332
THE WEST SHORE.
THE EADS SHIP RAILWAY.
UNDOUBTEDLY the event moot important to the
Piwiifio (nnt which js linble to nwnr within the
next five years will be tlie opening of one of the several
projected routes of inter-occanio communication through.
Central America. Taking up it few only of the commer
cial reasons for this imxrtaiit work, attention is called,
in tlie first place, In the fact lhat although the northern
part of the continent has been crossed by six lines of
railroad they ennnot profitably transport many important
Inlky pro lituta. The cereals and the valuable woods of
the 1'nciflo Const cannot reach European markets by
these transcontinental routes; even the Panama Rail
road, hardly fifty miles in length, cannot afford to do
this work, so great is the expense of transhipment: in
faet, the transoinlinental railroads, over 3,000 miles in !
relatively reduce the cost of transportation. The valu
able and inexhaustible woods of the Pacifio will find a
ready market on both the Atlantic ooasts if an all-water
route can be obtained 8,000 miles shorter than by Cape
Horn.
Tho Isthmian barrier obstructs and hampers the im
portant commerce of the west coast of South America as
well. The extensive and valuable products of Colombia,
Chile and Torn must pass southward around Cape Horn
on a circuitous route to New York or Liverpool. Again,
in the interchange of manufactured goods for the raw
materials of the Pacific coasts, Australasia and Poly
nesia, the manufacturers of oar Atlantic Coast are
debarred from these impoitant markets by the same
insurmountable obstacle. By the impetus given to the
development of the far Pacific countries by the opening
BOl'TEH OF COMMEIICE VIA TPinti vTDn
1-r n i..Lwill,,ur.OTihmrt five W nd now amount to nearly
-,uuu,uuu,uuu per annum. Australia alone has a rail
way system 6,000 miles in length and a foreign commerce
of about 100,000,000. She imports from ns a small
quantity of nearly all of our manufactured articles, which
u,.r way w mat country by many indirect and ex-
"' I"'"" . Will Durmin tlmir nv...f inmvi . .
rrapyiiiff from four to five mouth., to reach U,e market
... worm i MrniNMl. The imiHrtanoe to the IVifio
UjmI of .hortening U.e distance for this commerce alone
will I by the following facta. It cost only eiuht
cent per day for labor to raise Indian wheat England
Jim ninnuM a,,d i .till exuding, millions to irrigate
that vt and ,N,,mloui country. She i. extending the
railroad .,(.., to .U most remote district in order to
tranyrt the wh,s,t to the aboard, ,d dl. U,.n brinim
it to her port, by U.e .horteued route of the Suo Canal
NUII, with our admirable climate am frti0 ,;,
compote .uooWully iu the world, market if we can
uorten the route one-half, the time two month, u" I
- J j uiuiA ww ca
i"5"""0 routes, ana conera in .t.: t :
interesting to note tho routes by which many products
move. Of tho te BJ,;..i t t . rr ,
. -ri uum uupan io .new ior
Mnnit one-half (16,000,000 pounds) goes across the Pacific
U hau I rancisoo; is there put aboard the oars and hauled
ZTi "'wT'V tLe other Lalf 806" dwn the A-iatio
coast, throuch the In.linn n.- o. .
t " , xyou, duki vanai, me jueai-
tarrane aUd across the Atlantic Ocean. On account of
Uu. inabiht, to reaeh Pifio ports, and the absence of