Evening star., 1936-07-05
BY GASTON NERvAL.

"\O i NE fLO1QdDS, TOAQ WAS y
means to an end. To the
statesmen Of the New World
L In the twentieth century, a
road is still o means to an end, but
the end Is different. Under Pax
Romano, the end was conquest snd
subsection of the country where the
road was built. Under Pax Ameri-
cana, the end Is international rap
prochement, bringing together Of in
dependent, self-governing peoples for
mutual understanding and for mutual
benefits.
In our times, when economic ne
cessity and cultural progress call ire
sistibly for international contacts,
and in our part Of the world, where
physical distances between nations
are so great, the construction of M
ternational highways is an essential
requirement, II peace and friendship
and cooperation are to prevail among
men Of different countries and Of diff
ferent points Of view.
Last Wednesday, with appropriate
ceremonies and in the presence Of
distinguished guests, headed by the
Vice President Of the United States
and diplomatic representatives fpom
several countries, President Cardenas
Of Mexico formally opened the new
international highway to Mexico
Cfty.
The significance Of the event lies,
however, not merely in the opening
to trafic of a 77o-mile long road,
built at cost of more than so million
pesos and which will bring Mexico
considerably closer~ to the United
States, but in the fact that this is
the first completed section of that
gigantic pan-American highway
which has been for so long the dream
Of all advocates Of inter American
friendship.
Aim of Conferences.
The improvement of means of
communication in the Western Hem
sphere has been one of the aims OF
the international conferences of
American states ever since they
started, more than 40 years ago. 1t
was at the fifth conference, however,
which met at Santiago in 1923, that
the advisability of studying meas
ures best adapted to developing an
efficient program for the construction
of automobile highways within the
different countries of America and
between these different countries"
was formally recommended to the
various governments.
The first Pan-American Congress
Of Highways. which was held in
Buenos Aires in 1925. insisted on that
recommendation and called for "the
rapid and urgent development of
continental highways with the great
est possible efficiency" The Sixth
International Conference of Ameri-
can States, meeting at Havana IN
1928, pledged the cooperation of the
81 governments there represented to
the prompt realization of that project.
In March of 1929 the Congress of
the United States, by joint resolution,
authorized the appropriation Of s50,000
to enable the Secretary of State to
cooperate with the governments,
members of the Pan-American Union,
in the reconnaissance surveys and to
report to Congress the feasibility of
possible routes, the probable cost, the
economic service and such other in
formation as will be pertinent to the
building of an inter-American high
way or highways"
Found Feasible by U. s.
Accordingly, the Bureau of Public
Roads of the United States was re-
quested by the Secretary of State to
make the actual survey in Central
America and to prepare a report on
the central section Of the proposed
Pan-American Highway, that is,
distance of about $3.50 miles, from
Nuevo Laredo. Mexico, to Panama
City. Panama. After three years of