Arizona weekly citizen., 1883-07-14
LOOK AHEAn AS WE'LL p.rr

In looking over tie past quarter of a
 century, the great public works and in-
 iernallmprovements throughout Europe,
 Asla and America, strike us with admir-
 atlon and awe, hence man have fallen into
 the erroneous belief that they are living
 m the generation which will hand down
 to posteuty, such wonderous works as
 will astoplsh the ages that will follow.
 That the present generation has made
 wOndrous advances, none can doubt.
 But that it is likely to take precedence
 over the coming generation, as leading
 in great works of engineering skill, can-
 not be answered by any man now living.
 Some of the works Of the present gen.
 eration, such for instance as the great
 bridges which span the Mississippi,
 Ohio, Niagara, St Lawrence and East
 rivers Tn thIs country, the Thames, in
 England, and the Danube, Dnieper and
 Nolgs in Europe, the Suez canal in Egypt, the Welland canal in this country, and such marvel ous feats of engineering skill as the
 Mount. Cenis tunnel in Switzerlang and
 Ialy, and many railroads in the Uuited States, and the Areauipa railroad in
 South America, which in distance of 325 miles rises to aT altitude of F, 300
 feet above the level of the sea, and at one place makes the enormous rise of 2,2OO feet in sixteen miles upon the side of the Andes, the track appearing three
 separate times upon road-beds cut out
 of solld rock, ri-lng one above another are certainly wonderful But great as
 are these feats of engineering skill, they
 are to be out done by later projects,
 some of which are even now fairly under
 way We may mention the
 ship canals building across the Isthmus
 of Panama and the French canal in AL
 geris, which is 10 extend out on the
 great Sahara desert to open up the iu-
 terior of Afrlca to the commerce of the
 world, besides retaining a large area of country, which IS to be made product
 i've by irregatiOn. But the projected Improvements are still greater than any yet completsd. In America We have Captain Eads ship railroad q
 which Is intended to take up the largest vessels. that float in the Atlantic,
 and carry them overland and deposit
 them m the waters of the Pacific. To
 Europe the surveys have already been completed and estimates made for tun- nelng the Straits of Dove, from the town of thai name to Calais. France, a distance Of about fifty miles under an arm ol the sea, on which the Great East ern sails in safety An now it is an- nouncei, within the past few days, that there is tl be another Suaa canal con structed to connect the Mediterranean with the Red sea. IT lle construction of these great interna impr JvemeEts is now tor the first tiI be made possible, not alone by the adv knces made iu en- ginery, but by the ac cumulRted wealth Of ages. Fifty years 90 the investment of few thousand dollars in internal improvements was looked upon as some thing out of the usual order of things Now the investment of millions of dol lars in such things attracts no special attestion. Much has been accomplished in this generation, but let Us not become "old fogies" and hatter ourselv that this generation has advanced rapidly and so far that there is nothing left to be done. This country is even now pos sessed of more wealth than any other country under the sun, and Is rapidly growing richer. Capital IS accumllating, and as capital increases interest rates oD money must depreciste. It IS not un- reasonable then to suppose that within another decade there will be a surplus capital in the United States which in the aggregate will run up into the billions. The question naturally arises in what, and where will this capital be invested !? So far Americans nave not gone abroad to invest their surplus cash that IS, not beyond this continent; and it is not likely they will invest ID foreign secur ties, other than those Of Mexico, for sometime to come. The time Is near si hand when our large surplus capital must be invested in other than that T,.sl .-,gE-,.E Cto4a and ,otT,,,,I aao,,r, ties and ID ordinary railroads, for the local demands are already supplied, and it will not be many years at the rate railr. ads are now being built before that class of investments will be materially diminished. We may then, in the neal future, look for the construction of ne and more extensive internal improve nents in this country such as have never yet been made or even dreamed of. There will be nothing within the scop, oi the human imagination that will be too formidable for the Yankee to under ta,e. Only show hm that there is a reasonable prospect fJr some return for tue money to be invested, and be will put his money in. America has lonl led other countries in rapid growth ana the dev lopment of her natural re sources henceforth, or in the near fu- rure. she will lead all other countries iu he extent and grandeur of her internal improvements and gigantic feats of eu- ylneering skill. which, owing to hel great wealth and the progressive spirit of her citizens, wall far surpsss aDythinl known in the history of the world.