The Times of Tuesday gives an interesting account of what
has been done to realise Mr. Blaine's dream of an inter- continental railway,—a railway intended to string the Re- publics of Northern, Central, and South America on a line of rails. It appears that, as a result of the discussions at the Pan-American Conference, an Inter-Continental Railway Commission actually met at Washington last December, and reported, in April of the present year, in favour of the scheme. It is very doubtful, however, whether it will be carried out within the lifetime of even the youngest of us. At first sight, it might seem as if the railway extension which, in spite of revolutions and financial crises, is constantly taking place in South America, would ultimately well nigh accomplish the task, and that all that would be necessary would be a few connecting-links. As a matter of fact, however, the railway would have to be almost entirely composed of such links. Owing to the political and geographical configuration of the great peninsula which we call South America, the railways tend to ran inland from the seaports, and not down the heart of the continent. Hence, many of the lines already laid would be of no use whatever. Again, the great rib of the Andes produces- engineering difficulties only to be got rid of by a vast expenditure. The idea is a big one, but far less likely to be carried out than that for a railway connecting the Siberian and Canadian systems. That railway would not run from Pole to Pole, like Mr. Blaine's, but in the track of trade —always East and West—and so would be far more likely to pay its way.
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