Statistical IFtotes on 



STATE AND MUNICIPAL FINANCES. 



The best way in which I can give the state and municipal revenues 

 and expenses in Mexico, is by inserting the detail amounts of the last 

 twelve years of the revenues and expenses of each of the Mexican 

 States, and a similar statement of the revenues and expenses of the 

 municipalities of each State. That statement gives also the revenues 

 and expenses of the City of Mexico, which have increased very con- 

 siderably of late. In the year 1867, after the restoration of the Re- 

 public, they only amounted to about $800,000, while in the year 1895, 

 they had increased to $3,395,638. (These statements are on pp. 150-153.) 



FOREIGN TRADE. 



The foreign trade of Mexico was necessarily very small before the 

 railway era, because transportation was exceedingly high on account 

 of the broken condition of the country, and only articles of great 

 value and comparatively small weight could be profitably exported, 

 while the price of foreign commodities became very high, both on ac- 

 count of transportation charges and high import duties. Therefore, 

 only rich people could afford to consume foreign commodities, and 

 the exports of Mexico were practically reduced to silver and gold, 

 and to a few commodities having small bulk and great value. 



The normal cost of transportation on merchandise from the City of 

 Mexico to Veracruz, a distance of one hundred Mexican leagues or 

 263f English miles, used to be, before the railroad connecting both 

 places was built, $68.75 P er ton f 220 pounds, or more than 26 cents 

 per mile and ton ; and in extraordinary circumstances, as during the 

 French Intervention in Mexico from 1861 to 1867, the freight was as 

 high as $330 per ton, or over $1.25 per mile and ton. Therefore, no 

 article could be transported unless it was very much needed and it 

 commanded a very high price. The result was that not only the for- 

 eign but also the domestic trade was reduced to its smallest proportions, 

 and that the people raised just enough to provide for the wants of 

 themselves and their immediate neighbors. A fact that may seem in- 

 credible is, that for the same reasons, among the farmers, a good crop 

 was considered a great misfortune. 



Since the railways have revolutionized transportation, our products, 

 especially agricultural commodities, have begun to be sent to foreign 

 markets, and their exportation is increasing considerably. As yet the 

 precious metals, especially silver, are the main exports from Mexico, 

 representing during the fiscal year ended June 30, 1896, 61 per cent. 

 of our total annual exports ; but other commodities are now exported, 

 and they are in a fair way to exceed, before long, the value of our silver 

 exports. I have no doubt that with the opening of our railroads, 

 if our exports continue to increase in the same proportion as they have 



