Regarded from the principle of "following the line of least resistance" our projected railways in this program is the most ideal one. For most of the seven thousand miles of lines under this project are on perfectly level land. For instance, the Trunk Line from Dolon Nor to Kashgar and beyond, about a distance of three thousand miles right along is on the most fertile plain and encounters no natural obstacles, neither high mountains nor great rivers.

Regarded from the principle of "the most suitable position," our projected railways will command the most dominating position of world importance. It will form a part of the trunk line of the Eurasian system which will connect the two populous centers, Europe and China, together. It will be the shortest line from the Pacific Coast to Europe. Its branch from Ili will connect with the future Indo-European line, and through Bagdad, Damascus and Cairo, will link up also with the future African system. Then there will be a through route from our projected port to Capetown. There is no existing railway commanding such a world important position as this.

兹所计划之铁路，证以“抵抗至少”之原则，实为最与理想相符合者。盖以七千余咪之路线为吾人计划所定者，皆在坦途。例如多伦诺尔至喀什噶尔之间，且由斯更进之路线，延袤三千余咪，所经均肥沃之平野，并无高山大河自然之梗阻横贯其中也。

以“地位适宜”之原则言之，则此种铁路，实居支配世界的重要位置。盖将为欧亚铁路系统之主干，而中、欧两陆人口之中心，因以联结。由太平洋岸前往欧洲者，以经此路线为最 近；而由伊犁发出之支线，将与未来之印度、欧洲线路（即行经伯达 ^[14] ，以通达马斯加斯 ^[15] 及海楼 ^[16] 府者）联络，成一连锁。将来由吾人所计划之港，可以直达好望角城。综观现在铁路，于世界位置上无较此重要者矣。

Regarded from the principle of the "most urgent need of the Nation," this railway system becomes the first in importance, for the territories traversed by it are larger than the eighteen provinces of China Proper. Owing to the lack of means of transportation and communication at present these rich territories are left undeveloped and millions of laborers in the congested provinces along the Coast and in the Yangtze Valley are without work. What a great waste of natural and human energies. If there is a railway connecting these vast territories, the waste labor of the congested provinces can go and develop these rich soils for the good not only of China but also of the whole commercial world. So a system of railways to the northwestern part of the country is the most urgent need both politically and economically for China to-day.

I have intentionally left out the first principle—"the most remunerative field must be selected"—not because I want to neglect it but because I mean to call more attention to it and treat it more fully. It is commonly known to financiers and railway men that a railway in a densely populated country from end to end is the best paying proposition, and a railway in a thinly settled country from end to end is the least paying one. And a railway in an almost unpopulated country like our projected lines will take a long time to make it a paying business. That is why the United States Government had to grant large tracts of public lands to railway corporations to induce them to build the Transcontinental lines to the Pacific Coast, half a century ago. Whenever I talked with foreign railway men and financiers about the construction of railways to Mongolia and Sinkiang, they generally got very shy of the proposition. Undoubtedly they thought that it is for political and military reasons only that such a line as the Siberian Railway was built, which traversed through a thinly populated land. But they could not grasp the fact which might be entirely new to them, that a railway between a densely populated country and a sparsely settled country will pay far better than one that runs from end to end in a densely populated land. The reason is that in economic conditions the two ends of a well populated country are not so different as that between a thickly populated country and a newly opened country. At the two ends of a well populated country, in many respects, the local people are self-supplying, excepting a few special articles which they depend upon the other end of the road to supply. So the demand and supply between the two places are not very great, thus the trade between the two ends of the railway could not be very lucrative. While the difference of the economic condition between a well populated country and an unpopulated country is very great. The workers of the new land have to depend upon the supplies of the thickly populated country almost in everything excepting foodstuffs and raw materials which they have in abundance and for disposal of which they have to depend upon the demand of the well populated district. Thus the trade between the two ends of the line will be extraordinarily great. Furthermore, a railway in a thickly populated place will not affect much the masses which consist of the majority of the population. It is only the few well-to-do and the merchants and tradesmen that make use of it. While with a railway between a thickly populated country and a sparsely settled or unsettled country, as soon as it is opened to traffic for each mile, the masses of the congested country will use it and rush into the new land in a wholesale manner. Thus the railway will be employed to its utmost capacity in passenger traffic from the beginning. The comparison between the Peking-Hankow Railway and the Peking-Mukden ^[17] Railway in China is a convincing proof.

