carrying firearms—the business of mexico—its management by foreigners—real-estate and mining booms—foreign capital—imports and exports.
i spoke of carrying pistols; i am not in favour of it, but when working a large body of men, as we do here, and of the class of these people, i think it wise, as the very fact that you are known to have one will often keep you out of trouble. for the people are treacherous, and you can never tell at what moment some man with whom you have had trouble will decide to take his revenge, generally when he has you at a disadvantage. here is an instance from the mexican herald: "george t. jennings, superintendent for the pacific lumber company, was shot and instantly killed by a mexican workman at one of the company’s camps in the culiacan district of the state of michoacan on 19th march.... the shooting was done by a workman just discharged.... a second telegram states that the murderer has been captured, seriously wounded." probably mr. jennings managed to shoot as he fell.
they do not understand fair play, but think a man who does not take all the advantage he can get is a 258fool. even in affairs of honour some of them will take all they can get, though the following is an exceptional case: some time ago burns, an american, had a quarrel with martinez, a mexican, son of a wealthy hacendado (ranchman) of guadalajara. burns was manager for a mining company at ayutla, a town near here, and young martinez had charge of his father’s ranch at that place. they were in love with the same girl, quarrelled over her one evening, and decided to fight a duel. they were both armed, and agreed to walk together to a secluded place on some side-street and shoot it out. on the way martinez, who was walking a little behind the other, drew his pistol and shot burns twice in the back, and then fled; burns, though badly wounded, turned and emptied his pistol at the fleeing man without effect. this was burns’ dying statement. martinez lay out in the hills for a few days, then came in and gave himself up as soon as he heard that burns was dead. his family moved heaven and earth, and he is now out a free man. yet this is the second man he has killed by shooting in the back, as it became known later.
though we overstepped our rights in defending our work, it is nothing to the way the gente fino treat the peon class. i was once after duck near here, on a ranch where i had a permit to shoot. at the lake there was a mexican of the peon class shooting mud-hens, 259and unconsciously aiding us as he kept the ducks moving. the owner of the ranch and his foreman happened to come riding by, and asked if the peon was of our party; when we said “no” the owner told the foreman to run him off. the foreman rode up to the man and ordered him off, telling him to run; then, as he was not going fast enough, he rode over the man, knocking him down. the poor fellow picked himself up and fled for his life, but in texas that foreman would have been a poor insurance risk. mexicans of the lower class, in spite of their poverty, are great spendthrifts. we have a man who has been with us four years. he started at 45 cents per day, and has worked up to $2.75 per day, which he has been getting now for over two years. i asked him one day if he had any money saved up. he replied, "i have $10." i asked him why he did not lay by $1 per day, which he could easily do, having no one but himself and one sister to support, and that he would have nearly $400 at interest by the end of the year. he replied, "if i had $400 all at one time i would go crazy."
mexicans control very little of the business of their own country except that of agriculture. the mining is nearly all in the hands of english and american companies, with a few mines in the hands of other foreigners, notably the french. the street railways 260and electric power and light companies are also in the hands of canadians, englishmen, and americans, except one belonging to a chinese company. what is called in the states the drygoods (clothing, &c.) business is almost entirely in the hands of frenchmen, as also are nearly all the cotton mills. the hardware business, including that of agricultural implements, the foundries and the machine shops are nearly all in the hands of germans, with a sprinkling of americans and spaniards. the spaniards run most of the small stores, and you generally find spaniards as managers of the big ranches, so that the mexican cuts a very small figure in the industry of his own country. they own, of course, most of the land, fill all the government offices, and for the rest are the clerks and labourers of the country; and this is what makes them dislike the foreigner who comes into their country to take all the good things which they consider as their own, though they will not make use of them themselves, and will not invest their money in new undertakings; but when a business is sure, then they want it all for themselves, and howl that the foreigner is stealing their country.
all real-estate and mining booms are handled by americans, who are, i suppose, the greatest boomers on earth. but when the bottom drops out of the boom, as often happens, you rarely see the wily american 261holding the sack, for he generally manages to unload on the natives whom he has succeeded in getting all stirred up. the latter hold on too long and get caught—like the southerner whose slave before the war had tried to buy his freedom with some money he had saved up, but as he was a good man his master was loth to part with him. then the war broke out, and as it approached its end the master changed his mind. he sent for the slave and said, “sam, you remember you asked to buy your freedom some time ago. i have been thinking the matter over, and i have come to the conclusion that i did not act right by you. you have been such a good and faithful servant that i have decided to accede to your request.” the nigger scratched his head, rubbed one leg with the other, and finally said, "massa, i did want to buy myself, but ah been studying erbout it lately too, an ah come to de clusion dat niggah prop’ty am not good investment just at present."
the way real estate has jumped in this city during the last eight years is simply astounding. land that could be bought once for 17 cents a square metre sold within four years for $8 per metre, though i must say that the promoters had spent $1 per metre on improvements before they sold. since the revolution prices have fallen badly, but will pick up again as soon as confidence is restored.
