MEXICO. 



493 



By comparing the sums of the foregoing 

 tables, it will be seen that there was a surplus 

 of $679,141.76 in the year referred to. 



The estimated expenditure for the following 

 year was $23,018,822.76. The President of the 

 republic has a salary of $30,000 per annum. 



There is no official report of the amount of 

 the national debt In the item Ministry of 

 Finance, in above table of expenditure, is in- 

 cluded the sum of $375,188.27 for amortization 

 of the home debt. The loans contracted by 

 the imperial government are repudiated by 

 the present, as they were by the Juarez ad- 

 ministration. 



The army, on December 14, 1872, com- 

 prised 1,650 officers of all grades, 21,689 men, 

 and 7,284 horses and mules. 



About two-thirds of the foreign commerce 

 is carried on with the United States. The 

 staple articles of export are silver and copper 

 ores, cochineal, indigo, and other dye-stuffs 



and dye-woods; Sisal-hemp, ixtle, mahogany, 

 etc. ; and the imports consist of cotton, linen, 

 woolen, and silk fabrics; iron, wrought and 

 unwrought ; machinery, hardware, provis- 

 ions, etc. 



The total value of the imports for the year 

 1870 amounted to $23,478,000; and that of 

 the exports $23,135,000, of which latter sum 

 $17,210,000 represented precious metals. 



The exports to Great Britain for the five 

 years from 1868 to 1872 inclusive, amounted 

 to: 1868, $1,753,320; 1869, $1,752,850; 1870, 

 $1,499,065; 1871,1,986,620; 1872, $2,217,62o! 



The value of the imports from the samo 

 country during the same period reached : 1868, 

 $4,242,940 ; 1869, $3,158,620 ; 1870, $4,554,1 

 410; 1871, $5,345,065 ; 1872, $4,215,930. 



The shipping movement in the principal 

 ports of the republic for the year ending 

 August 31, 1872, was, as shown in the sub- 

 joined table : 



The nnmber of passengers arrived (by sea) 

 in the republic in the same year was 6, 740; 

 and 5,095 left it. 



The railway from Vera Cruz to the city of 

 Mexico was completed in the last days of 

 1872; and on New-Year's Day, 1873, the first 

 through-train descended from the latter to the 

 former city, carrying President Lerdo de Tejad a, 

 the United States minister, and other persons 

 of distinction, who were invited to take part 

 in the ceremony of inauguration. The whole 

 length of the lino is 263J miles, and the total 

 cost of construction was $27,000,000. The 

 fare from terminus to terminns is : first class, 

 $16.00; second class, $12.50; and third class, 

 $7.25. Some sixty miles of this line pass 

 through the mountain-region, forming the as- 

 cent, by a series of terraces, from the coast to 

 the great Mexican table-land, the mean eleva- 

 tion of which, on the eastern border, is 7,400 



The fhlnnlnc-trade of this port was transferred to 

 Progreso in October, 1878. 



feet above the sea. This portion of the road 

 (with an average grade of 123 feet per mile), 

 now winding along the flank of some lofty 

 mountain, at times on the very verge of an 

 abyss, now threading lengthy tunnels, or inter- 

 sected by bridges thrown at giddy eminences 

 over deep ravines, gives the traveler an oppor- 

 tunity of surveying some of the most pictu- 

 resque and grand scenery on the North Amer- 

 ican Continent. 



From Apizaco, 86J miles east of Mexico, ex- 

 tends a branch line to the city of Pnebla, dis- 

 tant 29J miles ; and a line direct from Vera 

 Crnz to Puebla is in process of construction, 

 and trains running over a distance of seven 

 miles. Three short railways lead from the 

 city of Mexico to different places in the vicin- 

 ity, the aggregate length being somewhat less 

 than 20 miles. 



The telegraph-lines enumerated in the an- 

 nexed table were in operation at the end of 

 1872: 



