The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-24

road was constructed at so many thou
sand dollars per mile, it can be seen that
such building was much the more prof.
table, /&lIl{Hf!!iI ia #aiais
This railroads. a harrow gauge. It has
toyeengines and:eld-fashioned cars, q kind
of cross betweerstfe European and Amer
lean cars. The ffst-c1ass cars are cush-
Toned, in leather and fairly well upholster-
ed. The second class have pine seats,
and the third have benches running
through the cars from one end to the
other under the windows <and in the CEN
teri noticed that the mail bags were
piled up in the rear end of the third
class cars. The little engine was moved
by coal, which was loaded upon it in
baskets
The cars were only half filed, the ma
jority of the people. being, third-class pas
engers.. The stops at the station are long,
and warning bell Is always rung be-
fore the train starts.
EXPRESS AND. TRANSPORTATION.
The questions of express and transport
tat1on ere very important ones and the
developments along this line may result
In profitable Investments There has al
ready been organized the Pan-American
Express company which has a line of
wagons runningf oysthe chief points on
sAAS 1ole1Aibb ctliSsS sNfk4lCl IL ESTABLISHING
agencies everywhere, The chief offices Of
this company are IN San Juan It is oper-
ated through capital furnished in New
p York, and L have been told that Senator
Tom Plat Is largely interested in it..
AS the.island grows this business will in
crease. Whether 1t IS paying or not now
I do not know.sS: D
Another ENTERPRISE which promises we'll
is the organization 1Df line of automo-
h itn ry.{N
over the military road. This road is from
twenty to thirty feet wide It is more
than eighty miles, Tong and is probabl
the finest wagon road in the world 1t IS
KEEP. perfectly cleafp and smooth It as
cends distance Of about half a mile in
crossing the mountains, but the grades
are not very heavy, and 1t Is believed that
automobile carriages can be moved over
1t.
At present 1t costs from SO to 500 to
go by carriage from San Juan to Ponce
There are villages and small towns all
along the route and carriages of this
kind would have many passengers. With
the increased tourist travel from the
United States branch lines could prob
ably be established running to Coamo and
the Hot Springs, and also to Guayana.
further east on the south coast Indeed,
1t Is not impossible that the whole
lSIGl1u VIII some gay De opened I'D bV
automobile. carriages.
MONEY IN HOTELS.
The tourist travel to Porto Rico prom
ises to be a great factor in the enrich
ment of the island. We have here per-
haps the finest winter climate of the
world. The mountains are, as beautiful
as Switzerland and the island will some
day be a great winter. resort for the
rich of he TTnfted to-
mored here that Flagler, the millionaire
Standard OIL man, who has built the
big hotel In Florida! is arranging to es-
tabHsh a line OFFS fine houses In Porto
Rico. cod;
+ Whether this is true I do not know
but; there u.s. no doubt that1zAmer.can ho-
tel men are, studying the island with a
view to investment Mr.. Hanna, the
American consul here, tells me that hs
has received letters within the past few
weeks from seventysfive different Amer:-
can hotel men and hotel companies In
quiring as to the possibilities of such in
vestments In Portb Rico
There Is no doubt that good hotel
would pay at Sah Juan. 1t should.
however, be firstlolass in all respects.
should be fully equipped with baths and
modern eonvenfences, and should charge
IS and upward day There are many
fine locations for such a hotel right on
the ocean outside Of San Juan, and fhea
proba biiity is that 1T could be kept full
the year round.
Some of the finest of hot springs IRE
to be found here lin Porto Rico. There
are large ones in Coamo, right in tbe
mountains, surrounded by beautiful
scenery These have a hotel cnn-ectsd
with them which was for a long time a
gambling place, but which has now been
bought by an American party 1t Will
probably do we'll
THE QUESTION or TRADE. .
doubt whether American merchants