LIFE IN MEXICO.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1986, 17 February 1914, Page 4

LIFE IN MEXICO.

OIL DEVELOPMENT.

A FORTUNE RUNNING TO WASTE

PEOPLE AND CUSTOMS,

Mr. W. D. Hornada.v, of Austin, Toxas, an American nowspaper correspondent now in Sydney, has had S3 years' experience of life'in Mexico. He is, therefore, fully able to talk about its people and customs, as welt as its development and the present revolution. Last week tie gave a "Telegraph" reporter some interesting information. "Out of a population of 15,000,000," he said, "l",00Q>flGO are uneducated native .Indians. Those who have been educated make good business men, but very few have the opportunity, as only a very meagre educational system exists.; Aftertho overthrow of the Phiz Administration •by Madera three years ago, efforts were made by Madero to establish schools for the natives. His idea was that they were capable of vast improvement, arid that they ought to be encouraged to exorcise the franchise in their own way. Elections in Mexico are farcical. Few people -vote. They havo tho right, but dictatorship exists, the same as in Diaz's time. He selected all the Governors himself, so that their election by the- people Was a mere formality. In the whole of the Republic there has never been more than 10,000 votes cast at any election, except for that of President Madero, when 100,000 votes alone were east. It was Madera's plan, to educate the people to the voting system, but his ideas were too far ahead of the country. That is one of the reasons why the revolution was inaugurated against him. The methods •he endeavoured to put" into ett'eet were ideal, but not practicable for Mexico. Madero is both- a .welleducated and wealthy man, and his grandfather was--perhaps ono of the wealthiest men in the Rephblie. Madero received his'education'iu Fni.ii.ee principally, and in the United States, and it is from those two countries tjvat he gained his ideas of.gorotnmoiit. Dia?.ruled by the-might' of arms; M'atlero by reasonable, kindly methods. iDiaz wrt-s a yory strong, capable man, and he did great things for Mexico by oncouragini? the. investment of foreign capital, which helped the people a. great deal.

Capital Invested* "There was invested iu Mexico, under Diaz's Admiiiristration approximately one hundred million dollars of American capital, about six hundred million dollars of British capital,; four hundred million dollars of- German capital, and two hundred million dollars of Srenoh capital.. Foreign intotesfa? practically •own Mexico. Nearly al; the mines, industries, and manufacturing concern?, as woll as all the best land., aro owned by foreign interests. Prom a financial ' standpoint the country is in the control of foreign interests. These investments, have, however, depreciated, very largely owing to;tlio revolution,*. ' ■..'

''Mexico is a wonderful country. With peace no place has g-reater pos'sibilities in the direction of developing its. resources; it has rich mines,- splendid timber, and excellent land, which is still very cheap when compared with other parts of the wortd, *a.nd it is. the •greatest .oil-producing . country now. Even' if the wells already, down were allpwod to run freely, and. facilities in the way of pipe lines and other things were, well as a rnarkei-* , )«) place in the world could equal, the Mexiproduction.. . Tho .development of this industry-.freads like .fiction.- Eor years Lord Cbwdray-flie was then Sit Weetman Pearson) taxed his. purse ..and patienpe endeavouring, to. find, ejlua'ibng ■the gulf coast between' Tsmpitb.'.-';,'»iid-Tuxpam (pronounced Tdcepam).'; His .s'yndioate .was the first to. discover a 'gusher,' about iD.-or 12 years: ugp. It caught fire,'apd burned itself.out in, three months, and a fortune- ,\yea)t up in flame and.smoke. The. well is.new. a boiling salt water geyser,, covering an area of 30 acres, close to..the shore of . Lake Tarfliahua.. There are- two large companies bp.erating~-Lord Cowdray's syndicate and that owned lij' interests. It is' said by some pfioule that the competition between- these "oil syndicates wag reipo.ifsibie Ip a great extent for the commencement pf tlie 'revolution. '"-'"» '"

