i6o The National Geographic Magazine 



President Diaz Mr. Foster attributed 

 the prosperity of the countr^^ The 

 result of the President's good judgment 

 is especially evident in the present 

 confidence in the financial condition of 

 the country, both official and private. 

 " The revenues which before (the elec- 

 tion of General Diaz) had been barely 

 $20,000,000 annually, soon doubled, 

 then trebled, and within ten years had 

 increased more than sixfold, reaching as 

 high as $t20,ooo,ot)0." 



This increase made possible the aban- 

 donment of the old system of taxation 

 of goods passing from state to state and 

 of taxes collected at the city gates on 

 all articles of consumption entering. the 

 city. By this reduction in the branches 

 of taxation the national revenues have 

 diminished to $60,000,000, which is suf- 

 ficient for all the current needs of the 

 government, and yields a surplus to be 

 expended for special purposes. 



The entire indebtedness of the Repub- 

 lic amounts to about $ 1 7 7 , 1 78 , 000, borne 

 by about 13,570,000 souls. Mexico's 

 debt per capita is thus only $13, while 

 that of Canada is $71. 



EXPLORATION DURING VIC- 

 TORIANS REIGN 



A PERUSAL of Gen. A. W.Greely's 

 able article shows that nearly all 

 the enormous advances in geographic 

 knowledge during the past 100 years 

 were made during Queen Victoria's 

 reign. In 1837 Livingstone was at- 

 tending medical and Greek classes in 

 Glasgow, and Stanley had not been 

 born. Victoria had reigned 16 years 

 before McClure, in 1853, attained the 

 Northwest Passage, and 43 years be- 

 fore Nordenskjold, in 1880, solved the 

 problem of the Northeast Passage. Sir 

 James Ross, Wilkes, Weddell, and 

 D'Urville all won their Antarctic laurels 

 within her reign. Australia was not 

 crossed from north to south by Stuart till 



1862, 25 years after her accession, and 

 from east to west by Colonel Warburton 

 till 1873, 36 years after her accession. 

 Hue, the explorer of Tibet ; Pumpelly 

 and Richthofen, pioneers in China, and 

 Nevelskoy, who ascended the Amur from 

 the sea, gained their fame within Vic- 

 toria's reign. Fremont, Powell, Dall — 

 names illustrious in the exploration of 

 the American continent^also did their 

 work since 1837. 



From her accession Victoria was 

 Patron of the Royal Geographical So- 

 ciety, and to her encouragement are due 

 many of the great enterprises planned 

 and successfully carried out by the So- 

 ciety. She was read}^ also to reward the 

 work of British explorers. James Ross, 

 Leopold McClintock, John Franklin, 

 Samuel Baker, Robert Schomburgk, 

 Henry M. Stanle}', and others, she 

 knighted in recognition of their achieve- 

 ments. The Founder's Medal and the 

 Patron's Medal, awarded annually by 

 the Royal Geographical Society, were 

 granted by her. 



PHENOMENAL INCREASE 

 POPULATION OF ITALY 



IN 



THE population of Italy has prac- 

 tically doubled in the last twent)'- 

 years, a rate of increase that surpasses 

 that of all nations of Europe and even 

 the United States. This, too, not- 

 withstanding the burdens of excessive 

 taxation, that would tend to diminish 

 the birth rate. The last census was 

 taken twenty years ago, in 1881, and, 

 showed a population of 21,000,000.. 

 According to the census taken early 

 this year the population now numbers 

 35,000,000. It is safe to estimate the 

 number of emigrants during the twent^^ 

 years as at least 5,000,000, so that 

 the increase by birth has been about 

 20,000,000. It has taken the United 

 States thirty years, aided bj^ 12,000,000' 

 immigrants, to double its numbers. , 



