One of the objects of the Rio conference last summer was to promote and further the interest of all American countries in the building of this road, and I am glad to believe that the action taken by that conference has had that effect. The line now running to the south is almost through Mexico--has almost reached the Guatemala line; and lines are being built in Guatemala to connect with that; and within the life of men now sitting in this room it will be possible for passengers and merchandise to travel by rail practically the entire length of both the North and South American continents. The other method of communication is by steamships. We are lamentably deficient in that. A great many fine, swift, commodious lines of steamships run between the South American ports and Europe and very few and comparatively poor ships run between those ports and the ports of the United States. No American line runs south of the Caribbean Sea. Our mails are slow and uncertain. It is a matter of hardship for a passenger to go directly between the great South American ports and the great North American ports, while the mails run swiftly and certainly to and from Europe, and it is a pleasure for a passenger to go between one of those ports and the European ports. The Postmaster-General reports that the best way for him to get the despatches from my Department to our ministers in South America with certainty and swiftness is to send them to Europe and have them sent from there to South America. That condition of things ought not to continue if we can prevent it. One great reason why it exists is, that American shipping is driven off the seas by two great obstacles interposed in its way by legislation. One is the legislation of foreign countries which has subsidized foreign shipping; the other is the legislation of our own country which by the protective tariff has raised the standard of living of all Americans--a most beneficent result--has raised the standard of living of all Americans so that American ships paying and feeding their officers and men according to the American standard cannot compete on even terms with foreign ships, the cost of whose officers and men is under the foreign standard.