MEXICO. 



589 



The law divided the debt into two classes, 

 those contracted prior to July, 1882, and those 

 subsequent to that date. The latter, princi- 

 pally obligations on the score of subventions 

 and loans from the National Bank, were to be 

 funded in the above-mentioned $25,000,000 6 

 per cent, bond issue ; this was, therefore, the 

 part of the measure affecting American capital 

 in the shape of railroad subsidies. The first 

 class of debts is to be consolidated into an issue 

 of bonds to bear an interest of 3 per cent, be- 

 ginning Jan. 1, 1890. In 1886 the rate is to be 

 1 per cent. ; in 1887, H per cent. ; in 1888, 2 ; 

 and in 1889, 2$. The English debt is admitted 

 on the basis of the arrangement of 1851 ; that 

 is, $51,000,000, together with some additions 

 of indeterminate amount, which will probably 

 bring the total up to about $65,000,000. 



At the time the President issued his decree, 

 the budget estimate for 1885-'86 amounted to 

 $38,898,363. 



The Mint The coinage in 1884 was $25,377,- 

 378 silver, $328,698 gold, and $2,744,000 nick- 

 eltogether, $28,450,076. In June the Gov- 

 ernment sold the $4,000,000 worth of nickel 

 coin that has been stored at the palace since the 

 " nickel riot." The amount paid was $800,000, 

 and the nickel forthwith shipped to England. 



Depression in Trade. Business has been so dull 

 in the city of Mexico, that during the first six 

 months of the year 1,721 clerks were discharged 

 on account of lack of employment. 



The Tariff. The new tariff went into opera- 

 tion on July 1, and there was a good deal of 

 complaint in consequence of the ambiguous 

 wording of many of its regulations involving 

 heavy penalties for the slightest misinterpreta- 

 tion. In one item there was, however, a de- 

 cided reform and departure from an antiquated 

 method of levying the duties on dry goods, 

 which had at all times been the terror of the 

 Mexican importer ; the counting of the threads 

 within a given surface of cotton goods and 

 classification thereof was abandoned, and crude 

 and white cotton goods simply taxed 10 cents 

 the square metre, and colored 15 cents. 



Commerce. The import of merchandise into 

 Mexico, on which the estimate of the probable 

 income to be derived from the new tariff was 

 based, was that of the previous year, and it 

 proves to have been : 



From England $13,614,000 



From the United States 9,430,000 



From France 4,247,000 



From Germany 2,654,000 



From Spain 1,030,000 



From other countries 250,000 



Total $81,225,000 



Of this amount, $24,230,000 paid duty, and 

 $6,995,000 entered duty free. The American 

 trade (merchandise) with Mexico has been as 

 i follows : 



Education. On Nov. 9 a bill was introduced 

 into the Mexican Congress providing for com- 

 pulsory education throughout the republic ; 

 also a bill permitting the free exercise of the 

 legal, medical, and educational professions. 



During the summer Setter M. R. Mendez, 

 Lieutenant - Governor of the State of Puebla, 

 traveled in the United States, investigating the 

 public schools, their management, curriculum, 

 and sources of revenue. 



The Chnreh. Accounts received from Mexico 

 during the year all agreed that there is some- 

 thing of a Catholic reaction in progress. The 

 civil Legislature of recent years has been 

 strongly anti-clerical. The church property, 

 estimated to be in value one half of the entire 

 real estate of the country, was nationalized, 

 the monastic orders were abolished, and the 

 Jesuits banished ; full religious liberty was pro- 

 claimed, religious instruction was forbidden in 

 the public schools, religious rites were restrict- 

 ed to the interior of church edifices, and ecclesi- 

 astics were forbidden the wearing of any dis- 

 tinctive dress in the streets. These enactments 

 were not merely statutes, but were incorpo- 

 rated into the Constitution. For a long time 

 the ecclesiastical party was completely crushed, 

 but of late it has shown a disposition to defy 

 the Government ; religious processions march 

 through the streets, and the sacerdotal garb is 

 seen in public. 



On March 27 the Secretary of the Interior 

 issued a circular declaring that the reform laws 

 must be strictly observed during the coming 

 holy week, and that no religious processions 

 outside of churches should be allowed. De- 

 spite this proclamation, several priests in vil- 

 lages surrounding the capital conducted such 

 processions, for which they were, on April 9, 

 fined and imprisoned. 



Thirteen years ago a Mr. Watkins went to 

 the city of Guadalajara as a Protestant mis- 

 sionary, and found nobody to welcome him. 

 At the end of a year he had sixteen converts. 

 Now there are 1,000 members of Protestant 

 churches in the neighborhood. 



Lotteries. Lotteries are sanctioned both by 

 the Church and the Government. There is a 

 lottery -office on nearly every block in the capi- 

 tal, and at every corner men, women, and chil- 

 dren peddle tickets. Many charitable insti- 

 tutions are sustained by this sort of gambling. 

 The principal institution of the kind in the city 

 of Mexico is the " Lottery of Divine Provi- 

 dence," and the dead walls were lately covered 

 with placards announcing that the anniversary 

 of the appearance of the Holy Virgin to the 

 shepherd at Guadalupe would be celebrated by 

 great religious ceremonies, with cock-fights, 

 bull-fights, games of chance. 



Opposition to Mormons. Toward the close of 

 September the Catholic population of the State 

 of Chihuahua began to take strong ground 

 against Mormon immigration, and an agitation 

 was set on foot to expel those of the Latter- 

 Day Saints who had already settled, and to ex- 



