The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-10-14

l u the colossal grants and subsidies for | railroads, mines, oil, gold, silver, cop per and land, judiciously distributed | identified the United States depart
 ment, the Senate, the prdss and the
 people of the United StateE with Diaz
 no matter what his outrages might | be.
 l Diaz was under every obligation to | the American financier for placing
 him in power. He paid his first debts
 by concessions for the building of two
 railroad lines from the Texas border
 to Mexico City. Land was given for
 the right of way together with a sub-
 sidy of $14,O0O per mile on level coun-
 try and $35,O00 a mile in rough Soun-
 try. This was enough in itself to con-
 struct the road, especially as forced labor was supplied the contractors at
 fifty cents a day. Growing out of these concessions Americans now hold securities in the railroads of nearly
 $700, 100000.
 l Just as the financiers from the
 United States exploited the Mexican
 railroads so Great Britain enjoyed monopoly of exploitation of the coun- try's credit. All of the devices learn ed in Egypt were repeated. There was nothing that the French had devised | in Morocco and Tunis that was not duplicated. The national debt was in Hated by the recognition of Spanish claims, for reimbursement for expen- ditures made in the Spanish campaign against the insurgents in the War of Independence and other claims for confiscated estates of the holy orders. French claims were made for some trifling damages to French citizens and property.
 ] In a short time the indebtedness of the country was increased from $2O,- 00O,0O0 to $191, 100000 of which ap- proximately s150,000,000 represented speculations and the plunder of spec | ulators and private interests which succeeded in having their claims rec ognized.
 The concession seekers were insati- able. The oil is owned by American and British syndicates. In 1900 the l it stands next to the United States and Russia. The Waters-Pierce com country produced no oil at all. Now pany is the largest American oil pro- ducing company in Mexico, Their control is contested by the English OI FodISOll, uOW 1OTu NOWuTdy. The British anad American oil inter- ests have always been at war. They have fomented all sorts of strife and by many are supposed to be back of the revolutionary movements of the country. In price cutting war Cow dray gained the upper hand just as Diaz fell from power. Statistics show that his companies control 58 per cent of the oil output of Mexico. Ameri- can interests supplanted Cowdray in official circles under the Madero gov ernment but when Huerta came into power the tables were again turned and Cowdray was again recognized. According to his own statements he gave Huerta support and even sub- scribed to three per cent of the loan f1oated by him.
 How colossal the stake involved is and how cheap control of the gov eminent would be at any price is seen in the fact that the oil lands in the l Tampico district alonel amount to D. 900 900 acres while the total oil land operated in the United States amounts to but S.300,000 acres. The capacity of a single refinery of Lord Cowdray is 3,0O0,000 barrels a year. The mineral resources are almost | completely under foreign .ownership. Americans dominate large areas The capital employed in the. industry is l about $647,O00.O00 of which about l $500 100000 is American. American capital controls electric light and 1 power; it controls the street railway lines of the cities. It has opened up l gold and silver mines. The Mexican rubber industry is largely American. Ex-Senator Aldrfch was greatly inter- ested in the Continental Rubber com pany which largely controls this in- dustry Great stretches of timber land are also owned while plantations of hundreds of thousands of acres have been acquired in the northern states by American owners. ]. The American Consul, Marion Letch- er of Chihuahua, who has had long experience in Mexico as a mining en- gineer, places the American invest | ments in Mexico in 1912 at $1,057,770 as against a total ownership of proper fly by all of the Mexicans of but $7s3,- ,1S7,00o. The Capital of Mexico is not Mexico City, it is New York
 The French have large interests in Mexico. According to the New York Nation. French interests amount to more than a billion dollars although | this is far in excess of the estimates k of Consul Letcher who places them at but 143,446,000. However, the lat E ter estimate does not include all forms of wealth. The French are large own ,ers of government bonds, banks. rail- road securities, as we'll as mills and | factories. The banks are largely in French hands, as are the department stores of the cities. < Mexicans own more wealth than foreigners in very few and insignifi- cant industries such as breweries and