Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/79

Rh appropriating everything that was movable and which could be converted to their own use, the Carrancistas looked around for bigger game. The company operating in the city at that time which received the largest cash income was "The Tramways of Mexico Company" a corporation financed by American, Belgian, Canadian, and English capital. This company was earning and paying a large bond interest and a small dividend upon its stock. It was also paying large monthly amounts to the Necaxa Light and Power Co. (owned by the stockholders of the railroad company) for hydroelectric power.

The governor of the Federal District in which Mexico City is situated, General Heriberto Jara, solved the problem of acquiring the street railroad lines with their great earning power by fomenting a strike of the company's employees. He notified the Mexican employees that he would stand by them in a strike, whereupon they promptly struck for double wages and half time. The officials of the railway resisted their demands, which would have meant immediate bankruptcy for the company. Thereupon Governor Jara, declared the lines a public utility and that as such their operation could not be suspended, and the government took over the lines. This was in October 1914. The government still holds and operates the lines; it pays no bond interest and has paid only a small