40 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The duties levied on imports into Mexico are so excessive that 

 the average rate of the Mexican tariff is probably greater than 

 that adopted by any other country claiming to be civilized, with 

 the possible exception of Russia. The favorite modern idea of 

 making the tariff subserve two purposes — namely, the raising of 

 revenue and the regulation of trade — does not appear as yet to 

 have greatly interested either the people or Government of Mexico, 

 as revenue, through the necessities of the state, is the supreme 

 consideration ; and for securing this no other rule seems to have 

 been recognized and followed in imposing duties on imports than 

 that the higher the duty (or tax) the greater will be the accruing 

 revenue. 



But with this general characterization of the Mexican tariff 

 there comes in the following other most anomalous feature : Thus, 

 in all commercial countries, save those which permit the levy by 

 certain municipalities of the so-called octroi taxes, when for- 

 eign articles or merchandise have once satisfied all customs re- 

 quirements at a port, or place of entry, and have been permitted 

 to pass the frontier, they are exempted from any further taxation 

 as imports so long as they retain such a distinctive character. 

 In the United States, for example, it is held that the right to im- 

 port carries with it a right to sell (i. e., in the original packages) 

 without further restrictions. And the Supreme Court of the 

 United States has decided that a license tax imposed by a State of 

 the Federal Union, as a prerequisite to the right to sell an im- 

 ported article, is equivalent to a duty on imports, and in violation 

 of the provision of the Federal Constitution which prohibits the 

 States from imposing import duties ; and this decision has been 

 carefully recognized by the authorities of the several States in 

 dealing with imported liquors under local license, or other re- 

 strictive laws. 



But, in Mexico, each State of the republic has had practically 

 its own custom-house system, and levies taxes on all goods — do- 

 mestic and foreign — passing into its territory for the purpose of use 

 or consumption ; and then, in turn, the several towns of the States 

 again assess all goods entering their respective precincts. The 

 rate of State taxation, being determined by the several State legis- 

 latures, varies, and varies continually, with each State. In the 

 Federal District — i. e., the city of Mexico — the rate was recently 

 two per cent of the national tariff ; but in the adjoining State of 

 Hidalgo it was ten per cent, and in others it has been as high as 

 sixteen per cent. The rate levied by the towns is said to be about 

 nine per cent of what the State has exacted ; but in this there is 

 no common rule. Nor is this all. For the transit of every terri- 

 torial boundary necessitates inspection, assessment, the prepara- 

 tion of bills of charges, and permits for entry ; and all these trans- 



