Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-05-03

States and Pan-American railway con- missioner, and he maintains that his project; far from being impossible, is already probable and the direct corol- lary to the Monroe doctrine. He quotes the late George M Pullman, who, keen student of railway develop ment as he was, predicted that one day there would be through slecpers between Denver and Buenos Ayres.
 Mir. Pepper has seen Pan-American conditions both as a newspaper corre- spondent and as delegate to the Pan- American congress in 1901, and since his appointment as railway commits sioner he has made costly survey with a view of Pan-American rail- road. Such road as he proposes in- wolves the cooperation of 15 of the South American republican, and the rail links necessary to complete such a system would be 5000 miles in length and would cost $200, 100000.
 To show that the plans for this gi- gantic system have passed beyond the problematic stage. MT. Pepper says:
 Tt may be said that in the begin ming of 1906 every Central and every South American country has a def1nite policy of aiding railway construction as an integral part of the .Pan-Ameri- can system. and some of them, as in the case of Peru and Bolivia, have enacted special legislation. All of them are sympathetic toward an inter~onti- mental trunk line, because 1t coincides with their plans for internal develop ment and external trade"
 The project as it appears on the pro- file of the map of the survey made by W. T. Shunk, as engineer-in-chief from 1892 to 1898, shows the general direc- ton of the road to be northwest and southeast along the giant chains of the Andes. The governing principle is a long continental backbone with branch ribs in every direction, taking into consideration mineral. agricultural and timber resources. without emitting cli- matic conditions.
 Mir. Pepper has prepared a table showing what parts of the proposed system are already in operation and what parts are under consideration. The road from New York to Laredo, Tex, 2.1S7 miles. is in operation, as is also that from Laredo to Mexico City. From Mexico City to the Guatemala border there are 73o miles of road, of which 6so are being operated. In Gen. tral America there are 351 miles in op- eration. 100 miles being built and 592 miles projected. Tn Panama SIP pro- jected. Tn Colombia. 20 miles in opera ton and s45 miles projected. In Ecua- dor 126 miles in operation. n miles in construction and 455 miles projected. Tn Peru there are 277 miles in op- eration. 223 miles under con- struction and 1,2s5 projected. In Bolivia 233 miles in operation. 12s miles under construction and lS0 miles projected. And in the Argentine re- public there are 1,0s3 miles of road in operation and 135 miles under con- struction.
 In an imaginary trip over the future system, Mir. Pepper grows enthusias- tic over the wonderful display of na- tural beauties along the line of the road. When the twentieth-century tourist takes the through railway jour ney. ''he will see the relation of sea- level plains. inter-mountain plateaux, profound valleys. shallow depressions, rushing rivers. mighty gulches. tortu- ous canyons. sinuous passes. the spark ling verdure and the brilliant foliaees of the tropics. the treeless regions of the Andes desert. naked cliffs and iut- ting precipices. feece-hidden summits. and the pinnacled peaks of the eternal SHOWS. often passing from the rankest wealth of nature to its most sterile and grudging gifts. almost as swiftly as the can conceive the change"