The International Railway runs also from the United States border, at Ciudad Porfirio Diaz, or Eagle Pass, across the great plateau to the city of Durango, as before mentioned, passing through important agricultural, manufacturing and coal-bearing regions.
The Hidalgo and North-Eastern is a narrow-gauge railway, 152 miles long, from the City of Mexico into the State of Hidalgo, and forms a part of the Mexican national system.
In the consolidation or fusion of the foregoing lines, that is to say, the Mexican Central, National, International, and Interoceanic, the Government has adominating interest of 85 per cent. of the capital stock, and the control of this great system and company, now termed the "National Railways of Mexico," with an authorised capital of 615 millionpesos, or £61,500,000, will be mainly a State affair; and any profits accruing from the enterprise after payment of interest on bonds and dividends on preferred stock, will go to the Mexican nation.
The Tehuantepec Railway is a very important line, in that it forms a short transcontinental route across North America, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans; and it may be expected to compete with the Panama Canal, in the carriage of passengers and freight. The distance from ocean to ocean in an air line is only 125 miles, and the line itself is only 192 miles long. This interesting route crosses thedivortia aquarum, or water parting, of the continent at an elevation of only 730 feet above sea-level, at the Chivela Pass. The isthmus of Tehuantepec has been considered of geographical interest ever since the expeditions of Cortes discovered it. Projects both for a canal and a ship-railway have at different times during last century been brought forward to traverse it. The existing railway line was built in 1894, but its construction was faulty, and, moreover, the terminal ports, Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf side, and Salina Cruz on the Pacific side, were inadequate. In 1899 an English firm was called in by the Mexican Government; contracts entered into for the re-construction of the line, and the making of its terminal ports, all of which has been carried to completion; a work of endurancy, solidity, and utility being the result, which reflects credit on British methods generally and upon the contracting engineers in particular. This is the same firm[45]which carried out the great harbour works of Vera Cruz, and the drainage of the Valley of Mexico, and it has earned an enviable reputation in Mexico. The Tehuantepec Railway is 1,200 miles north of the Panama Coast, andmay be expected to take a good deal of the United States and international transoceanic traffic, as it is nearest to the "axial line" of the world's commerce of any American isthmusian route. The railway is owned by the Mexican Government, but is worked by the British contractors in conjunction therewith under a partnership agreement. At Salina Cruz, the Pacific terminus, a fine harbour has been constructed at considerable cost; and a dry dock capable of holding vessels 600 feet long. The whole forms one of the most important seaports on the American Pacific coast, and reflects credit on its British constructors and on Mexican financial enterprise.
45 Seep. 336.
The Mexican Southern Railway is a narrow-gauge railway, 228 miles long, running from the city of Puebla to the city of Oaxaca, through the fertile region of Tehuacan. It was built by a British firm[46]of engineers, which later carried out an important part of the drainage works of the Valley of Mexico. The company is British, and the financial position of the enterprise, which had been one of difficulty formerly, has, under re-construction and the growing prosperity of the country, been enabled to double its earnings, and pay a dividend upon its ordinary stock.
46 Read, Campbell & Co., London.
The Vera Cruz and Pacific Railway runs from Cordoba, an important town before mentioned, on the Mexican Railway to Vera Cruz, to Santa Lucrecia, on the Tehuantepec Railway; and is of much importance, as it links the general railway system of the Republic with the transisthmus line. In addition to this, it has a branch line to Vera Cruz, and so becomes a through route of travel from that port to the Pacific Ocean,viâTehuantepec. The road carried a Government subsidy and was financed in the United States, but due to inefficient management and the heavy work involved in construction, the company suspended payments in 1903, and the Government, in view of the strategic importance of the line, took the property offthe hands of the company. The railway is now operated under Government auspices as an individual concern. It is standard gauge, its length being 201 miles for the Tehuantepec connection, and 62 miles for the Vera Cruz branch.
The Vera Cruz (Mexico) Railways—not to be confounded with the Mexican (Vera Cruz) Railway—is a narrow-gauge line 44 miles long, running from the port of Vera Cruz along the coast to Alvarado—named after theConquistador—a port near the estuary of the Papaloapam river. This navigable river, as elsewhere described, extends inland and gives access to an important tropical region. A tributary of this river, the San Juan, is navigable for small craft for a distance of 177 miles from Alvarado, at San Juan Evangelista, whence a short railway line connects with the Tehuantepec Railway, thus completing a through service of travel. The railway company and its steamers form a British enterprise, controlled by the constructors of the Tehuantepec Railway.
In the peninsula of Yucatan are the United Railways of Yucatan, giving communication with the chief cities and ports of that region. The total length of line embodied in the three divisions of this system is 373 miles; and there is a line from Merida to Peto, of 145 miles.
