Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-09-04
RAILROADS m MEXICO.
WHAT They H.vs Dsas - Arouse an ME
trsmeiy Osessrvssavs People.

what They HAVE Dsas - Arouse an M
trsmefy Osessrvssavs People.
The American railroads In Mexico havs
already done much b arouse the mos,
stubbornly conservative people on thu
face Of the giobs from their lethargy
and in q manner that no other instru
mentality probably could have effected
When the locomotive first appeared. it il
said that the people Of whole village,
fed affrighted from their tabitations, Oh
organized professions with religious EN-
blems and holy water, TO exercise and
rspel the monster. During the first veal
Of the experience of the Mexican Central
armed guards also were considered an
sssantial accompaniment of every train,
% had been the case on the Vera Cruz
railroad since its opening in 1873. But
all this is now a matter of the past, and
% impressed is the government with the
importance Of keeping its railroad sys-
tenn safe and intact that the Mexican
congress recently decreed instant execu-
ton, without any formal trial, to any
one caught in the act Of wrecking or
robbing q train.
That any improved methods of inter-
communication between different peo-
pie or countries-common roads, vessels,
railroads, or vehicles, or the hke-in-
crease the production and exchange of
commodities, is accepted as an economic
axiom. But there could he no more
striking and practical illustration of this
law than a little recent experience on
the line of the Mexican National rail-
road. The corn crop. which is the main
reliance of the people living along the
present southern extension of this road for
food, had for several years prior to 1885,
failed by reason of drought; and. under
ordinary circumstances, great suffering
through starvation would inevitably
have ensued. The natives. however, soon
learned that with the railroad had come
. ready market, at from 1.2 to 3 cents
per pound for the fiber known as ~ixtle;"
the product of species of agave, which
grows in great abundance in the noun
famous region OF that section of coun-
try, and which has recently come into
extensive use in Europe and the United
States for the manufacture of brushes,
ladies' corsets, mats cordage, etc. And
20 well have they improved their knowl-
edge and opportunities that the quantity
Of ixtle transported by the Mexican Ma
donal railroad has risen from 224, 7Ss
pounds in 1889 to 200. 341 in 1888, to g.
49s, 407 in 1884, and 1881, 1876 in the first
seven months of 1885; while with the
money proceeds the producers have been
able to buy more corn from Texas than
they would have obtained had their
crops been successful, and have had in
addition, and probably for the first time
In their lives, some surplus cash to ex-
pend for other purposes.
What sort Of things these poor Next
cans would buy II they could was in
Heated to tine writer by seeing in the
hut of laborer, on the line of the Mexi-
can Central railroads. place destitute of
almost every comfort, or article of furni-
hre or convenience-a bright, new,
small kerosene lamp, than which moth
ing that fell under his observation in
Mexico was more remarkable and inter-
ssting. Remarkable and interesting be-
cause neither this man, nor his father,
possibly, since the world to them began
had ever before known anything better
khan blazing brand as a method for
Illumination at night; and had never had
either the knowledge, the desire, or the
means Of obtaining anything superior.
But at last, through contract with and
employment on the American railroad.
the desire. the opportunity. the means to
purchase, and the knowledge of the
imple mechanism of the lamp, had
some to this humble, isolated Mexican
peasant; and out of the germ of progress
Mus spontaneously, Is it were, developed
BY the wayside, may come influences
more potent for civilization and the ele-
vation of humanity in Mexico than all
that church and state have been able to
Meet within the last three CENTURIES
David A. Wells in Popular Science
Monthly.