The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-07-06
PROGRESS IN ECUADOR.
The New Railroad From Guayaquil to
 Quito.

The New Railroad From Guayaquil to
 Quito.
 Ecuador is just beginning to awaken from its lethargy, and to learn the meaning of the words progress and prosperity. The oldest of all the South American republics is rich in unde- veloped resources, which are beginning to attract the attention of foreign in- vestors A company of American and English capitalists Is building rail- road from Chimbo to Quito, piercing the very heart of the Andes; others with the pioneers inherent love for ad- venture, are pushing their way into the interior ahead of the railroad taking up land for haclendas, and prospecting in the mountain chains and valley streams for the gold regions, which were the source of the wonderful wealth of the Incas.
 This interest in Ecuador's resources dates back only five or six years when Eroy Alfaro took advantage of ex- President Flores embarrassment, caus ed by his connection with the sale of the Chilian cruiser Esmeralda to Ja- pan, to seize the government and pro- claim himself dictator. Alfaro is na- tive of the province of Manabi When a young man he was an officer in the army, and was expelled for organizing conspiracy against the government. His career from exile to president is similar to that of President Pando of Bolivia. It Is a story of revolutions Few suspected that such stormy petrel would prove q wise executive, but these few seem to have correctly judged the man and his capacity for government The year after he pro- claimed himself dictator he held an election and was declared constitutional president. As soon as this was done liberal policy was established, the pow CT of the church was wiped out, the archbishop was deprived of his seat In the cabinet, and the official perquisltes which the clergy had long enjoyed were cut off The president claims to be good Catholic, but maintains that the church should keep it's influence out or politics and devote it's attention to the spiritual welfare of the people,
 The railroad across the Andes to the Ecuadorian capital will be the result of American skill and enterprise. For years a railroad had been struggling across the alluvial plains of the cacao and sugar plantations of the Ecuador
 l,1f Inv Andes, where for centuries only mules and Indians picked their way bearing burdens on their backs and heads. By July rails will have been spiked over the last mile of these rails, sklrtihg precipices, crossing torrents, climbing through passes 12,O0O feet high until the Guayaquil and Quito railroad VIII have come out upon the high plateau where it can travel swiftly over the highways built by the lncas, and come into Quito
 To American engineers alone belongs the credit of opening a wonderful new land to the enterprise of the world. American engineers have succeeded where French, Italian and spanish en- gineers failed to as much as connect the scat tered stretches of preliminary survey. "Only Americans can build the road we must have across the Andes,' said President Alfaro decisive ly when he came into power, and he set Senor Louis F. Carbo, the Ecuadorlan minister at Washington, to searching for the right American.
 Senor Carbo found Archer Harman. It is Archer Harman's will that has forced well-built, and effectively equipped railroad through the passes or the Andes. MT Harman went 10 Ecuador on tour of inspection In l69'' He found an ill-equipped shaky lttle line already built across the NWeS plains. He found a mountain full Ill his face a mountain seemingly lmpas- sable save for the mules who stepped gingery along the lodges of cllffs. But in this mountain, too, he found great stores of mineral wealth. He was oe- yond the mountain great and fertile