The Survey October 1916-March 1917 . put into the hands of the government. Even during the reactionary government of Huerta hisMinister of Foreign Affairs, Moheno, introduced a bill whichcalled for the acquisition, by the Mexican government, ofall the oil lands of Mexico and their exploitation as a gov-ernment monopoly. Reason for this is not far to seek as,at the present writing, Mexicans have lost to foreign owner-ship more than nine-tenths of their countrys oil fields. Thetotal oil fields now operated in the whole of the UnitedStates amount to some 8,300,000 acres, whereas the oil fieldsof
The Survey October 1916-March 1917 . put into the hands of the government. Even during the reactionary government of Huerta hisMinister of Foreign Affairs, Moheno, introduced a bill whichcalled for the acquisition, by the Mexican government, ofall the oil lands of Mexico and their exploitation as a gov-ernment monopoly. Reason for this is not far to seek as,at the present writing, Mexicans have lost to foreign owner-ship more than nine-tenths of their countrys oil fields. Thetotal oil fields now operated in the whole of the UnitedStates amount to some 8,300,000 acres, whereas the oil fieldsof the Tampico district alone contain 5,000,000 acres. TheMexican Year-Book gives the total amount of capital em-ployed in Mexican mining industry as $647,000,000. Ofthis, $500,000,000 is said to be American, $87,000,000 Eng-lish and $29,000,000 Mexican. It is true that the Mexicangovernment owns 51 per cent of the capital stock in thenational railroads, but foreign capitalists own practically all 240 THE SURVEY FOR DECEMBER 2, 1 9 1 6. THE SURVEY F O R DECEMBER 2, 1 g 1 6 241 of the bonds. American investments in Mexico are estimatedat from $800,000,000 to $1,000,000,000. With this under-standing of how things stand, it is easy to grasp the-Mexicanmiddle-class viewpoint and the conclusion freely expressedthroughout Mexico: Better, government ownership thanforeign ownership. Even from the mouths of judges, judges that sit on whatis Mexicos supreme bench, issue in a most unfamiliar straindictums that show that their minds, too, are filled with therevolution. Said Roque Estrada, minister of justice in MexicoCity, in speaking to the magistrates for the federal districtof Mexico upon their taking the oath of office under the Con-stitutionalist government: You will say to me that there are articles to be adheredto contained in a book called Law; but I must remind youthat we are condemning and rejecting all that has previouslytaken place and that there exist no laws or regulations which
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