Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/1129

 PRODUCTION' AND INDUSTRY 1077

organised on s. peace footing as follows : infantry, 34 battalions, 20 auxiliary battalions, and 49 irregular corps : cavalry, 18 regular regiments, 21 auxiliary regiments and 2 sqnadrons of army gendarmes, 52 irregular and 26 scout corps ; artill'i >n there were 1 -

battalion, 1 engineer park, 1 telegraph section, 2 warschools, 1 naval school, 1 school ot hool, and 57 schools

for sol I ^ 1914 the Army has beei

and T ; I. The i

number of would be counted on by the Government.

The infantry is armed with 7 mm. Mauser rifle, the cavalry with a carbine of the same type, artillery with Q. F. guns (Saint Chaumond Mondragou and Schneider-Canet).

Attention has been paid to aviation ; the machines employed are of Mexican design and construction. There are 2 engineering parks, 2 tele- graph stations. Military education is compulsory in all schools throughout the country.

The Navy, which is little more than a police force, consists of the gun- l*>ats Bravo, Afttrero, Veri -npico, Democrata, General Guerrero,

and Zaraqoza. There are fire torpedo-boats, a couple of armed transports, and a few smaller vessels.

Production and Industry.

Mexico is well suited for agriculture. Within a radius of 300 miles may be produced the crops of the Tropical, Semi-tropical, and Temperate Zon- ■>, owing to the varying altitude, the land rising rapidly from the coast to the centre of the country. The soil is rich in all sections In the tropical regions, in the mountain valleys, and on the great central plateau are millions of acres of virgin soil and millions more which have been barely skimmed by the antiquated methods of agriculture in vogue.

Cultivated lands, 30,027, 500 acres ; pastoral lands, 120.444,200 a t'oreoi lands, 43,933,200 acres. Principal products are maize (1,930.121 tons in 1918), cotton (79,653 tons in 191S), henequen (158,066 tons in 1918". wheat (387.522 tons in 1919), coffee, beans. There is a large output of sugar (140.000 tons in 1919) and molasses, valued at about 2,600,000/. annually, and the production of spirits is on the increase. There art tobacco factories in the Republic.

Timber lands are estimated to extend over 25,000,000 acres and to contain pine, spruce, cedar, mahoganv. logwood, and rosewood.

Live stock in 1920 : Cattle, 2,162,984 ; horses, 929,385 ; mules, 354,351 : asses, 287,989 ; sheep, 1,089,976 ; goats, 1,987,869 ; and pigs, 1,664,089.

The chief Mexican oil-fields may be grouped in five districts: — (1) The Ebano district, about 40 miles west of Tampico (largely the property of the Mexican Petroleum Company) ; (2» The Panuco district, including the Topila region ; (31 The Hnastica district, snurh of Tampico, in which the famous ' Casiano,' ' Cerro Ami,' and ' Potrero del Llano ' wells occur ; (4) The Tux- pam district, including the Furbero region, south-west of Tuxp.v The Tehuantepec-Tabaseo district, in the neighbourhood of Miuititlan. In 1917 petroleum wells to the number of 79 were bored in the principal oil zones of the Republic, 43 of which are producing. The potential l>roduction of these wells is 235,250 barrels per day. The total number of l>ro<lu tive wells in the Republic is (1919) 343. The petasttfcl pr.. daction of all the wells of the Republic is 1.337,012 barrels daily. On December 31. 1919, there were in existence the following storing petroleum : — 882 steel tanks, with a capacity 01 cubic