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162 large part of the burden bearing continued to be done by Indian carriers. In the rainy season communication became almost impossible. A traveler, in 1828, complains of the roads: "All that can be said about them is, that they are as bad as they possibly can be—passable only for mules, and that, often, at the risk of one's life.

The very high cost of transportation, which resulted from poor facilities, made it impossible for Mexico to develop trade outside the immediate zone of production in any but highly valuable articles, nor could foreign trade fare better. Long before the actual building of railroads it was evident to the more farseeing among the population that the stagnation from which the country suffered was due, to a large degree, to poor transportation facilities.

The first railroad built emphasized this need of the country at large, although the rates charged were so high that it continued to cost more to take a ton of goods from Vera Cruz to Mexico than from London to Vera Cruz. As soon as the railway reached out toward the capital, it began to disturb the old economic conditions far beyond its immediate neighborhood, illustrating the benefits that were to come from rail facilities and the great disadvantages that would fall upon cities left off