Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-03-18
A VAST UNKNOWN
To BE Traversed by the Inter
continental Railroad.
The Possibilities of South and
Central America.

to Realize Plenty of Coa', Iron and
Precious Metels in Central America.
Several Short Railroads There. But
Used for Local Traffic Only.
WASHINGTON, March 1S.-"No," said
Capt. f. l.. Steever, of the Third cav
airy, now chief engineer ON the pro-
posed intercontinental railway for the
Central American division; mo, do
not expect our work will be completed
in the coming year. The country is
much of it utterly unknown, and we
cannot foresee the difficulties and OBJ
stacles."
Just here Lieut., Brown came in from
the commission.
1T is left TO you, lieutenant, to deter
mine much of the itinerary" said the re-
porter.
Then I'll go through Mexico and
south over the 1873 miles already in
operation, over that beyond reported to
be i'll construction, and the surveyed
route beyond that This brings us al
most to Guatemala, where our real
work begins.
From this point to Panama the dis
tance is supposed to be near 1000
miles.
Capt. Steever, who will be chief ell
gineer of this route, Logan his services
in Beyreut, India, when only % years
old. He is possibly just now passing
40, a little below the medium height
and of slight build.
Great Contrast
One cannot but be struck by the fact
that the Latin-American delegates to
the intercontinental railway commits
sion are more than q decade younger
than the average United States officer.
The gray whiskers and the snowy
stroked hair of the northern man CON
trasts strongly with the silken brown
black of trans-equatorial representa-
tives.
Possibilities.
There are possibilities in South Amer
ica that have as little yet been consid-
cred as will appear to the student of the
facts already accumulated, and the let
tiers and kilograms being received by
the departments in Washington.
Mineral and Vegetable Wealth.
Coal is found in large quantities in
Guatemala and San Salvador. Iron in
the latter Silver and gold abound, so
do dye woods, medicinal trees and fancy
woods.
The area of the five republics in Cen
tral America is about TO, 900 square
miles and its population nearly 1886, 900
Several Short Railroads.
There is now in operation nearly 400
miles of railway, but entirely local.
Each railway is isolated from its neigh
Dor. They are almost all transverse,
and one almost complete will parallel the
proposed Nicarauguan canal.
Not Much English spoken.
Few South Americans speak English
with the ease and elegance of Senor Don
c, Federico Parraga, representative of
Colombia. He said: 1--WE welcome
all. Our country has been so little writ
ten truly about" He is possibly A.,
fine speciman of the southern Spanish
tyre of manhood The rich fullsome-
ness temperament of the south has been
visibly modified by his northern life un-
til the cool and calculating is plainly
visible "Cur sessions a"e entirely be
hind closed doors. Most of the work,
however is done in committees. There
is nothing new to give to the press.
The student of the tide of affairs with
our Latin American sister nations is
more and more forced to the conclusion
that the intercontinental railway will
be built.
But if its commercial importance
were not so visible there would appear
another reason, deep and forceful for
its building.
The investments of citizens of ada
cent and farther removed nations must
make them anxious for the safety of
their capital. Business would make it
its business to allay hostility for its own
protection Nations abroad whose citi-
2ens had invested their moneys, mrst
be spurned to use all the efforts of di-
plomacy to avert warfare.
Rapid transit from city to city and in
innate business associations must .cnd
to make friends of foreigners ana com
panions of strangers. Marriage and in
termarriage would follow. 70 the ties
of business would be added tho @ Of
friendship; to these the ties of compan-
ionship; TO these the bends Of inatri-
mony Children will lie reared Il.
friends and taught III the schools of
sister republics
Where the railway enters, where the
bridge is built the spirit of hostility
draws away slowly as this better feeling
grows often as the uplifting tendency
is cruelty tortured by the musket Of
civilization, yet it grows. Railways
foster it. Between the near and the far
are ties that bind to safety the pathway
of transit
The continent of the south comes the
continent of the north meets it, and
their railway shall publish the banns.