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116 the exporter to get the required amount. He notified American officials that he had sixty thousand hides in other warehouses, available to the Allies whenever the required amount of gold was permitted to leave the United States.

Business in the Monterey consular district has continued to increase, even beyond the figures quoted in the first article I wrote on Mexico: "Mexico—Enemy or Ally?" In July, 1917, the exportations amounted to $1,950,000; in August, $2,500,000; and during the first fifteen days of September, $1,500,000. This indicates a further revival in business in this part of Mexico.

As to whether Mexico shall be an enemy or an ally of the United States, the question is still undecided; but it seems at this time that the bonds between the two nations are being fused tighter at every rise of the sun.

But Mexico is and may remain for some time as she was described to me by a foreigner in Tampico.

"Mexico," he declared, "is the screen of a great national moving picture. The operator and his machine are in the skies. Four reels of the revolution have been unwound. Nobody knows the fifth, except the Great Author of Human Destinies; and the last act is just about to begin."