502 



MEXICO. 



Mexicans are slow to adopt new methods, and 

 the system of commerce and agriculture there 

 could not be changed in a day or a year, even 

 if it should be found desirable. But a marked 

 advance has already taken place, and the de- 

 mand for American goods is growing. There 

 is, among others, a Mexican plantation where 

 250 American plows are in use; there are 

 at times as many as ten railroad cars loaded 

 with American wagons in a single train, and 

 immense quantities of mining and other ma- 

 chinery are daily passing in over the railroads. 

 American investments and interests in Mexico 

 are large and increasing. There are now four 

 American railroads crossing the frontier at 

 widely different points and reaching to the very 

 heart of the republic. The longest and most 

 important of these is that known as the Mexi- 

 can Central, over whose line travelers now pass 

 from El Paso to the city of Mexico. There has 

 been a great increase in its business of late. In 

 November there were 300 cars loaded with 

 American goods at El Paso awaiting shipment, 

 and to meet the increased business the com- 

 pany ordered 250 new freight- cars and ten 

 locomotives. The International (the Southern 

 Pacific system) completed its connection from 

 Eagle Pass, Texas, to the city of Mexico in 

 December, while the National Railway, cross- 

 ing the frontier at Laredo, was rapidly con- 

 structing the gap-line, which is to give still 

 auother international route to the Mexican 

 capital. In September the Mexican Central 

 Railway reduction of freight rates for goods 

 imported into the city of Mexico from Liver- 

 pool, via New Orleans and El Paso, caused a 

 reduction in the freight tariff of the Mexican 

 (English) Railway, so as to enable the port of 

 Vera Cruz to maintain its lead over Paso del 

 Norte as a port of entry. 



In November a project was set on foot to 

 build a new narrow-gauge railway to run from 

 Patzcuaro, on the line of the National Railway, 

 to a point in the State of Guerrero, on the 

 Pacific Ocean, traversing, in the State of Mi- 

 choacan, a rich coffee country and gold-placer 

 region, and also penetrating districts where 

 the finest cabinet-woods are to be had. The 

 Government will give the road a subvention, 

 partly in interest-bearing securities. Surveys 

 are to be made immediately for an extension 

 of the Interoceanic Railway from Yantepec to 

 Acapulco. Another project is to build a rail- 

 way from the city of Mexico to Puebla, cross- 

 ing the mountains. During the latter part of 

 November the Mexican Central and Inter- 

 national railroad companies, through their 

 freight departments, arranged the terms for 

 an interchange of traffic, subject to the ap- 

 proval of the board of directors of the re- 

 spective companies. In this manner the two 

 companies will act in harmony, and there will 

 be no rate-war. The International Company 

 reached a point on the Mexican Central near 

 Laredo on December 10, in order to begin op- 

 erations in January, 1888. In January, 1887, 



articles of incorporation of the Mexican Pa- 

 cific Railroad Company were filed at San 

 Francisco. The road is to run from the city 

 of Mexico, through Cuernavaca, to Puente de 

 Ixtla in the State of Morelos, eighty-five miles. 

 The capital stock is $3,000,000. 



Under the plan of reorganization adopted 

 almost unanimously by the Mexican National 

 Railroad shareholders in the autumn of 1886, a 

 new corporation was organized in March, 1887, 

 the company issuing $10,500,000 six-per-cent. 

 bonds, having forty-six years to run, to be a 

 first lien on the main line and branches of the 

 old National road, and also upon the lease of 

 the Texas Mexican Railway and upon the 

 bonds and stock of the latter, and also upon 

 bonds of the Corpus Christi road. 



In August the contract for the construction 

 of 114 miles of the National Railway, between 

 San Miguel de Allende and San Luis Potosi, 

 was awarded, the work not to begin later than 

 one month from the date of signing the con- 

 tract, and to be completed within a year. 



In December, 1887, the Mexican Chamber of 

 Deputies passed the bill granting a concession 

 to Louis Huller to build railroads in the States 

 of Sinaloa, Sonora, and Chihuahua. In the 

 same month a junction was almost effected be- 

 tween the International Railway and the Cen- 

 tral Railway at the Villa Lerdo station, which 

 will reduce the time of travel between the city 

 of Mexico and New York to four days and 

 twelve hours. 



The Tehnantepee Ship-Railway. The directors 

 of the Eads Concession Company held a meet- 

 ing at Pittsburg, Pa., on July 27, the first 

 since the death of Capt. James B. Eads. It 

 was decided to begin active efforts looking to 

 the opening of the work on the ship-railway 

 at an early date, and also, to conduct opera- 

 tions upon a plan entirely different from that 

 mapped out by Capt. Eads. Instead of making 

 new application to Congress for a charter, it 

 was resolved to incorporate a ship-railway 

 company under the laws of one of the States, 

 the property of the Eads Concession Company 

 to be turned over to the ship-railway compa- 

 ny, and the stock and bonds of the latter placed 

 on the market. This plan was followed up, 

 and Gov. Hill, of New York, approved, on 

 Nov. 21, 1887, the articles of association of the 

 "Atlantic and Pacific Ship-Railway Company." 



Steamer Lines. On June 30, 1886, the follow- 

 ing steamship lines were plying to Mexican 

 Gulf ports : Alexandre & Sons' New York 

 line ; Morgan line of Louisiana and Texas 

 steamers ; Leandro, Regil & Company Mexi- 

 can Coasting line ; German mail steamers be- 

 tween Hamburg, Havre, and Mexican ports; 

 Harrison line, between Liverpool and Mexican 

 ports ; West India and Pacific Steamship Com- 

 pany, between New Orleans, Mexican ports, 

 and the "West Indies ; Royal Mail Steamship 

 Company's steamers, between Southampton, 

 the West Indies, and Mexican ports. On the 

 Pacific coast of Mexico there were the Call- 



