MEXICO 



3770 



MEXICO 



NATIONAL, PALACE, CITY OF MEXICO 



is that sooner or later all the roads shall be 

 government owned. The large cities also have 

 street railways, some of them operated by elec- 

 tric power, some by more primitive means. 



Because of its large production of metals, 

 the exports of Mexico surpass its imports, for 

 each year about $95,000,000 worth of minerals 

 are sent out. The total exports, which include 



sisal hemp, hides, coffee, building woods, cattle 

 and rubber, amount in a year to about $150,- 

 000,000, while the imports, consisting largely of 

 textiles, machinery and foodstuffs, are valued 

 at, nearly $100,000,000 in normal times. The 

 United States furnishes about one-half of the 

 imports and receives over three-fourths of the 

 exports, Great Britain ranking second. 



Government and History 



The Constitution. The first constitution was 

 adopted on February 5, 1857, the second, in 

 May, 1917, after General Carranza had partially 

 pacified the country (see History, below). It 

 provides for the Federal republic as it has long 

 existed, consisting of twenty-seven states, three 

 territories, and a Federal District. The latter 

 comprises the capital, Mexico City, and ad- 

 joining territory. Of the individual states it 

 demands that they, too, have representative 

 republican governments, but it leaves them 

 nearly supreme in local affairs. The new con- 

 stitution is particularly displeasing to the 

 United States, as it limits the enterprise of 

 Americans and Europeans in the republic. 



Departments of Government. At the head of 

 the republic is a President, chosen for a term 

 of four years, by electors who are selected 

 by popular vote. There is no Vice-President. 

 Though given by the Constitution only such 

 cowers as are usual to the President of a re- 



public, the Presidents of Mexico have prac- 

 tically all been dictators, supreme while they 

 held their power. To assist the chief executive 

 in his functions there is a Cabinet composed of 

 the heads of the eight departments of foreign 

 relations, interior, justice, public instruction 

 and fine arts, industry and colonization, com- 

 munication and public works, finance, and war 

 and marine. 



The legislative branch consists of two houses, 

 a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. Senators, 

 one-half of whom are elected every two years, 

 hold office for four years and are fifty-six in 

 number, two being chosen from each state and 

 two from the Federal District; representatives, 

 one of whom is elected for each 40,000 inhab- 

 itants or fraction thereof over 20,000, are elected 

 for two years. 



At the head of the judiciary is a supreme 

 court of fifteen judges, elected for six-year 

 terms, and below this there are district and 



