The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1893-06-02
NUMBER 81
WOULD NOT PAY.

For several years back there has
been considerable said about pan
American railroad, and there has
been a general expression to the effect
venient thing to have In the major
itv of these expressions, the cost Of
such road and the business it might
be able to secure, have not been TAX
en- into consideration. But lately in
discussing the matter, more atten-
tion has been given to the fact as to
whether it would pay or not. Mr..
ChaS. +. Yeatman, an engineer OF
some twenty years experience, quite
number Of which have been spent in
South America, giving him the &C
quaintance of the route that would be
followed by such road, discusses ina
late magazine article the question as
to whether such a road would be a
paying investment, and dismisses it
at once with the declaration that it
would not be. He is of the opinion
that such a road would not earn
enough to keep it in repair. In sup
port of this he gives description of
the country, its forests, mountains,
swamps, etc, the meagre population
and The primitive manner in which
they live. He further shows that for
sixteen hundred miles such road
would have to compete in the trans
porting of freight with the ocean traf-
f1c, where ton of freight is carried
from a South American port to port
In this country at cost o. less than
half cent mile.
There are now continuous railroad
| facilities for $50 miles south of the
City of Mexico. To aid in the pan
American project road would have
to be built for 1,600 miles south
through sparsely settled country,
and a good portion of this would run
through tracts which are entirely I'M
settled, except here and there by
| few fishermen. AS to the cost Of con-
struction, Mr. Yeatman says that the
Panama road, which is All miles in
length, cost $8,000,000. This would
place the cost Of the construction Of
| the pan-American road at an enOr-
nous figure, for according to his de-
scription it could not be built for any
thing less per mile, if it could be as
\ IDe@f A
ffrst-class passage across the Panama
line costs S25. 1t is by such enormous
rates that this line is enabled to pay
dividends. The work of survey
ing and building is rendered
difficult because of the ''fallen
trees, dense underground and vines
plentifully supplied with thorns
make network through which
scarcely step can be taken without
cutting a path" while the cost of
maintaining track through the
swamps in a tropical climate is enor-
nous. In summing up, Mr.. Yeatman
says: "If the road were built through
the entire extent of the proposed line,
no company or syndicate on earth
would maintain it for the traffic which
might pass over it. That tropical
country is too sparsely settled, the
people have too little need for eXer-
tion and the governments are too un-
stable to justify the risk Of capital in
any such venture" 1t is not proba-
BILE the line will be built for years to
come. While railroad is a great
factor in civilization, and would un-
doubtedly have a powerful influence
if built and maintained through that
country, capital does not flow into
channels for merely civilizing pur-
poses, but as matter OF investment,
for what there is in it, and from all
that can be cleaned pan-American
road would not be paying invest
ment for years to come, if ever.