482 



MEXICO. 



tutors and 22 white and 20 Maori students ; 9 

 colleges, with 86 tutors and 968 students ; and 

 8,346 Sunday schools, with 17,236 teachers and 

 175,103 pupils. The annual business of the Book 

 Room was returned as amounting to 16.900. 



XIV. South African Wesley an Methodist 

 Church. The statistical returns of the South 

 African Wesleyan Methodist Church show that 

 an increase of members of more than 1,500 a 

 year has been maintained during the past twelve 

 years, or since the conference was organized; 

 the numbers at the beginning and end of the 

 period being, respectively, 20,742 and 39,314. 

 The number of native evangelists has risen from 

 44 to 118. although a slight falling off appears in 

 the number of native ministers, and there are 

 not so many as are needed. The contributions 

 for missions have fallen off steadily during the 

 past three years from $33.970 in 1891-'92 to 

 $25,190 in 1893-'94. The deficiency is ascribed 

 to hard times. A notable item in the minutes 

 is the designation of three of the chairmen of 

 districts as relieved from circuit work and hav- 

 ing special official appointments. 



MEXICO, a federal republic in North Amer- 

 ica. The Senate consists of 56 members, 2 from 

 each State, and the House of Representatives of 

 227 members, 1 to 40,000 inhabitants. Members 

 of both houses are elected by the direct suffrage 

 of all adult married men of eighteen or bache- 

 lors of twenty-one years of age, and receive sala- 

 ries of $3.000 a year. Convicted criminals only 

 are excluded from the franchise, which never- 

 theless is exercised only by the dominating 

 whites and other men of property and educa- 

 tion. The President is elected by a college of 

 electors who are elected by the people. Porfirio 

 Diaz was re-elected President for the second 

 time in 1892, to serve till Nov. 30, 1896. The 

 Cabinet at the beginning of 1894 was composed 

 of the following "Secretaries of State: Foreign 

 Affairs, J. Mariscal : Interior. M. Romero Rubio : 

 Justice and Education, J. Baranda ; Fornento, 

 M. Fernandez Leal ; Finance and Commerce. J. 

 J. Limantour ; War and Marine, Gen. P. Hino- 

 josa ; Treasury, F. Espinosa ; Communications 

 and Public Works, M. Gonzalez Cosio. 



Area and Population. The area of the re- 

 public is 767.005 square miles. The population 

 was estimated in 1894 at 12,080.725. Mexico, 

 the capital city, has 329.535 inhabitants, Puebla 

 about 110.000, Guadalajara 95,000. San Luis Po- 

 tosi 62,573, Guanajuato 52,112, Monterey 52,000, 

 and Merida 50,000. 



Commerce. The exports for the year 1892- 

 '93 were valued at $87,509,221, compared with 

 $75,467.715 in 1891 -'92 and $63,276,395 in 1890- 

 '91. The exports in 1802- '93 consisted of $31,- 

 004,916 of merchandise and $56,504,305 of pre- 

 cious metals. Of the total, $63,838,000 went to 

 the United States. $14,725,000 to Great Britain, 

 $3,733.000 to France, $3.324.000 to Germany, 

 $915,000 to Belgium, $601,000 to Spain, and 

 373,000 to other countries. The values of the 

 principal exports were : Silver coin, $27,170,865: 

 silver ore, $10.940,750; heniquen. $8,893,071; 

 coffee, $8,727.119: silver lead, $7,402,641; sil- 

 ver, $6.732,801 ; copper, $2.26(5,000 : hides and 

 skins, $2.067,156; woods, $1.673.738; tobacco, 

 $1.459.690: vanilla. $968.000. The imports in 

 1890-'91 amounted to $50,018,658, compared 



with $52,018,659 in 1889-'90, when there were 

 imported $29,080,276 in value from the United 

 States, $8,535,376 from Great Britain. $6,233.- 

 908 from France, $3,678,684 from Germany, 

 $2,576,289 from Spain, and $2,007,000 from 

 other countries. 



During 1892-93 there were 9,179 vessels, of 

 3.054,778 tons, entered at the ports of Mexico. 

 of which 3,680, of 2,700,915 tons, were steamers. 

 The number cleared was 9,209, of 3,036,363 tons, 

 of which 3,666. of 2,696,853 tons, were steamers. 



Railroads, Posts, and Telegraphs. Tin r< 

 are 6.950 miles of railroad. American companies 

 invested up to 1891 a capital of $245,126,000 in 

 Mexican railroads, and English companies had 

 14,601,000 invested. There were 21,700,000 pas- 

 sengers and 3,100.000 tons of freight carried in 

 1892, when the gross receipts were $23,600,000. 

 The telegraph lines in 1893 had a total length 

 of 37,880 miles, of which the Federal Govern- 

 ment owned 24.840 miles, and the State govern- 

 ments most of the rest. The post office in 1891- 

 '92 forwarded 117,704,313 internal and 9.601,233 

 international letters and postal cards. The re- 

 ceipts were $1,142,182, and expenses $1,211,227. 



Finances. The revenue of the Federal Gov- 

 ernment for the year ending June 30, 1895, was 

 estimated at $43,074,053, of which $19,995,000 

 are obtained from customs, $14,629,053 from 

 stamps, $1,730,000 from posts and telegraphs, 

 $1.550,000 from tolls, $1,500,000 from direct 

 taxation, $1,105,000 from the mint, $2,065,000 

 from various other sources, and $500,000 from 

 the surplus of the preceding year. The ex- 

 penditure was estimated at $43,054,371, of which 

 $22,385,996 are for finance, $10,402.866 for the 

 army and navy, $3,286.968 for posts and tele- 

 graphs, $2,587,236 for the Interior Department, 

 $1,591,152 for justice and education, $1,035,638 

 for legislation, $655,487 for public works, $540,- 

 966 for foreign relations. $478,084 for the Su- 

 preme Court, $49,977 for the executive, and 

 $40,000 for extraordinary expenses. 



The external debt in 1892 amounted to $82.- 

 500,000, and the internal debts to $91.949,510. 

 A law was passed in 1893 authorizing the Gov- 

 ernment to consolidate the debt and to raise a 

 loan of 2.500,000, if necessary, for the settle- 

 ment of the floating debt. Including the guaran- 

 teed bonds of the Tehuantepec Railroad, the 

 foreign debt was 19.200.000. The expenditure 

 for interest and sinking fund on the total dobt 

 is about $8,431,000 at par, but in 1892, including 

 loss by exchange, it was $10.361.249. 



Political Condition. The Constitution was 

 altered to enable Gen. Diaz to succeed himself 

 as President, and it has beer* the general feeling 

 among natives as well as foreigners Hint the 

 prosperity of the country depends upon his con- 

 tinued administration of its affairs. Under his 

 firm rule the country has made substantial prog- 

 ress not alone in wealth and commerce, but in 

 respect for law and order, protection of life and 

 property, education, civil government, and re- 

 gard for the maintenance of the national faith. 

 The Indians, who form the great mass of the 

 population, are not much elevated above their 

 former condition of peonage on the estates of 

 the large landholders, and have made no use of 

 their rights as citizens. They are gratified and 

 encouraged, though taking no part in politics, 



