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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 13, 1913)
TTTTC OMAHA SUNDAY BHR: APTJ1L 13, 1913. Mexico Still Building Railways .JOHN A. SWANKOX, Pros. WJt. L. IIOLZMAN, Trens. HI Copyright. 1913, by Frank G. Carpenter ) 13X1CO CITY. Railway travel In Mexico Just now is mighty uncertain, although the rail way officials say they expect things to quiet down from now on and the travel and business conditions to show a' steady Im provement. For the last few months things have been decidedly bad on the roads from hero to tho north. Tho Mexi can Central to 131 Paso was out of com mission for moro than a year, and the Uiredo road has had many holdups and bridge burnings. Conditions upon It were t specially bad shortly after Madero was killed, and some of the regions through which It passo3 had many rebels and brigands. As I came hero over that route, some months beforo tho battle of Mexico City, the passengers on my train discussed the possibilities of a tunnel being blown up, and since then some of tho bridges have been burned and rebuilt. Holdups by bandits and rebels frequently occur be tween here and Vera Cruz, and, In fact, thcro nro but few regions where travel Is positively safe. If there are soldier on your train, thcro is liable to be shoot ing by antl-admlnlslfation brlgLWls, and your llfo is In danger. It thcro aro no holdiers tho train may bo held up and lobbed by tho rebels or bandits, and the passengers, without regard to nationality, bo forced to hand over their money, watches and Jewelry at tho point of the icvolver. In some such cases tho pas sengers aro searched to sco If they are Klvlng up all that they have, and In others foreigners are freed after their pocketbooks and money rolls have been handed over. Kor tills reason I am hid ing my money. I always carry a num ber of good yellow bills ap a reservo fund tor arcldents. and these 1 now keep In my sot-Us whllo traveling by train. I would say, however, that In several hun dred thousand miles of travel all over tho world, this is tho first time I have, done so. Mexico' " ItnllrontU. ' .Such conditions have practically .par Rllyzed travel throughout a great part of this country. .This Is so, although much of Mexico, geographically sraklng, is tjulet, and tho freight and. passenger busl nt'ss Is being carried on almost as regu imiv ! In times of peace. Tho most of the foreigners have sent their families out of Mexico, but many of them are go- Inr, about from city to city and thcro are itlll Bomn thousands at tho capital. As to tho railway officials, they claim ihat conditions aro not half so bad as they have been painted. They arc plan ning new construction work, arid as sobn in quiet is restoted'a number Of now lines will bo built. Tho National rail ways havo Just completed a final survey jf a line f rom' Tamplco to Matamoras, a llstanco gceater than from New York to Boston, and they have built something like 800 mlfes on several branches of their system within tho last twalve nu-nths. Tho Southern Pacific company has added considerably to its mileage on tho west coast during 1912. and tho Mexico Northwestern railway has com pleted ita line from Kl Paso to Chi huahua. II y llnll to Vncatan, - . In addition to this, concessions have been asked for a number of lines. Two railway companies have been formed to build roads south of the Isthmus of Te-. huantepeo. One of these 1b to go from Eanta Lucrotia on the Tchuantepco Na tional railway to the town of Campeche, through tho states of Vera Cruz, Tabasco nd Campeche, and It will there connect with tho United railways of Yucatan. This road Is financed by different capi talists. It la now being surveyed and construction will soon commence. This will form a m&tn line between the rest of the republic and the peninsula of Yu catan, and will enable one to go from tho United States to that country by rail. It will open up some of tho richest trop ical country of tho world. Another Important line, financed by tho Diltlsh, but to be built by Ameri cans, has been projected from Acapulca on tho west coast through the state of Guerrero to Halsas, on tho Halsas river, whero connection will be made with the National railways. It will open up u semi-tropical region and also large limber and mineral reserves. Improving the Slain Line. In addition to this new construction, 1ib old roads are being improved. Not- h-.an.ifnir tho revolution, the Na tional raltways havo been relaying much of their main lino with eighty-five-pound .tt mils and they have Improved hun dreds of miles of track on that line with rock ballast. They have added to the rolling stock by the addition of many oil-burning locomotives and of new pic tenger arid freight cars. The Mexican railway has during tho same time retald it. mnln track with heavier steet and has turned its engines from coal-burning m nll.burnlnc while the Soutnern ra Pifin has beon improving Its roadway. This work has, of