The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1913-07-06
BY FRANK G. CARPENTER.


THIS letter Is devoted to the small
man In Mexico. II is not for the
railroad masnate or the million
/. afre capitalist. nor the skilled mining
or civil engineer who Is sent down over
the border with money to burn. 1t ia
for the would-be settler who has a
few hundred or q few thousand dol
lars, and for the man who has saved
some money and hopes to plant 1t
whore ~ will breed gold dollars moro
rapidly than the rabbits OF Australia
bring forth their young. To such Mex
leo has been painted as an Ell Dorado.
whose treasure vaults may be opened
rs easily was the cave OF the Forty
Thieves TO our old friend All Baba,
and also as n Garden OF Eden. where
YOU may SOW coffee cocoanuts and
the trees until the fruit drops into your
mouth.
A Warning TO Investors.
The truth is far different Just now.
in these days of rebellion, brigandage
and political unrest, there is no chance
at ali FOR the small man. Whom the
country is quiet and peace has returned
Il will DO different. and, as shall
show farther on. tho opportunities for
large profits will probably be greater
than In the United States Mexico is
ready for mighty development. and
which will roll down over the border
as soon as our capitalists can be sure
that they will be permanently safe.
One OF the corsuls tells me that during
tho last years of tho Diaz regime new
money was coming IN by the tens of
thousands of dollars day. This
money was damned back by the revo-
lutionary troubles, and IT only awaits
stable conditions to break forth in a
tidal wave over the republic. If this
ia Sc. IT Will pay the big man and the
little man 10 keep his eyes upon Mexico.
Lost Money In Mexico.
But, as ! have suggested. 1t will pay
the small man to watch out. l have
been looking into the results OF the
small investments OF the past. Ameri-
cans tell me OF thousands of our people
who have put their little savings into
Mexican stock companies and have
gotten nothing back. This is the YER
dict OF our consuls. of mining engt-
neers and OF American business men
who have travelled over the country.
The opportunities are here, but tho
field has been largely exploited by fake
companies and stock-johbing syndi-
Gates These men, by promising enor-
nous returns. have persuaded the small
man to invest what he had and to
mortgage his future for additional
sums, TO be paid on monthly install
Inents, Most OF such companies have
failed. and many of them have been
fakes, pure md simple The bona fide
capitalists here are satisfied with 10
or & per cent profit. and II there were
many investments which would net
them 100 per cent they would grab
them. This Is not only OF mines.
but OF tropical agriculture. and IT is
safe 10 say any man who promises 500
per cent profit within five or ten years
is & fraud.
One OF the most careful observers OF
the men sent here BY the government
is Charles NJ Pepper. who was long
correspondent CT the Chicago Tribune.
In report to Congress he stated that
no American school teacher, clerk, day
laborer seamstress or college profess
sor, who had only n few hundred dol
lars OF savings. had any right to risk
them in a Mexican stock company, es-
reciaIy in those relating to tropical
plantations He advised them TO take
their little hordes, and throw them into
the sea and leave record of the place
where the bubbles came up for their
grandchildren rather than to put them
into such companies with the hope that
they would eyer come back to them OIL
their grandchildren.
One OF our consuls-general says that
no American. and especially no one
with small savings. should invest in
Mexico without a report from parties
whom he knows to be reliable Better
still would II he for him to come hero
TO see before he buys. Big names do
not always mean reliability Of state
ment and the so-callcd government
concessions for the Investment of capt.
tai lapse If the development stipulated
In them fails. When one buys real
estate at home he always looks into the
1tle. and the same should he done in