The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-09-13


gether with ropes, the rafters being spliced
IN this way. Many of the huts of the
southern part of the country have roofs of
thatch tied to the rafters with ropes. and
some of these huts have not nail IN them.
Few wooden buildings are known in Mex
leo. The average house has neither
cellar nor garrett, and the fastenings
which We make with nails are ingeneously
constructed with brick and mortar. [ have
seen fences where the boards and poles
were tied 10 the posts, and a crate that |
got the other day 20 carry pottery in was
made of rods tied together with strings.
All classes of building material are costly
here. You have TO pay from $50 to $40 a
thousand for flooring, and glass is very
nigh. \ great many of the cheaper houses
have no windows in the glass sense OF the
word. The openings are covered with
iron bars and are fastened ut night with
close wooden shutters. Iron has during
past years been largely imported from
Belgium, and there is good chance for
American iron. The new railroad which
Is being built south towards the lsthmus
OF Panama is opening up coal and iron
region. and the American capitalist that
gets into this field soon is bound To make
big fortune.
CHANCES FOR MONEY MAKING IN MEXICO.
Mexico in fact offers better chances for
the same amount of money, brains and
health TO the investor, business man and
fortune-maker than any other place in the
world today. During my stay of two
months in Mexico have Travelled over a
large part of the country aud | have met
hundreds of Americans, some of whom
were delighted with the people and their
surroundings, and others of whom were
thoroughly disgusted with them. Among
them all, however, did not find one man
who did not think that the chances for
money making were greater here than
anywhere else in the world and hundreds of
Americans are taking advantage of the
situation and making fortunes. As to
climate. there is no better climate in the
world than that of the Mexican plateau.
We rush for the White mountains in the
summer and we consider ourselves
happy II We can live during July
and August on the top of Mount
Washington. Still all this Mexican
plateau, which makes up | should say
more than three-iourths of Mexico, is
higher up in the air than Deer Park or
tresson, and much of it is higher than
Mount Washington. Here you have per-
petual summer the year round. The air IS
always pure, and is one long June day
summer and winter, spring and autumn.
Vegetables of all kinds are in the market
all the time, and Strawberries i'll parts of
the country are always ripe. For people
troubled with diseases of the lungs or the
digestion the climate is cure-all, and
have met 4 score of notwithstanding
Americans who told Inc they had been
sent to Mexico to die. | am no heavy
weight myself, and my average is about
one hundred pounds. Still have never
felt better than during the weeks
have been in Mexico. and the air
braces one up as overcharged with
champagne. This country IS about
One-ttth the size of the United States. 1t
has until within the last twelve years been
torn up with revolutions, and its people
have not had time to look into their own
poverty and see what they have. No good
geological survey has ever been made of
Mexico. Its agricultural resources have
never been estimated, and its mining ter
ritory has never been fully prospected.
new railroad being built in the country.
MANUFACTURERS FIELD.
Take for instance the field of manufac-
lures. At Monterey some Philadelphia
capitalists, and not very large capitalists
either, started knitting factory about
year ago. They got a concession from the
governor of the state providing that they
should be the only knitting factory in it
for twenty-five years, and they are now
turning out 20O dozen pairs of stockings
per day. The duty on stockings is so great
that they can sell at a high profit. They
use Mexican girls to work their machines,
and they are making lots of money. There
are two big American shelters in Mon
terey, which are both making money.
and | understand that Seagur, Guernsey
& Co. have established pillow foundry
near Puebla and are doing we'll There is
a furniture factory at Monterey run by
Americans which is doing WELL and the
furniture field is one that can be worked
with profit all over Mexico. You have
here the finest wood in the world Still
all furniture IS imported. When ebony,
mahogany and all kinds Of hard wood are
found in the forest there is no reason whv
Mexico should not export furniture in
stead Of import it. The cost of any kind
of furniture is enormous. Desks which
cost SO in the United States sell for 500
in Mexico CITY, and the cheapest of school
desks are 80 apiece. Furniture imported
into Mexico pays duty by weight. and |
am told that all kinds of hard wood furni-
ture have to pay 25 cents q pound before
they can cross the frontier. Then there is
a state duty, the heavy freight rates
and other items which double the cost
of almost any article imported There is
an American furniture store in Mexico
CITY, which is making a great deal of
money by importing American furniture
and selling il here. and there is q German
here who has gotten rich out Of furniture
selling. He sells parlor suits all the way
from $500 to 81 800 a set. There are anum-
Der of cotton factories in Mexico. and
there are large mills near orjZaba. which
make prime goods. Everything is pro-
tected here by the highest duties. and al
most any kind of a factory ought to pay.
CATTLE AND PACKING INTERESTS.
Mexico City will soon have the biggest
pork hacking establishment in the world.
This is built with Mexican capital. but is
being engineered by Americans. and il
promises 10 control the meat market in
Mexico City. 1t is called the Mexican
Packing Company, and its head is an
Aztec millionaire named Serano, who
started life as meat. peddler, and who IS
now one of the richest business men in
Mexico Civ. The American end of this
establishment Is the firm Of Morris Il
Butte. bright Young fellows. who own q
packing house at Kansas City. and who are
managing this big establishment here They
have constructed a vast house On the
American plan. with machinery Of tho
latest kind and they propose 10 make SOAP
ami ice and a half dozen articles III adii-
ton 10 supplying the capital with all
kinds of meat. Their building consists Of
an old church containing vast area. and
they have added 10 this and reuodeiei I'M
Iii they have a wonderful establishment.
They have their own cars Tor the shipping
Of the pigs from the United STATES 10 Mex
ice and they viii probably maze big for
tunes for themselves and the Nexicans who
are connected with them. The discovery
of the new coal fields and the iron mines
In Oaxaca opens up biz field 81 mauufac-
t.res OF all kinds of IRON work. ana there
is a big field here for the making Of paper.