Railway integration was the centerpiece of French West African federation

Evidence

Roume’s primary goal, however, was to use the Government General’s resources to develop the necessary modern communications network. At the first meeting of the council in December I902, Roume announced a long-term public works program for the federation, and reported that the minister had already authorized him to draw up a bill for Parliament requesting permission to float a sixtyfive-million-franc loan to finance the project. The essence of this project was, first, to dramatically extend, then link into one overarching system, the few railroads that were already under construction in the different colonies. — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 155

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s earlier notes on infrastructure as coercion - rail as the physical skeleton of forced federation.