Evening star., 1961-10-22
BY SIDNEY WISE
Contributing Writer

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MEXICO CITY. With most Of
Latin America plagued by eco
nomic backwardness or haunted
by specters of possible new mill
tary dictators, Mexico today in
many ways is emerging as the
healthiest, fastest-growing nation
in the Western Hemisphere.
In this capacity. and with the
position of leadership among its
sister republics which this has
brought, Mexico seems destined
to play key role in the coming
intensified struggle for Latin
America.
This leadership stems not only
from its rapidly rising economic
power but from its position of
independence, bordering on neu-
tralism, in international affairs.
Added weight to this role has
also come from its symbolism
as the first nation in Latin
America to carry out a revolu-
ton which ended feudal back
wardness.
Today, more than so years aft
er that revolution, Mexico has
cast off many of the evils of
this backwardneSs which still
cripples its sister American re-
publics to the South and which
Secretary of the Treasury Dillon
feels should be eliminated or re-
formed if Alliance for Progress
aid for Latin America is to be
effective.
Some Social Reforms
Mexico today has a burgeon-
ing middle class, a stable curren-
cy, has carried out wide-scale land
and social reforms and has es-
tablished a diversified economy
not dependent upon any one or
two industries.
In the process Of leading Latin
America in these accomplishments,
Mexico has been growing at an
astonishing rate.
During the last 20 years, Mexi-
cos gross national product. ad-
justed for price changes, has
nearly tripled with an average
increase of almost per cent an
nually.
Although this pace has slowed
down somewhat during the last
two years, President Adolfo Lopez
Mateos in his recent State of
the Union message said that
Mexico's gross national product
increase for the last IL months
had been ST. per cent. This is a
rate of growth about two times
faster than the U. S. A. is cur
rently accomplishing.
La Revolution Mexicana" Of
1910, a constant theme of po-
litical speeches here, seems to
have been supplanted in economic
Importance by an industrial revo-
luton which has been the main
spring of the nations mushroom
ing growth.
Business Firms Doubled
According to government
sources. these are some Of the
statistics Of this growth.
The number of business COM
panies established during the last
five years has almost doubled
with 275,000 new firms set UP
during the period as against a
national total of $4,000 in 1856.
Despite a sharp rise in urban
population, agricultural output
has nearly tripled since 1910 and
this year Mexico will have large
corn and other food surpluseS to
export thus eliminating the need
for food imports. as in past
years.
With an extensive series of
new dams, Mexico is working to
double its already substantial
electrical power generating ca
pacity in five years.
During the last two decades,
factory production has nearly
tripled while Mexico has risen
to be the No. / customer of the
United States in Latin America
and its fifth biggest in the world.
However, the rapid growth of
Mexico's economy has been un-
even. Mexico City, for example,
has grown spectacularly out of
proportion to the rest of the