New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-19
THE GREAT AFRICAN RAILROAD

THE GREAT AfRItlN hiILhO1D'
If has of late been quite the fashion 10 re-
cord Mr. Cecil Rhodes as Beelzcbub. and all his
dolngs as essentially savoring of the BottomlesS
Pit. The British Empire has been austerely re-
hrked for having produced and for harbOring
such a monster Of niquity, and the German
Emperor has been lauded for few things so
much as for his supposed hostility toward inns
troubler of the world. And when. the other
day. Mr. Rhodes referred to the United States
in tones of commentator and OF praise, we
were solemnly assured that thus we suffered
the greatest humiliation that had ever De1alleh
rs and that thus the nadir Of national degrada-
ton was attained. Yet now we learn that the
German Emperor has personally received MT.
Rhodes and given him presents ana maze
marked manifestations Of his esteem for ana
confidence in him. and has agreed to cooperate
with him in the great enterprise he has III
/ hand: and that enterprise is precisely Such
| one as we should seek 10 execute. instead OF
running off into the imperalStic schemes
which have won the damning praise OF that
| bad man Rhodes. Truly, ii is all very strange
Apart. however. fro the personality of Mr
! Rhodes which doubtless resembles that of most
other successful empire-buildorS there can be
no question Of the magnlficcnCe or Of the hu-
name benefcence of the work in which he is
now engaged TO wit, the "Cape-to-Cairo' rail
road Nor can there be much doubt Of lis en-
tire practicability. or Of its practical completion
| in the near future. The word 'railroad may
for time be missioner. II Will not at first
| be an unbrOken line Of rails. like our Pacihc
roads or that which Russia is building across
Asia. That will doubtless come in time But
at first this Will be a chain Of separate railroads
linked together by stretches of steamboat nav
CATION. At present the southernmOst link is an
unbrOken line Of rails nearly fourteen hundred
miles long from Cape Town to BuluwayO. and
IT is being steadily extended with the purpose
! of crossing the Xambesi River and reaching
! AbercOrn, at the southern end of Lake Tan
ganyika. II will not go to Lake Nyassa. but
will pass midway between it and Lake Bang
wcolo an easy country to build in. and well
provided with coal. The total stretch from
Cape Town TO Lake Tanganyika will be close
! to 2.3C0 miles. or almost as much as from New
York to San Francisco. Then will come 400
miles on the lake where the British flag has
the same rights as on the high seas For nearly
900 miles north of the lake the railroad will
traverse German territory. or else. as Is less
| likely. the Congo State. Then il will reach
Uganda aut The upper reaches of the Nile and
so proceed partly by river steamer and partly
by rail down to the Mediterranean. The entire
chain will b. not far from 1000 miles in length.
Now. that in itself would be stupendous
achievement Put its magnitude and its bench
cence will both be greatly enhanced by the
connecting lines running from it laerally 10
the shores of the Indian Ocean and the Red
Sea. In Cape Colony itself there are branches
running down TO tidewater at Port Elizabeth.
Port Alfred and East London. Natal boasts
the terminal Of fourth at Durham. \ fifth IS
the Delagoa Bay road. built by American en-
terprise. AT Fort Salisbury another will run
down 10 Bcira The Germans will have an
other across their East Africa from Karema
or Till on Lake Tanganyika to Bagamoyo.
The eighth will be the railroad from Uganda 10
Momhasa, which, despite Mr.. Labouchere's at
tacks upon it, is being pushed to completion at
less than the estimated cost. And finally there
will be the road from Berber to Suakim. There
Will thus be no less than nine lateral outlets.
or. with tie two terminals. eleven points Of
contact with the high seas for this great con
tlnental line Of trade and travel. In that re-
spect it will be unique. The trarscontinental
lines in the United States and Canada run only
from sea 10 sea. SO will the Russian road
across Siberia But this one viii run through
the central part OF the Continent from end 10
end and at the same time keep in touch and
ready communication with the sea al intervals
of few hundred miles. Thus II will open up
the Dark Continent in a uniquely effective man
ner And II is entirely possible that the author,
and. we trust, iinshcr, of the work will be able
to survive with some degree Of credit the storm