Omaha daily bee., 1883-02-05

A Glorious Future Predicted
for Our Neighboring Re-
public.
The Country Considered Political
ly, Socially and Financially.

sorts Of contradictory statements have
come to. us. Mexico has by turns
been represented as a paradise and an
inferno, the land In which to make
millions and that In which to lose
them, the country with nothing but a
past aud the country with q glorious
future. 1t Is in many ways an inter.
esting place, and all additional infor.
nation Is eagerly read whether gloom
lily written or rose.tinted. The view
which Il. s. Thurstcn, one of the
leading civil engineers of the Mexican
Central railroad, takes of the country
Of his adoption is decidedly of the
latter happy character, as the follow.
ing report of an interview will show.
1t was arranged between the inter-
viewed aud interviewer that Mexican
affairs should be considered under
three heads: First, politically; second,
commercially; third, as the home Of
railroad enterprises, and with this un.
derstanding Mr. Thnrston took up the
parable n follows:
POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE REPUBLIC.
POLITICALLY speaking Mexico Is In q
settled condition. The age of revolu.
tions and pronunolamentoes has gone
by and 1t would DO a. diff suit now for
. sore. headed political leader to raise
q revolution there az here In the
United States. In former days the
country was poor, times were bad and
the srmy ill.paid, In rags and half
starved. Then a mslcontent, especially
II he were q military man, could gain
= following and gain the army. At
present thas service consists of 40, 00O
well.armed, well.drilled. well. uni.
formed and well.psid mon. BY a
process Of wedding the officers have
become men of social standing, and
1t is not q discredit to be q soldier, IA
it was in former years. The present
president, as you know, is Gen. Con
a%ales; the next will surely be Portirio
Dlsz again; he whose progressive spirit
has worked a miracle in Mexico, who
has done all no can to attract instead
Of to repel, and to whom all tho rail.
roads owe their inception and posi-.
ton"
"a sort Of Mexican Gambettst"
soUNpNEss OF H FINANCES.
Exactly So" assented Mr.. Thurs.
ton. 1.-THE government" he contin
ued, sis stable, financially. Every
s%ubvention for the past four years
has been paid scr~upulously and with.
out delay. That OF the Mexican Cen
trail IL $l7, 600 q mile. In 1882 there
were six hundred miles of road built,
and between ten and eleven millior
dollars we're paid on the day due
The country Is, In fact, quiet and wei
governed, and for the last two year,
|, l have never heard of a single stag
robbery nor of q mel, enary murder
| q state of affairs somewhat AZ variance
with the reports sent up for the pur
pose of decrying Mexican enterprise
: aud bearing Mexican securities. Tn
reports, too, that the elections ar,
, conducted with disturbances are alto
gether unfounded, aud especially s.
concerning ~Guadalajara, where l hap
: pened to BIZ at the riot-which di
t not take p'ace-was said TO have &C
Cured. The reason is that 90 pc
cent of the people take no interest |
, politics and done vote, being perfect
+ willing to lot the other 30 per CEN
run the government"
"Then you rest upon the politics
aspect of the country"
L COMMERCIAL CONDITION.
eyes," replied Mr.. Thurston, "by
not because It Is exhausted. CONNIE
> cially, also, Mexico is prospecting, Tn
U revenue of the country for 1882 W,
= something like 80 per cent great,
' than In 1881 and more than doub
= . that of 1879, ths figures of the fir
i and last mentioned years being roun,
ly $3.50, 0C0 900 to $i9 O00,0 C0 Tn
y money is entirely derived from impo
duties, although within the last yef
y a revenue tax has been laid on mon
>, tary drafts and cigars aud tobacco, ii
y export tax of B per cent advalorem G
silver having been removed as a cour
5. ter balance. Such an enormous Il
D. crease increase in the custom hou
10 must then show an increased CONNIE
y cial activity, and Is not due, as ma
u suppose, to the increased activity
railroad matters, for everything nee
VI ed in railroad construction, from
~ spike to q locomotive, is imported fir
Of duty. There is a general idea ala
that the Mexican tariff is very exor'
y tant, but while 1t is on certain Article
~ as a rule 1t Is not. Milling implemen.
a. powder, steel, manufactured lunh
yS and farm stock are all free, bat
~ Injuries, such as silks, on which du
o. is l30 per cent advalorem, tea,
90 which 1t is 81 per pound, and piano
No on which it ia % cents q pound,
- these and the like the governmC
Oh comes down heavily.
~ THE BANKING BUSINESS.
"Most OF the large importing houu
'or are French or German, chiefly the |
ter, aud from whom, l believe, m
los of the exaggerated reports spriY
,ts They see the trade passing out
49, their hands in those OF Americans, al
an naturally they do all they can
spread tho idea that Mexico ia an
in safe country. The retail houses
generally Mexican, gaining long Gre
al. from tho Germans and paying he.
40. rates of interest; but failures are II
IN and obligations are promptly II
hi. Four years ago there WAS not regl
W. commercial bauk In the City of M
mo leo; now there are three with an
ow RreRate paid up capital of $12, COO {
i've Ono, the Nltional bauk, is a NJ
can affair, with a capital of 50 o
,on COZ, which was subscribed on one
om after the Incorporation"
"Are these the only banker
"Yes. replied MIR. Thurston, st
nth are; and there Is not a single sayi
n bank in the Republis, although
ling the man who starts one in the cap