South America Fifty Years Hence 



429 



government for preserving this industry 

 and for encouraging new cultivation are 

 taken especially with a view to fifty years 

 and a century hence. So it is more prob- 

 able that Para, at the mouth of the 

 Amazon ; Manaos, the fluvial capital ; and 

 Iquitos, the Peruvian rubber metropolis, 

 to which Commander Todd, of the United 

 States Navy, took the Wilmington a few 

 years ago, will show a growth propor- 

 tionate to that of the last half century. In 

 the case of Iquitos the half century can- 

 not be taken as the measure mark of 

 growth, since its existence only dates 

 back a quarter of a century. 



With Brazil the greatest development 

 is more likely to be in the semi-tropical 

 and the temperate regions in the south- 

 ern part of its extensive territory. No 

 reason exists for imagining that in half a 

 century the country's position as the chief 

 source of coffee production will be al- 

 tered, and there is cause to believe that 

 vast cotton plantations also will exist ; 

 but the more rapid growth will be in the 

 states of southern Brazil where the cere- 

 als are raised. Brazil is so vast and, ex- 

 cept on the fringe of coast, is so unde- 

 veloped that it is difficult to guess at this 

 period how far the development will ad- 

 vance inland. It may not progress very 

 far in fifty years, and yet, with the very 

 large area which is contiguous to the 

 coast, even a relatively slight growth 

 would add very materially to the produc- 

 tive resources and the commercial oppor- 

 tunities of the country. 



There is almost a certainty that a phase 

 of development which follows the line of 

 least resistance will be realized within the 

 next fifty years by the construction of a 

 railway trunk from Pernambuco to the 

 border of Uruguay. This is the grand 

 conception known as the Interoceanic 

 Railway, whose ultimate purpose is to 

 place Pernambuco in through railway 

 communication with Valparaiso on' the 

 Pacific, traversing a total distance of ap- 

 proximately 4,000 miles. The sections 

 through other countries may be over- 

 looked temporarily and this proposed 

 trunk line be considered with reference 



to Brazil alone. It would run from Per- 

 nambuco along the course of the San 

 Francisco River, forming a northeast and 

 southwest artery, giving several Brazil- 

 ian states needed railway communication 

 by branches and by crossing the systems 

 of the states of Bahia, Minas Geraes, San 

 Paolo, Parana, and Rio Grande do Sul. 

 The distance from Pernambuco to the 

 border of Uruguay is 2,800 miles and the 

 technical conditions for railway construc- 

 tion are not difficult. The Brazilian gov- 

 ernment gave the project its indorsement 

 fifteen years ago, and some preliminary 

 studies and surveys of the route have 

 been made. It may lie dormant for a 

 quarter of a century or more, or it may 

 be taken up within the next ten years, but 

 it is certain to come within the next half 

 century and to add enormously to 

 Brazil's development, both in population 

 and in production and commerce. 



THE GRANARY OF SOUTH AMERICA 



The Argentine Republic is best known 

 of all the South American countries be- 

 cause it produces cereals and beef, mut- 

 ton, wool, and hides in competition with 

 the United States, Canada, and European 

 countries ; yet it is difficult to keep pace 

 with the enormous growth of Argentine 

 agriculture during the last few years, just 

 as very many persons are still unable to 

 grasp the fact that instead of being a 

 little country somewhere down in South 

 America it is 28 times the size of Ohio, 

 and that while in the northern regions it 

 produces sugar and other tropical pro- 

 ducts, yet as a whole it is to be viewed as 

 another Mississippi Valley. The Argen- 

 tine Minister of Agriculture estimates the 

 wheat crop for the current year at 3,- 

 882,000 tons, the area under cultivation 

 being 14,028,000 acres. The foreign 

 commerce this year will exceed $550,- 

 000,000. 



The population of the country is not in 

 excess of 5,250,000. Argentina easily 

 has room for 50,000,000 inhabitants. I 

 don't pretend to say that it will have 

 50,000,000 or anything like that number 

 fifty years hence ; yet there must be an 



