Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1881-05-13
What Can the Yankee DO In Mexico
Unless he Governs 1t?
PhilndeIphtn Record

English capitalists who have invested
money in industrial enterprises in Mexico
or in Mexican Government loans have
not conceived high opinion of the
profitablenesS of such ventures. As old
birds, who in their callower days have
been caught with chaff, they turn doubt
full eyes on the enterprises which Ameri-
can speculatOrs are now undertaking for
the development of the material resources
of Mexico. The expedition of General
Grant in the interest of railroad un-
dertakings backed by American
capital has drawn renewed
attention to the condition of
haps, worth while to pause moment,
in considering the roseate prospects set
before investors in projected Mexican
railways, to give attention to the expe-
Tience of others who have been before
us in exploiting the field into which we
are about to enter. We are reminded
that the social condition of Mexico puts
bar in the way of commercial progress.
The owners of the land in that country
are in large part absentees. The great
lands are occupied. The bad lands are in
good part arid wastes. The government
railway subsidies promised to American
companies cannot be paid in money,
and, if paid in land, can only be valu-
able for mineral development. The
Spaniards have tried Mexico, and, after
having exhausted it of such accumulat-
ed wealth as could either be converted
to immediate use or carried away, have
given up their holdings. English and
French merchants have never been able
to push their trade beyond the certain
inert limit which seems to mark the DOS.
sible extent Of Mexican development.
The German traders, with an industrious
thrift which only the Chinese excel,
though they are of late years pushing
aside competitors, find barren field be-
fore them. What can the Yankee do in
Mexico unless he governs it? The repel.
liant qualities of the native population
have been well displayed on our Texas
frontier. 1t was long doubtful game
whether the process of Mexicanization
or AmericanIzation in its Yankee form
of manifestation should prove the gre
vailing force on the borders of the Rio
Grande. 1t is possible that General
Grant and the capitalists who are
employing him may be looking
quite beyond the aims which they choose
to make public to a possible cession,
protectorate, or even seizure of a por.
tion of Northern Mexico. During Gen.
Grants Presidency a scheme compre-
hending the addition of the State of
Sonora to the territory of the United
States was seriously entertained. What.
ever may be the intention of the
present movement of American
capitalists, the results cannot be
jumped at. If we may Judge
of what will be by what has
been, it would seem a safer policy
to invest money within our own terri
tory. Unless the power of the govern
ment is behind the adventurous compa-
MES who put their loose cash into i'm
provements controlled by the unstable
central authority of the Mexican repub-
lie, they can never tell what day
change of rulers may make their hold
ings hazardous. The costly nature of
government Intervention has been re-
Gently illustrated by the failure of the
French experiment under the manage
ment of Bazaine and Macmillan.