deal to say about the concessions for building railroads granted to foreigners by Diaz. They have denounced these concessions in unmeasured terms as among the greatest wrongs inflicted upon the Mexican people by that government. These apologists for the acts of the Carranza government in taking possession of the railroads and failing to pay either interest upon their bonds or dividends to stockholders, allege that these roads were originally built at the cost of the public.
In investigating the history of subsidies for railroad construction in Mexico, it is well to bear in mind that prior to the period when the principal concessions were granted, almost all railroads in our own country were the recipients of subsidies for the purpose of defraying a part, or all, of the cost of their construction. This particularly applies to the West where, on account of the country being sparsely settled and recognition of the fact that years might elapse before sufficient business could be developed to make the operation of the railroads profitable, it was understood that no such great public improvement could be made at the entire cost of private investors and that these improvements promised to be of such great value to the nation at large as well as to the sections of the country directly served, as to justify the public in contributing to their construction. It is probably not an over-statement to say that every