以“国民需要” 之原则言之，此为第一需要之铁路。盖所经地方，较诸本部十八行省 ^[18] 尤为广阔。现以交通动输机 关缺乏之故，丰富地域，委为荒壤，而沿海沿江烟户稠密省分，麕聚 ^[19] 之贫民无所操作，其弃自然之惠泽而耗人力于无为者，果何如乎？倘有铁路与此等地方相通，则稠密省区无业之游民，可资以开发此等富足之地。此不仅有利于中国，且有以利世界商业于无穷也。故中国西北部之铁路系统，由政治上、经济上言之，皆于中国今日为必要而刻不容缓者也。

吾人所以置“必选有利之途”之第一原则而未涉及者，非遗弃之也，盖将详为论列，使读者三致意焉耳。今夫铁路之设，间于人口繁盛之区者其利大，间于民居疏散之地者其利微，此为普通资本家、铁路家所恒信；今以线路横亘于荒僻无人之境，如吾人所计划者，必将久延岁月，而后有利可图。北美合众国政府于五十年前，所以给与无垠之土地于铁路公司，诱其建筑横跨大陆干路，以达太平洋岸者，职是之故。余每与外国铁路家、资本家言兴筑蒙古、新疆铁路，彼辈恒有不愿。彼将以为兹路之设，所过皆人迹稀罕，只基于政治上、军事上理由，有如西伯利亚铁路之例，而不知铁路之所布置，由人口至多以达人口至少之地者，其利较两端皆人口至多之地为大。兹之事实，盖为彼辈所未曾闻。请详言其理。夫铁路两端人口至多之所，彼此经济情况大相仿佛，不如一方人口至多、他方人口至少者，彼此相差之远。在两端皆人口至多者，舍特种物产此方仰赖彼方之供给而外，两处居民大都生活于自足经济情况之中，而彼此之需要供给不大，贸迁交易，不能得巨利。至于一方人口多而他方人口少者，彼此经济情况，大相径庭。新开土地从事劳动之人民，除富有粮食及原料品，以待人口多处之所需求而外，一切货物，皆赖他方之繁盛区域供给，以故两方贸易必臻鼎盛。不特此也，筑于两端皆人口至多之铁路，对于人民之多数无大影响，所受益者惟少数富户及商人而已；其在一方人口多而他方人口少者，每筑铁路一咪开始输运，人口多处之众必随之而合群移住于新地，是则此路建筑之始，将充其量以载行客。京奉、京汉两路比较，其明证也。

The Peking-Hankow Railway is a line of over eight hundred miles running from the capital of the country to the commercial center in the heart of China right along in an extraordinarily densely settled country from end to end. While the Peking-Mukden line is barely six hundred miles in length running from a thickly populated country to thinly populated Manchuria. The former is a well paying line but the latter pays far better. The net profit of the shorter Peking-Mukden line is sometimes three to four millions more yearly than that of the longer Peking-Hankow line.

Therefore, it is logically clear that a railway in a thickly populated country is much better than one that is in a thinly populated country in remuneration. But a railway between a very thickly populated and a very thinly populated or unpopulated country is the best paying proposition. This is a law in Railway Economics which hitherto had not been discovered by railway men and financiers.

According to this new railway economic law, our projected railway will be the best remunerative project of its kind. For at the one end, we have our projected port which acts as a connecting link with the thickly populated coast of China and the Yangtze Valley and also the two existing lines, the Kingham and the Tsinpu, as feeders to the projected port and the Dolon Nor line. And at the other end, we have a vast and rich territory, larger than China Proper, to be developed. There is no such vast fertile field so near to a center of a population of four hundred millions to be found in any other part of the world.

京汉路线之延长八百有余咪，由北京直达中国商业聚中之腹地，铁路两端之所包括，皆户集人稠之所；京奉路线长仅六百咪耳，然由人口多处之京、津，开赴人口少处之满洲。前者虽有收益，则不若后者所得之大。以较短之京奉线，方诸较长之京汉线，每年纯利所赢，其超过之数有至三四百万者矣。

故自理则上言之，从利益之点观察，人口众多之处之铁路，远胜于人口稀少者之铁路。然由人口众多之处筑至人口稀少之处之铁路，其利尤大。此为铁路经济上之原则，而铁路家、资本家所未尝发明者也。

据此铁路经济上之新原则，而断吾人所计划之铁路，斯为有利中之最有利者。盖一方联接吾人所计划之港，以通吾国沿海沿江户口至多省分；又以现存之京汉、津浦两路，为此港暨多伦诺尔路线之给养，他方联接大逾中国本部之饶富未开之地。世界他处，欲求似此广漠腴沃之地，而邻近于四万万人口之中心者，真不可得矣。 fmQYLCTb3fNt2dBS9wEZGiDLB73fFwYH8wTaCg038V5mq0I9aVRonIe5rKGNbkDW