Page:Mexico under Carranza.djvu/133

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MEXICO UNDER CARRANZA
117

hardly express the reckless disregard for truth which characterizes the writers of the book referred to as well as every other Carrancista propagandist who has endeavoured to poison the minds of the American people with their outgivings. Furthermore, the Mexican subsidized railroads, after their construction, were managed with such honesty that, some years before the end of the Diaz administration, it became evident that it would be a good investment for the Mexican Government to purchase the controlling interest in the stock of the Mexican Central Railroad, which the writer quoted says "was built solely for the sake of the subsidy and in such fashion as to be useless for transportation." This purchase was made by the Diaz government and its wisdom as a business venture is shown by the fact that when Diaz went out of power the net earnings of the Mexican Central Railroad were sufficient to pay interest on all of its indebtedness and to pay an annual dividend of 5 per cent, upon its preferred stock. The road never found it necessary to go through a receivership, nor was its operation ever crippled by financial reverses. Compare this with the record made by the companies constructing the Union and Central Pacific lines.

Notwithstanding the enormous land and bond subsidies granted the Union Pacific Railroad, its promoters were so greedy that they attempted