Chapter XVIII: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.