Though the announcement that Mr. Jay Gould had obtained a
concession at Pekin which would put the financial control of the Chinese Empire into his hands, has been contradicted, it appears to be an undoubted fact that a syndicate has been formed at Philadelphia for the purpose of introducing tele- phones and railways into China. It is stated that the railways at present contemplated are one from Tientsin to Shanghai, another from Shanghai to Nanking, a third from Nanking to Canton, and finally, one along the Northern frontier "parallel to the Russian road." Mr. Wharton Barker, the chief promoter of the scheme, is said by the Standard to be a banker of great repute, and to have been the Philadelphian agent of Messrs. Baring. Whether the railway scheme, as it stands, will be accomplished, or even attempted for many years, remains to be seen ; but at any rate, the mere introduction of the telephone and the building of a hundred miles of railway will immensely affect the public mind in China.
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