The Washington herald., 1917-04-15
Seen And HEARD
BY GEORGE Miner
CONCERNING MEXICAN AFFAIRS
The Misunderstood Regulation Con-
cernins the Ownership of Her
Petroleum Resources.

- great oeau mas been printed IN the
American press about the so-caIIed and
generally misunderstood naturalization
of the petroleum fields of Mexico. This
measure adopted by the government of
our sister republic Is, inA fact. nothing
more nor less than the inclusion Of the
oil deposits of the country in the cate
CORY of minerals. AS every mining man
knows, minerals OF all classes have been
under government control from time i'm
memorial
When Mexico was under the domina-
tion OF the Spanish crown. and after that
under the other succeeding governments,
all mineral resources, except coal and oil.
were declared to be the property of the
nation. and have always been treated as
! such. Coal and oil were omitted by the
Spaniards from this list simply because
they did not know of their existence.
Had their existence and value been
known they would undoubtedly have
been included in the property of the
crown. Naturalization means that. as
has always been the case with gold
silver and other minerals, that the
ownership of the minerals beneath IL
Special permission from the govern
ment is required in order to exploit these
deposits. This permission has always
been demanded. The Mexican govern
ment has now placed coal and oil in the
same category and those owning land
upon which such deposits are located
must follow the same methods as those
owning land in which there Is gold. sill
yer. copper. or lead.
That foreigners are not prevented from
developing and exploiting the petroleum
/ deposits is shown by the large number of
applications for permission TO do SO that
am informed are constantly being filed
with the department of public works.
| Many Of these have been granted, after
due consideration and compliance with
certain requirements. These require
ments, in the main, are that all foreign
applicants must file written renunciation
Of intention to make any appeal to their
home governments for the purpose Of
such business.
| 1 received letter from Yucatan, stat
ing that Gov. Alvarado has just completed
an extended tour Of the state in order to
observe the needs of the people. He takes
great pride-as / know personally-in see
I ing that the laws for the benefit of the
working classes are being carefully OBJ
served. This is one reason for his great
popularity.
The governor OF the state of Sonora
has telegraphed to Washington that no
reason now exists why mining operations
in that state should not be resumed. He
says the situation is absolutely normal
and the plants can all be opened, as they
|
/ sage was sent In response to one inspired
by the statements of certain operators
that they were unable to resume work
because of prevailing conditions.
Reports from the Mexican department
! 81 Formentor show that particular study
Is being given to conditions in the terri
| tory of Quintanan Roo, adjoining Yucca
tan. In this almost unexplored territory
there are virgin forests containing many
varieties of valuable wood-minerals of
great value which up to date have not
been touched, and vast stretches of land
suitable for good crops which have never
been sown. In addition, Gov. Alvarado
| purposes to construct a railroad from
Peto to traverse the principal productive
regions of the territory and to terminate
at the eastern coast where a maritime
port will be installed. II Is believed that
| Quintanar Roo will show under proper
development that It is adapted to big
business enterprises.
| Another railroad is about to be built IN
Mexico, which is to run from Vera Cruz
to Tampico. This will be a portion of
4 national line. This road will open rich
agricultural and mineral district. At
present the only means of communication
between these-the two most important
seaports on the eastern coast of the re-
public-has been by water and with an
Indifferently good steam service.
They have got around now in Mexico
to doing considerable housecleaning as a
result of the mess left by the transitory
governments before the constitutionalists
came into full control Huerta, for the
short time he was in ofice, managed to
| Involve the state in a good many very
questionable deals. He gave concessions
| right and left without rhyme or reason.
Many Of these were so absolutely harm
full that they are being nullified Among
1 Al. a..
| construction of a railway from Quatro
| Cienegas to Sierra Mojado in the state
Of Coahuila- This has been nullihed and
the deposit made by the concessioniers to
| the national treasury has been returned
| : II is proposed to revive the former plan
Of railroad connecting Darango and
other interior points with the port of
Mazatlan.
The line from Sombrerete to Darango
will be completed within eight months.
Rapid progress has already been made
upon it. When this line is finished work
will begin on the extension to Mazatlan.
| In looking over some Mexican newspa-
pers 1 see by the advertisements that
prices there for manufactured articles
are very far from being exhorbitant. In
| fact, they look very cheap compared with
what we are paying in American cities.
For instance. American shoes are adyer-
/ tised at 1915 pair: suits of mems clothes
can be made to order at $3.50. $3.50. and
$50: American hats are retailed at from
S1.50 to So: gramaphone discs cost SO cents
each; other of the ordinary articles Of
use are in like proportion.
In view of the political difficulties that
has suffered during the past six years an
economic phenomenon has occurred. This
Is the advancement of her foreign COM
merce with the United States. Statistics
show that during the fiscal year Of 1915
| I6, ending the first of last July her ex-
ports to the United States reached very
nearly s9s,00o,0O0, as against ST.eco.oo0 In
l914-15. an increase of more than $50, Co.,
! 900. The imports from the United States
reached $4s.aoo,ooo This was $14.ooo,0oo dol
lars more than during the preceding year.
| The total of foreign commerce between
the two nations reached in round num-
bers, the sum of $14s 100000 the highest
| figure on record. This was $4,000, 900
above the record of 1912-13, which was
then the high-water mark. These figures
do not include the expectations of pre-
cious metals. which, although times pro-
hfbit, have been OF considerable impor-
tance.
That the little city Of Merida, Yucatan,
| Is having quite real estate boom Is
shown by the fact that in the registry
office there during the month of January