MEXICO OF TODAY* 



By Senor Dr. Don Juan N. Navarro, Consul-General of 

 Mexico in New York City 



A GLANCE at our factories shows 

 that our people manufacture 

 acids, 'chemicals, candles, ex- 

 cellent beer and ale, carpets, furniture, 

 and carriages that have received pre- 

 miums at some of the Paris expositions, 

 cordage, glassware, hats, matches, paper 

 of every description, sugar, tobacco, and 

 man}^ other articles, the production of 

 which increases every day in quantity 

 and quality. In the last few years the 

 textile industry of Mexico has pro- 

 gressed at a surprising rate, and some 

 of the manufactories deserve special 

 mention. Rio Blanco is a manufactory 

 situated near Orizaba. I personally vis- 

 ited this manufactory a few months ago 

 and found that it produces eighty differ- 

 ent classes of linen and cotton goods, 

 has a colossal and tasteful building, and 

 maintains in incessant work more than 

 3,000 workmen, who make 40,000 pieces 

 per week. I have in my office, in New 

 York, a complete set of samples of all 

 the linen and cotton goods from this 

 manufactory, and all, especially the 

 prints, in the perfection of the work 

 and in the beauty and taste of colors 

 and designs, excite the admiration of 

 all who examine them. 



I have not at hand the statistics giv- 

 ing the actual number of cotton manu- 

 factories, but I calculate that there must 

 be approximately 1 50, and that they last 

 year produced more than ten millions of 

 pieces of white and printed goods and 

 nearly two millions of yarn. The sales 

 declared for taxes for the years 1898 and 

 1899 are more than $29,700,000. An- 

 other of the manufactories near the city 

 of Orizaba makes bags for flour, grain, 

 salt, etc. The raw material is jute, 



a fiber originally imported from East 

 India, which has been planted in Mex-, 

 ico and in all probability will yield a 

 good han^est. This establishment makes 

 7,000 bags per day and 800 meters of 

 carpets and rugs of the same material. 

 The motive power in these factories is 

 electricity derived from the falls of the 

 Rio Blanco. 



The wool manufactories, though not 

 so many, are remarkable for the excel- 

 lence of their products, and are not often 

 excelled by the best products of other 

 countries. The number of tobacco man- 

 ufactories is very considerable, and the 

 fame of the excellence of the material 

 and elaboration is spreading day by day 

 in the commerce of the world. Another 

 manufactorj" worthy of mention is the 

 one in Merida for cordage. The capital 

 invested in mounting it was $600,000, 

 and up to September of last year there 

 were exported to this country by way 

 of the port of Progreso more than two 

 millions of kilos of the heneqicen cordage 

 there manufactured. 



Our government has promised certain 

 privileges for the introduction of new 

 industries into the country, and the 

 department for correspondence has re- 

 ceived 114 applications. 



I have always believed that Mexico 

 is destined to be not only an agricultural 

 but an industrial country, as it produces 

 a great number of vegetable raw mate- 

 rials and possesses an incomparable 

 quantity of every known metal, and has 

 living in cities a good part of its popu- 

 lation who have a decided inclination 

 and a remarkable ability for mechanical 

 labor. The facts of her development 

 are confirming these views. 



* Continued from the April number. 



