121 



COMPARATIVE STATEMENT, SHOWING APPROXIMATE TONNAGE MOVED 



BY THE UNDERMENTIONED RAILWAYS FOR THE TEN YEARS 



ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1 896. 



{Compiled from published reports and information furnished by the re- 

 spective railway companies?) 



CITY OF MEXICO, May 19, 1897. 



(S.) 



A. BLAKE. 



TELEGRAPHS. 



We have quite a number of miles of telegraph lines in Mexico, and> 

 our service is now as good as that of any other country. The first tele- 

 graph line built and owned in Mexico by a private company, liberally 

 assisted by the government, extended from Veracruz to the City of 

 Mexico. On November 5, 1851, the first section was inaugurated from 

 the City of Mexico to Nopalucan, and on May 19, 1852, to Veracruz. 



In 1853 another company established a line from the City of Mexico 

 towards the north to Leon in the State of Guanajuato, and in 1865 a 

 line was finished to San Luis Potosi. 



In 1868 and 1869 a private company, called the " Jalisco Company " 

 established the line between the City of Mexico and Guadalajara, which 

 was soon afterwards extended to Manzanillo and San Bias. After the 

 restoration of the Republic in 1867, the Mexican government began to 



