AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF MEXICO. 155 



furthermore, through a direct permission of the Minister of Foreign 

 Affairs that a foreigner in Mexico is accorded any standing in a court 

 of justice. By the Constitution of Mexico, a foreigner who purchases 

 any real estate in that country, without declaring that he retains his 

 nationality, becomes a citizen of Mexico ; and it is difficult to see how 

 under such conditions he could properly invoke any protection from 

 the country of his prior citizenship, in case he considered his rights 

 in Mexico to be invaded. Again, the laws regulating mining property 

 in Mexico are very peculiar. No one in Mexico, be he native or for- 

 eigner, can own a mine absolutely, or in fee, no matter what he may 

 pay for it. He may hold it indefinitely, so long as he works it ; but 

 under an old Spanish law, promulgated as far back as 1783, and still 

 recognized, if he fails " to work it for four consecutive months, with 

 four operatives, regularly employed, and occupied in some interior or 

 exterior work of real utility and advantage," the title is forfeited and 

 reverts to the state ; and the mine may be " denounced," and shall 

 belong, under the same conditions, " to the denouncer who proves its 

 desertion." The denouncer, to keep the property, must, however, at 

 once take possession and begin the prescribed work within a period 

 of sixty days. This practice has one great advantage over the Ameri- 

 can mining system ; and that is, that litigation about original titles, 

 and conflicting claims to mining property are almost unknown in 

 Mexico. 



On the plateau of Mexico, where nine tenths of its present popula- 

 tion live, there is undoubtedly much good land ; but the great draw- 

 back to this whole region is its lack of water. During the rainy 

 season, which commences in June and lasts about four months, there 

 is a plentiful rainfall for Central and Southern Mexico ; but in North- 

 ern Mexico the rainfall, for successive years, is not unfrequently so de- 

 ficient as to occasion large losses, both in respect to stock and to crops. 

 For the remainder of the year, or for some eight months, little or no 

 rain falls, and the climatic characteristic is one of extreme dryness. 

 During the most of the year, therefore, the whole table-land of Mexico 

 is mainly dependent for its water-supply upon a comparatively few 

 springs and storage-reservoirs ; and agriculture can not be generally 

 carried on without resorting to some form of irrigation. One rejoin- 

 der to what may be an unfavorable inference from these statements 

 has been the counter-assertion that " in the immediate neighborhood 

 of the large cities enough grain is raised by irrigation to keep con- 

 stantly more than a year's extra supply ahead to provide against a 

 possible failure of crops " ; and, further, that the storage capacity of 

 the existing reservoirs of Mexico might easily be increased, and thus 

 greatly extend the area of land capable of cultivation. But, admit- 

 ting this, how great must be the obstacles in the way of developing 

 any country where there is a liability to an almost entire failure of the 

 crops from drought ; and where the small agricultural proprietor, 



