MEXICO. 



555 



to 15,000,000 pounds of thread ; print and 

 calico factories, 9, producing 400,000 pieces 

 annually ; cassimere and woolen factories, 10, 

 producing 2,000,000 yards per annum. If all 

 necessary data were obtained, it is thought the 

 production would be found to be much great- 

 er than the foregoing. The manufactures of 

 woolen thread and other woolen goods are not 

 here taken into account.* 



Imperfect means of communication and con- 

 sequent enhanced cost of transportation from 

 any part of the coast to the interior are the 

 most formidable enemies to the Mexican im- 

 porters' interests; and they can only be de- 

 stroyed by the construction of railways, for 

 Mexico is almost entirely destitute of naviga- 

 ble rivers. So enormous are the rates of car- 

 riage that even commodities entering the coun- 

 try free of duty (printed books for educational 

 purposes, agricultural implements, tools, ma- 

 chinery, engines, mining apparatus, etc.) are 

 introduced to a comparatively limited extent. 

 Freight' by rail from Vera Cruz to the capital, 

 a distance of 233 miles, is as follows: first 

 class, $76.05 per ton; second class, $65.18; 

 third class, $54.32 ; by passenger trains, $97.- 

 77 ! A tierce of sugar-cured hams, costing on 

 board steamer in New York $34.65, costs laid 

 down in Mexico City $93.19 ; an invoice of 

 nails, amounting on board in New York to 

 $23.83, figures at $141.64 on reaching the Mexi- 

 can capital ; a barrel of flour, costing $6 in 

 New York, stands the Mexican importer in 

 $29.03 ; a barrel of crackers, $5.50, costs $20.- 

 66 in Mexico ; a barrel of salt, $2, attains a 

 value of $20, etc., etc. These curious and sig- 

 nificant calculations have been extracted from 

 the American Minister's communication al- 

 ready referred to. 



Railway, telegraph, and shipping statistics 

 were given at length in our volume for 1876. 



On April 9th the recognition of the Diaz 

 Government by the United States was formally 

 announced by Minister Foster, who, on the 

 following day, was for the first time officially 

 received by the President. 



Congress met on May 1st, on which occasion 

 was read an unusually long message from the 

 Executive, conveying the assurance of con- 

 tinued peaceful relations with foreign powers, 

 and the desire to see closer bonds of union es- 

 tablished between them and Mexico. 



The President's message to the following 

 Congress, which assembled as usual on Sep- 

 tember 16th, was of much greater importance, 

 as containing a lengthy review of the present 

 condition of the republic, the material progress 

 so far achieved since his inauguration, and a 

 sketch of the probable future of Mexico, pre- 

 sented in glowing though perhaps not unduly 

 brilliant colors. His remarks relating to the 

 border question were unaffected and forcible, 

 and the defense of his Government in that par- 

 ticular was dignified and determined. The 



* See "Annual Cyclopaedia " for 13T6, p. 543. 



boundary line with this country extended for 

 a distance of some 1,520 miles, through an un- 

 populated territory periodically infested by 

 barbarous Indian tribes, under which circum- 

 stances difficulties should give no cause for 

 surprise ; that Mexico had suffered from the 

 incursions equally with the United States ; that 

 44 it can not be possible, on any ground, to at- 

 tribute the incursions which the United States 

 may have suffered to impotency or a want of 

 will on the part of the Government of Mexico 

 to repress or prevent them, when it has been 

 seen that the Government of the United States, 

 with more elements than ours, has not been 

 able to prevent the various invasions which 

 have proceeded from its territory against the 

 republic, for about a year past, in open viola- 

 tion of the neutrality laws of the United States, 

 and this at a time when the destinies of the 

 neighboring nation are ruled by an Adminis- 

 tration which, in view of having adopted an 

 unprecedented policy toward Mexico, and in 

 order not to contradict by its own acts that 

 which it asked of Mexico, may be supposed to 

 have exercised extraordinary vigilance in this 

 respect. The Government of the United States 

 has thought that, in order to make effective the 

 pursuit of the savages of the frontier, it would 

 be proper that the forces of each country should 

 cross, in their pursuit, to the territory of the 

 other. These measures have been proposed 

 principally during the period of the last two 

 Mexican administrations, which thought that it 

 would be dangerous to authorize the passage 

 of forces to foreign territory, and did not go so 

 far as to solicit the permission of Congress or 

 the Senate, in conformity with the provisions 

 of our Constitution, in order to agree to this 

 step; and on this point their views were in ac- 

 cord with those of distinguished North Ameri- 

 can statesmen, as appears from documents re- 

 cently published in the United States. Unfor- 

 tunately', the Government of the United States, 

 which thought proper to allow more than a 

 year to pass before entering upon official rela- 

 tions with the present Administration, issued, 

 while those relations were suspended, the in- 

 structions addressed to General Ord by the 

 Department of War in Washington on the 1st 

 of June, 1877, in which he was authorized to 

 order the passage of troops of the United States 

 to our territory in pursuit of Indians and ma- 

 rauders, without the consent of the national 

 Government. But as, in the conception of the 

 Government of Mexico and conformably with 

 the precepts of international law, those instruc- 

 tions constitute a flagrant violation of the sov- 

 ereignty of the republic, it was not thought 

 compatible with the honor and the rights of 

 Mexico to enter upon the arrangement for the 

 reciprocal passage of troops in pursuit of In- 

 dians in the desert region, until the said order 

 should be withdrawn, not withstanding the great 

 desire of the Government for an agreement with 

 that of the United States on this point, to avoid 

 more serious difficulties in the future. . . The 



