imply a technical ability and resources that the Government of Mexico has not been able to supply and will not be able to supply for a long time to come. Such developments require also the investment of large amounts of private capital. Until security for property can be well assured, investments of this sort will continue to be rare exceptions.
After all is said, it must be frankly admitted that a great portion of Mexico, if it is to yield as it should, must be held, so far as the present generation can see, in large units. Enthusiasts may prove the possibility of utilization of running water for irrigation and the storage of rainfall in huge reservoirs for the same purpose. By such means immense areas may theoretically be made highly productive and suitable for cultivation by small proprietors, especially educated for their tasks. The great majority of such schemes are, so far as our present knowledge of engineering and construction costs indicate, ones that will not leave the realm of dreams.[1]
Small land holdings, to be successful, must be set up where there is a desire for them. If the reformers turn their attention to the task of creating the demand for homesteads, they will have set their hands to a task, the importance of which it is almost impossible to overemphasize. No country that aims to be a democracy can overlook the importance of the conditions under which its real estate is held. Where there never has been
- ↑ See a discussion of the merits of various irrigation schemes presented and an interesting discussion of the colonization problem in general in Alberto Robles Gil, Memoria de la secretaría de fomento presentada al congreso de la union, Mexico, 1913, passim.