course, been outalde the region of actlvo rebellion. airxlco'M Ilutlwuy System. Few people appreciate how rapidl Mexico has been moving during recent yeurs along railway lines. In comparison with tho character and number of Its population, It has been building such lines faster than almost any other coun try. It has now moro than twice as many miles of railroad as oitbc Brain or Italy. It has 2,000 miles more thin Austria and an equal amount In advanc of the Argentine republic. It tls far .ahead of Brazil, and there Is not a Spanish-American country on this hemlspuere hlch approaches It in railway construe. Ion. The lines now built are more than 16,000 miles and their cost has been over IJOO.OOO.OOj in gold. Of these roads 70 per ceat wore cpu-ucted under American Some o hc 2&i7roae& coj&peJ-jt-oTS auspices, 15 per cent by tho Kngllsh tnd other foreigners and 15 per cent by the Mexicans. The general Idea la that tho govern ment owns or controls all tho roads. Th's Is not so. Tho Mexican railways are now operated by forty Independent corpora tions. Tho government has the majority of the stock of the National Railways of Mexico only, which have altogether about S.O0O miles, and it operates some other railways, such as the Inter-Oceanic, under long-time leases. The government Is Improving theso lines, and It Is now building eight branch lines which ngarj gato over 1,116 miles. Tho most 'im portant of these Is a road from Tampicj to Vera Cruz, with a short lino connect, ing with Mexico City. The government roads are known as the National Railways of Mexico. They consist chiefly of three main lines, which were merged Into tho one system In 1903. Theso lines ale the old Natlin'il railway, the old Mexican Central railway and the old Mexican International rall- when the rails had to be changed. On the Tehuuntepec road some of tho track Is laid on mahogany ties which cost there from 25 to 50 cents each. Tho ebony trees do- not grow as large us the mahogany treeB and their ties arc more expensive to make. On tho Mexican road many steel ties have been employed. These are hollow plates, about four Inches wide and of the samo length as an ordinary tie, so made than when turned upside down they look llko a trough. Tho Inter oceunto road uses steel disks to hold the rails, tying them together with a cross piece of lion, but theso do not work as well as tho solid steel ties. A largo part of tho .Mexican Central railway is laid with wooden tics, and this reminds me of a story one of the constructors tells as to Mexican con tracts. Bald he: "The average haclondado hero has queer Ideas of business. I found a strip of forest along tho line of tho Mexican Central which might havo supplied us with a goodly number of tics. I called way. In addition to this they .Jncuivvl upon tho owner ami nsneu mm at wnai the Vera Cruz and Isthmus rallwuys nryl rate he could supply us with 5,000. Ho Pan-American railway, which has Lven I replied that the price would lie U) cents built to tho Guatumalu border. Thesy lines belong to tho government In the sense that It owns the majority of the stock. The bonds are held abroad, on Is also a little more than 49 per cent of the stock. . The bondholders are operating tho property and. .tho chief officials nM Americans. The net capitalization of tho road, Including bonds and stock out standing, 1b about $135,000 per mile', upon which It had In 1911 a net income of 3 per cent. Preferred stock pays a I pa? cent dividend. Southern' 1'm-lflc Itnllivny In Mexico Outside of the National railways tho mbst Important system In the repuntic Is that of tho bouthern Pacific Company of Mexico. Tills was projected by Huril man as a connection with our Soutnern Pacific, and Includes a number of lines along- tho west coast; It has now almost 1,000 miles of railroad and has conces sions -which entail the building of about 500 miles more. Tho road has been s;rl- ously Injured during the revolution, but many of the bridges destroyed have' ,he"l rdplaccd, and improvements will bo made as soon as possible and the road com pleted. Tho Southern Pacific lines con nect the northwestern part of the coun try with the port of. Quaymus, and they arc now In operation as far south as Teplc. They will be extended to Guada lajara In connection with a short strip of the. National railways, as soon as con. dttlons are settled. Mexico's Oldest Railway. The first railway In Mexico was a line two and one-half miles long, which ran from Mexico City to the Shrine of Guada lupe. This was built In 1854, and three years later the concession was granted for tho old Mexican railroad, which ran from Vera Cruz to Mexico City. ThU wa built by British capital under a good concession, and It was completed In 1S73 having at that time received something like J12.000.000 In subsidies. The road 1 about 300 miles long, Including Us branches, and It cost over $30,000,000, or about $100,000 a mile. AVhon It was begun the Indians objected to its construction, and In order