El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-04-12
Ccopyrigbt, 1918, by Frank G. Carpenter)

1Co,vrfebt. 1913, by Frank G. Carpenter)
-.f,,,-,,- cov,nanies have been formed to
buiIJ roads south Of the Isthmus Of Te-
huantepec One Of these IS 10 go from
santa Iucretia on the TehuanJepec Ma
riOnsI railway TO the town OF Campo
cba through the states Of NeracruZ, Ia
basco and Campeches ana II VIII there
Connect with the United railways Of
Yucatan. ,..-
itaIists 1t is now being surveyed and
construction viii soon commence. This
viii form a main line between the rest
of the republic and the peninsula OF Au-
catan, and viii enable one 70 go from
the United States 10 that Country by
rail. 1t viii open up some of the rich
est tropical country OF the worlds
Another important line, financed by
the British. but TO be built by Ameri-
cans. has been projected from Acapulco
on the west coast through the state OF
Guerrero TO Balsas, on the Balsas river,
where connection viii be made with
the National railways. It will open up
a semi-tropical region and also large
timber and mineral reserves.
Improving the Main Line.
IN addition TO this new construction,
the old roads are being improved Not
Withstanding the revolution, the Ma
tional railways have been relaying
much OF their main line with S5-pound
steel rails and they have. improved
hundreds OF miles of track on that
line with rock ballast They have added
to the rolling stock by the addition OF
many Oil-burning locomotives and of
new passenger and freight cars.
The Mexican railway has during the
same time Telaid its main track with
heavier steel and has turned its engines
from cOal-burninE TO Oil-burning, while
the Southern Pacific has been improy-
ing its roadway. This work has. OF
course, been outside the region Of ac-
tive rebellion
MexicO's Railway System.
Few people appreciate how rapidly
Mexico has been moving during recent
years along railway lines In COM
parison with the character and num-
Der of its population, 1t has been build
ing such lines faster than almost any
ether country 1t has now more than
twice as many miles of railroad as
either Spain or Italy, il has 1000 miles
more than Austria and an equal
amount in advance Of the Argentine
republic. It IS Tar ahead OF Brazil and
there is not a Spanish American cOun-
try. on this hemisphere which approach
es it in railway construction
The lines now built are more than
10000 miles and their cost has been
over $500,00O,O0O in gold. OF these
roads 20 percent were constructed IN
der American auspices, IS percent by
the English and other foreigners and
Is percent by the MeXicans.
The general idea is that the govern
Uent owns or controls all the roads.
This is not So The Mexican railways
corporations. The government has the
majority of the stock Of the National
railways Of Mexico only, which have
altogether about 5000 miles, and IL
the Inter-Oceanic under long time
leases The government IS improving
these lines, and it is now building eight
branch lines which aggregate over lll6
miles The most important of these
is a road from Tampico to VeracrUz.
with short line connecting with Mex
leo City
The government roads are known as
the National railways Of Mexico. They
consist chiefly Of three main lines
which were merged into the one sys-
TEN in 1909. These lines are the old
National railway, the old Mexican In
ternatiOnal railway In addition to this,
they include the NeracTuZ and ISLhmuS
railways and the Pan-Americau rail-
way, which has been built TO the Qua
temala border. These lines belong 10
the government in the sense that IL
owns the majOrity Of the stock. The
bonds are held abroad, as is also a little
more than 49 percent OF the stock. The
bondhOlders are operating the prop
erty, and the chief officials are Ameri-
cans. The net capitalization of the
read. including bonds and stock out
standing. is about $4,000 per mile,
upon which il had in 1911 a. net income
Of 8 percent Preferred stock pays
1 percent dividend.
Southern Pacific Railway in Mexico.
Outside OF the National railways, the
most important system in the republic
is that Of the Southern Pacific company
Of Mexico This was projected by Harri-
man as a connection with our Southern
Pacific. and includes q number Of lines
along the west coast 1t has now al
most a thousand miles of railroad, and
has concessions which entail the build
ing Of about 500 miles more
This road has been seriously injured
during the revolution, but many Of the
bridges destroyed have been replaced.
and improvements will be made as soon
as possible and the road completed. The
Southern Pacific lines connect the
northwestern part Of the country with
the port of GUaymas, and they are now
in operation as far as Topic. They viii
be extended TO Guadalajara in cOnnec-
ton with a short strip of the National
railways, as soon as conditions are set
tied.
MexfcO's Oldest Railway.
The first railway in Mexico was q