The Washington herald., 1916-09-02
Seen and Heard by George Miner.


Mexico which belongs absolutely to Americans.
1t is tract of land twenty two miles in width
and fifty miles in length and is known the
Laguna Corporation. 1t is in the very heart
OF the state of Campeche, abutting Laguna
Bay, with the town of Carmen, arm Of
land separating the bay from the Gulf of Mex
leo, for its port
Some seven years ago organization of
Philadelphia capitalists, of whom Mr. Charles
RI. Thompson is the president, purchased this
land, and has been developing it ever since un-
til it is in full swing and its products are
being gathered and marketed in so profitable a
manner that it is one of the most prosperous
enterprises in the two Americas
In the past the state of Campeche and the
surrounding country supported one of the great
est of the early civilizations, whose disappear
ance cannot be accounted for The monuments
left by this unique for their magnih-
cence and mystery. Their secrets still battle
archaeological research and their writings are
without an interpreter.
The pendulum of time, swinging over a
period of centuries, has marked the passing of
former conditions and is at a point indi-
eating revival of civilizaton-thanks to these
Philadelphia captalists-and the development of
the extraordinary resources Of the region. 1t
will be interesting to watch the tomorrow of
this interesting country and how the re-
markable agricultural resources it contains will
be opened up to the worlds use
Although | had been told about it before |
was astonishcd at the great amount of work that
has been done at Laguna and the money invested
there to make the products marketable. For one
thing. the company has built fifty miles of rail-
road on its property 1t owns ocean steamer,
which carries its mahogany and other exports
TO New York. 1t has three villages for domi-
CLING its employees. and numerous logging chicle
and logwood camps. wharvcs, office buildings
and workmen's dwellings, six we-stockcd COM
missary stores, sawms. machine shops, hos
pltals wells telephone lines and a number Of
small power boats.
The main exports are mahogany and
chiclc, from which chewing gum is made. But
this business is only a starter to what they
purpose to do down there, for the climate and
land, are such that the resources are almost limit
less in that line. To be sure there is no mineral
wealth, but they have ample to attend to without
it.
There arc nearly 1000 square miles in the
estate, which contains extensive forests of ma
hogany cedar and many other hard woods and
vast tracts OF land which rubber, chicle, dye
woods and practically all other tropical timber
cattle grass, corn, cotton, henequen and other
staple agricultural products arc found or may
be produced
The sapotc tree is a little known treasure
mine. Its sap is gathered by making triangu-
lar sllts down one side OF the trunk. The sap
runs out white and creamy and dripS down into
canvas bag at the base. By that time it has
become thick and dark colored and sticky, about
like moasseS. 1t is so adhesive it is used in the
place of glue. 1t is boiled down and then the
water kneaded out of it until it is OF the con-
sistency OF putty. This is the chicle of which
chewing gum is made There is an almost un-
limited demand for it for that purpose as the
chicle, if swallowed, will entirely dissolve in the
stomach, and thus comply with the pure-food
! law. while the material formerly used for the
basis of chewing gum was nsoluble
The sapote wood is red in color, takes beau
tiful finish and is the hardest and most durable
wood known. The fiber is so dense that II
sinks rapidly in water and seems never to rot
The dock at Carmen, built of the wood forty
years ago is sound as ever TODAY In the
RUNS at UXmal door frames made OF it many
centuries ago are perfectly sound now.
In addition to its value cabinet wood, its
desrrability for docks, railroad ties and paving
blocks seems to be very great I asked Mr.
Charles Lane, the manager of the estate why
the wood not being used in the United
States for these purposes
Simply because they don't know about il, ,"
he replied. at takes a long time to introduce
new wood but intend to do so and in few
years to be exporting great quantities Of it. Ex-
perts estimate that we have on this estate I5oo-
100000 feet of sapote Last year we exported
100000 pounds of the chicle gum all to one chew
inggum firm"
! This remarkable tree also has a fruit, the
| sapadila pear, which is one Of the most delicious
OF all the tropical fruits Personally | like it
better than any of the many fruits they have
here.
This section of Mexico is so isolated from the
rest of the republic by natural barriers, rivers
and dense forests that the political unrest in the
country has hardly been felt at all
There are I,5oo employees on the estate Mr.
Lane would like 5000 and could keep them all
busy. The climate is hot but not at all un-
healthy, according to the twelve Americans who
live there as heads of different departments