not prove of special advantage to the country, mainly because the company would make no branches to connect commercial centres, and because its tariffs were exceedingly high, the average of the import freights being twenty-two cents per mile per ton. For the same reasons the road was not, in the beginning, a financial success, and its stock was sold in London, in 1879, at six pounds sterling per share of one hundred pounds; but in 1883, when the line transported a great deal of railroad material for the roads then under construction, which caused a dividend of 7 per cent. to be paid on the stock, its price went up to 150, and this fact illustrates the possibilities of Mexican roads. In the face of such discouraging facts and prospects, Boston pluck undertook to build a system of railways in Mexico, which then seemed a gigantic undertaking, but Boston proved equal to the task. The enterprising men of Boston who built the Santa Fe system were the pioneers of the Mexican railways. They built from May 1, 1880, to October 1, 1882, the 262 miles of the Sonora road, from Guaymas to Nogales, where there is a branch to Benson, Arizona, connecting it with their main system. Although, for reasons unknown to me, that road has not been a financial success, I feel sure it will be, before long, a very valuable property. About the same time several men of the Santa Fe system, and many other business men of Boston, organized in 1880 the Mexican Central Railway Company, and after obtaining a liberal grant from the Mexican Government, built in less than four years, from the 15th of September, 1880, to the 8th of March, 1884, a road from El Paso del Norte to the City of Mexico, 1224 miles-a task which seemed then as venturesome as the building of the Pacific road in this country during the Civil Warto which new lines-they can hardly be called branches-have since been added, connecting their system with the Gulf of Mexico at Tampico, which, on account of the deep water improvements now being carried out, will be one of the principal ports of Mexico on the gulf, allowing the largest steamers to coine into a bar which, before the work commenced, only drew eight feet of water, and they have under construction their line to the Pacific, as well as other important branches, which, when finished, will make a completed system of 2100 miles. One little incident will show the difficulties these pushing men had to contend with. The late Samuel J. Tilden of New York was invited by his friends to invest in this road. Not knowing much of Mexico, he decided, as a prudent man, before making the investment to post himself about the condition of the country, and as he could not go himself to Mexico, he requested his personal friend, the Hon. John Bigelow, a most competent and worthy man, to take that trip and convey to him his impressions. Unfortunately, Mr. Bigelow, notwithstanding his very high abilities and qualifications, was unfavorably impressed with the country, either because he did not remain there long enough, or because it is, in any case, very difficult for a foreigner to understand a country with which he is not familiar; and his report was adverse to the investment. Mr. Bigelow published in Harper's Magazine, of New York, for October, 1882, the result of his investigations, and thinking that he had misunderstood my country, and that his conclusions might be prejudicial to its development if I allowed it to go unchallenged, I answered his article. He then very properly said, and I of course acquiesced in it, that between two conflicting opinions about a future fact, whether investments in Mexican railroads would or would not be profitable, time alone had to decide. I venture to say that sufficient time has now elapsed to settle that question, and that although the Mexican Central Railway securities have had, like those of any other large enterprise, their ups and downs, I think their holders have every reason to be satisfied with their investment. I sincerely think they own a very valuable property, whose price would be enhanced with the lapse of time, and keep pace with the prosperity of Mexico. The National Railway, another system almost as large as the Central, has also finished its main line, is already connected with the Gulf of Mexico at Tampico, and is building a branch to the Pacific, and I consider this line also as a very valuable one. The originator of the Southern Pacific Railway system has also built, and without subsidy, a trunk line to Mexico, the International, which is now being extended towards the Pacific, and which will also prove, I have no doubt, a very valuable property. These four roads are really extensions into Mexico, and therefore Mexican feeders, of your large railway system, and they actually make of our two countries, for commercial purposes, a single territory. But owing to existing barriers to trade, the international traffic of the Mexican roads has only been about 20 per cent. of their total business. Mexico subsidized for sometime her railways, and it was thought at first that the subsidies would be merely nominal, as the condition of her finances was such that few imagined that their payment could be effected. But the resources of the country are so great, that the subsidy was not only paid in yearly instalments as agreed upon, but last year the whole of it was advanced in cash to all roads willing to receive it in that way. Let us see now how the building of roads has affected the prosperity of Mexico. The imports for the fiscal year ending the 30th of June, 1873, were $20,166,012; the exports for the same year, $31,594,005, most of them precious metals; and the federal revenue was only $15,739,239. In about fifteen years, of which only six embrace the railroad era, the foreign trade and revenue of Mexico have increased over one hundred per centum, as the imports of the fiscal year ending on the 30th of June, 1889, the last one of which official statistics have been published in Mexico, amounted to $40,624,894, the exports for the same year, two thirds being precious metals, to $60,158,423, and the federal revenue amounted to $32,745,981. The trade of Mexico with the United States has increased in still larger proportions. In the year ending June 30, 1873, we imported from the United States $5,231,254, and exported to this country $11,367,859, principally precious metals; while in the last fiscal year of which the Mexican government has published statistics, our imports from this country amounted to $22,669,420, and we exported to the United States $43,022,440. We now buy from you nearly sixty per cent. of our imports, and we sell you over eighty per cent. of our exports, and this is merely the beginning of a large development of trade between the two countries, which will assume proportions that can hardly be anticipated. But the building of roads in a country is only the beginning of its development. Mexico has entered into that path, and its results are already perceptible. Fortunately we have passed, I hope forever, the turbulent period of our revolutions. The causes which brought them about, namely, the influence of the Church in the destinies of the country, always exercised against its progress, having now disappeared, their effect will not be felt any longer, and with the assurance of peace and protection to life and property, there can be no doubt that large money investments will be made in Mexico. Since capital from this country, and especially from Boston, has assisted her in building her roads, it is to be hoped that such assistance will not stop there, but continue its wholesome work and build manufactories, operate mines, and take up many other new enterprises mutually profitable. The means of communication already being established, 1 hope that commercial development will follow. Two neighboring republics occupying the main portion, if not the whole, of the North American continent, which are contiguous for nearly two thousand miles, divided only by an imaginary line, producing each what the other needs, and connected by several systems of railways, must before long agree to lessen the present barriers to traffic, and when that is done the trade between the two will surprise the world. It is my wish that such a consummation shall not be delayed much longer. |