nically to the state, inasmuch as no one held legal title thereto. But a survey of the national territory had never been made and the public authorities of neither the nation nor of the states could inform inquirers where the "unoccupied" land lay. In fact, land legally unoccupied might have been actually subject to possession by individuals for generations.
The obvious first step, if private property rights were to be given adequate protection, would have been to carry out a government survey of the territory and to try to protect those who were ignorant of the insecurity of their titles. Unfortunately the government did not feel itself financially able to adopt this plan. Until after the middle of the century there was no plan upon which action had been taken sufficient to allow it to be called a national policy for the management of the public lands. In 1863 a law was passed outlining the conditions under which individuals might secure ownership of the terrenos baldíos, unoccupied lands. For the moment, however, the French intervention kept the policy from any practical application. With the restoration of the republic in 1867 sales became important. By 1876, an area of 1,376,169 hectares had been distributed, yielding, by the prevailing schedule of prices, $292,736.30. From 1877 to 1890 the lands were alienated at a much more rapid rate. A total of 33,929,256 hectares were adjudicated, valued at $4,421,656.80.[1] The states in which the greatest distribution occurred in this
- ↑ Luis Pombo, Mexico: 1876-1892, Mexico, 1893, p. 39, from figures quoted from official publications. Other figures are published on p. 47.
