TRANSPORTATION
The position of Mexico on the western continent is so commanding as
to assure it an ever-growing participation in the world’s commerce.
With the coming of the locomotive a wilderness was transformed into a
busy world. Eager miners have peopled the hills; industrious tillers,
the fruitful valleys; the lumbermen have taken from the forests great
timbers; a chain of central marts has stretched from border to border,
joined by the magic steel way; and in many sections great industries
have been established to convert raw products into materials demanded
by modern civilization. The transformation has been complete and has
given birth to new ambitions and imparted new energies to the people.
The development of the material resources of a nation is directly
dependent on the means of transportation and communication which it
possesses. For centuries the great mineral wealth of Mexico has been
liberally exploited and means of transportation secured, beginning with
the forced labor of the Indians enslaved by the conquerors and passing
through the intermediate stages of muleback and wagon-road till the
modern railway appeared, to take the treasures of the mountain afar.
Vast as these resources were, they were little better than wasted
treasure without the means of transportation to domestic and foreign
markets.
The great change in means of transportation came late to Mexico.
Political troubles long dominated national thought and absorbed the
energy of the people. It was not until 1873, that the first railroad
was opened from Mexico to Vera Cruz. From the moment that settled
political conditions had been secured the people of Mexico turned to
the task of developing railroad transportation and during the terms
of General Diaz the extension of railroads has assumed a leading and
constant policy of the government, the fruits of which are manifest
in commerce, which has been enormously expanded; the active wealth
of the nation increased; new industries introduced; cities and towns
established and the general comfort and convenience of the people
greatly augmented. With this enterprise in land transportation, there
has been a persistent activity in providing port and harbor facilities.
The progress and management of the railroads have always been
assiduously observed by the government and the laws controlling them
have been justly and liberally applied. Nevertheless, many conditions
have operated to prevent a uniformly direct and efficient supervision
commensurate with the growing importance of the service.
In order to protect the people of Mexico, the government deemed it a
duty to acquire a more efficient control by ownership of stock. In
1902, the government purchased five million dollars of the stock of
the Interoceanic Railway, which was to become the pivotal operation on
which turned the great merger-system. In 1903, the Minister of Finance
concluded negotiations with the interests in control of the National
Railroad, which were making strenuous efforts to obtain control of the
Interoceanic, by which the government acquired the majority holding in
the National, which system was to be reorganized, the government giving
as part consideration for its purchase the Interoceanic stock. It was
expected that this degree of intervention would be sufficient to enable
the government to prevent harmful combination of ownership.
In 1906, the Mexican Central road was threatened with absorption by
American financiers, an outcome that would be exceedingly in opposition
to the policy of the government. A plan was adopted by Congress
providing for the consolidation of the National and the Central
systems by means of a new company, entirely Mexican, the majority of
the shares in which the government should own. This plan required no
cash payment for such shares, but the stock of the government in the
National reverted to the new company and the government guaranteed an
issue of bonds by it. The new concern was incorporated in July, 1907,
with a bond capital of eight hundred and thirty-four millions and share
capital of four hundred and sixty millions, Mexican currency value.
[Illustration: OLDEST RAILWAY STATION IN THE WORLD, CUAUTLA.]
The merged systems included in the National Railways of Mexico are
the former Mexican Central, the National, the International, the
Interoceanic, and the Hidalgo and Northeastern, whose combined mileage
is seven thousand and twelve. Besides these, the absolute ownership of
the Tehuantepec National and the Vera Cruz and Isthmus Road is vested
in the government. The result of this master-policy is that seventy
per cent. of the trackage of roads built under concessions from the
National Government is now either actually owned or controlled by it.
The National Railways of Mexico offer six different routes between the
United States and Mexico. A distinguished American, Mr. E. N. Brown, is
the President of the National Railways.
