Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-06-21

ing this fact It is q greater wonder than
Venice or Amsterdam, and it isa model in
the shape OF good payements, solid build
ings and excessive cleanliness. There ls no
town in the United States which has cleaner
streets than this great Mexican capital, and
their condition is even better than that of
the streets of Washington at the time of a
beginning of O new Congress, when the
street-cleaners are doing their work well In
the hope of holding on TO their job.
This cleanliness Of Mexico is all the more
wonderful from the fact that the city has no
system of sewerage or drainage. For more
than 800 wears the people have Lived and
died and have cast their garbage and their
o+fal into its cesspools- Ten generations OF
men and women have poured the constant
flth OF their daily life and an enormous
business into its soil and all the refuse and
waste of 6OO0 900 people are sinking into
It to-day. 1t is, indeed, wonder that this
city is not mighty
Hospital of Dead and Dying.
According to the ordinary rules ofmunic-
ipal health It's whole population ought to die
of every year, and one would think that the
tvphoid fever and diphtheriR would leave
the rest OF the world for Mexico. The sun
Rnd the air, however, fight them, and for the
better classes Mexico is city of life rather
than one Of Death The life insurance CON-
panies of New York which have agencies
here find that the death rate is very low
among the insurahle people, end the high
death rate OF Mexico City comes from the
poor Indians who sleep ON the ground satu-
rated with this foulest debris OF ages, with
Shiny water two feet below them and with
nothing between them and the earth except
the cotton clothes aRd the red blanket which
form their costumes by day and by night.
These die more rapidly than is generally
known. The better classes sleep on the sec,
ond floors and their health is isgenerally good.
The question Of the drainage of Mexico
has been discussed for generations, and it is,
one OF the great problems of to-day. This
liUcle valley has no outlet, and the city is in
Its lowest part. Lake Tezcocos which at this
time is only two feet lower than the level of
the city, has an area OF 81 square miles, and.
it rises during the wet season Several
times 1t
Has OveraOwn the City,
and within only few years back am told
the whole town was covered with three feet
of water. One inUndation lasted for 1--WE
years, and the waters were finally carried off
by an earthquake, sinking through the crack
caused by it The other lakes are higher
than Tezcoeo, and one of them is 20 feet
above the city. A Johnstown food here
would do an Immense deal more damage
than it did in Pennsylvania, and in coming
into the city L rode by great cut which as
Spanish engineer made nearly 800 years ago
with the aim of draining the lakes and the
valley and carrying the water of into the
GEif OF Mexico. a change of government
occurred while the work was IN operation,
ano il was 1nall ly-abaudoned
The present Government has giFen.a con-
tract for another immense canal to drain
these lakes, and hundreds of men are now
al work on them under American engineers.
A big cut is being made through the mount
aims and within two or three years at the
fsrthest Mexico City will be out of danger
and a vast amount of land now covered
with water will be reclaimed. Plans for
the sewering of the city are now under con-
liberation, and this canal wall, I under
aud, be is or 20 feet below the present
vel OF the town.
Tho Whole City May Sink.
A very important question will be as to !
whether the city will not sink, when the
vast amount Of water which is found under
1t at every point is removed, and whether
such drainage would not be more disas-
troUs than great earthquake. The ex-
pense Of this canal, so one of the engineers
tells me, will be s., 900, 900 OF So, 900, 900, and
its construction is one of the big engineer
ing projects Of the world to-day. This ex-
pense, however, is a bagatelle in comparison
Of the loss by single inundation. Dur
ing the great flood of 1640 it is estimated
that S4O, ,0O0,O00 Of property was destroyed
and the Mexico of that time was not more
than one-hfth the size in wealth or in popu-
lstion. of the Mexico of to-day. Int1e DAYS of
Aontezuna the lakes surrounded -theacity..