126 Oeoarapbtcal Betes on 



as they may need for their subsistence and welfare for a reasonable term 

 of years, exempting them at the same time from all kinds of taxes 

 federal, state, and municipal, excepting only the stamp tax, and also 

 exempting them from military and other personal service, and some- 

 times even going so far as to give a bounty for each colonist brought to 

 the country. Under such laws several contracts were made with differ- 

 ent companies, and 32 colonies have been planted in different sections 

 of Mexico, of which 13 have been established by the government and 

 19 by private parties. In 1892 there were only 1266 families with a 

 total number of 10,985 colonists. On the whole, the efforts made and 

 the expenses incurred by the Mexican government in the establish- 

 ment of those settlements of colonists, have had but unsatisfactory 

 results, but they have paved the way for future experiments on a larger 

 scale, especially if undertaken by private parties, and with only such 

 assistance from the government as can be rendered by liberal legisla- 

 tion. 



The principle obstacle which has prevented us from having a large 

 immigration is our low wages. Those who immigrate are generally 

 poor wage earners, who want to better their condition, and they could 

 not go to a country where wages are a great deal lower than in the 

 United States, or even in Europe, as they could never compete with 

 the native labor of our Indians. We have now a surplus of labor and 

 a deficit of capital, and cannot have a large immigration until such 

 conditions are changed. 



What Mexico needs is capital to develop her resources and give 

 employment to labor, and then immigration will flow in as naturally as 

 water seeks its level. Mexican credit will be established, so far as im- 

 migration is concerned, when her natural resources are developed, this 

 being the only safe and reliable basis of such credit, and this will never 

 be developed until those who have capital to invest are acquainted with 

 the unparalleled opportunities for safe and profitable investment in 

 Mexico. This will only be accomplished by plain, blunt, matter-of- 

 fact and well-informed press agents, who lay before people who have 

 money to invest the plain facts of the case. 



Immigration from the United States. I have often been asked for 

 my opinion of the chances of Americans going to settle in Mexico, and 

 have always answered that while Mexico is desirous of attracting good 

 settlers, and while that country undoubtedly offers great inducements 

 to foreign settlers, especially to those having some means, there are 

 serious drawbacks which ought to be pointed out to the prospective 

 immigrant from the United States, as a warning against a possible 

 failure and disappointment. 



The comforts of life in the rural districts of Mexico, where a settler 

 from this country has the best chances, are scanty compared with simi- 



