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The National Geographic Magazine 



productive resources must be considered 

 in relation to the world's cotton crop, 

 wool clip, cereal products, coffee crop, 

 sheep and cattle, and rubber. Thus the 

 Amazon forests, the Brazil coffee planta- 

 tions, the Argentine wheatfields and 

 grazing ranges, and the Chilean nitrate 

 beds are all to be considered, as well as 

 the mines of Bolivia and Peru. 



Some epoch-making economic events 

 will mark the coming half century. There 

 will be an overflow of capital from the 

 United States, and this will be an enor- 

 mous factor in securing the development 

 of the various countries. Up to this time 

 our capital has been so fully employed at 

 home that it could not be induced to ven- 

 ture abroad. Now a new condition, fully 

 recognized in the circles of high finance, 

 though not appreciated by the people at 

 large, is arising, and this new condition 

 is marked by the investment of large 

 sums of money in railway and similar 

 construction enterprises as well as in 

 mines. These investments are tentative 

 and preliminary, but they recognize the 

 growing necessity of finding an outlet 

 for redundant funds in the South Ameri- 

 can field. 



There is also, of course, the Panama 

 Canal, which has incalculable possibili- 

 ties for the west-coast countries without 

 in any way impairing the growth of the 

 Atlantic regions. 



North Americans are more familiar 

 with the Atlantic coast, and for various 

 reasons those countries already have 

 shown the most marked progress ; but the 

 general line of development during the 

 next fifty years may be described as inter- 

 South American and not restricted to any 

 one region. 



THE BUILDING OF RAILWAYS 



It was just about half a century ago 

 that the South American countries began 

 to build their first railways. The Argen- 

 tine Republic in 1907 will hold a railway 

 exposition at Buenos Aires to com- 

 memorate its first railroad, which was a 

 short and unimportant one. Brazil 

 started its lines somewhat later, while on 



the Pacific coast there were various 

 schemes for piercing the Andes. One of 

 the first railroads constructed in South 

 America was in southern Peru, from 

 Arica to Tacna, and the prediction was 

 that it soon would cross the volcanic 

 coast Cordilleras and reach the great 

 central plain of Bolivia. Another line 

 was from Valparaiso and Santiago right 

 to the mountain wall of the Cordillera, 

 and this was expected to bore its way 

 through and reach the pampas of Argen- 

 tina. But half a century passed and the 

 Andes wall was still unconquered and 

 the skeptics renewed their doubts whether 

 it ever would be pierced. 



On the Atlantic slope the engineering 

 difficulties were not so great and both 

 Brazil and Argentina from year to year 

 spread out their systems of railways ; yet, 

 considering the resources of the regions 

 to be developed, these extensions were 

 not up to expectation, and the prophets 

 of doubt again raised their distressed 

 voices. Prophets of this class, however, 

 lacked the sense of proportion and failed 

 to note the really remarkable development 

 that had taken place. Few of them yet 

 have an idea of the enormous foreign 

 commerce that has been developed by the 

 Atlantic coast countries, which now 

 reaches approximately $800,000,000 an- 

 nually and soon will be $1,000,000,000. 



THE DEVELOPMENT E BRAZIL 



It may be that fifty years hence north- 

 ern Brazil — that is, the torrid region of 

 the Amazon — will not have a notably 

 greater population or a greater commerce 

 than now exists, for much of that vast 

 basin is not a white man's country and is 

 not susceptible of permanent settlement 

 by the Caucasian races. It is fifty years 

 since Alfred Russell Wallace wrote his 

 fascinating description of life on the 

 Amazon, and in another fifty years the 

 civilization may not be markedly differ- 

 ent. It is even possible that in another 

 half century the increasing appetite for 

 crude rubber will have caused the gum 

 forests to be depleted almost completely; 

 yet the measures adopted by the Brazilian 



