as a desire to be up to date, and to possess goods which display the latest ideas in European manufacture is typical of the wealthy Mexican.
In 1912 no less than 148 cotton mills were in operation in Mexico, the larger mills being situated at Puebla, Orizaba, and Mexico city. Thirty thousand persons were engaged in Cotton
Manufacture. this industry, and 33,154 tons of raw material were consumed. La Compania Industrial of Guadalajara and La Compania Industrial Manufacturera, and the companies at Escoba and Rio Blanco, are the most important manufacturing corporations. But a lot of Mexican money is spent in imported manufactured cotton goods, British cotton articles having by far the largest sale.
One of the most thoroughly alive of Mexican manufactures is that of paper-making, introduced into the country by the late Mr. Thomas Braniff, whose foresight and ability did so much for commerce in Mexico, Paper-making
and Timber. He, along with a Mexican partner, instituted a paper factory at the foot of Ixtaccihuatl, which, later, amalgamated with the Progress Paper Factory, a native venture. This was in 1893. In 1910, the San Rafael works were producing about 70 tons of paper daily, supplying the Mexican market very largely and employing the best foreign paper-makers as heads of departments. Paper and paper stock are, however, largely imported to meet the growing demand of the printing and allied trades, and this although vast forests of timber and fibrous plants suitable for pulp and paper manufacture are available within the boundaries of the Republic. A thoroughgoing and scientific exploitation of the timber resources of the country is urgently called for. The forests of the Tierras Calientes contain mahogany, and a great variety of other cabinet and other dyewoods, quite as good in quality as those of British Honduras or Brazil, and the uplands are rich in pine and oak. A Central Board of Forestry and Arboriculture has been appointed to secure adequate afforestation.