The importance of control of the railroads by the government cannot
be overestimated in considering the development of the country. It
operates as a salutary check on the independent roads in the matter of
tolls and as an incentive to better service and enlarged facilities;
it was an indispensable policy in view of the ineffectual control or
supervision possible under the general railway law, if the government
would regulate the management of railways, to secure proper advantages
to Mexico, and prevent the growth of corporate influence which might
even menace that of the government. The broad national policy assures
full protection to industries, to capitalists, and to communities
by protection against arbitrary regulations, discriminations, and
the rest of the great brood of evils that have attended the march of
railroad financing in the United States. It will tend to general and
steady development of newer sections as the result of a comprehensive
oversight that will extend inland facilities for national development
to the full limit of the powers of the government and settlers, and
investors will not be slow to realize the great advantages to them of
stable progressive transportation facilities.
[Illustration: NOCHISTONGO CUT, BUILT BY THE AZTECS TO DRAIN
THE VALLEY OF MEXICO.]
Of the Board of Directors, twelve reside in Mexico and nine in New
York. This progressive move is part of the general effort being made
throughout Mexico to arrange for adequate land and sea transportation
of its products. New lines of railway are being opened up in the
interior on the west coast to meet the requirements of new steamship
connections, either established or projected. Additional steamers
are being put upon services already operating and branch connections
are being made over new land routes. The Tehuantepec Railway, which
crosses the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, carrying freights received from
the steamship lines plying between the great ports of the United
States and the eastern and western termini, transported during the
first year of its operation merchandise to the value of between
twenty-five and thirty million dollars, and in the second year to the
value of thirty-eight million dollars. This road, which is nearly
one hundred and ninety miles in length, was constructed chiefly with
British capital and controlled, in part at least, by the Mexican
Government, and was built for the specific purpose of handling freight
between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. The harbor of Salina Cruz,
the Pacific terminus of this railway, is equipped with breakwaters
inclosing a harbor area of over one hundred and thirty acres, of which
ninety-six have a depth of thirty-three feet, and a drydock capable of
accommodating the largest ship on the Pacific Ocean. The wharves are
furnished with electric derricks and every modern appliance for the
handling of the enormous traffic of the Tehuantepec line.
[Illustration: ROCK BELOW CHONEBRIDGE, MEXICAN NATIONAL
RAILWAY.]
Principal roads which are not included in the Government’s merger
are the Mexican, the pioneer road in the republic, extending from
Mexico City to Vera Cruz; the Vera Cruz and Isthmus, from Cordoba to
Santa Lucrecia, and its branch line from Vera Cruz to Tierra Blanca
on its main line; the Pan-American, from Gamboa, Oaxaca, to the
Guatemalan frontier; and the Tehuantepec National from the gulf port
of Puerto Mexico to Salina Cruz on the Pacific. On the west coast is
the great system of the Southern Pacific of Mexico which connects
Nogales, Arizona, with Guadalajara, Jalisco. Short gaps are now
under construction. The trade is constantly increasing and there are
improvements in the service.
This system opens up a magnificent country of boundless and
varied resources unsurpassably rich in minerals and agricultural
possibilities, capable of sustaining in prosperity several million
people. It is a country with a great future that borders on the
present. Another great system in course of completion is the Kansas
City, Mexico and Orient Line, whose route within Mexico extends six
hundred and thirty-five miles from Presidio del Norte on the Rio Grande
to the port of Topolobampo, in Sinaloa.
Altogether there are some fifty railroads in operation within the
republic and the work of extension and construction is in constant
progress. The mere statement of systems, routes and mileage affords
but a meagre and uninforming presentment of the great transportation
facilities in Mexico.
[Illustration: TEQUIXQUIAC TUNNEL.]
On December 12, 1908, President Diaz formally opened the new railroad
from Guadalajara to Manzanillo.
The rail communication established between Guadalajara and Colima and
thence over the line already in operation to Manzanillo gives Mexico
a second transcontinental railway connecting the two oceans. The
Tehuantepec Railway is, of course, the principal and shortest route
across the continent, but now it becomes possible to leave the steamer
at Tampico or Vera Cruz and to travel overland through Guadalajara to
Manzanillo with only two changes of cars.
[Illustration: CAÑON WEST SALAZAR, NATIONAL RAILWAY.]
Increased exports of native products, including sugar, are reported
since the opening of the rail connections to the coast, and large
shipments of wheat are being received in Guadalajara and Zapotlan.
