3wwr
Transportation in Mexico.
(Prepared by the National GeoarapWo
Society, Washington.' D. C.)
PEK11 ATS nowhere else In the
world Is there a country so full
of Contrast as Mexico. With a
university established before
John Harvard, Elihu Yale, or William
and Mary were born, the masses of Its
people are ignorant. With a hospital
founded before Jamestown was even
dreamed of, it is backward in a med
ical way. . With natural riches great
er than those of a thousand Mldases,
Hs masses are as poor as the proverb
ial church mouse.
.Here you will see a Mexican half
breed, barefooted, wearing a dollar
pair of trousers, a flfty-cent shirt, and
a ten-dollar sombrero. There, at a
single glance and within the length of
a single city block, you may- see an
Indian cargador, a donkey, an ox-oart,
a carriage, a railroad train, a street
car, and an automobile—almost ev
ery type of locomotion since Adam.
You may tread the bunting sands
of a tropical desert with the wet of
the perpetual Show of towering moun
tains still upon your shoes. You t£uy
take a Single railway journey of U6
hours in which the people you see at
tlie railroad station will be dressed in
four different weights of clothing.
Land of the inordinately rich and of
the abjectly poor; land of the aborig
inal Indian and of the Twentieth-cen
tury business man; land of perpetual
snow and of unending summer—ev
erywhere you turn there is contrast,
high lights and deep shadows.
Mexico has an area approximately
one-fourtli of tiiat of the United
States. It has .a coast line some 6,000
miles long, although its greatest
length is less than 2,000 miles, and its
greatest breadth only 750 miles. Al
t hough its areu is only one-fourth that
Of Brazil, Its population is approxi
mately equal to tiiat of the empire of
the southern continent. Some 14,000,
000 souls live within its borders, of
whom more than two-thirds can neith
er read nor write.
Of tlie total population,-only about
19 per cent are white, 43 per cent are'
mlxdd parentage, while 38 per cent
still maintain their Indian blood un
corrupted.
Vast Agricultural Resources.
The agricultural possibilities of
Mexico, despite its vast central des
ert plain, are great. It bas millions
of acres of the finest grazing land,
great bodies of land that will produce
two crops of corn a year, large areas
of banana lands that can match those
of Guatemala and Costa Rica, coffee
_ lands that produce coffee not only fit
for the “Queen’s table,” but used on
it, rubber lands, and cocao lands—
all lying accessible to good railroads.
Go to Yucatan, go to Colima, go to
Chiapas, go to Vera Cruz, and every
where outside the great desert you
will find a soil teeming with possi
bilities. And portions even of the
desert land,'if we may judge by what
tie have done with our own western
alkali plains, may yet be made to
blossom when the irrigationlst and
the plant breeder join bands.
A trip along the Pan-American rail
road with Its magnificent forests and
great ancient estates, among them
one .on whfleh the cattle still weaf the
brand of Cortes; ever 'the Isthmus
of Tdhttantepec, where -the tropical
. - I- •• • IfAfomlQ
American ports. The organgeries of
eastern Mexico are nearer to the
eastern part of the United States than
are those of southern California, and
crop failures among them are un
known. With the same methods of
cultivation that are pursued In Flor
ida and southern California, they
should be a source of vast wealth to
the country: ~
Although the value of the corn pro
duced In Mexico each year Is greater
than that "of any other product, not
even excepting gold or silver, the
country still has to Import a part
of its supply. The reason is not far
to seek—It Is the nation-wide love for
the tortilla. There are vast areas
where It is easy to produce two crops
of com a year and where each crop
grows with an'exuberance that would
delight the heart of any corn-club con
testant In the United States.
Cotton a Prehistoric Crop.
History does not recall the time
when cotton first was cultivated in
Mexico. The Spaniards found It
there. Indians clothed with cotton
garments were first seen by Ctfinmbus
along the coast of Tucatan at the very
dawn at the Sixteenth century. The
Toltecs wrote In their sacred books
that Qnetzalcohnatl, god of the air,
grew .cotton of all colors In his garden
and taught them Its' many uses. In
the times of Cortes the Indians quilt
ed armor of cotton, which was proof
against arrows.
