Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/47

Rh

 with bandits, so much so that it was unsafe to travel save in this way. An armoured car was attached to the rear of the Pullman. In this way we got through without any mishap. The train that went to the city the day previous was detained for five hours while the bandits were being driven into the hills.

"As you know, the national railways of Mexico pass through a very rich agricultural section of the republic and this is the season of the year when the ranchers should be busy planting their crops. On the entire trip we did not see a single man in the fields getting ready for spring planting and saw that very little fall wheat had been sown. The crop this year from that section of the Republic will be very small. In addition to the above we did not see more than one hundred head of cattle grazing on the entire trip.

"During the first day in the city we were surprised by the number of people on the streets and were told that the city and its suburbs now had a population of one million people, and that the cities of Vera Cruz and Guadalajara had populations of sixty-five and one hundred and fifty thousand people, respectively. This condition is brought about by the fact that it is not safe for them to live out in the country and work their farms. This great influx of people has caused rents and foodstuffs to increase in price, or as it was expressed, there is a large consumption here and no production.

"The railroads of the country are all in control of the government. The trains that run to Laredo and Vera Cruz are being run, and will be run, at all