“The subsidies paid for railroads up to December, 1892, averaged $8935 per kilometre of road built and in operation at that date. This average is much less than that of the subsidies paid by other Latin-American countries, the Republic of Chili having averaged $17,635 per kilometre, and the Argentine Republic $31,396.

"The railroad system of the Republic has given the capital direct and rapid connection with our principal states. Throughout the length of the central plateau to the frontier, Mexico City is connected with the capitals of the states of Querétaro, Guanajuato, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Zacatecas, Chihuahua, and San Luis Potosi by the Mexican Central Railway, and with Durango by the Mexican International; with the states of Mexico, Guanajuato, Michoacan, San Luis Potosi, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon by the Mexican National; with the cities of Puebla, Orizaba, Cordoba, Veracruz, and Jalapa by the Mexican Railway and by the Interoceanic, and with Tehuacan and Oaxaca by the Mexican Southern from Puebla. Three lines connect the capital with the northern frontier; the Central, which terminates in Ciudad Juarez; the National, which runs to Nuevo Laredo; and the International, which, from its junction with the Central at Torreon, runs to Piedras Negras. And as to our various ports Guaymas is connected with Nogale on the northern frontier; Manzanillo with Colima; Matamoros with Reynosa and San Miguel; Tampico with San Luis Potosi and Monterrey; Veracruz with Jalapa and Mexico; and the first really Interoceanic railway of the Republic across the Isthmus of the Tehuantepec, united the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by connecting the port of Coatzacoalcos, on the gulf, with the port of Salina Cruz on the Pacific coast. Southward from the capital of the Republic the Interoceanic traverses the State of Morelos, and the Mexico, Cuernavaca and Pacific Railway has its line located to the City of Cuernavaca and is pushing on through the state of Guerrero to the port of Acapulco. In the peninsula of Yucatan, the lines connecting Campeche and Merida are nearly finished; while the port of Progreso has rail communication with Merida."

Financial Condition of Mexican Railways.-Our railroads are doing. remarkably well, and their traffic, especially domestic, is daily increas

ing and grows in much larger proportion than the foreign, or international traffic; and they are paying the interest on their debt, which is due and paid in gold, notwithstanding that they collect their freights in silver, which has been for several years at a great discount, losing at the present rate of exchange about one hundred per cent. in the operation; but their business is such that they can afford to suffer that loss.

In the statistical section of this paper will be found a list of our railroads, their mileage, earnings, and several other data, showing that they are in a prosperous condition, all of which will be of interest to those who desire to have a more intimate acquaintance with the railway system of Mexico. I will only insert here the following statement of the annual building and earnings of the Mexican railways, supplementing it with a comparative statement showing the tonnage moved by the principal railway lines, for the ten years ending December 31, 1896, which shows a great increase in their business, and consequently in their earnings.

COMPARATIVE STATEMENT, SHOWING APPROXIMATE TONNAGE MOVED BY THE UNDERMENTIONED RAILWAYS FOR THE TEN YEARS

ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1896.

(Compiled from published reports and information furnished by the respective railway companies.)

We have quite a number of miles of telegraph lines in Mexico, and our service is now as good as that of any other country. The first telegraph line built and owned in Mexico by a private company, liberally assisted by the government, extended from Veracruz to the City of Mexico. On November 5, 1851, the first section was inaugurated from the City of Mexico to Nopalucan, and on May 19, 1852, to Veracruz.

In 1853 another company established a line from the City of Mexico towards the north to Leon in the State of Guanajuato, and in 1865 a line was finished to San Luis Potosi.

In 1868 and 1869 a private company, called the " Jalisco Company established the line between the City of Mexico and Guadalajara, which was soon afterwards extended to Manzanillo and San Blas. After the restoration of the Republic in 1867, the Mexican government began to

build lines to the principal centres of population of the country, and in 1890 it bought the Jalisco line, and in 1894 the Veracruz.

From 1869 to 1876 the States of Michoacan, Oaxaca, and Zacatecas established several lines in their respective jurisdictions. When General Diaz became President in 1876, the National Telegraphic Lines only had 7927 kilometres.

In 1885 the Federal Goverment transferred to the States, without any cost, all the telegraphic lines which were considered of local interest, keeping only such as could be called trunk lines.

In 1893 we had 37,880 English miles of telegraph lines, of which 24,840 belonged to the Federal Government, the remainder belonging in about equal parts to the States, private companies and railways.

The following statement, which I take from the Anuario Estadistico de la Republica Mexicano, 1895, shows the telegraphic lines belonging to the Federal Government, to the States, to private companies and to railroads :

On November 30, 1896, the total mileage of our telegraph lines was, according to the President's report of that date, 45,000 kilometres, 27,962 English miles, and that amount was increased, according to the President's message of April 1, 1897, to 45,259 kilometres, 28,123 miles.

In 1891 the operations of the various lines throughout the Republic involved the transmission of 1,050,000 messages, of which about 800,ooo were private, and the remainder official. The receipts from this branch of the public service amounted to $469,305 collected at 767 offices; the expenditure included for repairs an average of $3 per kilometre, and for salaries a total of $671,431.

The proceeds of the Federal telegraphic lines were, according to President Diaz's report of November 30, 1896, as follows:

In the statistical portion of this paper will be found a detail statement of the earnings and expenses of the national telegraphic lines of

Mexico for the 27 fiscal years which elapsed from July 1, 1869, to June 30, 1896, and such data as it is possible to obtain for the ten years which elapsed from July 1, 1869, to June 30, 1879.

Cables.-Up to 1887 there was no communication between Mexico and foreign countries. In 1880 the Mexican Cable Co. built their cables from Galveston to Tampico, Veracruz and Coatzacoalcos, on the Gulf of Mexico, and a telegraphic line from Coatzacoalcos to Salina Cruz, on the Pacific, which was extended to Central and South America. Cables had been laid between Jicalango and El Carmen and between the rivers Grijalva and Coatzacoalcos, and now through those cables we are in direct communication with the United States and Europe.

POSTAL SERVICE.

Our postal service has improved considerably of late. It was until recently quite imperfect on account of the difficult and expensive ways of communication. It used to be slow and so expensive that it was almost prohibitory, and up to 1870 the single postage of a letter, weighing one quarter an ounce was 25 cents, and double for any distance exceeding sixty miles. After Mexico entered into the Universal Postal Union, in 1870, the postage of letters for foreign countries was reduced to 5 cents, and that reduction made it necessary to reduce the home postage from 25 to 10 cents. Recently it has been reduced again from 10 to 5 cents.

There were in the whole country, in 1883, one head post-office at the national capital, 53 first-class post-offices, 265 second class, for the most part inefficient, and 518 postal agencies, little better than useless. The entire service as it was being rendered at 837 stations. The evils resulting from the very high postage were further aggravated by the insecurity of the mails. The revenue of the postal department in that year amounted to $817,244.

The total number of post-offices and postal agencies in 1893 was 1448, and the mail pouches are now transported on railways over a total distance of 10,000 kilometres, or more than 6000 miles. Over the remaining distances in the interior the mails are conveyed either by stages or by foot or mounted carriers.

President Diaz gives in his report of November 30, 1896, the following statistics about our postal services :