-To this day cotton is cultivated
with profit in many parts of the coun
try. In the Laguna region It Is peren
nial and does not require to be plant
ed oftener than once In ten years.
Mexico probably has a greater
range of remarkable vegetation than
any other country In the world. The
parrot fruit tree produces an odd
shaped fruit, bearing a close resem
blance to green parrakeets. Evident
ly mindful of this striking resem
blance, when the parrakeet Is fright
ened it makes a dash for the parrot
tree, where It assumes a position
which makes it look like the ftnit
Itself.
Another remarkable tree is the "Ar
bol de Dinamlte”—dynamite tree—
whose fruit, If kept In a warm place,
bursts with considerable force and a
lond report, scattering its fiat seeds
to a surprising-distance.
Rich In Minerals.
Humboldt once pronounced mexico
“the treasure-house of the world.”
It produces one-third of the world’s
silver, a considerable percentage of
Its - gold, one-ninth of its lead, and
one-twentieth of its copper. The
country’s mineral production, exclu
sive of Iron, coal and petroleum,
amounted to $158,000,000 In 1910, but
the output dropped after the fall of
Pita. With the exception of Cam;
peche, Tabasco and Yucatan/ every
state in the Mexican republic possesses
mines, of which there are 21,000, cov
ering 633,000 acres of mineral lands.
They gave employment at one time to
half a-million-men.’ Yet probably leas
than one-fourth of the mineral possi
bilities of the republic have been ex
ploited. Prior to the outbreak of the
Madero revolution, upward of 5,000
mining claims were registered each
year.
The famous Iron mountain at Du
rango is estimated to contain <M>00,
tag tuberculosis from cattle,
-&3%decline of the same dl
•wine is taking place. ThI
ment by the bureau of anl
try, United States Department
culture, is baaed on field
and by records of the' federal
inspection service. .
Economic Loss.
A striking example of the effect of
the work has been received by the
department from an Iowa packing
company which haa •‘kept books" on
such losses for the last seven years.
In 1910 the average loss per bog
caused by tuberculosis Infection was
75 cents. This .figure is the economic
loss for hogs slaughtered in the plant
In 1920 the loss declined to 66 cents,
ta 1921 to 49 cents, Sttd in 1922 to 32
cents. Since 1913 the loss has -de
clined further to 26. cents.
“We have actual knowledge, through,
experience," the company' adds, 'tlfat
the tubercniin test applied to cattle
baa reduced bovine tnberculosis among
cattle and hogs following them, and
has cleaned up the hogs from 'the
disease."
Report for Hardin County.
Further- evidence is given by the
packer’s report for Hardin County,
Iowa, which Is an area accredited as
free from bovine tuberculosis. .Dur
ing a nine-month’s period more than
11,000 hogs were shipped from this
county and slaughtered, with an av
erage economic loss, caused by tuber
culosis, of only 4.7 cents each. This
figure is leas than a fifth of the gen
eral average, which In turn is about
a third of the loos ta 1919 when sys
tematic tuberculosis eradication was
just begun.
An important development of the
work. is the discovery that through
out the Centra! West especially, many
poultry flocks are - tuberculous, and
some infection among swine is trace
able to that source. Fowl tubercu
losis yields readily, however, to meth
ods of eoptrol^gnd eradication. Thus
the out|odk' for the complete suppres
sion of tuberculosis among alt kinds
of live stock is encouraging, federal
veterinary officials assert.
New Strain of Cabbage
Is Resistant to Disease
Cabbage growing on a commercial
or lesser scale in the corn belt has
been seriously hampered the last few
years by a disease known as cabbage
yellows- which lives over In the soli
for as long as' 11 years and causes
from a half to almost total loss of the
crop. v
Various attempts to control -the dis
ease by soil treatments or crop rota
tion have failed, but a strain has re
cently been developed by the Iowa
Agricultural Experiment station, Ames,
which seems to be quite resistant In
various trials on infested soils it has
produced satisfactory crops during
the past two years. The strain is
called Iacope and was bred up from
the Copenhagen Market variety. But
letin No. 235 describes this strain.
