ernment "intervened," or confiscated this property and has been operating it for several years without paying the owners and investors one cent of dividend. This is very much like the situation in Mexico City with regard to the Street Railways. Until this summer they were operated as confiscated property by the government, contrary to all principles of international law. So when the Mexican News Notes speaks about the "wonderful" progress which the government is making it is necessary for the reader to remember that some of these railroad lines belong to private individuals, not to the Mexican Government.
With regard to the statement about work which has been done on the railroads I may say that President Carranza last summer authorised an American railroad expert, a personal friend of his, to travel throughout the country and investigate the railroad situation. In a confidential report this official said that there were 4,000 destroyed freight cars throughout the Republic and that because of a shortage of materials repairs could not be made until the materials were imported from the United States.
In the Monterey railroad yards there are 400 skeletons of freight cars destroyed during the revolution and not one of them has been touched.
During my stay in Mexico I travelled from Laredo, Texas, to Mexico City; from Mexico City to Monterey and from Monterey to Tampico by railroad. During the first day's trip our train was
