548 



MEXICO. 



724. In the interior 22,885,092 letters and 

 postal-cards were handled in that year, while 

 the number of international letters forwarded 

 was 1,345,720. The service employed during 

 the year 1,528 persons, the receipts amounting 

 to $749,967, and the expenses $857,424. Ar- 

 rangements were nearly completed in January, 

 1889, for a packet-post between France and 

 Mexico. 



About the success of the foreign parcel-post 

 between the United States, Mexico, and other 

 American countries, Mr. Bell, the Superin- 

 tendent of Foreign Mails in the United States, 

 'reports as follows: "The effect of these con- 

 ventions has been to remove the restrictions 

 which previously existed ; and there can be no 

 doubt that it will continue to augment largely 

 the trade relations with those countries with- 

 out imposing additional burdens on the postal 

 revenue of the United States. The conclusion 

 of the parcel-post convention with Mexico is 

 of special importance, as that country, with its 

 large population and with rapidly developing 

 industries, naturally looks to the United States 

 for every possible aid in strengthening the 

 bonds of commercial relations between the two 

 great sister republics whose interests are the 

 same; and it will be found that new and hith- 

 erto almost inaccessible markets have been 

 opened to American merchants." 



Commerce. During the fiscal year 1886-'87 

 exportation was distributed as follows, reduced 

 to thousands of dollars : 



The products shipped during the year were 

 (in thousands of dollars) : Sisal hemp, 3,901 ; 

 coffee, 2,627; hides and skins, 2,211; cabinet 

 and dyewoods, 1,849 ; tobacco, 851 ; vanilla, 

 694; istle-fiber, 349 ; cattle, 471 ; argentiferous 

 lead bullion, 323 ; other merchandise, 2,360 ; 

 silver, 33,561. 



The export of merchandise from Mexico from 

 January 1 to June 30, 1888, reached the sum of 

 $10,169,485, showing an increase of $1,146,192 

 over the corresponding period of the previous 

 year, or 11 per cent. The United States' share 

 therein was 63 per cent. ; that of England, 21 ; 

 that of France, 9 ; and that of Germany, 5 per 

 cent. 



The American trade (merchandise) with 

 Mexico exhibits these figures : 



Mexican spinners imported, in 1888, 33,203 

 bales of cotton from the United States against 

 40,774 in 1887. 



Vanilla. Mexican vanilla chiefly grows in the 

 vicinity of Misantia and Papantia, in the State 

 of Vera Cruz. Papantia has a population of 

 10,000, and is in the Indian District of Toco- 

 naso. The vanilla is a creeping plant, grow- 

 ing on trees and shrubs in the forests. The 

 pods mature in November and December, and 

 are gathered by women and children, who 

 carry them to market, where American and 

 Mexican dealers buy them, paying from $10 

 to $12 a pound for them. About 1,000 green 

 pods weigh 60 pounds, reduced to 10 pounds 

 by drying. In 1887 the price for select pods 

 was $15, but an abundant crop brought the 

 price down to $10 and $12 in 1S88. Papantia 

 exports on an average 60,000,000 pods annually. 



Competition in Mexican Trade. German houses, 

 which nearly control the wholesale trade of 

 Mexico, owe their supremacy to the system of 

 long credits given to customers in the interior 

 of the country, and to economical manage- 

 ment. They have driven out the English 

 houses, with only two or three exceptions. 

 Failures are very rare, although large amounts 

 are constantly due. The French have monop- 

 olized the dry-goods trade in the larger cities. 

 Both the German and the French houses, in 

 their operations in Mexico, have their rights 

 clearly and particularly defined in commercial 

 treaties. The English are endeavoring to bring 

 about negotiations for a comprehensive com- 

 mercial treaty, and hope to gain a foothold. 

 American interests, although now amounting 

 to $200,000,000, are without treaty protection, 

 as the treaty defining the status of Americans 

 in business in Mexico has lapsed. 



VESSELS ENTERED IN ISSG-'ST. 



The maritime movement increased during 

 the fiscal year 1886-'87. The Mexican mer- 

 chant marine was composed, in 1888, of 421 

 sea-going vessels and 847 coasting-craft. 



Railroads. The Mexican Central Railroad 

 threw open to traffic, on May 21, the line from 

 Irapuato to Guadalnjara, 259 kilometres in 

 length. On the line from Tampico to San Luis 

 Potosi, -188 kilometres were put in running 

 order, up to the banks of the Gallinas river, 

 where a bridge is being built, and beyond 

 which the embankments have been finished a 

 distance of 232 kilometres. On the Aguas 

 Calientes, San Luis Potosi line, the locomotive 

 reached Salinas del Penon on September 9, 110 

 kilometres distant from Aguas Calientes, being 

 half the distance intervening between the two 