Meat Scrap in Ration
Meat scrap or some other animal
feed high in protein Is one essential
constituent of the mash. In some ex
periments a pen of pullets, on free
range, which did not get meat scrap
or any other protein feed, laid only
90 eggs each In a year, compared
with yields of from 125 to 150 eggs
from pens fed rations containing meat
gcrap. The eggs from the pen where
no meat scrap was fed cost Z3 events,
more a dozen for feed. Eggs add to
tlss return from the farm.
Pasture for Ducks
As to a good pasture for ducks,
short btufegrass Is good, but, better yet,
short alfalfa or clover. - For egg pro
duction supply a ration of three parts
corn meal, thr?e parts finely ground
oats, three parts wheat bran and one
part toe flour middlings. Add to every
100 pounds of this mixture one pound
of toe sand, two pounds of grit and
fifteen pounds of beef scraps.' If they
are on pasture no other green, food
will be needed. They do not need
'tunning water. -jv-;■
LUUHK UUUIIMK : .
novn a,eHAmJt«rOM.iMJMeia
Prom the days of the polonaise to
the days of the radl<w mothers have
given this dependable medicine to
their daughters. School girls are
often careless. They get wet feet.
They overstudy or they Ore them
selves with too many dances and
parties. They get ran down.
Many an active girl of today, like
the demure maiden of the 1870‘s,
has found that Lydia E. Pinkham’s
Vegetable Compound Is hoping her
to find better health and energy.
“I gave my flfteen-year-old girl
Everyone thought X could m
Just tour months ago I beg*
lngyonr wonderful medicine,
B. PinkBam’s Vegetable CS«Bj
and I could notice * great e
almost fit once. Now! feel
new person. I wish all girls
try Lydia B. Plnkham’s won
medicine.”—Mae. C. M. i
Union Village, Vermont
f1 - V*Jw'fApnajtfl
ryf>ir^N#i
i $5?
S ••../■■•'.
Utopia
“What t» Utopia,?”
“IJie place where summer board Is
what you expected."
Well Matched
“They are a wett-matched pale.*
“Indeed I" ' ' - ^ V' i
•'frea; be anoeeaand ebe* deeZ*
To All Who Suffer Stomach Agony,
Gas and Indigestion ‘
Money Cheerfully Refunded if One Bottle of Dare’* Mentha-Pepsm
Doesn’t Do You More Good Than Anything Yon Ever Used.
Ton can be so distressed with gas
and fullness and bloating that you think
your heart is going to stop beating.
Your stomach may be so dlstendqd
that your breathing is short and gaspyc
Tou think perhaps you are suf
focating.
Ton are dizzy and pray tor quick
relief—what's to be done?
Just one tablespoonful of Dare s
Mentha-Pepsln and in tern minutes the
gas disappears, the pressing on the
heart ceases and you can breathe deep
and naturally. - ' '
Oh! What blessed relief; but why
not get rid of such attacks altogether?
Why have _
1th this
_Ion at all?
medicine yen
can banish Indigestion or dyspepsia,
aents caused by a disordered storaaefr
old happy, contented^strif again. Tour
local dealer and druggists everywhere
guarantee one bottle of Dare’s Me»
tha-Pepsin to show the way to stomach
comfort _ - : . ' - -
Over 6,000 bottles sold In one smi
New Jersey tosm last year—ask your
self why? /rv;5r
Japanese Etiquette
- According to true Japanese - eti
quette a tan must never be used 1b
the presence of cut flowers.
a_.t --
Americans Are Soap Users
Each family In the United States
uses an average of 90 powads of Map
a year, at an approximate c«et •/ Ptt
e as They Grom
how children thrive on it;
ilious, sour stomach, stops