Evening journal., 1910-12-03
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
A Man Who Died
for An Idea
BY "HoIIand."
BY "HoIIand."


The Pan-American railway, once
looked upon as a beautiful dream, and
nothing more, is growing into an ac-
complished fact, and there are those
In authority in the world of railroad
transportation who are Of the opinion
that approximately by the time the
Panama Canal is thrown open to the
worlds traffic the final links in the
steel ribbon binding the three Ameri-
cas- together Will have been spiked
into place. This belief is based on the
assumption that the canal will be COM
pleted in 1915 and that the present
rate OF progress of building the rail-
road In question is continued.
When the full and impartial his
tory Of this great railway undertake
ing comes to be written, the name of
Hinton Rowland Helper will loom
large as the first dreamer of Pam
American railway-the man whose
tenacity Of purpose is gradually maxi
ing the dream a reality-the man who
practically starved himself to death
in behalf OF his pet idea.
Those who survive the exciting
days of the Civil War and a few years
earlier can hardly fail to remember
the widespread interest aroused by
book published In 1857, called "The
Impending Crisis in the South, and
How 10 Meet It." Written by a South
erner, a native of North Carolina Il
was dedicated to the non-slaveholding
whites of the South, after attempting
to prove that slavery was an economic
curse, wholly aside from its immor-
ality, the author worked out With
what proved to be amazing prophecy
what the effect of slavery upon the
South would ultimately be and what
the result Of an armed conflict be-
tween South and North would in
| evitably be. "The Impending Crisis.
as the book was popularity called, had
a sale and an influence surpassed only
/ by Uncle Toms Cabin" It's sale, in
! fact, was enormous, and in 1860 the
book was widely circulated as cam
/ paign textbook by the Republican
National Committee.
During LincOln's administration,
and part Of Johnson's the author OF
/ THE Impending Crisis" served as
! United States consul at Buenos
! Ayres. While I'm thai service he con-
ceived the idea Of and began the agi-
tation for the construction of an in
/ tercontinental railway line. He cali
/ ed II the Three Americas Railroad,
/ North, Central and South. He out
lined the manner in which the rail
/ road could be carried through South
/ America 10 Central America, thence
through Mexico and then meet I'm Tex
as the railroad system of the United
States.
From then on until his de tn
which occurred in Washington last
year, Hinton Rowland Helper, the
South's prophet of the Norths sue
cess In Civil War, devoted the greater
part of his life to the forwarding OF
this idea. Nothing could discourage
him. For years, when he talked OF
his scheme, he met with no encour-
agement whatever; instead, ridicule
was heaped upon him, especially by
Jay Gould, who declared that Il was
as reasonable TO build a railroad IN
Patagonia, then an almost undiscov-
cred region, or I'm Greenland. But
no slight nor insult daunted Mr.
Helper. With the zeal Of a Turk and
the faith OF an Arab, he pressed for
ward his idea at every conceivable
opportunity, and at last he came tc
know for a surety that It would ul-
timately triumph.
And then he died-and he died OBJ.
scure, neglected, and i'm abject pov.
erty. My authority for this statement
is Mrs. Sally G. Noble, a niece, who
lives in Rockland, Me-, and is the only
one of the immediate farmily who
survives.
mot until after be died did know
In what penury my uncle lived" sait
Mrs. Noble to me. recently. "Yet for
don't know how many months he
put up bravely with the utmost pri.
walton that he might be able to com
plete his work. For weeks at a time
he lived upon loaf Of bread, but still
he kept patiently and persistently al