question that this trade is of very much greater importance to Mexico than to the United States. In Mexico's total trade this commercial interchange with the United States is not only the dominant factor but the greater part of its total foreign commerce, a position which the same trade is far from occupying in the case of the United States.
Those who wish a resumption of orderly development in Mexico cannot overlook the part that foreign commerce played in the old régime in placing the country on its feet, giving work to the people, and resources to the government to carry out the progressive measures it supported. They should not forget to what degree that commerce was made possible through the United States market and the enterprise of Americans who came to the republic with their capital.
The trade of Mexico in the early '70s presents but a sorry contrast to that in the opening decade of the twentieth century. Imports were stationary at about 30,000,000 pesos. Exports were worth about the same amount. Railroads were practically unknown. Only the most valuable products could be imported or exported. Good crops rotted through inability to take them to market and bad crops in the less accessible regions meant famine. Property and life were insecure.
At the end of the period, in 1912-13, imports were reported at 192,292,461 pesos, exports at 300,405,552. Railways reached the more important producing areas. Goods formerly unmarketable went to parts of the country where they were needed and went abroad by thousands and tens of thousands of tons. Property was