262the day for selling and booming unimproved suburban property seems to have passed here as well as in los angeles. nowadays, if one wants to start a new subdivision, or colonia, as it is called here, one has to lay out the streets and pave them with asphalt, or something nearly as good, put in cement side-walks, instal a complete water and sewer system, and when that is done you are ready to sell lots; but with a well-picked site and plenty of capital it is a most profitable undertaking even to-day in mexico. i have seen in los angeles men laying out cement side-walks and paving the streets in the middle of an orange orchard, the lots of which would be sold later, snapped up, and the entire place built upon within the course of a few months. i have seen the same thing here, all but the building, in the colonia moderna, the land i spoke of above. the lots were nearly all sold within a year, but the building has been slow, as most of the land was bought for still further speculation at even higher prices. i mentioned above that foreigners own the greater part of the industries of the country, and the following few figures will give a clearer idea of what i mean. the mexican government having no statistical department, it is hard to get really accurate figures as to foreign investments in the country. the following figures, however, are most reliable, being compiled partly by the canadian bank of commerce (for the 263benefit of its directors and stockholders), and published in its annual report, and partly from other trustworthy sources. the foreign capital (which is over seventy per cent. of the entire capital of the country) invested in this republic is drawn from the following sources.
british, including canadian, $350,000,000, about 60 per cent. being invested in railways, 15 per cent. in mining, and 25 per cent. in agricultural and other enterprises.
the united states about $500,000,000, about 35 per cent. invested in railways, 45 per cent. in mining, and the balance in other industries.
german, french, austrian, spanish, italian, belgian, and dutch (in the order named) about $150,000,000, invested largely in bank stocks, in manufactures, and in wholesale and retail trade. the united states, of course, leads, being such a close neighbour, but england, with the help of canada, has nothing to be ashamed of. still there is a large and profitable market for england to investigate more fully, as her exports to this country are not in the same proportion. the last figures available of the imports and exports of this country are, the former, $97,428,500, and the latter, $130,028,000. mexico produces many minerals, and the report last year of this production shows: gold, $22,507,477; silver, $38,555,000; copper, $10,191,500; other minerals, $9,946,000.
264guadalajara is bound eventually to become a great manufacturing city, owing to the cheap electrical power which can be generated from the river close by. up till last year 9500 horse-power was brought into the city, and the company charged from two cents to seven cents per kilowatt, according to the amount used, but it has been estimated that the river can supply power up to 200,000 horse-power, and a plant has just been completed which adds 50,000 horse-power to the 9500 horse-power we had before. another industry which should bring great wealth to the country is the raising of eucalyptus trees for use in making railroad ties, mine timbers, and for furniture. in california the santa fe railroad has planted 40,000 acres with these trees, and now the mexican central railway and the amparo mining company have followed suit, and the business is also being taken up by private parties. it is claimed that in three years a tree grown here is fit for telegraph poles, and in five years is big enough for railroad ties. as there is no timber in this section suitable for ties, this alone will give a good market. the southern pacific railway, which is building a road from mazatlan to guadalajara, had to import the ties it needed from california and from japan. it is stated that eucalyptus makes a growth of three inches in diameter and fifteen feet in height each year for the first five years or so, 265and needs very little care after the first year; an acre yields $4500 in seven years, or nearly $643 per acre per year, and the trees can be raised on soil that is not suitable for any other crop. even supposing this estimate as much as threefold sanguine, still eucalyptus is even better than strawberries (which are grown all the year round, and sold here), though a man here who has a thirty-acre tract, part in berries and part in alfalfa, clears $5000 net per year off it. a man with brains, a fair amount of capital, and energy should do well here, and the climate is the finest that i have encountered in twenty years’ wanderings in canada and the states, even superior to that of california either in winter or summer. during the rainy season, which is from about the middle of june till the end of september, the rainfall is about thirty-five inches, but, curiously enough, during this entire season there will not be more than half-a-dozen days in which it will rain during the daylight hours. the days are sunshiny, bright, and delightfully cool; then about four or five p.m. it will begin to cloud over, and the rain will commence about seven to nine p.m., and continue a steady downpour till sunrise, when it will clear up as if by magic.
