Arizona republican., 1908-08-07

| fairs. If it had been acquired in the | usual way every dollar collected for | freight and passenger traffic would
 have had to be turned into the treas
 ury. and every dollar paid out would
 have had to be appropriated by con gress. Furthermore, when the Panama Railroad company wanted an engine.
 car, a steel rail, or a dozen eggs for its commissary it would have mad to advertise for bids.
 This led to the present plan, which puts the railroad safely beyond the
 bundle of red tape that so often hind CTS economical methods. The rail- road is therefore operated iusc like
 any other railroad, and its fiscal af-
 fairs are conducted the same way, ex- cept that the president and the board
 of directors do not own a single shat D
 of stock, and that the Isth-iian cafy
 commission is allowed to run it's trains
 on the Panama railroad line.
 One familiar with the Pennsylvania railroad in the states is forcibIy re-
 minded of it when on the Isthmus
 Here is the familiar "P R. R." on every
 car, and only the keystone is missing
 from the lettering on the freigh- cars, .else the uninitiated might jun.p at :he
 conclusion that the Pennsylvania had
 extended its lines to Panama The coaches are painted the sam, color, and are of the same modern design as those of the Pennsylvania system. The engines are of heavy type but with small tenders. .--s~SN
 No railroad in America ever under went such wonderful changes in so short a time as the Panama railroad has undergone When Colonel Goe- thals first went across the Isthlnus four years ago he found the jungle touching bOughs across the railroad, forming a tree-arched way almost from Colon to Panama. The road bed was then as crooked as the Charges river and that is the superiative dc- gree of crookedness. The builders had followed the line of leas5 resist ance from one side of the Isthmus to the other. and that classic railroad joke about standing on the rear plat form and lighting a cigar from the headlight of the locomotive might well have been perpetrated by a passenger on a Panama railroad train.
 The rolling stock was antiquated and the whole outfit was at least twenty five years behind the time They did not even have a telegraph line, but carried little telephone outfits like the one trouble man" ca ,ries. and would stop the train and ring up the dispatcher whenever they wished.
 When the United States took hold there had to be a good railroad Wal lace and Stevens each contributed his share tO making it good. Wallace bought the heavy engines which were criticized at the time. Stevens double | tracked the road, established as up :o late block system. and in short, turned l over to his successors a railroad which | will compare favorable with the av- erage road in this country.
 The improved condition Of the road | s shown in the increased business it | snjoys. The total earnings for 1907 | were almost double those of the pre- | -ious year, and the indications are | hat the annual report of the present | iscal year will make even q better | showing. The increase in freight car | lied was about 40 per cent, and the passengers carried in 1907 were about | louble the number carried in 1906 | Here again the indications are that | sos will set new mark. Negroes do | lot lose their, propensity for travel | ust because they are on the Isthnus. | Those who have the money tn spare | travel first class, but the | majority go second. Of the SS2.G60 | carried in 1907, J57.OO0 we're second class passengers, and -hese included no whites and few Chinamen.
 The Panama railroad, owned by the | Jnited States government owns in urn a steamship line from New York O Colon This line operates six ships with sailings from New York and Co., 'n every five days. The extension of hn po-ral Mail and the Hauhl,rer-