544 



MEXICO. 



grown in any country. Mexico, it is true, is export- 

 ing very little coffee, and scarcely figures in the cof- 

 fee-producing countries, but its capacity and adapta- 

 bility for its production have been tested by more 

 than fifty years of successful cultivation. 



The culture of the sugar-cane is largely car- 

 ried on in the States of Vera Cruz, Jalisco, 

 Morelos, Yucatan, and Puebla, and in general 

 under favorable circumstances, the processes 

 and implements in use being in most cases iden- 

 tical with those of the best-conducted Cuban 

 plantations. In some of these last the annual 

 yield amounts to 2,500,000 pounds of sugar, 

 and some 1,500,000 pounds of molasses. Until 

 1875 the whole of the sugar manufactured in 

 the republic was required for home consump- 

 tion. Some very good samples were exhibited 

 at Philadelphia. 



The great staple of Yucatan, heneguen, is a 

 species of Agave, the strong, white, lustrous 

 fibres of which are said to be superior to any 

 other material for ropes and cordage of every 

 species, and especially for ships' cables, owing to 

 their slowness to yield to the effects of moisture. 



The following extract from a report recent- 

 ly published in M6rida, the capital of Yucatan, 

 and from an official report of 1876, will serve 

 to give an idea of the importance of the hene- 

 quen industry : 



During the year from July, 1875, to June, 1876, 

 Yucatan produced 22,000,000 pounds of henequen 

 fibre, the larger part of which (say 18,000,000 pounds) 

 was exported in the shape of hemp to New York, 

 London, and New Orleans, and the rest was sent 

 manufactured to Cuba and the Mexican ports. 



Taking IV pound of fibre as the average yearly 

 production of each henequen plant, there would be 

 at the present time more than 18jOOO,000 plants under 

 cultivation keeping in operation over 420 scrap- 

 ing-wheels, moved by 229 steam-engines with a 

 total of 1,733 horse-power, and 30 wheels moved by 

 animal power. 



Each scraping-wheel cleans daily, on an average, 

 800 pounds of fibre ; so the 450 wheels now estab- 

 lished work but 163 days in the year. 



Taking 280 as the number of working-days in the 

 year, these 450 wheels could clean 38,000,000 pounds 

 of fibre ; and, as a two-horse power can easily move 

 one scraping-wheel, it is obvious that there is al- 

 ready in Yucatan motive power sufficient to work 

 866 wheels, which, during 280 days a year, would 

 clean 72,000,000 pounds of fibre. 



To reach this great increase of production, and to 

 take advantage of all the steam-power already avail- 

 able in tlie Stnte, Yucatan would require to have 

 some 58,000,000 plants, or about three times the 

 quantity at present under cultivation. 



From the figures given below, it will be 

 seen that the production of henequen has 

 doubled in the course of four years ; find the 

 immense number of plants set during) ihe last 

 year warrants the assumption that tfejv, progres- 

 sive increase will no-eal t^and that, with the 

 addition of 400 scrapers Yo' the machinery now 

 in use, Yucatan will export 44,000,000 pounds 

 of fibre in 1880, and 72,000,000 pounds in 

 1883. 



Comparing the numbei of plants under elabo- 

 ration with those which must be already un- 

 der culture to increase the product of fibre to 



72,000,000 pounds in 1883, and taking into 

 consideration the system generally followed 

 of planting 72 plants in each mecate (of 576 

 square vara,8, or 484 square yards), there are 

 250,000 mecates under elaboration, and 550,- 

 000 under culture. 



The capital invested in the henequen indus- 

 try may be estimated as follows : 



250,000 mecates under elaboration, at $5 each $1,250,000 



650,000 mecates under culture, at $3.50 1,9-25,000 



Machinery 600,000 



Buildings 458,000 



Workmen's wages 600,000 



Lands 114,000 



.Rolling and live stock, etc 200,000 



Total $5,147,000 



The annual expenditure in the culture and 

 elaboration at present is as follows : 



Cleaning of 800,000 mecates, at 12^ cents $100,000 



Elaboration of 22,000,000 pounds of fibre (the prod- 

 uct of 250,000 mecates), at 1^ cent per pound. . . 275,000 

 Incident expenses 50,000 



Total $425,000 



This total, divided by 22,000,000 pounds, 

 gives $0.0193 per pound, or 48| cents per arro- 

 ba of 25 pounds. 



If, then, the arroba of henequen were sold 

 at 50 cents, it would only cover the expenses 

 of cultivation and elaboration ; if at 62 1 cents, 

 it would leave an annual profit of 2 per cent, 

 on the capital invested ; if at 75 cents, a profit 

 of 7 per cent. ; at 87 cents, a profit of 9J per 

 cent. 



Statements of the shipping movements at 

 the various Mexican ports, and general rail- 

 way statistics, will be found in the volumes of 

 the ANNUAL CYCLOPAEDIA for 1874 and 1875. 



The following are extracts from the address 

 delivered by President Lerdo at the opening 

 of the second session of the eighth Congress 

 of the United States of Mexico, on April 1, 

 1876: 



In internal affairs, there is to be lamented the fact 

 that the public peace in certain localities has been dis- 

 turbed. This occurred just when it was possible to 

 assure the public that the bands existing in Micho- 

 acan for a year past were destroyed to such nn ex- 

 tent that the events in other places have not been 

 sufficient up to the present time to revive them. 



With some exceptions, the same persons who 

 have already taken part in various other disturb- 

 ances of the public order figure among the revolu- 

 tionists. Neither laws of amnesty for past acts, nor 

 the full enjoyment of social righ'ts and guarantees, 

 nor even the kindness with which they have fre- 

 quently been treated, have been sufficient to restrain 

 tnem from seeking to place themselves above the 

 laws. 



The Government has not only a strict duty to per- 

 form in combating the rebellion under all circum- 

 stances, but it has also a firm conviction that the 

 time has passed in which those who appealed to the 

 force of arms could prevail, a conviction in favor of 

 respecting the laws being now general, as also the 

 good disposition of the laboring and respectable 

 citizens, who know how to appreciate the benefits 

 of peace obtained through the enjoyment of a just 

 liberty. With the efficient aid of the representa- 

 tives of the people and the cooperation of the State 

 authorities, it will be possible in a short time to 

 repress the recent disturbances, as has been lately 



