The Cairo bulletin., 1909-10-04
AMERICANS BACK
GREAT SCHEME
OF TRANSFORMING THE ETERN-
Al CITY INTO A GREAT
SEAPORT.
REQUIRES s2,5OO,OOO
To Carry Out Engineering Feat-Wiil
Change Bad Marshes Into
Saubrious Site-Open
Big Trade.

Rome. Oct. italian and foreign
capitalists, with whom are associated
several American and English tinan
ciers, have submitted to the Munich
Ipal Council of Rome an engineering
plan for connecting the Eternal City
with the sea by direct railway line
running straightway to Ostia, only Is
miles distant
The practicability Of the proposed
plan and the high standing of the
company behind it so impressed not
only the Municipal Council, but the
National government as well, that tSe
scheme won immediate approval and
the contract is to be formally award
led In a few days The cost Of tie
work Is said to be ;.bout $2.503000,
and the engineers pledge themselves
to have the road ready for traffic by
the end Of 1911.
While the construction of 10 miles
of roadbed does not seem an immense
undertaking in these days Of great
scientic achievements, the Importance
|of the feat is indicated by the fact
THAT some similar project has teen
mooted for centuries, yet always been
abandoned becarsc d, the supposedly
insurmountable Obstacles in the way
Of its accomplishment. And this, too
despite the fact that no excessive
rock or land elevation, or no wide
valleys, intervene along the shortest
route from Rome to the sea.
The main difficulties have not been
Iof geological or engineering charac-
ter but generally recognized i'm
practicabllity to overcome another
class Of impediment erected by ma
ture. This consists in the fact that
lthe short stretch OF country through
which the Tiber winds it's way, asteI
leaving Rome, to empty into tht
Mediterranean. has been regarded FOL
centuries as sneh a hotbed of mala
rial fever that it has been practically
a deserted waste, ana for that reason
| no proposal to create seaport at Os
tia has ever hitherto been founj
worthy Of serious consideration.
viii Surnoun. Obstacles.
That this menace no longer exerts
the same deterring effect on the ltaI
ian authorities is partly owing to Ger
tain experiments that have been made
with success in recent years under
the direction of eminent hygenic ex
tperts and also to some features OF the
engineering plan that, it is believed
will completely eradicate the unsani
tary qualities of the sand lying be.
tween Rome and the sea, and will rem.
der the terminal station at Ostia per-
fectly safe for human habitation,
When ancient Rome was mistress
Of the world the Mediterranean came
conveniently close to the confines of
the Imperial City, but volcanic reyo.
luton later created the wide stretch
of plain known as the Canpagna as
a barrier between the metropolis and
| the sea.
Near where the swft.rushing Tiber
forces an issue for itself into the
Mediterranean the alIuvial deposits
from the sea created a cliff which
served as a sort OF dam for the wash
waters from the Albanian hills. These
lin time converted what were in an.
cient days the fertile Pontine plains
into the Pontine marshes, the breed
ing spots Of disease.
Thus II happens that, for centuries
upon centuries, with the Mediter
ranean scarcely more than a dozer
miles away, Rome has had no seaport
lnearer that Ciyita vecchia, which, be
sides being about % miles distant, Is
a narrow, restricted harbor, incapable
of accommodating any considerable
lamount OF shipping.