Page:Mexico and its reconstruction.djvu/221

Rh régime only four nations have figured prominently in Mexican import trade. Great Britain, the United States, Germany, and France furnished over 90 per cent of the total in 1872-3, 92 per cent in 1892-3, 89.5 per cent in 1902-3, and 87.3 per cent in 1912-13. After the beginning of the World War the United States came to have a practical monopoly of Mexican foreign trade.

Among these nations there has been a long contest for control of the commerce. In 1872-3 Great Britain was in the lead, with about 35 per cent of the total. It would be hard, of course, to maintain such a share as the general exports from the nearby United States developed. This was particularly true with the establishment of railroad connections across the northern border.

At the beginning of the next 20-year period the shipments to Great Britain had sunk to slightly over 13 per cent, which continued to be about her share in 1902-3 and 1912-13. British, French, and German competition for a share in Mexican trade was keen throughout the Diaz régime. France controlled 16 per cent of the total in 1872-3. She had the advantage of dealing in lines that, to a large extent, were composed of distinctively national products, but her trade in many branches was not easily expandable because the public that consumed her products in Mexico was not large nor of rapidly increasing numbers. Germany, on the other hand, soon began to bid for the trade in iron goods and textiles and to come into intimate competition with Great Britain and later with the United States.

By 1892-3 Great Britain had fallen from first place and was clearly outclassed by the United States. She