Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/189

Rh years have not been such that will let the governments of the new Mexico begin where the Diaz régime left off in the construction of means of communication. Transportation routes, one of the first objects of care among modern nations in times of peace, are often among the first to be neglected in time of war. Roads do not become impassable with temporary neglect and railroads can run for a time with a small expenditure on repairs. In the area of military operations they are carefully protected or ruthlessly destroyed according to what the contestants think will contribute to their advantage. The temptation for both parties in a civil war is to let them deteriorate where they do not directly contribute to the fortunes of war.

The history of the 16,000 miles of railroads during the decade of revolution in Mexico has been tragic for their owners and fantastic for those whom they served. The instrument that did so much to bring peace and order was made a means by which first one side and then the other was able to carry on operations against its opponents more successfully than otherwise would have been possible. Only illustrations of the sorts of conditions that arose can here be given.

The physical ruin of the roads is all but complete. A series of governments, each fighting with back to the wall, has had no resources with which to keep up repairs. The income of the roads themselves has suffered diminution because of falling traffic and the violent fluctuations of the value of the paper money in which services were paid. The extent of the demoralization of the service is illustrated by the report of the National