New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-11-14
TIE DFLEGATES IN WASHINGTON.


The delegates to the International Congress
are returning to Washington with an adequate
appreciation of the resources Of the Unlted
States and stimulated enthusiasm for the work
which has brought them together. Ihey nave
received during their protracted journey prac'
teal demonstration of the superiority of the
American market for purposes of their own
trade. 1t is the foreign market where they can
both buy and sell to the best possible adVan-
tage "What we really need" eXclalms LIT.
Cruz, the Guaemalan delegate, =" is more ire
quent and cheaper communication by steam
ers, and it may be taken as certain that, all the
circumstances being equal, the markets OF the
| United States would have the preference over
those in Europe" Various other expedients
are suggested for the development of cOntinen-
tai trade such as the establishment of Ameri-
can export agencies in the South countries, the
unifcation of customs regulations, and the man
ufactuge of fabrics and machinery specially
adapted to the needs of their markets; but the
delegates unite in regarding the question OF
rapid and frequent communications as OF inc
first importance. With adequate facilities Tor
the direct exchange Of products and manufact-
ures all other difficulties would speedily dis
appear
The unanimity with which the visiting dele
gates declare their belief in the speedy con-
struction of an inter-continental railway Is
remarkable feature of their utterances. When
Secretary Blaine in his address of welcome pre-
dicted that the two hemisphereS would be bound
together by trunk railway system at the
Isthmus many Americans were startled by what
sounded like a chimerical scheme; but the dele
gates, after thorough examination OF the rail
ways of the United States during their Journey
Of 5000 miles, have discerned the significance
of the suggestion. 81 believe" remarks Don
Jeronimo Zelaya, of Honduras, " that your pros
perty is largely due to the development of the
lion industry, scientifically applied to the con-
structon of machinery and railways-twO things
in which you are unquestiOnably ahead OF all
other nations" He perceives that it is the
American locomotive that has opened the re-
sources of the West and brought in settlement
and progress at high speed. He longs to have
that American locomotive travelling through
the Isthmus and up and down South America.
His associates from Mexico, Chill, Bolivia, and
other States unite with him in pronouncing an
inter-continental railway entirely feasible, and
the DeSO agency plohioViHS OiooS NC"iiiNiii
cations and commercial exchanges between the
Northern and Southern hemispheres. At the
same time they all agree in favoring effective
means of water communication as the most
pressing and urgent requirement at present.
The international Congress in reaSsembing
at Washington will command the attention, not
only of Americans, but Of the maritime and
commercial world. The idea has gone abroad
phictyonic council for the commercial indie
pendence of the American Continent. That is
too large generalization for the scope of the
Congress. There will be no evidences of ag-
gressiveness or hostility toward European trad
ing centres in the deliberations of this body Of
American diplomatists. Enlightened self-intereSt
may dictate policy of mutual helpfulneSS on
the part of American nationalites, but nothing
in the form of an anti-EurOpean alliance is con-
templated. IL the Congress opens way for
constant steamship communications uninter-
rupted exchange Of products and manufact-
mes and the anna gamaton of the railway syS-
TENS of North and South, it will accomplish
great work for civilization. Nature linked to-
gether the two continents and separated them
from Europe. A craftsmanship that strives to
unity American interests and to promote the
industrial and pacific destinies Of the continent
is in line with nature, and at the same time
does not antagonizc European civilization