The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-11-19


that old Mexico with its volcano of
Popocatepetl would ever be reached by
railroad!
ROUTES IMPORTANCE.
The amount of traffic which will seek
| this new around-the- world route can
| hardly he realized. Consul Monaghan,
in a recent letter to the state depart
| ment, declares that the construction of
the Siberian railroad is an event hard
ly second in importance to the cutting
of the Suez Canal. July /, 1904, he says,
will probably see trains running from
the Baltic sea to the Japan sea Five
thousand miles of steel rails have al
ready been laid. One year from now
trains are to run over the Siberian
road to the Amoor river Thence by
fast steamer passengers, post parcels
! and freight are to be pushed on to
ChabOrowka; thence, in eighteen hours,
over the south Russian section of the
Siberian road to VladivOstok, making
the distance from London to the most
important harbor Of the Japan sea sew
| enteen and one-half days.
Ninety per cent. of the present travel
to the far east, it is estimated, will
seek the all-rail route when it is COM
pleted, especially when the cost Of a
tirst-class ticket from London to Vladl-
vostok will be but $l19 as against the
present fare via Brindisi and the Suez
of 1923. What this ninety per cent.
| means is astonishing.
In 1895 2l6,93S passengers went via
the Suez Canal to China and Australia.
For political, military, and other rea-
sons the compiler of these statistics
drops 1l70O0 from the list Of possible
passengers for the Russian route, leav-
ing 9S,299. Takin" from this j., 800 pill
grms, 20 O00 East Indian travellers, ana
adding 10000 who hitherto have gone
via the American transcontinental
lines, 10000 west Europeans who an
nually go to the far east for pleasure,
aud we get 10000 mostly first-class
passengers who will use the new route.
MEANING TO AMERICA.
The freight over the new road to the
| east and that from the west naturally
will be that which pays the higbos.
charges-furs, golG, silver, platinum,
| and tea. Many of these COMMODITIES
will go to Europe out of Siberia itself.
That land is rich in minerals Of all
kinds, especially the Ural district.
Siberian furs are known the world
over.
Much as the road may mean to Ger
many, Russia, and the rest of Europe.
II means more to us" declares Consul
Monaghan. "CalifOrnia. Oregon. Wash
ington, our whole western country If
not our whole continent, is Interested
i'm this road. Russia has her hands
| full at home. The hands to help in the
east are ours. There is something
more attractive in our civilization and
methods 10 eastern people than in
those of Europe; at least it is so as
serted by eastern travellers. To develop
the resources of an empire so vast as
Russia will require capital, enterprise.
and energy such as has made us the
richest nation in the world. To equip
her roads to develop her great agri-
cultural, fishing, mineral, and forest
resources Russia needs just such i'm
plements as have helped us, No time
is to be lost If we are to have any part
| in the great drama that has for its plot
the development and undermining of
the Orient"
The commercial possibilities and
benefits to accrue to Chicago and the
whole northern half of the American
continent can not now be estimated,
but it is safe to predict that eight or
ten years hence will witness a radical
change in the direction of transporta-
tion commodities and passengers be-
tween the old world and the new world,
| and ocean travelling viii have lost its
terrors to thousands who would visit
EurODp Annually hut for fear of drowp-
ing or the dread of the racking pains
| OF mal-de-mer,
"ALL ABOARD FOR SIBERIA!"
1t will not be long before the passen-
ger agents at the Union depot on Canal
street will announce the departure OF
| express trains for the Orient. The con-
ductors will call out:
"All aboard for Siberia, Japan and
| Corea."