22 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



ters to the National Library, which in turn is largely made up of spoils 

 gathered from the libraries of the religious " orders " and houses. The 

 national Government, however, does not appear to have derived any 

 great fiscal advantage from the confiscation of the Church property, 

 or to have availed itself of the resources which thus came to it for 

 effecting any marked reduction of the national debt. Good Catholics 

 would not buy " God's property " and take titles from the state ; and 

 so large tracts of land, and blocks of city buildings, passed, at a very 

 low figure, into the possession of those who were indifferent to the 

 Church, and had command of ready money ; and in this way individ- 

 uals, rather than the state and the great body of the people, have been 

 benefited. 



Having thus briefly glanced at the physical condition and political 

 and social experiences of Mexico, we are now prepared to discuss the 

 economic condition of the country, its prospect for industrial develop- 

 ment, and its possible commercial importance and future trade rela- 

 tions with the United States. 



Population. The element of first importance, and therefore the 

 one entitled to first consideration in endeavoring to forecast the future 

 of Mexico, is undoubtedly its population; the object alike for improve- 

 ment, and the primary instrumentality by which any great improve- 

 ment in the condition of the country can be effected. Whatever may 

 be its aggregate ten or twelve millions it is generally agreed that 

 about one third of the whole number are pure Indians, the descend- 

 ants of the proprietors of the soil at the time of its conquest by the 

 Spaniards ; a people yet living in a great degree by themselves, though 

 freely mingling in the streets and public places with the other races, 

 and speaking, it is said, about one hundred and twenty different lan- 

 guages or dialects. Next, one half of the whole population are of 

 mixed blood the mestizos of whose origin nothing, in general, can 

 be positively affirmed, further than that their maternal ancestors were 

 Indian women, and their fathers descendants of the Caucasian stock. 

 They constitute the dominant race of the Mexico of to-day the ranche- 

 ros, farmers, muleteers, servants, and soldiers the only native founda- 

 tion on which it would seem that any improved structure of humanity 

 can be reared. Where the infusion of white blood has been large, the 

 mestizos are often represented by men of fine ability, who take natu- 

 rally to the profession of arms and the law, and distinguish themselves. 

 But, on the other hand, no small proportion of this race the so-called 

 "leperos" are acknowledged by the Mexicans themselves to be 

 among the lowest and vilest specimens of humanity in existence ; a 

 class exhibiting every vice, with hardly the possession of a single vir- 

 tue. The remaining sixth of the population of Mexico are Europeans 

 by birth or their immediate descendants, the Spanish element predomi- 

 nating. The national language also is Spanish a language not well 



