Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 January 1886 — Railroads in South America. [ARTICLE]

Railroads in South America.

The Argentine Republic in common with all the South American countries, is fully aroused to the importance of railroads, as agencies of development and progress. Several years ago the Government of the Republic adopted a policy of internal improvements, under which it commenced at Government expense, the construction of a number of great railroads. The cost was found to be too heavy for the current revenue, and by a system of Treasury no’es it was cast upon the public credit, which, very soon, it threatened with impairment. This suggested a change of policy, which has been effected, and a powerful English syndicate, at the suggestion of the Argentine Government, has assumed, by contract, the burden of the enterprise. Three main lines of road are to be forthwith constructed. They all start at Buenos Ayres, the capital, and run inland—one northward to Bolivia, one westward to the Pacific coast, beyond the Andes, and one southward to Chili. In addition, the system is tc> include several internal connecting lines of great importance. The whole system is to be completed and fully equipped within five years, and is to cost $59,000000.

The completion of these roads, with the improvement of the harbor of Buenos Ayrps, which is in simultaneous progress, will more than double the commerce of the Argentine Republic. The rich metal deposits and the vast stockd’anges of Bolivia, the splendid coal mines of Southern Chili, and the abundant agricultural wealth of the whole interior, are all now locked in for lack of transportation, will contribute alike to the exports and the wealth of the country.