method for illumination at night, and had never had either the knowledge, the desire, or the means of obtaining anything superior. But at last, through contact with and employment on the American railroad, the desire, the opportunity, the means to purchase, and the knowledge of the simple mechanism of the lamp, had come to this humble, isolated Mexican peasant; and, out of the germ of progress thus spontaneously, as it were, developed by the wayside, may come influences more potent for civilization and the elevation of humanity in Mexico than all that church and state have been able to effect within the last three centuries.
The projection and extension of the American system of railroads into Mexico commanded the almost universal approval of the people of the United States.[1] It was regarded as a measure
- ↑ The Mexican railroad system at the present time (1886) is substantially as follows: The "Mexico and Vera Cruz Railway" (263 miles) and the "Central" from El Paso to Mexico (1,224 miles), are finished and in operation. The "National" (Palmer-Sullivan, from Laredo to Mexico) lacks some 300 miles of completion. The "Central" has a line in operation from Nogales to Guaymas (265 miles). The "Intenacional" (Huntington) is built and in operation from Piedras Negras some 130 miles south to a little beyond Monclova, as is also the "National" from Matamoros to San Miguel de Camargo, some 80 miles. The "Central" has about 100 miles built, from Tampico toward San Luis Potosi, and about 16 miles on the Pacific coast at San Blas. The "National" has built from Acámbaro, on the southern division, toward the Pacific coast at Manzanilla, as far as Pátzcuaro, some 95 miles.
