Norwich bulletin., 1919-12-13
MEXICO.


 Pertinent geographical facts. about Mexico are given in the following bul- letin of the National Geographic. SO ciety: ,5y.S, S s.s.5-..-.ss
 Prior 10 1886 Mexico. as a. Spanish colony, and the United States covered approximately equal areas of North America, but the Texas secession and the result Of the Mexican war added nearly. a million square miles to our territory and the e1tent.:of Mexico is less than one-fourth that of conti- mental United States says the bulle- tin, which is based on several com lnunications to the society.
 But our. neighbor republic still has territorial eXpanse equal to the. aggre- gate of Austria, Hungary, F Germany, France, Great Britain and Ireland. s..
 "The total. area of the republic of Mexico f767o00 square rniies)- is less than that of our five largest states Texas. California. Montana. New Mex, ico and Arizona-combined. all of these except Montana having been a part of New Spain 75 years ago. None of the 31 political. subdivisions of, our neighbor is as large. as. any ofathe.t five states named, but four Mexican states contiguous to the United States aggre- gate an. extent greater than. that Of Texas.
 .fChihuahua. the. largest Mexican state. .approXimates ill area (S7 900 square milesl that Of Utah, Sonora (77,000 square niles) of Nebraska, Coahuila t63 900 square niles} of .Geor- gia. and Durango (40,000 square miles) | of Kentucky. Nine subdivisions of the United States (exciuding Alaska) are larger than Chihuahua, Is of greater magnitude than Sonora, and 32 larger ' 5 character of the Mexican border state support sparse populations, ex- l cept where mining exploitation and cities resulting tterefron have concen- trated settlement.
 "The melting SHOWS from the San Juan and Sangre, de Clnristo ranges of ! the Rocky Mountains in southern Col orado form the genesis of the Rio Grande, which, after flowing south 1 through New Mexico, bends southeast at the western extremity of. Texas,
 courses between it and Mexico for q distance equal. to that of Saint Louis
 from New York, and. descends in 1,1oo miles from an elevation of 4.500 feet
 to sea level at the Gulf of Mexico. l 1 Except when In flood. the Rio
 Grande is apparently an unimportant stream and readily crossed. for the
 normal flow is well utilized for irriga- tion in both countries:' but it has. carv- led in a part of it's course canyons diff ficult Of exploration. The changes wrought by freshets, which shift the lchannel demanded the attention of .an international commission, which has ladjusted the boundary along the Rio Grande to meet the varying conditions. The uncertainty of this Is illustrated by a claim some years ago that a DOT tion of the important city of Fl Paso, iTexas. was Mexican soil. The remain ling zoo miles of the internal tional boundary to the west separating our Ineighbor republic from New. Mexico, Arizona and California. Is through an arid desert section, much of which is mountainous This Is not a direct line, but has five changes in alignment,
 which have been accurately surveyed and established by 25S permanent
 monuments easily distinguishable.
 Mexico has aan area appro1imate tely
 one-fourth of that of the United
 States, a fourth of whose area once
 belonged to Mexico. It has a coast line sovev e,o00 miles long, although it's greatest length is less than 2,00o ] miles and. it's greatest breadth only , 750 miles. Although it's area is onefy
 one fourth that of Brazil, it's ~popuia ton is approximately equal to that-of } the largest republic of the southern : continent. s4s Some 15. .oeo,soo souls live within Its
 borders, of whom more than two
 thirds can neither read nor: write. = o "Of the total population, only 19 per cent. are white. 43 per cent. are ot s mixed parentage, while B per cent < still maintain their Indian blood un- corrupted. The foreign, population ir s f1912 numbered 100000 souls of whom
 30,000 were Americans, 2o,000 Spanish
 and 5000 British. |, Mexico probably has 8 greater rang Of remarkable vegetation than an, h other country in the world. T .fNo other country in the new world f lsouth of the Rio Grande, was so vel : supplied with railroads as was Mexic '. prior to the Madero revolution The : it had 20 900 miles. of up-to-date Am t. lerican railroad. At six different point It lines crossed the frontier from ' tn 8 United States, and Laredo. Eagle Pas [eIa and Fl Paso gateways handled muc
 itraffic to and from Mexico The MeS
 ican railroads carried 100000 pas + sengers annually that time, and hand led about 1L00o.00oi tons &of fre3st
 ' a