Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21

which will be uneQualed in the world.
In senic grandeur no other highway
ever built can approach 1t. In miles OF
length 1t will be in a class by itself.
says one writer, adding that this great
road, in addition to increasing the eco
nomic relations between the Americas.
will also contribute to the creation OF
better feeling in each of the countries
it crosses.
Course Of the Highway.
The Interamerican Highway, which
will be the principal theme of discus
sion in the Highway Congress about to
meet at Rio de Janeiro, will unite the
frozen regions of the North, across the
Central American tropics, with the tenn
perate zones of the South, from the
northernmost cities of the United States
to the capital of Chile, almost at the
exreme south of the southern continent
on the coast Of the Pacific. From
there, crossing the Andes. 1t will reach
Buenos Aires on the east and then 60
along the Atlantic Coast to pass through
Brazil and Venezuela to the Gulf OF
Mexico. In this great circuit the high
way will not only unite the capitals OF
the republics of the Americas, but will
extend its influence to the lesser cities
and communities in each country which
1t crosses.
Hence, aside from contributing to the
common cause of pan-Americanlsm, and
facilitating commercial interchange be-
tween the nations, it will also be OF In
calculable benefit in the private develop
ment of each country, furnishing means
of transportation for its natural prod
ucts- and making accessible regions
which now are existing in isolation.
All this is In reference to the Latin
republics. AS to the United States the
immediate and practical benefits OF the
construction of the highway Will be
enormous. The vast network of high
ways constructed and planned require
thousands of tons of machinery, cement
and steel for bridges, materials produced
in the United States, and the employ
ment of many American engineers. 1t
will also increase the exports of thou
sands of American automobiles and de-
velop innumerable commercial opportu-
mites in the modernization OF cities.
The use of American products Will In
crease indefinitely and the export field
for them will be widened in proportion.
In addition to the United States,
which has already finished the construc-
ton of its part of the 1nteramerlcan
Highway as far as Laredo, Tex, other
nations, such as Mexico, Guatemala,
Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Pan
anna, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Peru,
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil,
have already worked on parts OF the
road in their territory. The total mile
age constructed, under construction, or
authorized by the governments OF the
countries mentioned, is now 5000 miles.
The sections which have not yet been
surveyed, and on which there Is no con-
struction as yet, total about 2,175 miles.
! These form the sections most difficult
| to build, on account of the terrain and
of lack of resources. This total, how
ever, applies only to the direct line from
Laredo to Puerto Montt, in Chile. and
does not take into consideration the
road south of that point, nor the sec
| ton to BuenoS Aires, nor that along the
Atlantic between Buenos Aires and Rio
de Janeiro.
The Congress of the United States
not long ago passed resolution appro-
priating the sum Of $4,000 to furnish
the cooperation of American road engt-
neers to other American governments in
surveying routes for the Interamericafl
Highway. Commenting on this congress
sjonaI action, President Portes Gil OF
Mexico declared, II want to see 100000
American automobiles crossing the from
tier and entering Mexico so that the
American people may know my country
better, and 50 that there may be more
cordial understanding between the two
nations"