Land.—As has been stated, the great estates or haciendas are held by landowners who rarely part with any portion thereof, and as capital is not always plentiful among them, they are sometimes "land poor" with a resulting lack of development. The Mexican landed aristocracy consider it a point of honour almost, not to part with their land. The problems which have to be considered in connection with Mexican agriculture are: the establishing of irrigation works, the system of land tenure, the question of labour; whilst as regards the tropical products there exists the added element of fluctuation in foreign markets. Thus the export trade of sugar in 1905 reached a value of £600,000, whilst a year later it fell to £67,000, due to fluctuations in European markets: and this matter also affects coffee. Special laws concerning irrigation works have been promulgated, and Government subsidies are granted for such, and there are good openings here for enterprise and capital. An international dam is to be built on the Rio Grande, for the equitable distribution of the waters of this river for irrigation.
Lands within the area or division known as vacant or national lands can be acquired by Mexican or foreign inhabitants of the Republic by "denouncement" or claim, which entails certain legal formalities and the annual payment of a tax. This latter varies according to different states, as the land is naturally worth more in some situations than in others, and ranges from 2 pesos—a peso equals about 2s.—per hectare (or about 2½ acres), in Lower California, to 27 pesos in Morelos, being 4, 5, 10, 17, 20 pesos in many states, and 100 in the Federal District. Payment for these lands can be made in Three per cent. Consolidated Debt Bonds, purchased at 70 per cent. of their nominal value and received by the Government at par.
Colonisation.—The conditions which the colonist in Mexico will encounter will have been fully learned by a general perusal of these pages. There is much room for colonists and they are welcomed. Great care must be taken to avoid the numerous land schemes which are continually sprung upon investors by land sharks and speculators, principally of American nationality. A number of people have lost their small capital through investing in ill-judged or fraudulent plantation schemes, and as to the United States, the abuse became so marked that the Government of that country at length declined to permit the mails to be used by promoters of some Mexican land schemes. I have seen the most extraordinary prospectuses, emanating from the United States, calculating and offering systems of life assurance and annuities based upon the yield of rubber of some tropical jungle, which they held in Mexico. A large number of these "buccaneers" have been operating of recent years, and bona fide companies have to bear the ill-fame so created in connection with tropical land dealings. Nevertheless, the individual often does and may obtain success and achieve profits amid the easy conditions and temperate climates of some of Mexico's fertile regions. But capital is indispensable to his success, and no emigrant should proceed there without it.
Labour.—With regard to native labour, there is not sufficient. The peon earns a low wage, but the demand is likely to increase this considerably in coming years. Mexico does not prohibit the introduction of Asiatics, but these are not a good element, and if such a policy were continued in indiscriminately it would be a vast mistake and would injure Mexico. The immigrants Mexico really wants are Europeans, and their valleys and forests are better left unworked than stuffed with the yellow race. Similar conditions may be pointed to in Peru and other countries of Spanish-America. Mexico boasts that she is the "bridge of the world's commerce" and that she looks towards Asia with equal favour as towards Europe. But the importation of Asiatics will be disastrous, and the native peones are a superior race in every respect and must rather be encouraged to multiply. As regards the labour of the white man in the tropics, Nature does not intend him to work in the same way as in northern latitudes, and there is no doubt that a great adaptability to environment will be brought about yet.
To turn now to a geographical distribution of the agricultural and other resources of the country. As has been shown throughout these chapters, Mexico embodies a wide range of varying topography, climate, and natural resources. The thirty-one States and Territories into which the Republic is divided politically fall into groups, to a certain extent physically, some of them being mainly upon the Great Plateau, whilst others occupy the Pacific or Atlantic slopes and southern region, with their lowland and tropical conditions. In some cases, however, some of the states partake of all the conditions of highland, lowland, and mountain region.
These great territories, the mere names of which are often unknown to British readers, are full of interest and variety, both as regards their natural features and the human element which inhabits them. Names which appear upon the map seem to the casual reader to embody the idea of vast uninhabited deserts or bleak mountain ranges alone. They do not come within the scope of ordinary knowledge, and the traveller entering such places is astonished to discover beautiful cities and picturesque towns, their inhabitants living in a state of advanced civilisation and engaged in thriving industries, the whole being in the nature of a revelation to his preconceived ideas of the country. We had forgotten, or never knew, that a large productive part of the North American continent lay in this cornucopia-shaped land of Mexico, or that single provinces, in some instances the size of Great Britain, sleep here under a southern sun and support a pastoral and contented population of considerable extent. Some of them are remote from main routes of travel and from the busy world outside them—remote but of great future possibilities; others are valuable centres of life and industry upon trunk lines of travel, and it will be the object of this and the following chapter to give a succinct idea of their condition and natural resources.
We will begin with the Maritime States which form the extensive Pacific littoral from the frontier with the United States to that of Guatemala—a zone of territory more than 2,000 miles long.
The great State of Sonora lies at the north-west corner of the country, forming the littoral washed by the Gulf of California on the west and bounded by the United States—Arizona—on the north. Its very considerable area of 76,620 square miles supports a population of about 222,000 inhabitants. The state is traversed longitudinally by the great range of the Western Sierra Madre, with various secondary chains, forming a rugged region, with, however, a flat zone upon the coast. All its rivers descend from the Sierra to the Gulf, the five principal of these ranging in length from 145 miles to 390 miles—the Yaqui River, which debouches at Guaymas, the principal port of the Gulf of California. The climate and temperature are very varied according to the altitude, the coast region being hot and dry, a low, arid region generally, with an occasional rainfall from a cloudless sky—a peculiarity of that zone. Temperate slopes and valleys, as we ascend, are succeeded by the cold and occasional frosts of the mountain region. As a whole the climate is healthy. The coast fisheries are important, and valuable pearls are produced from the pearl oysters here. A varied fauna and flora are encountered throughout the state, but although the soil is fertile, agriculture is backward, due to the lack of irrigation works necessary for development, in parts of the region. However, considerable quantities of sugar-cane, tobacco, cereals, fruits, maguey, &c., are raised, and cattle bred.
But mining is the great industry here, and Sonora is one of the richest parts of the earth's surface as regards minerals. The state was one of the main contributors to Spain's coffers before the War of Independence, but ruin ensued then, followed by the extraordinary regeneration of the past decade. Capitalists of the United States have invested heavily in the copper and gold mines, and exports of minerals to that country reach millions of pesos annually. There is some British capital successfully employed also in the mines. Modern copper-smelters turning out hundreds of tons of bars and large gold-quartz crushing mills are in operation. Numerous mines are being worked, and some coalfields are being exploited. The mountain region is covered with the old workings of bygone days, and the streams' margins and valleys contain hundreds of old arrastres, which attest the former activity of the Spaniards and natives. Much is being done in this field, but much more remains to be accomplished, and the prospector and the capitalist find ample scope for their efforts. In the chapter upon mining will be found the names of some of the principal enterprises in operation.