Vol. XIII, No. i 



WASHINGTON 



January, 1902 



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THE NEW MEXICO" 



By John W. Foster, Ex-Secretary of State 



WHEN I was invited by the 

 National Geographic Soci- 

 ety to deliver a lecture in its 

 course on my observations during a 

 recent visit to Mexico, I felt that it 

 would be a work of superfluity on my 

 part. The means of communication 

 with our neighboring Republic are now 

 so frequent and easy, and the inter- 

 course between the two countries is so 

 intimate, I doubted whether I could add 

 to the stock of knowledge of the mem- 

 bers of the Society, especially of a geo- 

 graphic character; but your President 

 thought differently, and it may be of 

 some interest to hear the observations 

 of one who, having resided in Mexico 

 for seven years, returns to it after a 

 period of twenty years, and to listen to 

 his narrative of the progress made in 

 the interval, and of the present condi- 

 tions of that country. 



RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION 



It may be first noted that the greatest 

 change in the face of the country of a 

 geographic character has been in the 

 construction of an extensive system of 

 railroads and the consequent improve- 



ment in the means of communication. 

 The first thing which strikes a visitor 

 today who knew Mexico a quarter of a 

 century ago is the facility and comfort 

 with which the journey to the City of 

 Mexico is now made. When I began 

 the preparation for my first journey, in 

 1873, I found that the only means of 

 regular communication was by a steamer 

 from New York, departing from that 

 port every three weeks, and which oc- 

 cupied usually twelve or fourteen days 

 in reaching Vera Cruz, stopping at a 

 number of ports en route. From that 

 port to the City of Mexico a railroad 

 had been finished that year, which had 

 been nineteen 3'ears in building, a dis- 

 tance of 264 miles. Today four lines 

 of railroad enter the Mexican Republic 

 from the United States, and one can 

 make the journey in five days from 

 Washington to the City of Mexico in a 

 Pullman car on the regular trains, with 

 only one change, either at Kansas City 

 or New Orleans. 



The era of extensive railroad con- 

 struction did not begin till after Gen- 

 eral Diaz had been firmly seated in the 

 presidency. With the aid of liberal 

 subsidies, railroad building began in 



'An address before the National Geographic Society, January 3, 1902. 



