The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-04-16
new ROAD TO Be COSTLY
Europe Now Turns to America
for Money.
Regulations of u. s. Engineers
Attract Attention There.

| to take the places of the veterans, will
| probably be, by the end OF TINS week.
| in Spain, upon financing MISSION o.
| international Importance. 1t may pc
that Mr.. McRoberts will stop In Parls
| for a few days, since Paris continues
| to be the real financial center tor
| Spain.
| for Spain, he spoke Informally to
| very earnest minded group OF young
| men upon the topic, How Business Is
| Spain he may be able to deliver sec
ond informal address showing now one
| of the great railway proposltlons Oh
the present time has been hnanceo.
Mr. McRoberts's visit to Spain 1ol-
| lows a preliminary, although encour-
aging, report which was recently mace
bv John S. Stevens, who at one time
was chief engineer 9 Of o. me Me MeRob1
erts's financing propositions are &C
cepted by Spain, Mr.. Stevens will be
the engineer in charge of a new inter
national railroad. When Mr.. McRo B.
/ arts sailed. the estimate, according to
| some of his friends, of the cost OF TINS
new railroad, was about sixty mlIhoh
dollars.
the construction of the road is regard
ed as likely to be one of the most IN .
teresting and instructive FEATURES OF
| engineering since Mr.. Hartman con
quered some great natural opstac!es IN
the pathway of an improved Union
Pacific railway system. the rallroao,
it is understood, will surmount the
difficulties offered by the Pyrenees
mountains by a plain, straight piece
| of tunneling somewhat similar TO thdt
done when the Hoosac mountain III
Massachusetts was pierced by the en-
| eineers for the purpose of completing
| the Fritchburg railroad, which the pro-
| motors planned to build from Boston
| to Troy, N. Y. Tie Hoosac tunnel Is
a little over four miles in length- II
I the DrODOS6Q
| tunnel under the Pyrenees Will pc at
| least seven miles and, it may be, ten
| miles in length. When built IT VIII
present an artificial! highway Oh laII ~
| low grade and hardly any curves be-
| tween spain and the southern poun-
dairy of France. 1t Will connect WIN
one of the French railways, so thdt
from this point of view 1t can properly
be spoken of as an lnterhal1onaA A0Ai-
! road.
why Turn to America?
IF is a matter of conjecture only why
Spain turned to the United states Tor
the financial aid necessary for the con-
struction of this railway. Why did not
Spain undertake to finance the PROPOSE
tion in Great Britain or in France? the
answer first suggested to this question
is in line with the financial TRANSACTIONS
which have made the United states IN
some sense the financial agent oy
which Germany has been relieved from
some of her endorsements. The re-
fusal of capital to make large invest
ment in American railway industrial
propositions or to undertake alons
great lines the development of some of
The resources of the country has led to |
an accumulation of capital which mas
been increased by the mining OF ap-
proximately a hundred millions OF new
gold from mines under the United
States flag for several years. Therefore,
the United States has been now for
nearly a year regarded as the best
money market in the world for those IN
other lands who seek accommodations
and our own capital has been only TOO
glad TO invest in securities which nave
very high credit behind them offered
bv foreign governments or negotiated
by important banking authorities in
those governments.
The American Engineers.
Another reason given for the disposf-
ton of Spain to turn to the United
states at this time is the very great
reputation American engineers have re-
Gently gained upon the continent OF Eu-
rope. The marvellous success with
which the difficulties offered by Panama
canal construction have been overcome
has done far more than our own people
realize to secure for American eng1n-
GERS a reputation unsurpassed by any
of the men of science in Great Britain
or upon the continent OF Europe. FUR
+hermore the achievements OF Amer1-
can science in conquering pestilent1al
disease and in demonstrating that even
the Isthmus of Panama and the low
lands along the Gulf of Mexico and the
islands which are washed Dy the carp
bean sea may be made perfectly health
fuI are now regarded by men of science
everywhere as comparable with two or
the monumental achievements OF the
nineteenth century-namely, the use OF
snaesthetics in surgical operations ana
the perfecting of the antiseptic and
aseptic methods for treating wounds
| 1t has been known that the leading
minds of Spain have felt that II the
residential epidemics which prevailed
| in Cuba had been conquered when
| Spanfsh sovereignty was in authority
there Spain would never have lost Cuba.
Then, again, the leading men of
Spain have learned recently that cor
poratfon bonds as means of capitali-
zation were an American invention
Just before Mr.. McRoberts sailed for
Spain he emphasized that fact and
explained it by saying that the inVen-
ton grew out of a necessity for rails
ing vast amounts OF capital TOT the
building of railroads in the United
States And to give concrete ex-
ample Mr.. McRoterts said that such
men as Commodore Wander o1lt and
c. P. Huntington and his associates
who had the daring and energy neces-
sary for railway building on large
scale nevertheless had had no money.
They found, however, that II the ne
gotiabIe instrument now known as a
modern corporation mortgage bond
could be perfected Europe would
gladly buy securities of this kind.
The bond was perfected and within
twenty-five years after that had been
done Great Britain and the continent
of Europe have invested, according to
best estimates, more than a thousand
millions in these American securities.
For this reason, in part. Spain has