ECONOMIC EXPANSION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 84, 3 January 1919, Page 6

ECONOMIC EXPANSION

PROBLEMS OF TRANSPORTATION

A NEW PROSPECTIVE With peace an accomplished fact, the I world is face to face with its problems' and with those involved in the readjustments of finance and business irom a war to a peace basis. What will be the major trend of economic developments.' Pre-war preparations for industrial expansion were the logical outgrowth of conditions in the lending industrial nations. Tho United States, Japan, and Germany exemplified perhaps most completely the industrial development which characterised the latter years of tho nineteenth century; and becauso of their relative industrial progress these countries, naturally, wero looking increasingly.,for opportunities to expand, either through colonisation or the enlargement of foroign trade "and investments. And as a further consequence, toward the end of this period, it became necessary also for the surplus capital of other "countries, which had contributed to this industrial growth, to seok opportunities in new areas... Thi& combination of events is a repetition of a familiar experience. Once intensive industrial'development is under way -it often' carries a nation past the point of best distribution of productive factors, with a consequent disturbance of the equilibrium of industrial forces. Not until the point of best adjustment is past are the industrial leaders brought to a realisation of the need for readjustment. But always the remedy for relatively over-intensive 1 development lies, not in contraction, but in expansion. Additional supplies of raw materials must be obtained and new markets for finished goods developed. For such expansion, means of transportation, of course, arc indispensable, hecause any degree of territorial division of labour, and effective occupational division as well, are conditioned upon transportation for this reason, outstanding progress in material civilisation has 'been associated hitherto with one. or another of the conspicuous discoveries in the field of transportation, or else with the utilisation of the existing agencies in new fields. Because of the unusual pressure in recent years for outlets for surplus capital, many plans were, formulated for the development of transportation in various parts of the world. Among the undertakings of special significance' in this connection, first place should bo .given to the Panama Canal—opened in the first month of the war—because it, more than any other single undertaking in recent years, is destined "to affect the trade and industry of the 'entire world. Ciosely associated with this enterprise is the construction of the Alaskan railway, no\v being completed and making available an important supply of' coal on the Pacific Const. The Canadian railway building programme included tho completion of the second and third transcontinental lines whose western extensions were to open up considerable virgin territory in the Canadian West and North-west. .Australia, with an area equal to that of the continental United States, and with practically all its' population of less than 5,000,000 concentrated along the coast, proposed the construction of two intersecting "transcontinental railroads. In/Africa, the rail sections of the Cape-to-Cairo rail-water j-oute were under' construction, as were railroads reaching from the east and the west-coasts into the heart of the continent. Among the many projected roads .was a northern transcontinental between Algiers and Cairo through the one-time granary : of the Roman world. Railroads traversing Persia and Afghanistan were planned which Would give direct rail communication between Europe and-India, and thi> ' Bagdad road was to he extended towards tho Persian Gulf. Chrna, after having, remained in an isolated position without adequate means of communication between the extended parts of the country, was adopting the modern means of land communication.' A beginning was made in the construction of a number of relatively short lines and a network of trunk lines was planned, of which the more important were, those to connect Chengtu, the capital of the largest and possibly tho richest of the interior Chinese provinces, with the coast; a road across Mongolia to the Trans-Siberian, and another westward through the heart of China eventually to connect with the railroads in Russian Turkestan. The construction of the Trans-Siberian line, although plainly for political-purposes, had opened the way for the, development of the resources of that region. In 1913 the Russian Minister of the Interior formulated n programme for the building of 50,000 miles in the following decade, which' was unique in its' scope and coordination of its various projects. The proposed lines in . Siberia included the completion of the Amur R-iveav link of tho- Trans-Siberian, a,'.trunk line across Southern and Western Siberia paralleling the Trans-Siberian, and . ; numerous feeders for each of these trunk lines. ' Brazil ha 6 one of the largest undeveloped areas of any of the countries of the world kike' , Australian Commonwealth, practically the whole of its scant population is concentrated near tho shores, and for the most part railroad construction'has beon intended to serve these isolated com. munities. Only ..in recent years have any efforts been mado to connect these various settlements by rail lines. Extensive railroad construction schemes were under way in Brazil which pointed not only to the linking up of these isolated sett ements but to the development of the great interior of the country and to fur* thering the diversification, of., industries 'so characteristic, of Brazil in recent yews. The Bolivian Government was planning the extension of the- Bolivian railways to. the north-east and tliß enst of the- Andes to open up the great expanse of territory in that region. Some of these lines were, to lie-connected , with the projected lines- of Argentina to the south and with proposed trans-continen-tal lines reaching from the eastern coast ?of Brazil to Bolivia. In fact, a number of railroad projects under way pointed to the opening up of tho great interior of the whole South American continent. Railroad Building Durinfl the War. Actual construction of railroads lias been suspended in some cases, and in others retarded, but in not a few instances it has been hastened by the war. Doubtless Brazil has experienced a more nearly complete suspension of railroad building than any of the other countries mentioned, but preparation is qeing made for prompt resumption of construction with the return of moTe normal conditions. The Chinese building programme, also has been affected unfavourably bv tjio war. Nevertheless, important additions have beon made, aggregating approximately 800 miles (luring the. war. Of the lines comnle'ted in 1917 two are of esnecial significance. One of these, a 140-mile section of tho Canton-Hankow line, is a link in the ronto which will soon unite South China and Peking. The other is a 09-mile feeder of the TransSiberian Railway in Manchuria. Early last year a line was extended from South Manchuria into Mongolia,- the first railroad to penetrate. this territory, financial arraneements have recently been made for the earlv construction of a line across Southern Manchuria and for another connecting the Peking-Hnnkow and Tientsin-Pukow lines. Construction in Siberia has proceeded rapidly. The completion in 1915 of the Amur River division ' of the Trans-Siberian in the East, together with the extension in 1913 of the Elcaterinburg-Tiumen: lino to Omsk in the West, has given virtually a double track from' European Russia to Vladivostok. Several of the new lines .projected in 1913 are now in operation. Of these, the most extensive is the Altai Railway, 510 miles in length and connecting the Trans-Siberian with tho rich agricultural section to the south of its intersection with the Ob River. Farther west the Kuluudini Railway, extending 200 miles south from the Siberian trunk line, was completed in 1916. Another feeder for the trunk line, connecting it with the coal and iron fields in tho upper Tom River Valley, is in opcrofion, I+7 miles having been completed. Five short Hues counect'iig the TransSiberian witii tho Amur River have also been constructed. The notable, achievement in Africa has been the continuation of the southern rail link in the Cape-to-Cairo route. Within recent weeks this line was completed to Bukaiua on the. navigable Congo, 2600 miles from Capetown. A projected 550-mile road between . the; Congo and Lake Albert would complete