Steamship communication with Pacific ports and those of China and Japan
have been inaugurated, and Manzanillo, as a port of entry, will receive
much merchandise which formerly had to be forwarded overland from
Tampico.
Manzanillo is one of the oldest and most celebrated ports of the
republic. When the important port-works at Manzanillo are terminated
it will be one of the best equipped and most desirable harbors on the
Pacific Coast. The port-works are being built by Colonel E. K. Smoot,
an American engineer.
This operation has been in the course of construction since 1899,
and when completed will give the harbor an area of one hundred and
sixty-five acres and a depth of thirty-nine feet, thus enabling it to
accommodate seagoing vessels of deep draught. The breakwater is one of
the largest of its kind in the world, surpassing those of Cherbourg,
France, and Plymouth, England. It is four hundred metres long, one
hundred wide, and twenty-four deep, constructed of large stones and
granite blocks weighing from fifty to sixty tons each.
Within the coast lines of two thousand eight hundred miles on the
Pacific and one thousand six hundred miles on the Gulf of Mexico
and the Caribbean Sea, Mexico has no less than twenty-four ports on
the Gulf of Mexico and thirty-one on the Pacific Ocean. Most of the
natural harbors of Mexico are on the Pacific side, among them the
splendid Bay of Acapulco, considered one of the most beautiful of the
world. While the Atlantic side offers but few natural ports, some of
them, especially Vera Cruz, and Tampico, have been improved and made
accessible, so much so, that these two ports are now the most important
commercial centres.
Following are the ports of entry open to foreign trade, the other ports
handling coastwise trade only:
GULF PORTS: Campeche, Coatzacoalcos (Puerto Mexico), Chetumal,
Frontera, Isla del Carmen, Isla de Mujeres, Progreso, Puerto Morelos,
Tampico, Tuxpan, and Vera Cruz.
PACIFIC PORTS: Acapulco, Altata, Bahia de la Magdelena, Guaymas, La
Paz, Manzanillo, Mazatlan, Puerto Angel, Salina Cruz, San Blas, Santa
Rosalia, Todos los Santos, Tonala and San Benito.
Mexico may be reached from the sea by several lines, either from New
York or the Gulf ports of the United States, or via San Francisco, or
by one of the numerous lines plying between European and Mexican ports.
[Illustration: VIEW ON THE INTEROCEANIC RAILWAY.]
The New York and Cuba Mail Steamship Company, Ward Line, maintains a
regular service between New York and Vera Cruz and other Mexican ports.
The fleet of the Ward Line has an aggregate tonnage of nearly
seventy-five thousand. This embraces as staunch, fast and comfortable
ships as are operated from any port in the world. They are
full-powered, of the most modern construction, built expressly for this
service, and offer all the luxury of travel combined with the greatest
degree of safety.
[Illustration: DRY DOCK, SALINA CRUZ.]
The ships of this company are all built under contract with the United
States Government and are required to undergo a rigid examination
by naval officers before being placed in the service. They are
exceptionally seaworthy vessels, and as, in the event of war, powerful
batteries would be installed on them, they are necessarily strongly
built. The service of the company is well known. Passengers who go by
the Ward Line for the first time do not fail to remark the unusual
interest taken in their comfort and enjoyment of the voyage by the
officers of the ship, and the exceptional attention of the stewards and
attendants. It is this hospitable solicitude for the welfare of its
patrons and the splendid cuisine and comfortable quarters that make the
general passenger-service of the company equal in all respects to that
of a high-class hotel.
The itinerary of the Ward Line is very complete, covering, with
railroad connections, practically all points in Mexico.
The largest and fastest steamers are operated in the express service
between New York and Vera Cruz; steamers call at Havana, Cuba, and
Progreso, Mexico. At Vera Cruz, the terminal of this route, rail
connections are made with the Mexican Railway and the Interoceanic
Railway, connecting with the Mexican Southern Railway for all interior
points. Direct steamers ply between New York and Tampico, Mexico.
There is a fast freight line running from London direct to Havana,
Puerto Mexico, Vera Cruz and Tampico, with sailings every four weeks.
This belongs to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company and is one of the
oldest steamship lines touching Mexican ports. It dates back to 1840,
and was one time a passenger service between England and Mexico.