Torrents of Gil. "Tampiop is the- principal oil export port of Mexico. ..It is fed with a torrent of oil. The field, so.' far as ii has been proved, runs .from a.'point, about 2iDmiles from Tantp-ico, south of the. ThJkt pam Riyer, close on 150' miles along'the Gulf Coast, and extends" bap-It into' ijip interior for'perhaps qO mile's. A great deal of oil. is espprted fvoiU'Tuspam. There is no ravlrpadj buf tho oil pipelino, runs along the river for a mile $\\b of its niouth, and over, t'lia par, where: it is pumped into tajik s'ioantera. Tiic oil does not flow by gh.vitatipsii; and pumping stations a,fo placed aloivg the line at different points. Olio oil pipeline, from. Juan Cdsiano to t Tampieo is do miles, long, and tiicre iiTo'three, pumpnig stations along its track, fiig refiiieri.es' havo been ereotfisl, oho by tho Pearson Oil Compfiiiy, costing fire ni'ijlioii Mr. Jars. The-Lord Cowdray Company lias built one largo refinery, and in'creating another costing about 2| millipu dollars. Tho-great bu)k of the oil-is exported iu a crude state, most of it going to Texas. It _ is used '■'principally .as fuel, and in. Mexico it is used on the national railways ' at. tlio rate, of about 10,000. barrel's, a day. All the railrodcls sn Tesas use oil. fuel. There is. abundance of coal, but the oil is cleaner, and. it- costs about 2s. a barrel. •

About threo months ago there were about 15 million barrels.of oil in storage in Tampico territory,.' Exportation is growing very : rapidly, not only ; to America,'but to Europe. The Lord Cow-dray Company struck a well about 18 months ago at Potrero del Llano. It ran wild for several weeks,. and its (low could not be controlled. Lord. Cowdray was in .Mexico City at the time, and ho went up to the spot to supervise operations,. To assist hjm the Mexican Governnient sent COO soldiers to help in tho work. An mim'ease reservoir was built, and over .2,fJfJO,OGO barrels of'oil-were stored. Tlieu it overflowed and ran along nearby gullies and streams. In this way millions of gallons were lost. Still the oil overikwe'd at a remarkable rate. It ■could, not be throttled. At last a huge iron cap "was brought up, and eventually tli.ci well throttled down to a flow of o(!00 tarsia of oil per day. It has been tested on several occasions when it was shown that, if released, the flow'would ho at the rate of 110,000 barrels a, .lay. Lord Cowdray worked like a Trajan to get the well harnessed. Tho output of the oil from this well is enormous, and if allowed to flow at its fullest capacity would mean a return of £11,000 per day. When tho oil fields of Mexico are brought into their fullest capacity, Tampico will be. not only n- flourishing city, hut the g. : W>atest oil''port in tho" work]. On the hills thorn is aa eruption of oil tanks standing out Kite gigantic mushrooms, while in tho river below are many vessels all hurrying for oil cargpes. ' ' Picturesque Villages.

Tliore are. somo picturesque .native vjllarges in Moxico and Tehuantepee,. which lies on tho isthmus of that ii a me. provides one of tho sights in tho shape of its market place. Hero tho Women rule, andih'intelligsuN) and physique tboy arc "superior to tho inefi." Tito do all tlio f.elling—rnnii is a back siiijiibcr —and they are shrewd bargainers. The men are smaller than tho women,

and both ficxos smoke cigarettes. They are not very dark Indians, these native women, and they walk with alacrity. In dress the women wear a costume peculiar to Mexican. Indians,'consisting of some light cotton material draped tightly around the waist, and they nfo generally loaded down with several hundreds of dollars' worth of gold pieces made, into a necklace. Yet very often they are barefooted and poor. Tho Mexican will spend his last cent for a big hat, or sombrero—as it is tailed. , Without it he loses oast amongst his people. Spanish is spoken generally, brought about by the influence of the Spanish Catholic'missionaries in early times.

Mexico is frequently subjected to earthquakes ami hurricanes. Some of the latter blow for days, while earthquake shocks are felt every few months, though no serious damage in modern tinies has occurred. The earthquake zone is in Guerrero, abou'> 150 miles below Mexico City, and the shakings are, severe. Very often these shocks are felt in Mexico-City, when some slight damage is done.