tho trans-continental route. The rail' way in German East Africa.was extended to I.olre Tanganyika, on the' eve of tho war, and there is now. with tho road'a western connections, a rail-water lina ncross the contre of the continent. The railroad fro«i Lobito Bay has been extended Cflstward-fo'-Katanga, a p'ch mineral region of the Belgian Congo, and, with the rood already .reaching the Indian Ocean at Boirii; gives a second cask and west trans-continental, line. A permanent (standard gnugo Milroad was laid hy the British Expeditionary Forces from Egypt .into Palestine. .Military considerations have prevented publicity concerning other construction in the Near East, but there are evidences .that-coil-, siderable mileage has been built. Despite' the magnitude of the Australian contriw bution- to the Allied military and naval forces, the cast and west trans-continental railway, begun in 1912, was completed' in 1917.. in all, mora .than 3500 miles , of track' have been built in the Commonwealth in tho years 1915-17. One-third of the mileage necessary to complete tW north and south trans-continental is now in operation. In Canada tho worlc of providing two trans-continental railroads has been com-, pletcdj feeders arc being added, and a line from La Pas'to Hudson Bay is under construction. From 1912 ( to '1916 more than 10,000 miles of track were put in operation, nearly 7000 of which wero added in the first two years of the war. Post-War Outlook. The total of new railway mileage constructed during the war is doubtless less than would have been, built had £eace continued. Moreover, the need, for'new transportation lines will be more urgent now than before the war. Demand for foodstuffs and raiV materials of manufacture jvill givo extraordinary stimulus to the settlement and exploitation of the frontier regions. Meanwhile the steel producing capacity of the world lias been increased, and this, together with the new shipbuilding facilities, -will make possible both the speedy prosecution of the railway building programme and tha provision of merchant snips. The increased productive equipment and improvements in industrial processes : incident to the war will .tend to lighten the task of readjusting industry to a peace basis. . • The mingling on the. battlefields of men from distant lands is making for mutual understanding, and the hard conditions of life to which the soldiers ■ arc exposed in the.trenches are fitting many thousands of them for the peculiar tasks of pioneering. One effect of the war will lie a tendency, to break down the racial barriers'that have impeded tha movement of/people between countries, and also, in some instances, the economic barriers. -It is fortunate that in recent years the achievements of sanitary engineering in the Panama, Canal zone, Havana, British Guiana, and elsewhere have proved that practically the of the tropical countries can be made, healthful for the white race. . And be- ■ sides, both in South America and in Africa," altitude largely neutralises, latitude, giving climatic conditions comparable .to those in the Temperate Zone. The development pf the tion engine and its application to agri« cultural machinery also will undoubttuiy facilitate the development of these re- , gions. It would appear, then, chat economic forces of world-wide scope were laying the bases at the outbreak of the -war for industrial expansion and that in a general way the main arteries of communication have been constructed, or are in wonpsslof construction, to own, up the world's undeveloped' areas. During the further extension of these arteries it is not expected that a larse immediate ex J pansion of the world's business will result. It takes some ■ time after -transportation lilies are laid before regions nro developed to such an extent as to be felt, appreciably itv the world's business. ' But the war has increased the industrial capacity of the belligerent nations and quickened the.. spirit, of adventure in liian, as well as his resourcefulness and inventiveness. In other words, it has created conditions which will induce men to get out into new'regions:' Therefore, we may expect « rather earlier development of the ■hinterlands of the world than would normally have come.