near the same region--at
La Tinaja--operates under a special concession from the Government. A
_cement works_ at Hidalgo, of 50,000 tons annual capacity, has been
started.

_Breweries_.--A number of breweries exist, as those in the capital, and
at Monterrey, Toluca, Orizaba, Chihuahua, Guadalajara, Cuernavaca, &c;,
and these generally produce good beer such as supplies the home demand
in general, and has largely killed imports of the foreign kinds. Of
flour mills 400 establishments supply flour, whilst the meat-packing
and cold-storage business is represented by the Mexican National
Packing Company, of British control, in Michoacan, the centre of a
livestock industry. This is the only modern establishment of its kind.
It was opened in 1908, and is an important enterprise.

The industrial census of 1902 gives a list of more than 5,500
manufactories, including sugar mills, distilleries, potteries, iron and
steel works, chemical factories, chocolate factories, ice factories,
paper mills, leather workers, and a host of others. Minor industries,
performed in cottages and homes, occupy a large number of people, such
as the making of hats, pottery, saddlery, linen-drawn work, and so
forth. Special franchises and exemption are given by the Government for
the establishing of new manufacturing industries, which are encouraged
by the Department of Fomento, and the field is not without attraction
for foreign capital.

_Railways_.--In the chapter dealing with the natural resources and
conditions of the various states, some details of the railway system
have been given. Mexico's railways have been the principal agency for
her development, both political and commercial, for, on the one hand,
they have rendered possible the swift suppression of revolutionary
menace, and, on the other, they have fulfilled their function as means
of communication for goods and passengers. No country has ever showed
the effects of the steadying influence of railways so markedly as
Mexico. The close communication with the United States, so rendered
possible, and with the Gulf seaboard, has also contributed to this end,
and the railways of Mexico may be looked upon as safeguards for
stability in a considerable degree. I will now give a brief _resume_ of
the principal railway lines and their general conditions.

[Illustration: THE MITLAC RAVINE: VIEW ON THE MEXICAN RAILWAY.]

The first line to put Mexico in touch with the outside world was the
Mexican