Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/197

Rh the local market. After the sugar industry the production of brandy is the most widespread industry of Mexico. There were 1,417 factories reported before the revolution, depending chiefly upon sugar cane and corn as raw materials. About 40 breweries were in operation and they were, with few exceptions, in German hands.

Tobacco manufacture has become one of the widespread industries of Mexico. There were 482 factories in operation at the outbreak of the revolution. The greatest number were found in the cities of the central plateau and in the Gulf coast states of Vera Cruz and Tamaulipas. The states of the southeast and most of those of the northern belt were poorly represented.

Electrical power development is limited in Mexico because of the torrential character of most of the rivers, the uneven flow of which makes the power actually available very irregular. Nevertheless, there are a number of power plants of importance, among which are that on the Rio Blanco owned by S. Pearson and Son, a British interest controlling also an electric light and power company in Vera Cruz, which operates water rights on the Rio Antiguo and the Rio Octopan. The Atoyac Irrigation Company is a hydraulic electric company with rights on the Atoyac River, which uses the spent waters for irrigation. At the outbreak of the revolution it was controlled by a Puebla company, which also had concessions on the Portezuelo and the