Arizona republican., 1919-12-17
Makes Direct Line

The San Diego & Arizona railway, as the new cutoff" link is named, connects with the Southern Pacific system and furnishes a direct line along the border westward from Yuma, Arizona. It is one of few major railway constructions continued throughout the war. It has kept the pace and if the psychological moment can be applied to railroad building, here is an instance for the San Diego & Arizona is ready to take what part it can as Americas grand fleet of mer- chantment goes out after our share in the worlds trade.
 By saving of miles and hours, the new road is destined to play an i'm portant role in the realignment and conquest of trade under war-changed conditions, and were E. H. Hartman alive today he would find much satis- faction in the new and greater oppor- tunities which greet completion of his last project. Such personal satisfac tion remains to John D. Spreckels and his brother, Adolph B. Spreckels, col leagues with Mir. Hartman in con- ception of the s. D. X A., and to the Southern Pacific company which formed q partnership with the Spreck-
 
 Engineering Triumph
 A glance at the map, with note of distances. reveals the commercially strategical possibilities in linking the port of San Diego directly with the east on a route of lower attitudes. cas- fer grades and always open tracks. Most of the east, the south and south west will see the Pacific considerably nearer at San Diego than elsewhere. That the link was not made before, or the present one completed earlier, is due to the difficulty of terrain. Tom Scott first proposed it 50 years ago. Only 146 miles in length. of itself, construction of the San Diego & Ari- zona would equal in cost traversing many plain states with rails, and in engineering there is no comparison; it i is railway engineering feat remark l able among the great of it's kind in America. By many engineers 1t is rated the most difficult of all. In many respects it has resembled railway building in the Andes.
 Bored, bridged, cut and filled to easy | grades across a mountain barrier of granite, it has tried the skill and pa- tience of its builders, not only in actual construction but in reaching locations for work and delivering materials and supplies.
 Has Military Advantages
 Its completion has been urged as a military road extending border rails directly through to the coast No of ficial cognizance Of this is known to have been recorded at Washington, but the fact remains it has been one rail- way construction project that was continued in war times although this entailed liberal shipments of explosives across the tightly closed international boundary line and importation of aiier labor. The $. D. &s A. loops into Low CT California in it's search for cross ing of the mountain barrier, and many favors were required from Washing ton to keep materials moving out over that loop and getting Mexican labor 1T at the cross-beck when American la hor became impossible to obtain.
 As military railway, aside iron completing fine in touch with thu border, it will prove of much assist ance in movements of men and ma. terials to and from the military ant naval center built up at San Diego which includes practically ever, branch of the service
 Meets Many Needs
 Immediate commercial advantag lies in Imperial valley, where connec ton is made with the Southern Pa cific at Fl Centro in the heart of tn, below sealevel Inland Empirev 0 alluvial soil watered from the inter minable flow of the Colorado river productive of whatever is planted ans world famed for the finest long stapl cotton grown. Should this importan cotton district not lead to mills at Sal Diego, the Japanese doubtless will hat