Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1914-06-09
4 PEEP At MEXICO
The countFy's Area Now and
What It Was Originally.
HAS LOST A VAST. TERRITORY.

HAS LOST A VAST. TERRITORY.
Nos.ly Million Square Miles CT Its
Land Have Been Added to the United
stsfes--still Big Country, Though,
lend Aao an Enormous Coast Line j
It il interesting to note that the area
Of Mexico Is ps-ac Ideally as great as that.
of the United States between the Mis-
sissippi river and the Atlantic coast,
the great lakes and the gulf Of Mexico,
varying in altitude from sea level to
$4,000 feet. Its climate. is affected by
these elevations and by a range Of
eighteen degrees Of latitude. Twelve
hundred miles is the distance trayersed
in passing south from Juarez, on the
northern boundary, to the capital, and
900 miles more to the southeastern
boundary. The gulf Of Mexico and
Caribbean sea coast line extends for
100 miles, while the Pacific ocean and
gull Of California touch 1000 miles OF
Mexican coast
Prior to 1886 Mexico, as a Spanish
colony, and the United States covered
approximately equal areas, but the
Texas secession and the result OF the
Mexican war added nearly a million
square miles to our territory, and the
extent Of Mexico now Is less than one
fourth that Of continental United
States. Mexico has still territorial eX-
panse equal to the aggregate Of Aus
tria-Hungary, Germany, France, Great
Britain and Ireland. The total area of
the republic, 10000 square miles, is
less than. that Of Texas, California,
Montana. New Mexico and Arizona
combined.
The average density Of population
Of Mexico approximate twenty per
square mile, the most thickly populated
parts, outside Of the federal district,
being the states Of TlaXcala and Mex
leo, the former being less than Della
ware in size and Of about the same
density of population and the latter be-
ing nearly as large Us New Hampshire,
but with more than twice the number
Of inhabitants. The federal district,
nodded after the District Of Columbia,
but Of eight times greater area, is sur
rounded by the state Of Mexico, the
large population Of the capital, 100000,
materially aiding in bringing the aver
age to more than 1000 per square mile
During nearly 800 years subsequent
to the conquest by Cortes, Spain domi-
mated Mexico. A century ago bold
effort for freedom was started, which
eventually resulted in the republic Of
Mexico Of today. More than half Of
the first century Of Mexican independ-
ence was abortive, one coterie after
another coming into temporary power
and q number Of those acclaimed rul-
ers after brief regimes meeting igno-
minious death at the hands Of the peo-
pie they sought to govern.
The form Of government adopted by
Mexico follows in general that of the
United States, having executive, judi
cial and legislative divisions. Each of
the twenty-seren states is represented
in two houses Of congress, composed Of
senators and deputies. Congress holds
two sessions each year for limited pc
Tiods: Each state has its governor and
Legislature and is subdivided into dis
:tricts or countless oyer each Of which a
jefeS politico is placed, the 3districts
having subsidiary municipalities with
magistrates, presiding officials and
councils. The! so called autocratic fep-
;t,lre of,the government may be largely
due IT. the fact that governors hold Of
fee with approval of. the president,
that Jjefe politicos have similar rela-
lions with the governors and that the
officers Of the municipalities are .gener-
Iaify controlled blythe jefe politicos. {
r iThe church and state are independ-
emit, and congress cannot pass laws
prohibiting or establishing any reli-
sgion.' Of the, 100000 inhabitants
stwo-ffths claim direct descent from
ancient; tribes or families which are
accepted as the basis Of Mexican his
tory two ffths are of mixed native
and, foreign, blood, the remainder being
classed under the common jappellation
Of foreign"
1.-THE City Of Mexico, 264 miles by rail
west of Vera, Cruz and 7,400 feet. alti-
tude, is reached by two rail routes
climbing: from. the hot lands through
difficult mountain passes, one of WHICH
closely follows the trail taken by Cor
Itesins1519, by General Winfield Scott
With American troops in 1917 and over
which fifteen years later the invading
French troops passed. 1t is the most
populous, city. One half Of the railroad
mileage Of the country is between sea
level and {, 900 feet and about an equal
amount between 5000 and 10000 feet.
From National Geographic Society in
Washington. Q
....i Ancient Gold.
In olden times gold was obtained
abundantly from the rivers of Asia.