calera," with a daily output of four million cigarettes. There
are in addition 480 other factories throughout the Republic, and others
for the manufacture of cheroots, cigars, snuffs, and cut tobacco. The
Mexican products cannot, however, compete with the Cuban brands in
favour as yet.

As to the _sugar mills_ there are more than 2,000 of different
magnitude in the country, the largest being in the States of Morelos,
Vera Cruz, and Sinaloa, and these are equipped with modern appliances.
The production of Mexican sugar for 1907 was 119,500 metric tons; of
molasses 68,300 tons; and of rum 567,090 hectolitres.

_Iron and Steel factories_ are represented mainly by those of
Monterrey, owning extensive coal and iron deposits, and operating with
a capital of 1,000,000 pounds sterling, founded in 1900. The rolling
plant produced in 1906 structural iron, steel rails, bar iron, and wire
to the amount of 24,500 metric tons. The company has suffered severe
drawbacks, and this output represents but a quarter of its capacity;
but it is expected that the enterprise will work its way on to
financial success. The Encarnacion Iron Works, in the State of Hidalgo,
which have been operating since 1850, produce bar iron of various
kinds; and the Apulco Foundry, in the same state, turns out pig-iron,
castings, and machinery. Other concerns are the San Miguel Iron Works,
in the same State, and the Comanja Iron Works, of Guanajuato. All these
four enterprises are owned by an Englishman.

Of _Paper Mills_ the San Rafael factories in the State of Mexico are
the leading enterprise. This is situated in a well-wooded and
well-watered region near the foot of the snow-capped mountains,
Ixtaccihuatl, and produces some 20,000 metric tons of paper per annum
in much variety, from the finest to the cheapest kinds. The company
owns large forest areas for pulp making; its capital is 700,000 pounds
sterling, and it paid a dividend in 1907 of 8 per cent., it is stated.

An industry which has very recently come into being is that of
extracting crude india-rubber from the _guayule_ shrub, which abounds
in a wild state over vast areas in the northern plains. There are more
than twenty factories engaged in this new industry, and, in addition,
quantities of the shrub are exported.

Other industries are the _soap works_ of La Laguna, manufacturing soap
and cotton-seed oil and cake from the products of this important
cotton-growing district. A _dynamite factory_