Some of the states and municipalities charged commercial travelers’ taxes, while others did not. As a rule these fees can be evaded.
Under ordinary conditions travel accommodations in Mexico are not bad and the hotels passable.
The following are the leading cities:
| Population | |
|---|---|
| City of Mexico | 500,000 |
| Guadalajara | 120,000 |
| Pueblo | 100,000 |
| Monterey | 65,000 |
| San Luis Potosi | 61,000 |
| Vera Cruz | 60,000 |
| Merida | 50,000 |
| Guanajuanto | 42,000 |
| Aguas Caliente | 40,000 |
| Morelia | 40,000 |
| Queretero | 40,000 |
| Zacatecas | 36,000 |
| Chihuahua | 35,000 |
| Orizaba | 35,000 |
| Toluca | 30,000 |
| Jalapa | 25,000 |
| Saltillo | 25,000 |
| Tampico | 25,000 |
| Torreon | 25,000 |
| Colima | 21,000 |
| Campeche | 20,000 |
| Irapuato | 20,000 |
| Mazatlan | 20,000 |
| Cuernavaca | 15,000 |
| Manzanillo | 12,000 |
Mexico may be entered by rail from the United States at Nogales, Ciudad Porfirio Diaz, Ciudad Juarez and Laredo. There are many lines of steamships from Europe, New York and Gulf ports, plying to the larger eastern coast cities. Its western coast is reached by direct steamship lines from San Francisco, Canada and one line every two weeks from Japan, calling en route at China, Hong Kong and Hawaii, and proceeding down the west coast of South America, touching at all the leading ports to and including Coronel, Chile.
XIV
CUBA
Cuba is so near to us and our commercial and political relations with it are so intimate that it is worthy of careful study. It was discovered by Columbus on his first trip to America October 28, 1498, and in 1511 Diego Velasquez was appointed its first Spanish governor. His principal task was the subduing of the warlike Carib Indians. In 1762 when Spain was fighting England and France, Havana was captured by the English who, when peace was finally declared, returned it to Spain.
Many sporadic attempts at independence were made, the earliest dating from the beginning of the last century when all of Spain’s colonies in this hemisphere revolted. None was successful, however, until American intervention in 1898 when Cuba became free and in May 1902 inaugurated her first president.
[Click anywhere on map for high resolution image.]
