Page:James Hudson Maurer - The Far East (1912).pdf/46

 Donner and their two sons, Robert and Joseph Donner, he toured the world, leaving Pittsburgh in January, 1911, and arriving home again the following July. His son Robert took several kodak pictures of the steel works at Hanyang.

Mr. Poole, who was formerly in charge of the Chinese mission in Race street, Philadelphia, Pa., upon his return from-a seven months' tour through central China, speaks of the amazing development in industrial pursuits in the empire.

A great number of the laborers, he says, are children.

"On every side," said Mr. Poole, "I found the most astounding indications of industrial progress, and everywhere, especially in Canton, the first city I visited, and the largest city in China, I noted the great national awakening of the people and their ambition to equal, if not excel, the highest attainments of the Occident in all the arts of peace, especially in the development of the industries of the country.

"Canton, with all her very progressive activities, has a close rival, however, in the steel and iron works of Han Yang in central China. It was well worth while traveling those 1,400 miles from Canton across the China sea and up the Yang-tse river into the heart of China in order to stand upon the Kwei San (the tortoise hill) and look down through the smoke that poured from towering stacks upon steel and iron foundries that are the Pittsburgh of China and bid fair to compete with the biggest smoke town in Pennsylvania.

"Here, towering high above pagodas, may be seen the smoke stack, of four blast furnaces, capable of producing 870 tons per day, while the immense steel works and rolling mills are furnished with the most modern equipment all in complete and working order with accessory machinery and machine tools driven by electric power. The quality and cost prices of the various products of these blast furnaces, steel works and rolling mills are of the best comparable kind, and they can compete in the markets of the world with any of such products used by railroads, engineering works, machine