germ which sooner or later will be of great and enduring benefit to the people of both Republics. Though the work proposed was different from that to which Mr. Owen now devotes himself, the plan of payment was identical with that to be submitted to your Government.

The American gentlemen associated with Mr. Owen are known to me, and enjoy my confidence as men of capacity and integrity. Commending Mr. Owen to your confidence, and his plans to your favorable consideration, I remain

Permit me to express to your Excellency, the high opinion I entertain of the importance of the present mission of Mr. A. K. Owen to your Capital. He goes not only with a view to urge upon your consideration the undertaking of a great work of public improvement, but to endeavor to inaugurate an experiment in a monetary system which has been tried with wonderful effect in these United States, in France, Italy, and more recently in Russia.

The United States would have been quite unable to put down the gigantic rebellion which threatened its existence, but for its paper money; France would never have risen from its ashes, as it were, after its conquest by Germany; Italy would not to-day be a great and united nation; Russia would have been unable to have carried on her late great war with the ease she did, but for the issue of paper money.

The reason of the success of all these nations under this system is not far to seek. The first and greatest, the paramount need with his fellow-men-the exchange of services, commodities and ideas—and from this come all wealth and

of man, is association

all power. Man's exchanges are so complex that the intervention. of money-happily called the instrument of association-is imperatively necessary. In the absence of a sufficient volume of this instrument in any country, more labor power is wasted in a single decade, than would be necessary to build up a system of internal improvements surpassing that existing in these United States of America, or Great Britain-square mile for square mile, and per capita of population. I hazard nothing in saying that under a properly regulated system of paper money, you can in the United States of Mexico carry out a scheme of internal improvements which will not cost your whole people a single dollar, because it will be merely a saving fund for a great mass of labor power which without it would be utterly and completely wasted. Few statesmen have understood or appreciated the economic wastefulness of the enforced idleness of their people. If all nations did, this world would soon become a human bee-hive, and happiness instead of misery would be the rule-true civilization and its accompaniments becoming almost universal.

The character of Mr. Charles M. DuPuy, who is at the head of the Commission, and of Mr. Owen, the Engineer-both civil engineers of experience—is a sufficient guarantee that what they undertake will be well and faithfully done.

I have the honor to be your Excellency's most obedient servant, Henry Carey Baird.

THE

DRAINAGE OF THE VALLEY OF MEXICO

AND THE

WAYS AND MEANS OF PAYMENT FOR THE SAME.

GEN. PORFIRIO DIAZ,

President of the United States of Mexico.

MR. PRESIDENT :

My associates and myself have studied the maps and data relating to the valley of Mexico, and have determined upon a plan to drain its waters, and to secure the capital of Mexico from the injuries consequent to the want of a proper outlet for its sewerage.

The lowest part of the valley of Mexico, next to that of the basin of Texcoco, is the site of the national capital, and it is necessary, under the circumstances, to drain the greater part of the waters of the said basin* to meet the requirements of the case under consideration; that accomplished, the fresh water reservoired in the higher basins-in lakes Chalco, Xochimilco, San Cristoval, Xaltocan and Zumpango-may be controlled and guided to useful purposes; and the menace of destruction which they hold over the properties of the Federal District can be permanently removed.

The drainage of the valley of Mexico is, perhaps, the oldest and most important hydraulic work in the New World, and it has been constantly studied, variously planned, and many times commenced-in fact, the governments, priests, merchants, lawyers and engineers of five nations-the Aztecs, Spaniards, Mexicans, United States-Americans and Franco-Belgo-Austrians-extending

It is our design to leave a basin of thirty miles, or about one-third of the present area, for the purpose of manufacturing salt and soda.

through a period of, perchance, five centuries, and at a cost of many million dollars,* have figured and worked upon this project; and, owing to the large amount of material necessary to be removed, to the time, to the expense, and to other causes, the drainage, to all practical purposes, remains a dead letter; and per consequence, the most valued estates in the valley of Mexico, are at the mercy of overflowing waters, and the Federal Capital itself is submerged in the pest of its own refuse.

It is not necessary, nor is it our intention, to go into elaborate details with President Diaz on this subject. It is the best known public utility in Mexico. We have studied the "dique" and "tunnel" plans of the past and present. Each system has been tried, and, in the hour of necessity, has not been equal to its appointed duties; and for these and for more important considerations, not to be detailed here, we have put both aside as not meeting the requirements of the case. To pump the water out of the valley by any known method, is not practicable, owing to the circumstances which surround the locality; and the plans made to intercept the water courses which flow into Lake Texcoco by means of a canal, at a level sufficiently high to convey their waters into the Zumpango basin and thence through Huehuetoca cut, in our opinion, would not prove satisfactory to the people of the valley of Mexico.

Our plan is to cut an open canal, from the cross near the centre of lake Texcoco, and on or about the line proposed by Enrico Martinez, to a point near Boveda Real in the Huehuetoca cut. The work, though large, is plain in detail, is simply a big ditch; and is difficult only in the proper management of the necessary economic forces, and in the ways and means of payment.

We have noted the possibilities of the snows on Popocatapetl, melting in a single night, and of a water-spout bursting in the south of the Valley of Mexico, as dwelt upon by Baron Humboldt; but it is not our province to deal with such possible phenomena, -we but treat the case as it presents itself in an average year, during three centuries of authentic records.

* From 1657 to the beginning of the present century, the cost amounted to $6,247,670.-H. B. Ward. The estimate of the whole cost of this gigantic enterprise, and its necessary repairs, until the year 1830, is $8,000,000.-Brantz Mayer.

Assuming that there are 661⁄2 thousand million standard gallons of water in Texcoco (there must, in fact, be, much less), which is equal to the quantity estimated by Baron Humboldt, in 1803, and taking the amount evaporated per day, as officially reported by the Engineers of the "Desague," to be 208 million standard gallons per day; then, in 320 days, lake Texcoco would become a valley of mud, were it not fed by streams, springs, and other foreign waters. The question thus resolves itself into one which will provide for the carrying off of a quantity of water equal in amount to that which empties into lake Texcoco; and when a permanent outlet is opened sufficiently large, and at such an inclination as will, without seriously impeding navigation, convey twice as much water as in an average day collects during the rainy season, we feel assured that the practical requirements of the case will be met. The said quantity of water is officially reported as equal to 256 million standard gallons. A canal 30 feet wide at bottom, with slopes at sides of 3/4 to 1, or at an angle of 53° with the base, with an inclination of 6 inches in 5280 feet, will be sufficient to meet the exigencies required. This will give a depth of over six feet of water during the average rainy season, and a current of about a mile and a quarter per hour—which is sufficient to remove the deposit of sediment and the growth of plants, and at the same time will not seriously retard navigation against stream. During the very dry season, if found necessary, a gate or weir may be formed at the Huehuetoca end, so that six feet of water may be retained in the upper section of the canal. The water from the basin of Texcoco will flow out at a depth of about ten feet, with a current of about a mile and a half per hour, and should empty itself within six months.‡

The material to be removed may, perhaps, amount to ten million

*Juan N. Adorno, C. E., in 1871, calculated the contents of Texcoco to be 52,800,000,000 standard gallons.

†The evaporation in the Valley of Mexico, is estimated by Mr. Hay to be 57. centimetres a year. In 1859 and 1863, the water in lake Texcoco evaporated, leaving a sea of mud, and but a small pool of water, near the cross in its centre.

Four months in the dry season, will be amply sufficient if necessary, for Texcoco is salt water, which is heavier than fresh, and the air being less dense here than on the sea level, the flow will be faster than in ordinary cases.