liable diligences were still rare. In 1878, long after the resources of her northern neighbor had been tapped, there was still no railway net and the local highways were seldom worthy of the name. Transportation by pack mules, or at best by wagons drawn by mules or oxen, was slow and costly but the only means available.
Those who had dealings requiring the shipment of money long distances, and this included, of course, all engaged in foreign trade, found the transfer of credits a great handicap. Exchanges by draft were not generally understood or used. A fair average of the expense for interior remittances from Mexico City cited in 1878 was eight to ten per cent to Chihuahua, five or six to Morelia, and four or five to Oaxaca. If money went abroad, the charge was still greater. In 1868 the taxes and cost of transportation of silver sent from Mexico City to the Bank of England were 25 per cent of the value of the shipments.
Conditions were rapidly developing to the northward which were sure to bring great impetus to Mexican trade, and at least partially remove its disadvantages. The United States was beginning to come into the market for raw products and to sell her manufactures. Regular steamship communications, discontinued during the Civil War, were reestablished in 1868 and the railroads at the close of the pre-Diaz régime were breaking their way through the southwest toward the northern frontier of Mexico. To assure a great increase in the import and export trade of Mexico only the establishment of order and a better system of communications within the country were needed.
