I'm at a stage where I'm able to read novels, including the ones by Zhang Ailing, Bai Xianyong and the like. I have now reached the point where I need to start venturing into (somewhat) early 20th century magazines, for future research. Many of them seem to be in classical Chinese and lack punctuation. My goal is being able to read these magazines without too much effort, rather than ancient texts.
I have attached a screenshot from on of the magazines. I have no problems transcribing it, but I'm pretty clueless about what it actually tries to tell me. Do you have any recommendations on where to move on from here? Are Classical Chinese grammar books (with usage examples from ancient texts) the best way forward? Part of me thinks these articles are closer to modern Chinese than it might seem, and that it's more down to venturing into a new genre that is causing me trouble.
My transcription of the first four lines:
雲南鐵路概說 (續)
前述各端已將本鐵路之大概情形報告完畢要之本路對於雲南省產業開發一層依現在之狀態觀之實無若何之貢獻法人現今對於中國政府反取謙遜態度幸中國人能以禮相待即鐵路軍警之對於旅客及從事員等亦極少發生橫暴或搗亂等事惟嫌運價太貴且通過發領時有極麻煩之手續旅行及託運貨物等諸多不便故不得不想在中國本國境內自築一鐵路以求便利。