This is no apology for the mistakes of the Diaz régime. The great men of that day built a vast commercial enterprise, the Business of Being the Republic of Mexico, but like many commercial enterprises of the period before the Great War, it had left out the human equation. It was this failure which wrecked the Diaz government in the end, and made such purely paternalistic régimes virtually impossible in Mexico again. To-day the rulers of Mexico, awake at last to the need for the foreign money which their revolutionary predecessors shut out so stubbornly under the “Mexico for the Mexicans” policy and the socialistic constitution, have been carrying on an active campaign of publicity and official conciliation. The junkets of Chambers of Commerce from all over the United States are part of the big plan. Yet in the hearts of the people, of this country and of Europe, who hold the purse strings, be they bankers or enthusiastic investors of little capital, there lingers and will linger many doubts. It seems likely to be a long day before the foreign investor finds any new faith in Mexico. But what of Mexico herself? Where lie the financial roots of her lost faith in Mexico’s own future? After the economic conditions noted above, they lie in the Mexican currency situation. To-day Mexico has no currency but gold, silver, nickel and copper coins. There are no bank bills, there is no bankable paper, there are no promissory notes, no checks, no credit. Seven years ago there was no metallic currency whatever, only banknotes, depreciated till a peso (normally worth fifty cents) would hardly pay carfare. During that time the banking business was all but wiped out, and bankable paper disappeared. Yet back of that period, in turn, was the time of Diaz, when paper money was as good as gold, and the ordinary processes of exchange went on as in any civilized country. Diaz had found, when he came to power, a condition similar to that which exists to-day, with only metallic currency in circulation. He brought in a new financial régime, establishing sound banks, which under government control issued paper money. In 1910, the circulating medium of the country was $150,000,000, of which $65,000,000 was banknotes, accepted on an absolute parity with the $85,000,000 of gold and silver. This money was, as noted, supplemented by active bankable paper circulating freely in business. To-day, by contrast, the government admits that there is less than $50,000,000 (I personally think it is very much less) of gold and silver money in the country--to transact the business (on a cash basis) of nearly 15,000,000 people! The loss of $100,000,000 of the circulating medium of the country (to make no estimate of the loss and inconvenience due to the destruction of credit) is the work of the revolutions of the past eleven years.