Returning now to the north of the Republic; the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre, and Pacific Railway runs westwardly from Ciudad Juarez, or El Paso, for a distance of 159 miles. It is an American enterprise, and traverses some good agricultural and mineral regions, serving the prosperous Mormon colonies founded by Americans in the State of Chihuahua. It is designed some day to traverse the Sierra Madre and reach the Pacific Ocean.
The Kansas City, Mexico and Orient is an important undertaking which, when it is concluded, will give a transcontinental route, from the railway system of the United StatesviâChihuahua, to a port on the PacificOcean—that of Topolobampo, on the Gulf of California. The length of the Mexican portion of the line is 634 miles, of which 332 are constructed. It opens up a vast new region of Western Mexico, and should be of growing importance, and of international service. It is an American enterprise, with British and Mexican associations. Connected with it is the Chihuahua and Pacific Railway.
The Sonora Railway runs from Nogales on the United States border, to the port of Guaymas on the Gulf of California, as described elsewhere, with a length of 265 miles. In connection with this railway, and with the Southern Pacific Railway of the United States, railway building in Western Mexico is projected by American capitalists, over routes already surveyed, for a length of more than 4,000 miles, portions of which are to be subsidised by the Mexican Government.
The Pan-American railway, as its name implies, is projected for the purpose of uniting North and South America by rail, its ultimate destination being Panama. At present the portion under construction is for linking the general system of the Republic with the isolated system of Yucatan, and thence to the frontier of Guatemala. The distance from its starting-point at San Geronimo on the Tehuantepec line, to the Panama Canal, is 1,650 miles; and the line is to form a link in the great project of a rail route from New York to Buenos Ayres. It is an American enterprise.
There are numerous other short lines throughout Mexico, serving mineral and agricultural regions, whether under Mexican, British, American, or other ownership, giving a total length of existing Mexico railways, of 14,180 miles. Thus it is shown that Mexico is covered with a network of railways, connected with each other and with the system of the United States, throughout the great length of her territory from north to south, and crossing from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean—in practically two instances—one completed and in operation, the other nearing completion.The new railway laws of Mexico will prevent undue competition and the duplicating of existing lines; and the Republic's railways ought in the future to be of developing value, in view of the considerable resources of the territory which they traverse, and of their geographical importance.
In brief, the commercial and industrial life of Mexico is young but full of promise, and has entered upon a course whose present surroundings seem favourable and well founded.
Mexico's unique conditions—Her future—Asiatic immigrants—Fostering of the native race—Encouraging of immigration—The white man in the American tropics—Future of Mexican manufactures—The Pan-American Congress—Pan-American railway—Mexico and Spain—The Monroe Doctrine—Mexico, Europe, and the United States—Promising future of Mexico.
The foregoing study of the Republic of Mexico shows that the country and its inhabitants embody some unique conditions. Geographically its situation is important, geologically and topographically it contains much that is remarkable; whilst, historically, the ancient civilisation which dwelt there, and the strenuous happenings upon its soil since the advent of the Europeans, mark it out specially from the rest of the American world. As to itsfloraandfauna, even they present a curious transition stage between North and South America; whilst its human races form the most remarkable blending of peoples to be found in the New World.
So varied a set of conditions naturally cause the student to inquire as to the probable value of Mexico as a factor in civilisation. The European observer of American States criticises these from a special standpoint. America, as a new world, has had a unique opportunity for making a step forward in the things which should be for the good of mankind, and an account of their stewardship naturally forms part of a study of these new nations.
Mexico must now be classed as a modern nation, fulfilling an orderly destiny. As such it must of necessity have some voice in international matters, and among the nations of the New World the Republic has already lifted up its voice in questions of American affairs. The attitude of Mexico in world-politics is not without interest. Her geographical situation midway between the two great oceans of the world, the Atlantic and the Pacific, and between the two vast continents of the Americas, is one of considerable commercial and strategic value. That part of her territory known as the isthmus of Tehuantepec has not inaptly been termed "the bridge of the world's commerce," as elsewhere mentioned, and as such, indeed, it may play an important part, analogous to that of the Panama Canal, being, as it is, more than a thousand miles nearer to the world's great populations and the trade route of commerce than that famous isthmus. Mexico states that she looks towards Asia with equal favour as towards Europe, and geographically she may do so indeed. But this is a sentiment which—except in the mere matter of buying and selling—time will show to be untenable. Mexico is a "European" state, in character, tradition, and civilisation; and she, in common with all Latin America, must continue largely to draw her inspirations, and to augment her population from old Europe, not from Asia; nor, indeed, save in certain respects, from her Anglo-American neighbour, the United States.
