Page:Our Sister Republic - Mexico.djvu/222

216 the vain effort to found new empires when old ones are crumbling and tottering to their fall. During the war in the United States the factory made immense profits; cargo after cargo of coarse woolen goods being smuggled into the Southern Confederacy and sold. Only one cargo worth sixty thousand dollars, was seized and confiscated, and the owner could well afford the loss. The goods made are common serapes, worth two to five dollars each, blankets, and stout, striped cassimeres of all colors, of which last, a pattern for a pair of pantaloons is sold at two or three dollars. The machinery is from the United States. The building and machinery cost four hundred thousand dollars, and the business employs an active capital of five hundred thousand more, and is very profitable. The principal owner, Señor Carosse, is a native of the Basque Provinces, and one of the richest men in Mexico. He came here without a dollar thirty years ago, and now counts his wealth by thousands.

The City of Celaya is now supplied with pure water, of blood heat, from an artesian well four hundred feet in depth, sunk at his own expense by Col. Saria. This well throws out ten jets, of one inch each, and the water is free to all. I can testify that a bath in it is among the luxuries of the world. For his liberality and public spirit in this matter, Col. Saria was thanked by a resolution of the State Congress of Guanajuato, signed by every member. Opposite the enclosure in which this magnificent well is situated, in the center of a handsome plaza with orange trees in full bearing and a thousand beautiful flowers, is a large fountain, and a tall and exceedingly graceful column, surmounted with the arms of Mexico, boldly sculptured and painted in