St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-10-15
A LOOK AHEAD.

Every day in the year somewhere on
| this planet OF ours, dwarfed by steam
| and electricity, the fresh leaves OF
spring are bursting from their buds;
every day husbandmen are gathering
| the haryeStS, and every day wintry
| froStS are putting their death seal on
vegetation. While we here are getting
our winter clothing out OF the moth
sacks and cedar chests and putting off
the lighter apparel which the departure
of the summers heat has rendered in
efficient for protection, our brothers to
the south are taking off their tiannelS,
which increasing heat is making un-
comfortable.
1t is probably survival in us Of the
impulse of those very remote ancestors
of ours who wore wings, and which i'm
pulse still impels the migratiOns of our
summer birds, that makes US long to
take up our journey sOuthwardS when
the frostS touch the leaves and make
them the heralds of the blasts of winter;
that we, too, with the birds. may escape
the cruel and relentless cold, and spend
our lives in perpetual summer. No
ted it, we would all follow the birds.
We see this in the growing movements
of men and women towards the reced-
ing sun as the facilities of travel and
the greater ease OF life'S conditions
permit it. In fact, it is only lack of
universal wealth aud ease of transport
that now hold the millions Of people
captive to winter in our zone during its
frigiditY. Remove this, and men will
watch for the gathering in flocks of the
summers vOcaliSts as the signal for
them to begin their movement to the
genial, sunny South.
Recently the engineers who have been
engaged, as result OF the Pan-Ameri-
can congress, in surveying the inter-
mediate country to discover feasible
routes for the great line Of intercOnti-
mental railway which will follow the
backbone of the two continents, and
make speedy and easy and safe the
transit of men from one end to the
other of the hemisphere, have returned
from the completed work, and reported
feasible route. The ever-accumu lat
ing surplus capital of the world must
lind some vent; the restless energy and
speculative spirit Of men must find some
new field Of activity, and in the next era
OF good times" we may look to see the
proSpectuSeS of the International d In
| terc0ntinental Hallway company spread
| ing before the public their alluring
promises of rich returns for investors.
| The advantage of such a railway in
labor is the least it will offer. No longer
need the seeker for warmth find the
everglades of Florida or the sand dunes
OF peninSu!ar California his southern
limits of movement. He will have at
his command the very progress Of the
seasons; he can follow, at what stage he
will, the movement of the sun. Does he
wish perennial spring? Does he need
the midsummer heat? VIII he battle
in the beauty of continual autumn? All
or any OF these and any of their inter-
mediate conditions will be at his COM
mand. Leaving here when the retiring
| sap has tinged the leaves of the trees
with wondrouS beauty, he can follow
the retreating summer leisurely down
! the continent until antarctic frOStS no.
! tify him that he must begin his back
! ward journey. Along the lima there
will spring up hostelries where he can
| stop to keep his pace even with the sea-
| sons march. Perpetual resorts will re-
place our summer resorts along the
line, each offering its Inequalities to
the series of guests whose travel is
gradu ted by the thermometer. The
possibilities grow on us as we look
ahead to the completion of this road
grow beyond the limits of a newspaper,
and we must leave them with our
readers to develop Tor themselves.