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BY DEXTER MARSHALL.
IT was the opinion of Rothstein, the St.
Petersburg financier, expressed to "Wil
liam T. Stead, some years ago, that
the Trans-Siberian Railroad was a huge
mistake; that It was being built "under
the compulsion of an Impulse which could
not be justified on either fianncial. politi
cal or military grounds'; an Instinct de
scribed by the financier as "a kind of
demon which drives men tp bring together
the uttermost ends of a continent, at
vast expense and enormous personal sac
rifices, for which they know very well re
payment will never come to the men
who make them.
Th faots have Justified HothBtein'a la
ment. By making the Russian expansion
polloy In tho Far East possible, the
Trans-Siberian Railroad brought on tho
Kuaso-Japanese War. Now the Russians
have founc", or think they have, that the
long serpentine line of steel rail which
connects their ancient capital, Aloscow,
with their most easterly territory, must
be double-tracked at an expenditure
which will drain the Russian treasury
for many years, unless the line proves
more remunerative with two tracks than
It ever did with one.
This is one of the greatest railroad en
terprises now In progress or In . contem
plation anywhere, but the yet unfinished
African Cape-to-Cairo railroad and the
gradually growing Pan-American system
are In the same class. Both the latter
projects are big enough to be almost awe
tnsplring, and, ultimately, despite their
great cost, both will Justify Rothstein's
further words about the "demon impulse"
to unite the world's Temotest regions.
"I can only suppose the general Impul
sion Is Intended." he said, "to promote
the general good of mankind."
The total ' length of the trans-Siberian
line Is nearly 400 miles; of the Cape-to-Cairo,
5500 miles, about 2000 of which have
been completed. leaving S500 still to be
laid. The trans-Siberian stretch of rails
is broken at Lake Baikal, because the
country through which the linfi runs Is
extremely bad railroad territory. But the
lake completes the line, steamers carry
ing the merchandise and passengers from
rail-end to rail-end. and making steam
the master of transportation across the
greatest continent.
The completed Cape-to-Cairo line will
have three water links. Lake Tanganyika,
Lake Albert Nyanza and a long stretph
of N'ile navigation, but by the time It Is
completed the ancient methods of trans
- portation will be almost as old-fashioned
in Africa as elsewhere, for, meanwhile,
so many miles of branches and other main
lines will be finished that the dark conti
nent will be fairly covered with a net
work of steel.
When completed the much-mooted
. Pan-American system -will be longer
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than either of the others. Its com
pletion does not rest with one com
pany, however, or a single government,
but with several companies and gov
ernments. It will take the form of a
gigantic T, the northwest branch of
which will touch Behring Strait, while
the. northeast branch will reach the
Atlantic Coast citie of Canada and the
United States, and the main stem will
extend to the Straits of Magellan- on
the fjouth. Leaving out the extreme
northwestern and southern portions,
the Pan-American system, on which
will be strung the capital and metro
politan cities of 15 or 16 new world
nations. Is as certain of completion as
the Ion? line from end' to end of Africa
or the second track of the Trans-Siberian.
From New York to the Straits of Ma
gellan the Pan-American line will be
10.400 miles long. With the exception
of about 3600 miles, provision already
has been made for all the links be
tween New York and Argentina. The
sections not provided for are: 1200
miles In Peru. 450 miles in Ecuador,
850 miles In Colombia and 1200 miles
In Panama and the Central American
states. But almost every link already
down has been laid to suit national
and local needs and with little refer
ence to the ultimate result.
The Mexican Central, now govern
ment owned, but built with money fur
nished by capitalists of this country,
was the first B'reat link constructed to
the souh of the United States. It
traverses practically Its entire length
from north to south, and undoubtedly
soon will be linked up with roads In
Central America planned to connect
with the Panama Canal. The south
ern connections of the main Mexican
line will be furnished by several com
paratively short lines, now mostly com
pleted, one of which is the. ocean-to-ocean
Tehuantepec Railroad, opened a
few months ago. Another now In oper
ation was built under the title of the
Pan-American Railway, which, save for
Its connections, is only a short local
line. An organization known as the
United States Syndicate, with a cap
ital of $500,000,000 its purpose being to
"build a railroad to connect North and
South America," was incorporated at
Phoenix, Ariz., a short time ago.
