Mexico

Besides the iron and steel works (at Monterey) and the to bacco factories, the cotton mills may be considered among the most important agencies of production. In 1923 there were 109 of these with a working personnel of 39,629 and provided with 29,668 looms, having 802,363 spindles ; altogether they consumed 23,343,701 kilos of cotton yielding 28,567,596 kilos of products sold for $97,562,594. In 1925 the figures were 130 mills, workmen, 30,800 looms, 831,524 spindles, 40,996,834 kilos of cotton consumed and 33,576,583 kilos of products worth Commerce.—According to official Government statistics for eign trade in pesos was as follows for the years 1921-25:-- The increase in 1926, compared with the figures for the pre revolutionary years is about 115.65%, although, of course, the decreased purchasing power of the peso has to be considered. The leading articles of exportation, as might be expected, were minerals such as oil, silver, gold, copper, zinc ; the vegetable ones, sisal hemp, coffee, rubber, chicle, cabinet woods, tobacco, sugar, cattle and hides. Imports consist largely of manufactured ar ticles, such as machinery and tools, textiles, cotton, grain, auto mobiles, drugs, furniture, coal, etc. Trade with the United States was as follows in millions of pesos:— The Laguna district (Coahuila, Durango) used to be the leading cotton-producing area, but since 1922 Lower California has out ranked it. The value of the cotton crop for 1923 was Yucatan produces seven-eighths of the Sisal hemp of the world; the value of the 1925 crop was more than Indian corn is grown everywhere in Mexico and the value of the crop is generally around $200,000,000. Veracruz is the leading State in sugar production, its output being more than double that of Sinaloa, the next ranking State.

The total value of the lumber, including precious woods, from the forests in 1925 was about $1,800,000. The chicle production passed from 2,110 tons in 1921 to 4,412 tons in 1925, the market value of the latter being $7,895,516.

Manufactures.

Considering the possibilities of the country, especially its abundance of raw materials, its water power, and cheap labour, Mexico is far from being industrially developed. Nevertheless a large proportion of the needs of the country can already be met by existing local manufactures. Some of these wares, such as pottery, some forms of tobacco, saddles, candles, soap, chocolate and others, are still fashioned as they were before the Conquest or in the first years of the Spanish occupation. Others such as zarapes, rebozos, glass and shoes, are made accord ing to more or less modern methods. For other categories of articles the mode of manufacture is quite up-to-date, as for ex Germany, France and Spain following in order of importance. Although the commercial balance seems to be in favour of Mex ico, it must not be forgotten that most of the companies, exploit ing Mexican wealth, are foreign and that their profits are of rela tively small advantage to the republic. Here are some compara tive data, in pesos, on the exportation of Mexican products for the years 1921 and 1925:— The importance still attached to alimentary products brought from foreign countries is an evident proof that agriculture is not yet sufficiently developed in Mexico. For the year 1925 Mexico paid $5,379,333 for Indian corn, $5,261,008 for wheat, $3,621,827 for flour, $4,571,084 for preserves of all kinds, $2,224,015 for eggs, etc. It was also necessary to import lumber to the value of about $9,000,000; but the bulk of the imports, as said above, is made of manufactured products. In 1923 Mexico bought 9,363 automo

biles, worth $7,801,822, in 1924, worth $11,892,131 and in 1925, 23,501, worth $25,935,032.

Communications and Transportation.

In 1925 Mexico had 20,972 M. of railways (19,719 in 1910)—the second highest mileage in Latin America, though still very inadequate to the needs of a country of so few navigable rivers. The development of the Mexican railways is due almost entirely to the statesmanship of Porfirio Diaz. The first railroad, built in 1854, was the line connecting Mexico City with its suburb, Guadalupe. In 1909 most lines were put under direct Federal control under the name of National Railways of Mexico (National, Inter-oceanic, Inter national, Veracruz-Pacific, Central and some others, totalling about 14,000 m.). Other lines are the Northern Mexico, Kansas City-Mexico & Orient, United Railways of Yucatan, etc. Freight carried by the different lines, with returns, amounted to: The total revenues derived from these lines was $118,429,234 in 1923, as against $150,622,239 in 1922. More railways are neces sary, the Yucatan peninsula, among other regions, being without railway connection with the rest of the country. Modern tram way lines are found in all the important cities. The tramways of Mexico City carried 48,553,048 passengers in 1924 and earned Airmail service between San Antonio, Dallas, Laredo and Fort Worth, Texas, in the United States, and cities in the interior of Mexico was inaugurated Oct. 1, 1928.

At the end of 1925 there were 53,554 automobiles in Mexico. Telegraph and telephone lines, under Federal control, totalled 55,394 m. of wire in 1921, while the State-owned and private lines added 20,706 m. of wire to the former. 5,698,026 telegrams went over the lines in 1924. There are 24 radio-telegraphic stations in the republic, through which 250,392 communications were sent in 1924. Mexico City has 24,500 telephones and there are 50,360 in the whole country.

BIBLioGRAPHy.—Alexander von Humboldt, Voyage aux regions equi noxiales du nouveau continent (1809) ; A. Garcia Cubas, Cuadro geo graft° de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (Mexico, 1889) ; E. von Hesse Wartegg, Mexico, Land and Leute (Vienna 1890) ; Elisee Reclus, The Earth and its Inhabitants, vol. xvii. (1891) ; Berghaus, Physikalischer Atlas (Gotha, 1892) ; E. Seler, Mexico and Guatemala (1896) ; Roland Bonaparte and others, Le Mexique an debut du X Xe siecle (1898) ; F. Starr, Indians of Southern Mexico (Chicago 2899) ; R. de Zayas En riquez, Los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (Mexico 1899) ; Carl Lumholtz, Unknown Mexico (1902) ; Justo Sierra and others, Mexico; its Social Evolution (Mexico 1904) ; J. G. Aguilera, "Apercu sur la geologie du Mexique pour servir d'explication a la carte geologique de l'Amerique du Nord," Compte-Rendu du Congres geologique international (Xe session, 1906) ; R. de Zayas Enriquez, El Estado de Yucatan (New York, 1908) ; Auguste Genin, Notes sur le Mexique (Mexico 1908-10) ; T. Philip Terry, Mexico (Guide) (Boston 1909) ; R. F. Martin, Mexico in the 20th Century (1907) ; H. Gadow, Travels in Southern Mexico (1908) ; R. Aguilar y Santillan, Bibliografia geologica y minera de la RepUblica Mexicana (1908) ; G. Buschan, Illustrierte Volker kunde, vol. iii. (Stuttgart, 1922) ; Max. Sorre, Mexique et Amerique Centrale (Paris, 1928) ; see also official publications on Mexican statistics. (G. C. E.) For ancient Mexico before the Spanish Conquest see the articles :7ENTRAL AMERICA, Archaeology, Ethnology; and NORTH AMER [CA, Anthropology.