A greater population, and of a higher calibre, is one of Mexico's chief desiderata. The introduction of Asiatics is permitted and even encouraged at present, but it is impossible that a growing enlightenment will permit this to continue. It must be disastrous to a country to admit Asiatics to permanent habitation in quantities, and such can only be done in obedience to dictates of a selfish nature, emanating, for example, from greedy plantation- or mine-owners, whose main object is that of present profits, regardless of the future. The natives of Mexico, like those of other Hispanic-Americancountries, are far superior to Asiatics, and it is to the advantage of Mexico that its Government should foster the growth of the vigorous and usefulpeonrace, and sternly set its face against the introduction of Chinese or other Asiatics as elements of colonisation. There is a favourable circumstance attending the matter of increase of population in Spanish-American countries: the women are prolific, and, moreover, the influence of the Roman Catholic religion tends at present to prevent the adoption of the condition known as "race-suicide." Equally with this fostering of the native race must be the encouraging of European immigration, such as Spaniards, Italians, and others. The Americans of the United States cannot furnish Mexico with new citizens or workers, tillers of the soil, or builders, or miners; for the United States has her own territory to develop, and, moreover, the American citizen will never perform manual labour outside his own country. Both the Americans and the British will furnish capital and brains for Mexico's development, but of workers in the field they will send none.
In this connection, however, the future may hold much, unsuspected at present. The question is constantly to the fore now as to whether the white man is able to perform manual work in the tropics, and large portions of Mexico and Spanish-America generally are situated in tropical zones. The reply to the question is twofold. First, the advancing science of sanitation, and kindred matters, are showing that the unfavourable conditions encountered in tropical lands are capable of change, and that regions hitherto unhealthy can be made habitable for alien white men. There can be little doubt that sweeping adverse statements about the impossibility of the occupation by white races of the tropical regions, especially of America, will be belied in coming years. The other consideration bearing upon this question is that there is no necessity for the white man to work in the tropics to the same extent that he works in temperate climates. Nature has done half the work herself, andit will surely be found that invading man must adapt his habits to her laws there, rather than pretend to implant his own methods arbitrarily. Thus, a minimum of work in the tropics secures shelter and sustenance to man there. But, so far, this facility of living has been an element for human deterioration rather than for progress. The Indian squatters of the Mexican tropics, or the savage bands of the Amazonian forests of South America, do not tend towards development. But it may be different when an educated and civilised race has, perforce, to take up its residence in such regions. The struggle for life, for bread, roof, and clothing, is so much less severe that it may transpire that man, in such regions, will have more time to develop the intellectual side of his life, and a new stimulus and purpose might be brought to being from such a combination of race and environment. It is apparent already to the observer that the Spanish-American race, which largely inhabits tropical America, has developed a strong tendency towards the lessening of its quota of manual labour, and an augmentation of its cultivating of the theoretical and intellectual side of life. In Mexico, Peru, or elsewhere, the white race forms an upper class, lovers of leisure and of work of an intellectual character. There is no white middle-class of hand labourers. If there is anything in this theory and tendency there may come to being some day a highly-developed race in the American tropics. These considerations, however, are as yet far removed from the Mexico of to-day. Work must be her maxim, hard work, and development.
Whether Mexico will ever become an important manufacturing nation remains to be seen. The Mexicans are not without considerable aptitude as mechanics, but they have not much faculty of invention or origination. It is very doubtful if any of the Spanish-American nations are destined to shine as makers and exporters of finished articles. Perhaps therôleof evolving a new kind of civilisation, not dependent upon commerce, is to be theirs! All of these countries are, however, endowedwith elements essential to manufacture: in raw material, fuel, and water-power.
Of international meetings which have taken place in Mexico the Pan-American Congress of 1902 was of some importance. The feasting and eloquence, the society functions and self-congratulations which ran riot, were characteristic of this imaginative and enthusiastic race of Latin America. If these matters were more in evidence than practical results—as is often characteristic of such assemblies—at least the important step was taken of calling together their neighbours of America, discussing their affairs, and emphasising the advisability of settling these, when differences arose, by arbitration, rather than battle. It was complained that Europe took little note of or interest in this conference, and among the delegates of some of the Latin American states—representatives of all of which were present—Europe was blamed for frigidity to thoughts of arbitration. But the world grows wiser slowly, and Spanish-America not more rapidly. Important matters which occupied the attention of the Congress were the questions of some standardising of Spanish-American Custom-house methods, and the great subject of the Pan-American railway. This vast scheme is designed to link all the republics of North and South America together. But it may well be asked if the cost, estimated at 40 million pounds sterling, to build the 5,000 miles necessary to complete the chain of existing lines, would ever pay through these thinly scattered populations and endless mountain regions. It is, however, an alluring project, and calls for some great railway-building Bolivar to impulse it. It is but a question of time.