to pacify them the work was begun at both ends and carried on to the meeting point, half way between the coast and the capital. As all the ma terlals came from England, this entalloi an enormous expense. It costing as much as $5 to bring a steel rail from Vera Cruz to the capital by wagon. The same was so for a tlmo of the Mexican Central railroad, which runs from El Paso to Mexico City. The road from Vera Cruz was capital ized at $40,000,000, and It has always paid a good profit on the Investment. For a long time It had a monopoly, and at the Btart its freight rates for this haul of less than 300 miles Were $76 a ton, and Its passenger fares were 10 cents a mile. The road Is a marvel of engineering and It has some of the steepest grades upon record. It runs from the lowlands at Vera Cruz right up tho mountains, and It has some grades so steep that a Siamese twin engine, with a double-header, has been constructed to mount them. This engine has two fire boxes, two boilers and two Bets of driving wheels to make It go. With It the train climbs an alti tude of 2,500 feet In twelve miles, .and more than 4,000 feet In twenty-five miles, Uftlnp you out of the tropics and into the temperat" won. A large pa. " Jie old Mexican road had ties of mahout, end ebony. The chief objection to the ebony ties was that It was hard to drive the spikes Into them each. I then said, Hut suppose I take 60.0CO ties.' " 'Oh,' replied tho man. Mn Hint case I could not let you havo them for less than 76 cents apiece.' " 'And If I want 100,0007' " 'One hundred thousand ties!' ex claimed tho farmer, raising his hands. 'I doubt whether 1 could get them out. It would be u greut deal of trouble. I could not think of undertaking to supply that number for less than $1.50 each." raHxciiKOP Travel. I find the Mexican railways well man aged und the curs exceedingly comfort able. There are Pullman sleepers on all the main lines and under ordinary con ditions ono can tako his' berth or draw ing room at St. Louis and go to Mexico City without change. Tho eating arrange ments aro excellent and tho fares aro about tho samo as in the states. As to local travel, the rates aro less than those of our country, the usual first class fare being 2 4-10 cents In gold a mllo and tho second-class about V& cents per mile. All of tho principal railways have first and second-clans coaches, but only the common people and tho Indians use the latter. Nevertheless 75 per cent of tho passenger revenues come from the second-class. The peons love to travel, and whenever ono of them gets a few dollars ahead he spends It by giving himself and his family a railway journey. Sometimes he rides as far as he can and then comes back upon foot. One of the great sources of such traffic Is the re Ilglous shines. Tho peons go upon pil grimages to them and they sometimes travel hundreds of miles by rail In that v.ay. Tho passenger head of the National railway tells me that his road brings thousands every year to tho church of Guadalupe, and that this traffic alone pays his road $150,000 In gold every year. Tho railroads receive a large revenue by running excursions, and among the events which add to tho traffic aro the celebrations of saint days, fiestas and such attractions as bull fights, cock fights, horse races and balloon ascen sion. During my travels here I have spent considerable tlmo on these second class coaches watching tho people. The cars are of the cheapest description. Their seats are hard wooden benches which run along under the windows like an old fashioned street car and have another double row of benches running through the center of tho car with their seats back to back. There are no cushions and no rests for the arms. The cars are usually packed with men, women and children, ranging in color from white to a dark copper, the Indian types predomi nating, Most of the men are clad In cot ton, wearing sombreros and serapas. The women are usually without hats or bon nets and they have shawls of cotton or silk over their heads. All are bare footed, oxcept for sandals of sole leather tied to their bare feet with strings of tho same material. They have but little bag gage, with the exception of baskets or bundles, which they bring Into the cars. The highest officials and the clerical force In the general offices here are largely Americans, but the rank and file, who do the operating and running the trains, are Mexicans, FRANK O. CARPKNTER. The Persistent ana Judicious I 'so of Newsnaner Advertising is tha Hon,! and almost Impossible to get them out ' rci n-ft IT'S REALLY WORTH YOUR WHILE as a young man, who believes in dressing well and appreciates the finest quality, to give your fullest atten tion to our high class stock of fine merchandise suits, over coats, cravenettes, hats, shoes and haberdashery. You'll see here the latest styles, "distinctive," up-to-the-minute a most comprehensive exhibition of men's wearing apparel. 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