The Washington herald., 1907-07-07

I penetrate iIt lolueSl iutuHtdlN ltSipli
/ In the world.
| The Railroad Dream Of Dreams.
| The railroad dream Of dreams will come
| true when the Cape-to-Cairo system is
| connected by way Of lines yet unlaid
| across the Isthmus of Suez, through Pal
| estine and Syria, via Constantinople and
Moscow, with the trans-Siberian, and It
/ by a line from Kamsk 10 East Cape,
under Berlng Strait via a tweuty-eight
mile tunnel, and a line thence to Skag-
way, with the Grand Trunk Pacific link
/ Of the Pan-American roads.
Then. say the dreamers. ii VIII be pos
slble, by means Of connecting lines. to
make a practically all-rail trip from the
| Cape Of Good Hope to Cape Horn-more
| than 1000 miles. Then all the great CEN
! ters. excepting those Of Great Britain,
| Japan. Australia, and New Zealand. may
be visited by rail When the proposed
twenty-three-mile channel tunnel between
/ France and Euglandv-greatest bore ever
/ imagined, excepting the one between Asia
and North AmeTica-is drilled, London
also viii be IN rail connection with the
worlds other great cities
| There are scoffers a-pIenty. but little
| by little the links actually are being laid
/ and connected. The Czar has Just grant
I ed the necessary concession for the
/ Bering Strait tunnel line Some day the
I world may awake 70 find that facts are
more wonderful than the imagination.
Plant ut Victoria Falls.
The most Tar{-s, ef1gtrf..1 ..r.,,,, So
conceived should De mentioned before the
/ ClPe-to-Cairo railroad system has been
/ left too far behind II is the mammoth
/ installation at Victoria Falls. From
2erlo 70 $3.50 horsepower only will be
developed az first, but later II IS PRO
posed to utilize much more-150C0o horse
power comparatively socn. and ultimately
1J0eH. three-fourths az much as the city
[ Of New York now consumes. Further
more. Il is proposed 70 transmit a portion
I Of this power 20 the mines u the Rand.
[ 80 miles away nearly four times as far
as any existing electrical transmission.
/ To do this economically with respect 20
/ the copper IN the transmission lines It will
/ be necessary 10 use a current Of from
l50ooo to 10000 volts. which IS technically
/ possible, but never has been done as yet.
1t IS only fair TO say that the elecJri-
clans are wondering whether such an
enormous amount Of current can be sold
at profit IN undeveloped Africa, yet
the initial contracts are let.
1t has been announced that it will cost
500, ,00o,0J0 10 double track the Trans -Sibe-
rian road. as much more 10 complete the
Cape-to-CairO line S60G1j.G10 10 build the
proposed line 20 Bagdad, and SIS5. 600 0D1 10
complete the Pan-AmeriCan links in South
and Central America Add the Sums 10 be
spent on the Grand Trunk Pacific and the
other new lines and extensions which
cannot be mentioned even. and il viii be
seen that more than a billion dollars
worth Of railroad building is under way.
Place must be given here 10 Flagler's
Florida Keys extension of the Florida
East Coast line. from Miami TO Key West.
over the string of islands which skirts the
coast, entirely out Of sight Of the main
land in some places, so that the train pas
sengeTs viii have as much sea air as if
atloat on the open ocean. Although only
165 miles long and TO cost but Sl5Ol0Ol0 or
S2)oo2.0o this railroad is one of the
worlds wonders already. though not yet
completed
The plan 70 ferry railroad trains from
Key West 70 Havana IS the most daring
scheme Of its class yet projected. al
though there are some long railroad fer
ries on our own great lakes as well as
between England and Holland and Den
mark and Germany on the other side Of
the Atlantic.
Great Canal Projects.
The most talked-of transportation i'm
provement now going on is the Panama
Canal, Of course. with its 5000 Iaborers
and its Sii00l0,C)1 Of planned expenditure.
The most expensive water transportation
scheme actually under way is the SOL
100000 barge canal across New York
State from Albany 10 Buffalo Meanwhile
the Canadians are planning, but have not
Yet begun, n canal both deeper and wider
than the barge canal 20 connect Lake
Huron and the ST. Lawrence at a cost
OF No5, 10000. 1t is predicted that even
tuaily this Canadian lake-to-tide-water
canal will secure most Of the European
bound Cargoes Of wheat, to the disadvan-
tage Of New York ditch for barges. but.
| even so, the latter should have much the
! better local trade, because II passes
through much more thickly populated
territory.
After the lapse Of a hundred years or
| thereabouts since its original inception,
/ the announcement was made not many
months ago that a ship canal is about
/ TO be cut between Buzzard's Bay and
| Massachusetts, Bay across the shank OF
| Cape Cod greatly 20 shorten the water
| distance between New York and Boston
and no doubt decrease the loss Of life
! and vessels by shipwreck. The cost of
this canal is to be about 100000. It
was first projected in colonial days.
when a start was made at digging II.
The nations Of Europe are spending
millions in cash and employing tens Of
thousands Of men in improving and ex-
tending national and international lines
Of waterways. Germany proposes con-
Meeting the upper reaches Of the Vistula.
the Oder. the Elbe. and other rivers with
the Rhine, by which Berlin will be placed
in closer water communication with hun
dTeds Of thousands Of square miles and
by which internal commerce largely trib-
utary to Antwerp will be increased vastly.
A Big German scheme.
This great work is under way in COM
paratively short sections, but the widen
ing and deepening Of the North, German
or Kiel Canal, at an estimated cost Of
S55,oOo,00o, has not been begun as yet al
though the work is inevitable. to the dis
may Of German taxpayers. Unless + is
done, this waterway. which has cost so
much already and was dug to make II
possible for German war ships to navi-
gate the Baltic without going around Jut-
land. voyage Of some hundreds of
miles. will not float Germany's new naval
vessels. planned to equal Great Britains
fighting ships Of the DreadnOught type.
There are Germans who almost suspect
that Great Britains main object in in
creasing the size of her war ships was