Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/17

Rh the main facts and deductions presented (which can not well be questioned or disputed) seem to comprise all that is essential for a fair understanding of the physical conformation and history of Mexico; its present political, social, and industrial condition; and also for an intelligent discussion of its future possible or desirable political and commercial relations to the United States.

The results of the "Study of Mexico" were originally contributed, in the form of a series of papers, to "The Popular Science Monthly," and were first published in the issues of that journal for April, May, June, July, and August, 1886. It was not anticipated at the outset that any more extensive circulation for them, than the columns of the "Monthly" afforded, would be demanded; but the interest and discussion they have excited, both in the United States and Mexico, have been such; and the desire on the part of the people of the former country, growing out of recent political complications, to know more about Mexico, has become so general and manifest, that it has been thought expedient to republish and offer them to the public in book form—subject to careful revision and with extensive additions, especially in relation to the condition and wages of labor and the industrial resources and productions of Mexico.

The United States has of late been particularly fortunate in its consular representation in Mexico; and the author would especially acknowledge his indebtedness for information and statistics to David H. Strother ("Porte Crayon"), late consul-general