo-China. When Paul Doumer, for it was he, went
east in 1897, he felt it his mission to put France, politically and
commercially, on as good a footing as any of her rivals, notably Great
Britain. It did not take him long to see that the best missionaries in
his cause would be the railways. At the time of writing (June, 1910) I
cannot but think that profit on this railway will be a long time coming,
and there are some in the capital who doubt whether the commercial
possibilities of Yuen-nan justified this huge expenditure on railway
construction. Whilst authorities differ, I personally believe that the
ultimate financial success of the venture is assured. There are markets
crying out to be quickly fed with foreign goods, and it is my opinion
that the French will be the suppliers of those goods. British enterprise
is so weak that we cannot capture the greater portion of the growing
foreign trade, and must feel thankful if we can but retain what trade we
have, and supply those exports with which the French have no possibility
of competing.

* * * * *

THE MILITARY

The foreigner in Yuen-nan-fu can never rest unless he is used to the
sounds of the bugle and the hustling spirit of the men of war.

In standard works on Chinese armaments no mention is ever made of the
Yuen-nan army, and statistics are hard to get. But it is evident that the
cult of the military stands paramount, and it has to be conceded, even
by the most pessimistic critics of this backward province, that the new
troops are sufficiently numerous and sufficiently well-organized to
crush any rebellion. This must be counted a very fair result, since it
has been attained in about two years. A couple of years ago Yuen-nan had
practically no army--none more than the military ragtags of the old
school, whose chief weapon of war was the opium pipe. But now there are
ten thousand troops--not units on paper, but men in
uniform--well-drilled for the most part and of excellent physique, who
could take the field at once. The q