The attitude of the modern Mexicans towards Spain—the land which gave them birth—is rather a remarkable one. As a whole they cannot be said to be pro-Spanish. The Indian blood is strong, and the Indian side of the Mexican cherishes still what is almost a resentment against Spain for the acts of the Conquest. Perhaps the reader of this book, if he has read the chapters upon those stirring times, will not need to ask himself why!Spanish America—Mexico and Peru—raises no statues to Cortes, nor to Pizarro. But there is another side to the picture, and during the war between Spain and the United States, the Spaniards and pro-Spaniards of Mexico raised funds to purchase a warship for Spain. But neither Mexico nor any other free Republic of Latin America raised a hand in aid of the unfortunate Cubans, whose life-blood Spain, with all her old methods, was slowly letting before their eyes!
Of international questions in the American hemisphere the Monroe Doctrine takes much importance. The origin of the principle contained in this has been set forth in the chapter devoted to history, and its British origin recollected. At the present time the doctrine embodies, to the Spanish-American mind, not so much the antidote to possible European aggression as the hegemony of the United States in the American hemisphere. Of recent years the method or spirit of its enunciation by the United States has been such as almost to cause offence among the Spanish-American Republics, an effect which, naturally, it was not intended to convey. But the Mexican and South American Republics are not slow to resent any idea of North American leading-strings. They consider their individuality no whit inferior to that of the Anglo-American, and the discussions which have been carried out in the press of both continents show how little the two races of the Americas really understand each other. Nor can they be expected to do so, possibly for centuries—such centuries as passed before a Franco-Britishententebecame possible! There is far more affinity of social interests between Spanish-America and Europe than between the United States and Spanish-America, and there can be no doubt that the growth of a great American civilisation distinct from that of the United States will be a valuable element in the New World. The influence of the United States will always be offset by the imported European culture and solidity. It has been characteristic of all Spanish-America to emulate and to exalt the United States, but the gravefaults apparent in the character of the Americans in their political and commercial world recently have caused much loss of prestige. The student of American life cannot maintain that the civilisation of the United States necessarily tends to become superior to that of the Spanish-American's. There is, of course, a vast superiority in manufacture, means of communication, and all that goes to make up the modern business world—immeasurably so. But of man's humanity to man, of social refinement, honesty in business, cleanliness in politics, the United States is not much in advance of its neighbours. Nevertheless, the influence of the United States has been, and will be, of much steadying value to Mexico, and it remains to be seen if Mexico can preserve her individuality, in view of her proximity to the United States, and whether she can absorb the excellent characteristics of the Americans, without acquiring their defects. Probably she can. On the other hand, it is a source of satisfaction to the student of American civilisation to observe the present reciprocal and neighbourly attitude of the United States and Mexico towards each other. There they stand, shoulder to shoulder, without quarrel of religion or race, the big Republic and the developing one, both under the forging hand of time.
For herself Mexico may be looked upon as a strong and healthy type of Spanish-American civilisation, whose growth all students of race-affairs will watch with interest. Endowed with a land of varied and plentiful resource, chastened by history and tribulation, and with resolute step bent forward, Mexico stands as a leader of her race, and a worthy unit in the development of the great New World.Viva Mexico!
NOTE.—For other place-names not given in index see chapters on Natural Resources and Railways, also List of Illustrations.
Acapulco, seaport,
17
,
105
,
109
,
111
,
304
,
343
Acocotla,
341
Africa,
258
Agramonte,
105
Agricultural products, list of,
291
Agriculture,
282-327
Aguascalientes, State of,
210
,
271
,
303
,
314
Ahuitzuco,
280
,
304
Albuquerque,
105
Alcohol,
238
Aldama,
111
Alfred, King,
24
Allende,
111
Alligators,
19
,
152
Alpacas,
152
Alvarado mine,
259
Alvarado, Pedro de,
59
,
82-97
,
190
,
347
Amazon,
18
,
290
,
353
Ameca,
147
,
208
American Smelting Co.,
336
Americans in Mexico,
12
,
14
,
16
,
116
,
155
,
181
,
201
,
204
,
205
,
211
,
249
,
305
,
323
Ampudea, General,
122
Anahuac,
9
,
15
,
20
,
136
,
140
,
185
Andes,
18
,
112
,
136-146
Anglo-American Co. of Puebla,
336
Anson, Admiral,
105
Anthracite,
280
(
see
Coal
)
Apaches,
158
,
210
,
264
Arbitration,
354
Arch in prehistoric Mexico,
34
Architecture, Mexican,
182
,
185
,
288
Architecture, prehistoric,