The Mexican-American Steamship Company, the Wolvin Line, the
Compania Transatlantica and the Compania Mexicana de Navegacion, the
American-Hawaiian Steamship Company have established regular steamers
to Mexico.
The Munson Steamship Line to Cuba and Mexico has contracted with the
Mexican Government for a service of at least two round trips per month
between ports of the United States on the Atlantic Coast or the Gulf of
Mexico and one or more Mexican Gulf ports. The term of the contract is
for three years from January, 1909.
[Illustration: TELEGRAPH OFFICE IN THE FEDERAL DISTRICT.]
On the Pacific side, the Pacific Mail Steamship Company provides the
means of communication, its steamers sail regularly every ten days from
San Francisco, calling at Mazatlan, San Blas, Manzanillo, Acapulco, and
Salina Cruz, making the run from San Francisco to Salina Cruz in eleven
days, while the time employed between San Francisco and the other
ports varies according to their respective distances. This company have
established a through service from San Francisco to Panama, making the
trip much shorter.
This offers a splendid chance to see the Pacific side of Mexico. The
steamers are luxurious and pass through the most tropical part of the
republic. This is a favorite route to New York, as it touches at Panama
and connects with the Panama Railroad and Steamship Line for New York.
The steamers of this line are noted for comfort and elegance.
The Panama Railroad is the great International highway between the
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and gives the passengers an opportunity of
seeing the famous Panama Canal now under construction.
The Pacific Coast Steamship Company’s vessels leave San Francisco
on the seventh of every month, calling at Ensenada, Magdalena Bay,
Mazatlan, Altata, La Paz, Topolobampo, Santa Rosalia and Guaymas. The
steamers of the Kosmos Line sail from San Francisco every two or three
weeks and call at Mazatlan, San Blas, Manzanillo, Acapulco, Salina
Cruz, Tonala and San Benito.
The Jebsen Line issues through bills of lading to all interior points
and passenger tickets into Mexico via the newly-opened railways from
Manzanillo.
Several lines of steamers maintain a regular coastwise service between
the different ports of Mexico, the most important of these being the
Campania Naviera del Pacifico, which is subsidized by the Mexican
Government.
The French Steamship Company, the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique,
has inaugurated a regular freight service between France and Puerto
Mexico, the Atlantic terminal of the Tehuantepec Railway.
The Italian Navigation Company of Genoa also has in contemplation a
steamer service to Puerto Mexico.
It is from this port that Hawaiian sugar shipped over the Isthmian
route is forwarded on the Atlantic side. The sugar is carried by the
American-Hawaiian Steamship Company to Salina Cruz on a schedule
providing for three steamers a month, with an average cargo of twelve
thousand tons each. It is estimated that over three hundred and
seventy-five thousand tons of sugar were handled over the Tehuantepec
Railroad in 1910. Additional ships are to be added to the Honolulu, San
Francisco, and Salina Cruz service, as the requirements of the traffic
make it necessary.
In the month of November, 1908, Congress passed a law establishing a
system of receipts for postal money orders both at home and abroad, the
former being inaugurated February 1, 1909, and the latter, embracing
Canada, Germany, France, Great Britain and Salvador, on March 1, 1909.
Through the German service a system of postal money orders was also
established between Mexico and Turkey, and the parcels-post rates with
Germany are modified.
The federal telegraph lines in the republic have an extension of
forty thousand and six hundred and forty miles and new offices are
being opened in accordance with the needs of the service. Government
adherence to the International Wireless Convention, signed at Berlin,
Germany, November 30, 1906, has been announced. Wireless telegraph
stations have been installed in Lower California, placing that district
in communication with the rest of the republic.
Señor Camilo Gonzalez is the director of the Federal Telegraph of
Mexico and under his splendid supervision the system has been much
improved. In June, 1900, there were two million eight hundred and
thirty-three thousand two hundred and ninety-six messages transmitted
and in the same month of 1910, four million four hundred and sixty-six
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six messages were sent.
[Illustration: TOMASOPO CAÑON.]
[Illustration: THE GOVERNOR’S PALACE.]
[Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL.]