there and may journey uninterruptedly, save for a change from one car to another, to the port of Salina Cruz on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. In fact, to-day man may go in uninterrupted railroad travel from Edmonton in the Canadian Northwest to one of the southernmost ports of the Republic of Mexico.

The question of the building of the Pan-American Railroad is already answered, as far as the great countries of the North American continent are concerned. Existing roads reach a point within sixty miles of the northern boundary of Guatemala in Central America. South of this, in the Spanish-American countries, miles of railroad have been constructed; and one day the missing links will be supplied, and the chain-the longest ever forged by the hand of manwill be complete.

Field is Carefully Studied

Three years ago in the City of Mexico there was held the Second International Conference of American States. At that meeting a resolution was adopted, to the effect that the United States should be invited to send to the southern republics a representative to determine the resources of each country, "the location and condition of the railway lines now in operation, the existing condition of their commerce, and the prospects of business for an intercontinental line."

The ministers accredited to Washington from the South American republics added their personal influence to the plea for the study of the railway project, and did all that was in their power to facilitate the work of the commissioner, who, a few weeks after the conference adjourned, was sent by the President to investigate and to make report.

It is not exaggeration to say that the results of the study of the Intercontinental Railway question were far more satisfactory than it was supposed that they would be by American citizens, though some of them unquestionably were prejudiced.

Survey Made Eight Years Ago

The intercontinental survey for the railroad line was made eight years before there was strong belief that the plan for building the steel highway would ever

see even the promise of fulfillment; but the work was carried to completion, and was performed as conscientiously as though the steel rail layers were following in the trail of the land surveyors. The survey of that day stands at the present as leading through the points of least natural resistance down to the southern terminus in Patagonia-or what was once Patagonia, but is now southern Argentina.

Since the second conference on the Intercontinental Railroad project was held in the City of Mexico, circumstances have combined to give solid support to the project, and to demonstrate that real progress is being made. The construction problem to-day really concerns only the lands south of Mexico. Some of the circumstances which give promise of a completed work and proof of past progress, are the following:

FIRST.-Mexico has extended her railroads southward to within sixty miles

of Guatemala, and is hard at work in a country that offers many obstacles to progress, in the endeavor to complete the line to the northern borders of her southern neighbor within the fixed time. of one year.

SECOND.-The Argentine Republic is rapidly extending its railroad system from its present terminus north to the frontier of Bolivia, thus closing the sections which were open when the survey of the Intercontinental Commission was made, from the northern limit of Guatemala to the southern boundary of Bolivia.

THIRD.-Spurred by the thought of the commercial advantages which will accrue from direct railroad connection with the United States, the countries of South America are rapidly settling by arbitration their boundary disputes, and are thus eliminating rapidly one of the worst obstacles in the way of railroad construction.

From Coast to Coast

FOURTH.-The Congress of Chile has provided for the construction of a transAndean line which will give through rail communication between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, with outlets for commercial products to the north and the south by means of the Intercontinental Railway when completed.

FIFTH.-Several of the republics intend to pass laws establishing guaranty funds which will insure the continuance of a permanent railway policy. In Peru, legislation of this effective kind is already upon the statute books.

SIXTH.-The certainty of the construction of the Isthmian Canal by the United States has stimulated greatly the interest in a continuous north-and-south railroad line which will enable the northern and southern Spanish-American republics to reach seaports quickly with the products of their mines, their forests, and their fields.

Engineering Difficulties Great

It may be said, broadly speaking, that the sections of the Intercontinental Railway present no insuperable engineering difficulties. Greater hindrances to construction than those in the way of the

PORT SALINA CRUZ, WHERE THE MEXICAN ROAD
ENDS AT THE SOUTH.

Oroya, a city on the surveyed line for the great railroad.

When this road was first proposed, several engineers declared that it could not be built. Others went over the outlined route, and said that it could be built; and to-day it is in operation. This short railroad has an infinity of grades, curves, bridges, viaducts, tunnels, and switchbacks; yet it is in successful operation, and it is said of it that it is the one railroad of the world whose trains are always run on schedule time.

Several of the Mexican roads were built under conditions which threatened failure, but failure did not come.

Built in Face of Ridicule

The Quito and Guayaquil Railroad in

but the road is there, and it will be one of the connecting links in the All-American railroad of the future.

Government Action Taken

The cost of overcoming some of the obstacles, and the ability of the South American governments to make up deficits where the traffic does not afford inducement to private enterprise, form questions of a practical nature. The answers, however, may be said to have been found in the expressed purpose of the Chilean authorities to bore a tunnel through the very bowels of the Andes; in the action of the Argentine Republic in constructing an extension through the Quebrada of Humahuaca into Bolivia; in the policy of Bolivia in authorizing a road connecting Tupiza and Uyuni; and in the plans of Peru for building a road connecting Oroya and Cuzco.

It takes but a glance at a good map of South America to give a fairly adequate idea of the nature of the country through which these government lines must run. The South Americans have not been given too much credit by North

Americans for energy; but in the matter of railroad construction in mountains and over bogs, they have set an example of zeal.

The projected Pan-American Railway, leaving Mexico and the United States out of consideration, starts at the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and runs southeastward either on or close to the Pacific coast-line, touching all the larger seaport cities. Entering Colombia, it runs due south, and then a little southwest, until it reaches the city of Quito in Ecuador. South and southeast it passes through Cuenca, Loja, Cerrode Pasco, and Oroya; thence southeastward into Bolivia and southward into Argentina, there connecting with already constructed roads leading to Buenos Ayres, Montevideo, and Bahia Blanca.

Great Benefits Promised

The question has been asked time and again-Of what real commercial service will this great intercontinental railway be to the great republic of the north and to the smaller republics of the south? The answer perhaps is best given in the words

of H. G. Davis, Chairman of the PanAmerican Railway Committee:

"Before the railways were built between the United States and Mexico, about fifteen per cent only of the import and export trade of Mexico was with this country; but now nearly the entire commerce of the southern republic is with its northern neighbor.

"We buy from the Central and South American republics much more than wc sell to them, only about twenty per cent of their import trade being with this country. Steamship lines from South America to Europe now largely control the traffic. When the Pan

American Railway is built, however, no foreign power can ever successfully interfere or compete with us in our trade relations with the republics to the south."

To Connect all Seaport Cities

It must be understood that while the surveyed line for the Pan-American Railway, after it strikes the South American continent, follows a course for some miles inland from the Pacific coast, every large seaport town will be connected with the road by branch railways. The greater line touches nearly every one of the important towns which lie back from the sea; and to-day most of these munici

palities are connected by rail with the places of export on the coast. Thus the "feeding" line question has already been answered.

The completion of the Pan-American Railway means more to South America than the mere giving of opportunity for commercial intercourse with the north. It means the opening of vast sections of land to cultivation and to civilization. Let us take under consideration for a moment the case of Bolivia. The country has large tracts of land practically unexplored; and no man save the adventurer has penetrated the wilderness, for the sole reason that whatever treasure might be found there must of necessity be left where it lies.

Where Savages Roam

In Bolivia there are tribes of men as savage as any tribe ever found in the heart of Africa. Wandering through some of the Bolivian forests where the trees themselves are a treasure trove, are savages who reject all clothing save the breech-cloth. The white man who