The present troubles between Mexico
and Guatemala may delay the progress
of the work temporarily, but possibly
their ultimate effect may hasten the
great project.
Pan-American Kallroad Progress.
James G. Blaine was an ardent sup
porter of the scheme when he was Sec
retary of State under Harrison, and so
was the President. A Pan-American
commission was appointed at that time,
with the late A. J. Cassatt at its head.
Corps of. engineers under this coramls-
THE SUNDAY OREGOXIAN, . PORTLAND,
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No Such Sums Ever Be
fore Laid Out atOne Time
in Colossal Enterprises
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sion made surveys through Central
America, along the Isthmus of Panama
and down the Andes to the northern
boundary of Argentina. Already sev
eral lines have been built over the
route thu laid out, and nearly every
South American north and south line
now in progress-will form a link ulti
mately In the Intercontinental system.
It will be the longest continuous rail
line in the ' world, since there will be
io breaks of water transportation. It
will have another distinction: It will
be the only one running through three
zones north temperate, south temper
ate and torrid. When the Canadian
and Alaskan lines, some of which are
In operation, and chief of which is the
Grand Trunk Pacific, now a-building
to Skagway, are connected up, the line
along the western edge of the three
Americas will extend across three
zones and Into the fourth, the north
frigid.
Permanently unique as this system
will be. it will be outdone in "some re
spects by the Cape-to-Cairo line, which
at the point of crossing the Zambesi
River spans the world's greatest cat
aract the famous Victoria Falls
twice as high as Niagara and with a
vast volume 61 water, on the loftiest,
though not the highest-placed, bridge
yet built.
The British Indian Government pro
poses a line to connect India with Bur.
mah which will be hundreds of miles
long, costing many millions, and an
other to connect Northern India with
China by way of Thibet, the esoteric
land of the Lama, whose mysteries
were uncovered only two or three years
ago by Colonel Younghusband at the
head of a file of British soldiers. This
line will penetrate the loftiest moun
tain region in the world.
The railroad dream of dreams will
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come true when the Cape-to-Calro system
Is connected by way of lines yet unlaid
across the Isthmus of Suez, through
Palestine and Syria, via Constantinople
and Moscow, with the Trans-Siberian,
and it by a line from Kamsk to East
Cape, under Behring Strait, via a 28.
mlle tunnel, and a line thence to Skag
way, with the Grand Trunk Pacific
link of the Pan-American roads.
Then, ay the dreamers, it will be
possible, by way of connecting lines, to
make a practically all-rail trip from
Cape of Good Hope to Cape Horn, more
than 36,000 miles. Then all the great
centers, excepting those of Great Brit
ain, Japan, Australasia and New Zea
land, may be visited by rail. When
the proposed 23-mile Channel tunnel
between France and England great
est bore ever Imagined, excepting the
one between Asia and North America
is drilled, London also will be in rati
connection with the world's other great
cities. .
There are scoffers a-plenty, but lit
tle by little the links are actually being
laid and connected. The Czar has Just
granted the necessary concession for
the Behring Strait tunnel line. Soma
day the world may awake to find that
facts are more wonderful than Im
agination. The most daring electrical' scheme
yet conceived should be mentioned be
fore the Cape-to-Cairo railroad system
has been left too far' behind. It is the
mammoth installation at Victoria Falls.
From 20.000 to 25,000 horsepower only
will be developed at first, but later It
is proposed to utilize much more
150,000 horsepower comparatively soon,
and ultimately 750,000, three-fourths as
much as the City of New York now
consumes. Furthermore, it is proposed
to transmit a portion of this power
to the mines of the Kand, 750 miles
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JULY 14, 1907.
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away, nearly four times as far as any
existing electrical transmission. To do
this economically with respect to the
copper in the transmission lines it will
be necessary to use a current of from
160.000 to 2O0..100 volts, which is tech
nically possible, butv never has been
done as yet. '
II Is only fair to say that the elec
tricians are wondering whether such
an enormous amount, of current can be
sold at a profit in undeveloped Africa,
yet the initial contracts are let.
