Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/188

170 The ill will of the pre-railway period had largely disappeared, due in no small degree to the iron bonds that drew the two republics together. Especially in the closing years of the Diaz régime friendship had replaced distrust. The new day, which had come with the railroads and had been hastened by their construction, seemed to promise continued peace and prosperity for the republic both in its internal and in its foreign relations.

Although the railroads built before the end of the Diaz régime did bring a revolution in the conditions of traffic, they never solved the transportation problem. Large areas were still far from the rail lines and the old disadvantages of isolation still applied to them—often almost to as great an extent as before the railway era. There was always need of still further railway extension to open up the resources of the country.

Moreover, the disadvantages of the railless regions were accentuated greatly by the lack of good wagon roads.

Spain did not create, in her colonies, either well kept trunk lines nor supplemental highways of good character. In fact, even to the present day the home country lacks them. The former colonies have not created them for themselves since their winning of independence. One of the most important problems that will confront the Mexican government of the reconstruction era will be to extend the transportation facilities of the country in a way that will effectively unlock the resources now held embargoed by their lack.

Unfortunately the developments during the