Upon such a basis rests the title of the Mexican government to the National Railways. The subsidies paid by the Diaz government in years gone by for construction were given as the subsidies were given to the American railways which crossed the prairies to the Pacific coast--to make such construction possible in recognition of their benefit to the country. The Mexican subsidies were less than those given to the Union Pacific by the United States government and not one touch of scandal (such as marked our own railway development) was ever breathed against that of Mexico. The subsidies give no tangible claim to the lines--and as far as I know have never been advanced as a claim. The only hold of Mexico over those properties is the shadowy title conveyed by the voting right of a block of stock given voluntarily by the bondholders in return for guarantees which have been thrown to the winds for these eight years. In the period since the government has had control of the lines, the physical property has deteriorated to a point where only the magnificently solid work done by the American builders to-day holds them together. Operated by the Mexicans, with former firemen as general superintendents and minor native clerks as high officials, the properties went their way of slow destruction in the days of Carranza. Since that time, the turnover of railway officials has eliminated many of the employees who were trained under the American executives of the Diaz and Madero time, and to-day the roads are in the hands of men who learned all they know of the railway business from those who in their turn had gleaned their little knowledge from their American chiefs--now gone from Mexico eight years. The result is a ruin comparable to nothing, probably, but the ruin of railway properties in Russia to-day. Of the more than 800 locomotives owned in 1914, only 333 (by the notoriously inaccurate Mexican government figures) are said to be running. The rest lie at the bottoms of cañons or are rusting in banks of hundreds in shop yards, as I have this year seen and counted over 100 in the one yard of Monterey. The freight cars have decreased from 18,000 to 7,000, and usable passenger cars are virtually unknown off the main lines to-day--all were wantonly destroyed in the early revolution or stolen and converted into dwelling-places for “deserving revolutionaries.” Three-quarters of all the bridges on the 8,000 miles of line are damaged, dozens of them beyond repair, thanks to the diabolical perfection of the methods of destruction used by various Mexican patriots. The tie replacements are seven years behind; nearly 20,000,000 are needed, worth over $17,000,000. Other items in the $80,000,000 replacement bill are $30,000,000 for cars, $12,000,000 for locomotives and $4,000,000 for rails.