It has been announced that it will
cost $20.000,000 to double track the
Trans-Siberian road, as much more to
complete the Cape-to-Cairo line, $63,
00.1.000 to build the proposed line to
Bacrdad and $ 1 o.l. 000,000 to complete the
Pan-American links in South and Cen
tral America. Add the sums to be spent
on the Grand Trunk Pacific and the
other new lines and extensions wnlch
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cannot be mentioned even, and it will
be seen that more than a billion dollars'
worth of railroad building Is under
way. ...... '
Place must be given here to Flagler's
Florida Keys extension of the Florida
Kast Coast line, from Miami to Key
West, over .the string of islands which
skirts tho coast,, entirely out of sight
of the mainland In some places, so
that the train passengers will have "as
niucn sea air as If afloat on the open
ocean. Although only 165 miles long
and to cost but $15,000,003 or $20,00J,
000, this railroad Is one of the world's
wonders already, though not yet com
pleted. The plan to ferry railroad trains from
Key West to .Havana Is the mos dar
ing scheme of its class yet projected,
although there are some long railroad
ferries on our own Great Lakes as well
as between England and Holland and
Denmark and Germany on the other
side of the Atlantic.
The most talked of transportation
improvement now going on Is the Pan
nma Canal, of course, with its 30,000
laborers and its $140,000,000 of planned
expenditure. The most expensive water
transportation scheme actually under
way is the $131. 000,000 barge canal
across New York state from Albany
to Buffalo. Meanwhile the Canadians
are planning, but have not yet begun,
a canal both deeper and wider than the
barge canal to connect Lake Huron and
the St. Lawrence, at a cost of $123,000,
000. It is predicted that eventually this
Canadian lake-to-tidewater canal will
securo most of the European bound
cargoes xif wheat, to the disadvantage
of New York's ditch for barges, but,
even so. the latter should have much
the better local trade, because it passes
through much more thickly populated
territory.
After the lapse of. a hundred years or
f -Aft V-IT '
thereabouts since its original Inception,
the announcement was made not many
months ago that a ship canal is about to
be cut between Buzzard's Bay and Mas
sachusetts Bay across the shank of Cape
Cod. Rrcatly to shorten the water dis
tance between New York and Boston and
no doubt decrease the loss of life and
verels by shipwreck. The cost of this
fv.ui 4a t" te ahrt,,t $ufliio fliirt It wa"
first projected in Colonial days, when a
start was made at dlegtng it.
The nations of Kurope are spending
millions in cash and employing tens of
thousands of men in Improving and ex
tending national and international lines
of waterways. Germany purposes connect
ing tnc upper reaches of the Vistula, the
Oder, the Kibe and other rivers with the
Rhine, bv which Berlin will be placed In
closer water communication with hun
dreds of thousands of square miles and
by which internal commerce, largely trlb-
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utary to
vBstlv
This great work Is under way in com
paratively short sections, but the widen
ing anu deepening of the North German
or Kiel Canal, at an estimated cost of
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$35,or.0O0, has not been begun as yet. 1
thtugh the work Is inevitable, to the dls
may of German taxpayers. Unless it is
donr. this waterway, which has cost so
much already and was dug to make lis.
possible, for German warships to navigato
the Baltic without going around Jutland,
a voyage of some hundreds of miles, will
not float Germany's new naval vessels.
pl:ir,ne to equal Great Britain's fighting
ships of the Dreadnaught type. Tneie ar
Germans wno almost suspect tnat Great
Britain's main object In Increasing the
size of her warships was merely to force
Germany Into snending millions on Im
proving her great naval canal.
Austria-Hungarv. France and Italy arrt
Increasing their Inland waterways as fast
as they can. but Spain and Russln, Swe
den and Norwav and the Balkan Statea
are doing little in that line. i
There Is much talk about Improving tha
navigable quality of the Mississippi, a
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stupendous expense, while the canaliza
Hon of the Ohio is actually being accom
plished without much fuss or great an
nual expenditure, and the project 'to con-
(Concluded on Page 6.