294 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



America a system filtered down through Spanish traditions from the 

 times when the imposition of taxes and the regulation of local trade 

 was regarded by cities and communities in the light of an affirmation 

 of their right to self-government, and as a barrier against feudal inter- 

 ference and tyranny ; and when the idea of protecting industry through 

 like devices was also not limited as now to international commerce, 

 but was made applicable to the commercial intercourse of cities and 

 communities of the same country, and even to separate trades or 

 " guilds " of the same city ? Whether such speculations have any war- 

 rant in fact or not, it is at least certain that we have in the Mexico of 

 to-day a perfect example of what was common in Europe in the middle 

 ages ; namely, of protection to separate interests (through taxation) 

 carried out to its fullest and logical extent, and also of its commercial 

 and industrial consequences. 



So much for the tariff system of Mexico. The " excise " or " internal 

 revenue " system of the country is no less extraordinary. It is essen- 

 tially a tax on sales, collected in great part through the agency of 

 stamps a repetition of the old " alcavala " tax of Spain,* which Adam 

 Smith, in his " Wealth of Nations," describes as one of the worst forms 

 of taxation that could be inflicted upon a country, and as largely re- 

 sponsible for the decay of Spanish manufactures and agriculture. Thus 

 the Mexican law, re-enacted January, 1885, imposes a tax of " one half 

 of one per cent upon the value in excess of $20 of transactions of buy- 

 ing or selling of every kind of merchandise, whether at wholesale or 

 retail, in whatever place throughout the whole republic." Also, one 

 half of one per cent " on all sales and resales of country or city prop- 

 erty ; upon all exchanges of movable or immovable property ; on mort- 

 gages, transfers, or gifts, collateral or bequeathed inheritances ; on 

 bonds, rents of farms, when the rent exceeds $2,000 annually ; and 

 on all contracts with the Federal, State, or municipal governments." 

 Every inhabitant of the republic who sells goods to the value of over 

 $20 must give to the buyer " an invoice, note, or other document ac- 

 crediting the purchase," and affix to the same, and cancel, a stamp 

 corresponding to the value of the sale. Sales at retail are exempt from 

 this tax ; and retail sales are defined to be " sales made with a single 

 buyer, whose value does not exceed $20. The reunion, in a single in- 

 voice, of various parcels, every one of which does not amount to $20, 

 but which in the aggregate exceed that quantity," remains subject to 

 the tax. Retail sales in the public markets, or by ambulatory sellers, 

 or licensed establishments, whose capital does not exceed $300, are also 

 exempt. Tickets of all descriptions railroad, theatre, etc. must have 

 a stamp, as must each page of the reports of meetings ; each leaf of 

 a merchant's ledger, day or cash book, and every cigar sold singly, 

 which must be delivered to the buyer in a stamped wrapper. Sales 



* The very name is yet essentially kept up in Mexico, where the tax is sometimes 

 designated as the " alcabala." 



