292 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



Opening and closing barrel 50 



Additional charges in Vera Cruz for stamps and cartage to railroad-station, 



etc 1 50 



Commission in Vera Cruz, 2 per cent on $70.66 1 41 



Exchange on Vera Cruz, 1 per cent on $39.06 39 



Railroad freight from Vera Cruz to Mexico, 140 kilos, at $54.32 a ton 7 60 



Local duties in city of Mexico, 2 per cent on Federal duty, $33.12 66 



Local expenses in city of Mexico, cartage from depot, expenses in custom- 

 house, etc . . 75 



Total $93 19 



The net cost of one pound of imported American ham in the city 

 of Mexico in 1878 was therefore 31 cents, or $1 in hams in New York 

 was equal to $2.82 in Mexico ! 



A similar analysis showed an invoice of ten kegs of cut nails, cost- 

 ing two and a half cents per pound in New York, or $22.50, to have 

 cost 14-5^- cents per pound, or $141.64, when imported, in the city of 

 Mexico ; or $1 value in nails in New York was equal to $0.29 in Mexi- 

 co. In the case of salt, costing $2 per barrel in New York, the cost 

 of importation was 820.40 ; or $1 of salt in New York was equal to 

 $10.20 in Mexico ! And in the case of (Milwaukee) beer, a barrel cost- 

 ing, on board steamer in New Orleans, $13, cost $35.61 in the city of 

 Mexico. It is clear, therefore, as Mr. Foster points out in connection 

 with the above exhibits, " that articles of the most common use in the 

 United States must be luxuries in Mexico, on account of their high 

 price " ; and that while " this would be the case, with such charges, in 

 almost any country, however rich it might be, it is especially so in 

 Mexico, where there is so much poverty." 



Again, the Mexican tariff provides that the effects of immigrants 

 shall be admitted free. "But this," writes an officer of the Mexican 

 National Railroad Company, " is practically a dead letter, from the 

 fact that interior duties are levied on everything the immigrant has, 

 before he gets settled : and these are so great that no one goes. I've 

 never known but one case go through Laredo. ... A carpenter, or 

 other mechanic, who desires to get employment in Mexico, has such 

 heavy duties levied on his tools on passing the national or State front- 

 iers, that few are willing or able to pay them. Hence few American 

 mechanics find their way into the country, unless in accordance with 

 special contract." 



This practice of locally taxing interstate commerce is in direct 

 contravention of an article in the Mexican Constitution of 1857, and 

 it is said also of express decisions of the national Supreme Court. 

 Several of the leading States of Mexico have at different times tried 

 the experiment of prohibiting it by legislative enactments ; but the 

 States and municipalities of the country are always hard pressed to 

 raise money for their current expenditures, and find the taxing of 

 merchandise in transit so easy a method of partially solving their dif- 



