Evening star., 1918-06-30

way development would be opened for
this would mean a through system of
communication by rail and inland wa
ter routes from Tangier or the port
Of Dakar to Cape Town. The cape to
Cairo line has been the subject of sew
eral articles since the beginning Of
the great war, yet il Is necessary to
come back to the subject at intervals
in order to keep up with the progress
that Is making. British geographical
journals now contain complete itin-
eraries of the trip from Cairo to Cape
Town with the courses indicated for
travel between the gaps by lake and
river, and in some cases overland
stretches through the jungles.
The significant feature Of war op-
erations as related to Africa IL that
they have immensely advanced the
prospect for developing the great
tropical regions Of that continent by
the railway construction that has been
poses and partly for peace purposes.
By the activities Of the allies.
and In particular the South Az
rican forces, Germany has been
eliminated from Africa as q territor
ial power. The French Kongo, the
Portuguese possessions and the Brit.
tsh possessions have been consolidated
as territorial unit. There is no rea-
son to suppose that ever again there
VIII be German East Africa and q
German southwest Africa, whatever
the ultimate status of those sections
shall prove to be.
Treatment of large section of At
rtca as territorial unit has enabled
the plans for systematic railway con-
struction to be carried forward In, a
manner that is almost startling in its
results. Recent news by way Of Lon
don has recounted the opening Of the
means Of through communication
across equatorial Africa from the Ins
dian ocean to the Atlantic. This has
been achieved by placing Kabalo on
the kongo in communication with Al
bertyville, on the west shore of Lake
Taganyika. This system of inter.
communication Indirectly serves the
plans for the cape to Cairo line.
Ihe cape to Cairo line, however, Is
more directly served by the COM
munfcation that has been opened be.
tween Kambove with Bukama, on the
Aongo. By this means a direct link
ID formed in the through line A
map and somewhat intimate knowl-
edge OF African geography is neces-
sary to appreciate fully the meaning
OF the railway construction to the
points named. But in general a men,
tai picture may be made of the situa-
tion.
The railway link from Cairo to
Khartum, in the Sudan, 1,6OO miles
In length, was completed years ago,
following Kitchener's defeat of the
Mahdf and the fanatical Sudanese
tribes. Meantime. in South Africa
from Cape Town until it had pro-
gressed 1000 miles. Victoria falls, on
the Zambesf, was reached, and then
construction was carried on toward
the point on Lake Tanganyika which
was to be the land terminus. From
Khartum to railhead on the Zambesi
was 2,600 miles. of which about / 900
miles was railway and the remaining
l. 600 miles were lake and river links.
In this route was included a very
difficult section of 400 miles through
the Kongo marshes.
So long as Germany was estab-
lished In East Africa. with her own
system of railways there, it was not
feasible TO avoid the Kongo marshes
by diverting the line eastward. since
SSfHduy WdS uot eApeCleO 10 en-
courage the linking up of British ter
ritory on the Nile with British South
Africa.
The British public at that time
found no fault with this diplomatic
because England herself
was not in the habit of encouraging
railway construction which adversely
affected British possessions. Yet the
hope was held that in the future
the obstacle might be removed. al
though war was not then dreamed
OF as the means of removing It. War.
however. has removed IL. The cape
to Cairo line in the future viii be
free to follow the route most feasible
for engineering, and at the same time
most useful for commerce. The re-
cent construction from east to west
through equatorial Africa has less
ened some of the obstacles on the
Kongo section, but its greater ad-
is in lessening the obstacles
to the route farther east through
what was German East Africa
While the British and French gov
ernments plan for building the tunnel
under the English channel, and while
they lend a sympathetic ear to the
plans Of the French engineers for
the Gibraltar tunnel. and while they
the project of line paral-
leling from Tangier to Cairo, they
are not likely to be unmindful of
the progress in equatorial Africa
Four years ago it required a bold
to pictue through COM
munication from London to Cape
Town by means of rail and river and
lake links. with the entire ocean voy-
age eliminated. The political and
Developments of the
great war have taken it out of the