New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-03-26

The scheme of a railroad from the United
| States to Russia by way of Behring Strait
| is TO the fore again in Paris st. Petersburg
and elsewhere, and we are told that the Car,
Count Witte and others have been enlisted
in the project" The present argument is that
such a road would greatly strengthen friendly
relations between America and Russia and
make America Russia's ally in the Far East.
1t may he said frankly that America is not
seeking alliances" in the sense in which this
one appears to be meant SO far as the in
crease Of intimate relations with Russians
also with every we'll disposed nation-is con-
cerned, that is Commendable and desirable so
much so, indeed that We must hope it depends
upon something less visionary than this Alaska
Siberia railroad scheme For as visionary and
mistaken in an extreme degree we must re-
gard ii.
Let us assume that the construction of such
a road is possible 1t must still be borne in
mind that It would not directly connect the
United States with Russia, for the reason that
Alaska is not contiguous with the United States.
Hence the American terminus of the road would
be accessible from the United States only by
a long voyage on the high seas or along the
waters Of an alien coast, or by land travel
across more than five hundred miles Of British
territory, either Of which courses would be
quite fatal to Baron LoicQ de Lobels rides
cent dream of through trains from New York
to St Petersburg over purely American and
Russian railroad. That break Of more than
five hundred miles in the continuity of the line
is something which neither engineering enter
prise nor diplomatic ingenuity can overcome.
Moreover, the distance to be traversed IN
Alaska from Point Tongass TO Cape Prince
of Wales, is about fifteen hundred miles, the
greater part Of which is through @ country
entirely untitled for civilized habtation; nearly
every mile Of II is through a country probably
the most difficult in the world to build rail-
road in, and not one-dfth, If even One-tenth,
Of it is through a country that would ever
afford a profitable local traffic. Practically the
same is 10 be said Of the two thousand miles
in Siberia, from East Cape to Albasin, on the
existing Siberian Railroad, traversing the hid
eous sub-Arctic wildernesses Of the ChukChees
and Tunguses and the rugged ranges Of the
StanovOi Mountains. In brief, there would be
thirty-fve hundred miles Of railroad through
the most barren and inhospitable regions on
the globe, compared with which the worst
country traversed by the Siberian Railroad is
a Garden Of Eden And then at the end Of
that there would be nearly the whole of the
Siberian Railroad to be traversed before Eu-
rope was reached, and in the other direction,
FIVE hundred miles of sea voyage before the
United States was reached.
Forty years ago the Western Union Tele-
graph Company started to build an overland
telegraph line from the United States to Eu-
rope by this very Alaska-Siberia route. 1t spent
vast sum of money ia the enterprise, and
then abandoned It In favor Of a transatlantic
cable. and the only good that came Of the i'll
starred venture was perhaps to expedite the
sale Of Alaska to the United States and GER
tainly to set Mr.. George KEENAN, to investigat-
ing the Siberian convict system. If the tele-
graph company preferred a transatlantic route
Of only twenty-five hundred miles to an over
land route Of thirteen thousand miles, we are
inclined to think ninety nine travellers in a
hundred would prefer getting TO Europe by a
weeks trip across the ocean rather than by
three weeks trip by rail chiefly through sub