MEXICO. 



503 



fornian Steamship Company, San Francisco 

 and Mexican ports; Pacific Mail Steamship 

 Company, Panama, Central American, Mexi- 

 can ports and San Francisco ; Sinaloa and 

 Durango Railroad's steamers, Guaymas, Ma- 

 zatlan, and other Mexican ports ; Sonora Rail- 

 road's steamers, Mexican and Central Ameri- 

 can ports ; Mexican Coast line, Guaymas and 

 other Mexican ports. Of the Gulf steamers, 

 the first three lines were subsidized at the 

 time by the Mexican Government, and, of the 

 Pacific steamers, the first two and the last- 

 named line. 



In December, 1887, a concession was grant- 

 ed to a steamship company for a line between 

 New York, New Orleans, and Vera Cruz, the 

 vessels to touch at all Mexican ports on the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and carry the mails. The 

 usual rebate of two per cent, on customs du- 

 ties has been granted, and the line is obliged 

 to carry freight and passengers at lower rates 

 than those hitherto charged. The Government 

 agrees to pay a subsidy of $1,000 a trip. 



Education. In the past few years the Fed- 

 eral and State Governments have done much to 

 encourage and establish a general free-school 

 system. Much opposition has been made by 

 the clergy, but the civil government recog- 

 nized its duty to provide for the education of 

 the masses, and free schools have been multi- 

 plied all over the republic. Congress has lat- 

 terly been discussing a bill making education 

 in the Federal district compulsory, and such a 

 law is already in force in some of the States. 



Immigration. It was announced in December 

 that the Mexican Government had granted ex- 

 traordinary concessions to a real estate com- 

 pany to induce immigration to eleven States of 

 Mexico. The company has obtained title to 

 55,000,000 acres in Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Du 

 rango, Coahuila, Zacatecas, Guanajuato, Ta- 

 maulipas, Vera Cruz, Michoacan, Jalisco, and 

 Guerrero, and proposes to establish agencies 

 in all the large cities of Europe and America. 

 The Government has granted exemption from 

 taxation to all settlers on those tracts, and in- 

 sures protection. 



A Spanish colony has been founded by 

 Sefiores Franchi de Alfaro in the State of 

 Guanajuato, and early in 1887 a large amount 

 of plants and seeds was shipped for its use 

 from Barcelona by way of Vera Cruz, the set- 

 tlers being Catalans and agriculturists from the 

 island of Majorca. 



A project is on foot in London for sending 

 5,000 Jewish colonists to Mexico to be dis- 

 tributed among the agricultural districts. The 

 proposed colonists are victims of Russian per- 

 secution. The Government papers in the 

 Mexican capital favor the scheme, but the op- 

 position press is strongly against the introduc- 

 tion into Mexico of Jews or Socialists. Toward 

 the close of 1887 the question of allowing 

 Americans to colonize Lower California was 

 agitated at the Mexican capital, the opposition 

 taking the ground that the administration of 



President Diaz, in its cordiality toward Ameri- 

 cans, forgets the result of permitting American 

 colonization in Texas. Gen. Pacheco, the Min- 

 ister of Public Works, replied in a pamphlet, 

 showing that there is no danger from Ameri- 

 can colonization, and that the Americans are 

 in a minority in the territory. 



The Border Country. Mr. William Gaston 

 Allen, United States Consul at Piedras Negras, 

 while on a visit to Washington, expressed him- 

 self, Oct. 30, 1887, as follows : " The condition 

 of affairs along the Rio Grande border has per- 

 ceptibly improved within the past few years. 

 Much of this is due to the wise and efficient 

 administration of President Diaz of the Mexican 

 Republic. He is an earnest and sincere friend 

 of the United States. Through his efforts 

 smuggling from the Mexican side has been 

 practically stopped. His customs officials, Fed- 

 eral judges, and others are not only men of 

 integrity, but men who reflect his kindly feel- 

 ing toward this country as well. President 

 Diaz is a strong advocate of closer commercial 

 relations with the United States, and, in fur- 

 therance of this desire, has lent the weight of 

 his personal influence wherever it could be ad- 

 vantageously employed. The life and property 

 of foreigners residing in Mexico are quite as 

 secure as those of the natives themselves. The 

 recent murders of Americans in some of the 

 outlying Mexican States were the acts of ban- 

 ditti, whom the Government has thus far been 

 powerless to capture. Where it has been pos- 

 sible to punish the offenders, the Government 

 has not failed to do so." 



Relations with Guatemala. The substance of 

 the protocol arranged in October between 

 Mexico and Guatemala is, that the Govern- 

 ment of Guatemala will appoint an envoy ex- 

 traordinary and minister plenipotentiary to 

 the city of Mexico to negotiate a treaty pro- 

 viding for a mixed commission to decide the 

 claims of citizens of one country against those 

 of the other ; also to negotiate a treaty of com- 

 merce providing for free exchange of the nat- 

 ural products of the two countries. 



Protestantism. A general assembly of clergy- 

 men, representing all the Protestant missions 

 in Mexico, was to be held in the Mexican capi- 

 tal on Jan. 31, 1888. This is the first time that 

 such a union of the Protestant sects carrying 

 on work in Mexico has been possible. 



American Enterprise. On Feb. 16, 1887, the 

 Incorporation Committee of the Connecticut 

 Legislature reported favorably on granting 

 special charters to the Peninsular Railway 

 Company of Lower California, the Gulf of 

 Mexico Guano Company, the Mexican Pacific 

 Pier and Warehouse Company, the Mexican 

 International, the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico 

 Steamship Company, and the Chiapas Railway 

 Company. The committee also reported fa- 

 vorably on a resolution authorizing the Inter- 

 national Company of Mexico, which secured a 

 Connecticut charter two or three years ago, to 

 increase its capital to $20,000,000. 



