Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-06-20

some thirty miles wide at the center, which
Contains half dozen great lakes. one rising
above another. and the level of nearly all being
higher than that of the spot on which this great
city stands. Mexico was built by the Aztecs
and they chose a swamp for foundation. The
Spaniarts when they rebuilt the city stuck to
the old site. and with high ground all around
this great Mexican metropolis stands upon a
Shiny ooZe of black mud 20 soft that two
feet below the surface the water is found,
that piles that are driven down go into
the earth easier and easier as thew go deeper.
The crust Of earth on which the town Is built
seems to be solid. but builders tell me they dare
not attempt to make deep foundations, and it
NAV be that the city is built great sub
terranean lake. Considering this fact IL Is
greater wonder than Venice or Amsterdam. and
II is a model in the shape of good payemeuts
solid buildings and excessive cleanliness. There
is no town In the United States which has
cleaner streets than this great Mexi, an capital.
and their condition is even better than that of
the streets of Washington.
REMARKABLE CLEANLINESS.
This cleanliness of Mexico ia all tle more
wonderful from the fact that the city has no
system of sewerage or drainage. For more
than three hundred wears the people have lived
and died and have cast their garbage and their
offaI into it's cesspools. Ten generations of
men and women have poured the constant filth
of their daily life and an enormous business
into its soil. and all the refuse and waste of
100000 people are sinking into il today. IL is.
indeed. a wonder that this city is not mighty
hospital Of dead and dying. According to the
ordinary rules of municipal health its whole
population ought to die off every year.
and one would think that the typhoid fever
and diphtheria would leave the rest of
the world for Mexico. The sun and the
air. however. night them. and for the
better classes Mexico is city of
life rather than one of death. The life insur-
ance companies of New York which have agen-
cies here find that the death rate is very low
among the lnsurable people. and the high death
rate of Mexico CITY comes from the poor Indians
who sleep the ground saturated 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
and 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 second floors and their health is
generally good
PROBLEMS FOR ENGINEERS.
The question of the drainage Of Mexico has
been discussed for generations and il is one of
the great problems of today. This little valley
has no outlet and the city is in its lowest part
Lake TezcOcO. which ia at this time only two
feet lower than the level of the city, has an
area OF sixty-seven square miles. and II rises
during the wet Several times 4 has
overtown the city. aud within only few years
back, am told, the whole town covered
with three feet of water. One inun lation
lasted for five years. and the waters finally
carried of by an earthquake. sinking through
the crack caused by it. The other lakes are
higher than IeZcOco, and one of them j. twenty
nine feet above the city. 4 Johnstown food
here would do immense deal more damage
than il did in Pennsylvania. and in coming
Into the city l rode by a great cut.
which Spanish engineer made nearly
rbaa n os,,f,.
and the valley and carrying the water off into
the Gulf Of Mexico A change of government
occurred while the work was in operation and
II was finally abandoned The present govern
ment has given a contract for another immense
canal TO drain these lakes and hundreds Of men
at work ON them under American en-
gineers. big cut is being made through the
monntains and within two or three years 1t the