Connecticut western news., 1888-02-15
A CHANGE FOR TRADE.
The Possibilities of It with Guate-
 maIa and San Salvador.

The United States Consul at San Salvador has msde a report to the Department of State ip regard to the railway system of Central America. He says that President Menendez of Salvador is an earnest friend of the United States, and, like the late President Barrios of Guatemala, favors the assimilation of. the institutions and business methods ot his country to thoso of tho United States Barrios projected the construction of . railway from the Bay of San Tomns on distance of r30 miles, where it was to connect with the existing marrow gauge of the Guate- nlala Central, seventy-hve miles in length, ter- minating on the Pacific at the open roadstead of San Jose. Forty miles of this transconti- Ia city, were half finished at the time of Bar rioss death. His successor, President Barillos pursues the same policy, favoring the con- struction of the transisthmian and other railways projected in Guatemala, particularly Guatemala and Mexico. ''In truth, V the Con- sul says "Gen. Barillos and other Central American statesmen have not failed to discover that no Central American Union is desirable and none desirable and enduring can be achieved save through Interstate railway systems"
 After referring to the rnhealthful climate of Central America at the sea level, the Con- sul says: "The Nicaragua Canal and the Ship Railway and De Lesseps Canal, each and all are at the sea level. No soft, cooling wind from the Pacific may find it's way into either canal or follow gigantic locomotives tugging at ships crossing Tehuantepec, and the accli- mated alone may cross the continent in safety at the sea level; but there is perfect immunity from climatic diseases the instant the traveller reaches an elevation of 1 GOO feet above the sea. Commerce, therefore, will traverse the will prefer this transisthmian railway, having perfectly land locked harbor at each termi- nus and an elevation at no point after leaving the coast of less than 2, GOO feet above the plane of the two oceans.
 After describing the wonders of the interior country such as fathomless lakes, extinct and active volcanos, and relics of antiquity. the Consul continues:
 sThe railway crosses the State of St. Ana, district of Salvatore fifty miles square, pro- area of land in the world. In truth, every acre of the mesa of Salvatore is cultivated, each producing from two to four crops annually. The railway penetrates from La Union to Puerto Barrios, or to Port Izabal, whichever harbor may be it's northern terminus, a very paradise. The average density of population along the whole route exceeds 100 for each square mile. Here, villages and towns are almost contern1inous, and the population Aztecs, 92 per cent, and Spanish, per cent toll most industriously. Labor costs 20 to 25 cents and food 10 cents per diem.
 ssThere is not stove or fireplace in any house in the republic; none are needed where the thermometer never falls below 7Os or rises above S0o So great is the annual production of fruits, as we'll as of indigo, tobacco, sugar, and coffee and so short the distance from Port Barrios to Mobile, that it is believed that most delicate and delicious tropical fruits never seen in the United States will be distributed everywhere iron, Mobile; and so redundant are crops of Salvador and of the district of Guate- ma1a penetrated by this railway that 1t must have two tracks, one for immense local, the other for interoceanic freights and travel
 ssBut the great good to be achieved by this transisthmian road consists not so much in the fact that it will enable travelling multitudes to cross the continent where narrowest without possible danger from deadly levers and plaques incident to detention at the sea level but. with it's branches, binding togethcr these five Cen tral American States in perfect political and social unity, it accomplishes their perfect com- mercial annexation to the United States. Pu- erto Barrios is within fifty hours or less of Mo bile, and only sixty hours would be required to transfer traveller or bale of goods from Mo- bile to the Pacific coast harbor of La Union. United States and other steamers now pay from S20 to $50 ton at La Union for English and Australian coal. It may be delivered there from Alabama over the transisthmian railway for from S5 to S7a ton. Therefore, the Gov ernment of the United States, as we'll as the people, must confess keen interest ill this short, easily built railway, which surely must accom- plish most benefcent political and commercial results"