AN ECONOMIC STUDY OF MEXICO. 291 



Import Duties : 



1 box, 128 kilos (stove), iron, without brass or copper ornaments, 



at 19 cents per kilo $24 42 



1 box, 31*3 kilos, iron pipe, at 24 cents per kilo 7 51 



1 box iron pots, with brass handles, at 24 cents per kilo 9 48 



$41 41 

 Add 4 per cent as per tariff 1 65 



$43 06 

 Package duty, 50 cents per 100 kilos 1 00 



$44 06 

 Add 5 per cent as per tariff 2 20 



$46 26 

 Add 2 per cent municipal duty 93 



$47 19 

 Add 5 per cent consumption duty 2 36 



$49 55 

 Dispatch of goods at Buena Vista station, city of Mexico 38 



Stamps for permit.. . . 50 



$50 43 



$107 03 

 Cartage in city of Mexico 75 



Total $107 78 



Resume: 



Original cost of stove, with exchange $31 80 



Freight, consular fees, and forwarding 24 80 



Import duties 50 43 



Cartage 75 



Total $107 78 



[Note. This stove was shipped from El Paso in a lot of goods for Messrs. & 



Co., the largest importing house in Mexico, thereby saving an expense of two thirds the 

 consular fee $14.56 which, if paid on the invoice alone, would have added $9.71 to 

 charges, and raised the total to $117.49.] 



In 1878 Hon. John W. Foster, then United States minister to 

 Mexico, in a communication to the Manufacturers' Association of the 

 Northwest (Chicago), thus analyzed the items of the cost, in the city of 

 Mexico, of a tierce, weighing gross 328 pounds, containing 300 pounds 

 (net) of sugar-cured hams : 



New York cost, 300 pounds at 11 cents $33 00 



New York expenses, such as cartage, consular invoice ($4 gold), manifest, 



etc., average 5 per cent on large shipments 1 65 



Freight from New York to Vera Cruz at 1 cent per pound, payable in New 



York 3 25 



Exchange on New York, $37.90 at 18 per cent 6 82 



Import duties in Vera Cruz, 138 kilos at 24 cents per kilo 33 12 



Municipal duties in Vera Cruz, $1.03 for every 400 pounds 84 



Lighterage and handling from steamer to warehouse ($1 to $1.50 per every 



200 pounds) 1 63 



Maritime brokerage, 2 per cent on freight ($3.25) 07 



