The sun., 1919-02-16
By ROBERT C. SKERRETT.

THE Pan-American Railroad 10
no longer a mere Potentially:
L It Is all but fact. Unless the
signs misead 1t won't be a great while
now before We can travel entirely by
rail from New York to Buenos Ayres,
about 10000 miles. Railroad builders
have been decidedly busy in South
America during the last few years, and
month by month they have been ex-
panding the steel grid which is stead.
fly unifying the rapid transit Of our
neighbor continent
Kindred activities have been under
way or are about to begin through
parts OF Central America, and Mexico
is doing her share to amplify railroad
facilities between the United States
and the southern hemisphere. The
problem is not so much to run new
long stretches Of rails as It is TO create
comparatively short sections which
shall connect In one enormous system
the railroads of all three Americas.
At present, by the best steamers, II
takes twenty-five days TO make the
run from New York to Buenos Ayres.
By rail it is promised that the dis
lance can be covered in fifteen.
Intercommunication OF this sort
must increase tremendously the tide
OF social and business intercourse be.
tween North and South America and
at the same time add proportionately
to the volume of our trade exchanges.
Politically it must prove of the utmost
Importance. for it would do away in
very large measure with the isolation
which has heretofore existed in the
main because Of our geographical sep.
aration and the fact that water routes
alone made It possible for us to reach
one another.
Six years ago Theodore Roosevelt
said in Rio de Janeiro:
The relations OF the northern and
southern continents OF the western
hemisphere are certain to become
much closer in the future through the
Panama Canal and otherwise. be-
lieve that as the nineteenth was the
century Of North America, so will the
twentieth be the century Of South
America"
q. 8. Playing Great Part.
Certain 1t is that in the last four
years our trade relations with Latin
America haye developed to an aston
ishing degree; and 1t Is equally true
that American capital and engineering
enterprise are playing a conspicuous
part in the expansion OF the railways
both in Central and South America.
our Latin neighbors have learned to
for our wares than heretofore. In
every direction where time counts It
Is plain that all of US in this hem
isphere have much to gain by promot-
Ing rapid intercommunication.
The Pan-American railway, then, is
something that profoundly concerns
the people OF the United States; and
our present and prospective economic
problems add just so much weight TO
the arguments heretofore made In ad-
Nocatlne this traffic bond between the
continents. Finally there Is the MILL
tsry aspect Of the subject. One does
not have to be an expert to realize the
strategic gain to the common defence
from an all land route by which troops
OF either continent could be rapidly
moved north or south.
Broadly. the line to be followed by
The Pan-American railway will be any
OF the existing United States railroad
routes down to the Mexican border:
these routes, as is we'll known, reach
rom the Canadian boundary and cover
our country from east to west. From
Mexico the Pan American system. will
run into Central America. cross the
Isthmus Of Panama. spanning the
canal and then enter South America
at the Colombian frontier The scheme
IS to traverse the highlands of Colom-
ola' Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, de-
Scending in Bolivia to the Argentine
border, and continuing from there on