THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



APRIL, 1886. 



AN ECOJs'OMIC STUDY OF MEXICO. 



Br DAVID A. WELLS. 



L 



IT is proposed to here ask attention to the results of a recent inves- 

 tigation and study of Mexico, with the intent of exhibiting its 

 economic relations to the United States, and of helping to deter- 

 mine the desirability of the ratification on the part of the latter of 

 a Mexico-American commercial treaty. The basis for this investi- 

 gation and for such opinions as may be expressed has been : First, 

 a somewhat extended exploration of Mexico, undertaken during 

 the early months of the past year (1885), primarily with a view to 

 health and recreation ; and, secondly, a subsequent careful study 

 (prompted by interest in what had been personally seen or heard) of 

 the physical situation and history of the country, and its present po- 

 litical, industrial, and social condition. The journey, it may be fur- 

 ther premised, was mainly made upon a special train, over the whole 

 length of the Mexican Central Railroad, over most of the Yera Cruz 

 and City of Mexico and over a part of the Mexican iSTational Rail- 

 roads ; the aggregate distance traversed within the territory of the 

 republic being in excess of three thousand miles, the train running 

 upon its own time, with its own equipment for eating and sleeping, and 

 stopping long enough at every point of interest — city, town, hacienda, 

 mine, or desert — to admit of its full and satisfactory exploration. It 

 is safe, therefore, to say that such an opportunity for leisurely visiting 

 and studying so much of Mexico had rarely, if ever, before beea 

 granted.* 



* The excursion in question was made under the auspices of the Tvaymond Excursion 

 Company, and was the first of its kind projected and carried out by it 



VOL. XXTIII. — i6 



