The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-01-07
KANSAS NEWS.
ID. A. Ellsworth, Of EmpOria,
Returns from Mexico.
Writes Interestingly of His
Trip and Impressions.
RIPE FOR INVESTMENT.
Rubber, Coal, Money Lending
and Railroad Work.
Coffee Plantations Are Not Do
ing Business Now.
iIPE FOR INVESTMENT.
Take Along Hard Sense, Money
and Gift Of Spanish.

Emporia, Kan, Jan. I'D. A. Els
worth, home from trip to Mexico, re-
iates the following interesting story in
the Gazette:
Mexico is something the size of the
western part of the Mississippi valley,
and a trip from Ell Paso to the City of
Mexico is over twelve hundred miles
in length. The plateau of Anahuae is
the biggest part of the country, and it
is drained. in the wet season, by the
Rio Grande- Like some places nearer
home, it goes dry about November and
stays that way for several months.
There is big mountain range on the
west side and q lesser one on the east
and the rivers don't amount to much
Along the coast it is tropical and there
it is the yellow fever occurs now and
then. This is the smaller part of Mex
leo. and few tourists do more than go
to the edge and look down into the hot
country.
There is nothing inviting about north
ern Mexico at this season of the year.
1t has the color of buffalo waller in
the fall, and is used for grazing. One
man, the governor of Chihuahua, has
the greatest cattle ranch in the world
and is rated at twenty millions. The
region has the ear marks of the desert.
The hills are low and rounded in form
and the mountains are round topped or
mesaS, due to the action of the winds.
The plants are those that are armed
for defense. as the cactus or thorny
bushes, or gray in color with the mimi
cry of the desert.
Just now the cattle business is being
pushed into the tropical regions The
proposition is to buy cattle on the up-
lands at twenty dollars apiece, feed
them for three months on the nara
grass and then sell them for fifty dol
lars per head That is how it looks on
paper and ALT Swenson says that is
what he has done. There is no winter
ing IN stock raising and they have
good markets at home and abroad.
There is lots doing here in cattle, mil
lions OF American money are being in
vested in the business.
The coffee business is a little off color
Just now. 1t has about the gait of good
residence lots some ways out" 1t is
not poor mans chance nor a double
But 1t seems to be picking up somewhat
AS a matter of diet 1 haven't found a
cup of coffee in Mexico like Mrs. Wicl,s
makes. Most of it is the color of ebony
ana they pour in hot milk half and half
Not the 1esh-pots of Ernporia, for me-
SO much as the coffee-pots!
The rubber business is in good favor
| here and big money is being made, but
the best proposition is the COTTON bnsi
ness. Around Torreon thew are Getting
results out of cotton that are far and
away ahead of Dixie. They are boring
two crops a year The cotton tree is the
latest thing in the trade and is grown
class of labor employed is such that the
porter exclaimed: "'Lawd my ole mann
my would make all dem poems take ner
dust In dat cotton field"
The man who gets a coal mine in Mex
leo has tail-hold on the dilemma. Fuel is
the burning question. In the cities they
use charcoal and on the railroads they
burn wood almost entirely. There are
coal mines in the north and even anthra-
cite in the northwest, but in Central Mex
burn. The forests have almost disap,
coal are sky-high. There are strong
hopes of oil in the northeast, an extern
sion of the Beaumont oil belt, based up
on the best of signs. They are going af-
ter coal in thorough way and the pros
poets are better in the fuel business.
Mining Is on the boom in Mexico. The
prospectors are pushing a head of the
branch railroads and new and rich dis
tricts of gold, silver and copper are be-
ing opened up. The Americans seem to
be foremost in this line and mining ex-
perts are here from all parts of our
Mexico. is called the Cripple Creek OF
Mexico Other notable regions are over
in the south near Oaxaca.
| One of the best chances is money
lending. The banks charge 1 per cent per
month and per cent is paid on gilt edge
| loans on improved real estate, while the
man who loans on personal property has
change now is about two-thirty and so
when you more than double your money
| anu get Twice the rate QI interest," what
is there to be desired but a quit claim
deed?
If there ever was a field that seemed
to be ripe for investments it is Mexico.
It is a land of two or three crops a year,
labor is cheap. the government is almost
there is a large class of wealthy people
who are fond of doo-dods and automo-
hiles, prices are-well. for instance a SO
and so on through the catalogue It
never does to walk right out of the
tod far,1
Kansas with a good job and no kin trou-
bles ought to stay there. But to any one
who wants to try another country. Mex
leo ought to look good to him. but first
of all and last of any. he should have
three things-business tact, money and
Z Spanish.