Railways. 119 



1881-82 1938 kilometres 



1882-83 , 1727 



1887-88 1217 



1889 1263 



The number of passengers carried in 



1876 4,281,327 



1890 19,531,395 



1893 22,781,343 



1895 24,269,895 



The freight handled in 



1876 132,915 tons 



1890 2,734,430 " 



1893 3,798,36o " 



1895 4,117,511 " 



The gross receipts in 



1876 $2,564,870 



1890 21,019,960 



1893 26,121,624 



1897 28,758,450 



" The subsidies paid for railroads up to December, 1892, averaged $8935 per kilo- 

 metre of road built and in operation at that date. This average is much less than that 

 of the subsidies paid by other Latin-American countries, the Republic of Chili having 

 averaged $17,635 per kilometre, and the Argentine Republic $31,396. 



" The railroad system of the Republic has given the capital direct and rapid con- 

 nection with our principal states. Throughout the length of the central plateau to the 

 frontier, Mexico City is connected with the capitals of the states of Queretaro, Guana- 

 juato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Chihuahua, and San Luis Potosi by the 

 Mexican Central Railway, and with Durango by the Mexican International ; with 

 the states of Mexico, Guanajuato, Michoacan, San Luis Potosi, Coahuila and Nuevo 

 Leon by the Mexican National ; with the cities of Puebla, Orizaba, Cordoba, Vera- 

 cruz, and Jalapa by the Mexican Railway and by the Interoceanic, and with Tehuacan 

 and Oaxaca by the Mexican Southern from Puebla. Three lines connect the capital 

 with the northern frontier ; the Central, which terminates in Ciudad Juarez ; the 

 National, which runs to Nuevo Laredo ; and the International, which, from its junction 

 with the Central at Torreon, runs to Piedras Negras. And as to our various ports 

 Guaymas is connected with Nogale on the northern frontier ; Manzanillo with Colima ; 

 Matamoros with Reynosa and San Miguel ; Tampico with San Luis Potosi and Mon- 

 terrey ; Veracruz with Jalapa and Mexico ; and the first really Interoceanic railway of 

 the Republic across the Isthmus of the Tehuantepec, united the Atlantic and Pacific 

 oceans by connecting the port of Coatzacoalcos, on the gulf, with the port of Salina Cruz 

 on the Pacific coast. Southward from the capital of the Republic the Interoceanic 

 traverses the State of Morelos, and the Mexico, Cuernavaca and Pacific Railway has 

 its line located to the City of Cuernavaca and is pushing on through the state of Guer- 

 rero to the port of Acapulco. In the peninsula of Yucatan, the lines connecting 

 Campeche and Merida are nearly finished ; while the port of Progreso has rail com- 

 munication with Merida." 



Financial Condition of Mexican Railways. Our railroads are doing 

 remarkably well, and their traffic, especially domestic, is daily increas- 



