The Monticellonian., 1906-05-03


 States and Pan-Ameriean railway com 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 sleepers between Denver and Buenos Ayres.
 Mir Pepper has seen Pan-Ameriean conditions both as q newspaper corre- spoadent and as a delegate to the Pan American congress in 1901, and since his appointment as railway commits sioner he has made costly survey With q view of a Pan-American rail- road Such a road as he proposes in= wolves the cooperation of l5 of the South American republican. and the rail links necessary to complete such system would be 5.QQo miles in length and would cost $200 ,000. .0o0.
 To show that the plans for this gi- Eanue system have passed beyond the prob.emaac stage. Mr. Pepper says:
 I'll may be said that in the begin hing of 1906 every Central and every South American country has a dehnite policy of siding railway construction as aa integra! 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 interconti- mental trunk line, because it 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 1S92 to 1898, shows the general diree- tion If the road to he northwest and southeast along the giant chains of the Andes The governing principle is long continental backbone with branch ribs in every direction, taking into consideration mineral. agricultural and timber resources, without emitting eli matte conditions.
 Nr 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 bor1ar there are 730 miles of road. of which tSo are being operated. In Cen tral America there are 351 miles in op- eration. Loo miles being built and 592 miles projected. In Panama 6l2 pro jected. In Colombia. 20 miles in opera ton and S45 miles projected In Ecua- dor l26 miles in operation. 77 miles in construction and 455 miles projected. In Peru there are PIT miles in op- eratien. 223 miles under con struetion 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 I033 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 Impressions. rushing rivers. mighty gulches. tortu- ous canyons, sinuous passes, the spark ling verdure and the brilliant foliages of the tropics. the treeless regions of the Andes desert, naked cliffs and iut- ting preeipices. tleece-hidden summits, and the pinnacled peaks of the eternal snows, often passing from the rankest wealth of nature to its most sterile and grudging gifts, almost as swiftly as the imagination can conceive the change"