Bolivia— A Country Without a Debt 



583 



of less than thirty miles the traveler will 

 be transported, as if by magic, from a 

 temperature of perhaps 40° or less to 

 one of 70° or more, as he descends 

 through wonderful scenery to the other 

 side of the great eastern chain of the 

 Andes. 



But these railroads are not the only 

 ones called to transform in some years 

 the economic life of Bolivia and give to 

 her rank and importance to which her 

 size and position entitle her. By a treaty 

 of peace recently celebrated with Chile, 

 that republic agrees to build, and work 

 has already commenced, a railroad from 

 Arica to La Paz, a distance of some 309 

 miles. That line will unite Bolivia with 

 the Pacific by a road much more direct 

 than that at present afforded by the 

 Antofagasta line, which is 575 miles long, 

 or that from Mollendo to La Paz via 

 Lake Titicaca, a distance of 533 miles. 

 The Arica road will bring the city of La 

 Paz within 8 or 10 hours' time of the 

 coast. 



The Bolivian Congress authorized 

 more than a year ago the building of a 

 railway from the borders of the Paraguay 

 River to Santa Cruz, one of the most 

 mediterranean cities, but destined to be- 

 come one of great importance. The pro- 

 jectors have deposited the sum of 100,000 

 pesos as a guarantee for the execution of 

 the contract, and the construction ma- 

 terials have begun to be transported by 

 way of the Plata and Paraguay Rivers. 

 The length of this line will be 497 miles. 

 This route will offer free communication 

 to the rich oriental zone by way of the 

 Plata and the Paraguay, and open to im- 

 migration and progress a territory of 

 more than 242,000 square miles, watered 

 by large rivers and of remarkable fertil- 

 ity. There are on foot other projects of 

 railway construction of no less impor- 

 tance. 



Progress is like oil, which spreads itself 

 wherever it touches. Some years more 

 of work and effort in preparing trans- 

 portation facilities, and by the beneficial 

 influence of steam, electricity, and immi- 



gration, the future greatness of Bolivia 

 is assured. 



THE GLORIOUS FUTURE OF SOUTH 

 AMERICA 



Before concluding this already too long 

 address, permit me to call your attention 

 to the fact that what is being done in 

 Bolivia is also in progress in the majority 

 of the South American republics. Argen- 

 tina, for instance, by receiving an increas- 

 ing current of immigration, is rapidly de- 

 veloping her wonderful resources. If 

 some of them have not yet succeeded in 

 getting over the fatal disease of internal 

 turmoil, it will not be long before they 

 enter the road of order, and Mr Root's 

 prophecy that the twentieth century will 

 be South America's century will be ful- 

 filled. 



Slowly but surely the onward march of 

 progress brings closer and closer the 

 South American republics, guided by the 

 eternal force of liberty and the broadest 

 sentiments of universal fellowship, com- 

 mon origin, and interests. I venture the 

 hope that in no distant future a confed- 

 eration of Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argen- 

 tina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, as the 

 United States of South America, will be 

 established, and that Ecuador, Venezuela, 

 and Colombia, reunited, and Brazil will 

 form a trinity of nations that, with their 

 sisters of the North, will be the beacon 

 light of the world, shining with the un- 

 dimmed brightness of human rights, 

 peace, and happiness. 



Asia is already populated with many 

 hundreds of millions of people whose 

 races, civilization, and traditions will 

 never, perhaps, assimilate with those of 

 Europe; Africa has been carved among 

 the powers of Europe ; this New World, 

 then, remains, where the political tradi- 

 tions of the Old World are broken and 

 democracy will be supreme. 



Never was there proclaimed a more 

 vital, lasting, or grander principle than 

 the Monroe Doctrine, which, in its purest 

 interpretation, is the consecration of all 

 America to republican life ; that is to say. 



