68 



MANUFACTURES ENCOURAGED IN MEXICO. 



that the most delicate and luxurious articles of dress were made of 

 it. The Aztecs possessed the art of spinning it to an extreme de- 

 gree of fineness and of imparting to it the beautiful and brilliant 

 dyes for which they were celebrated ; but both these mysteries 

 were entirely lost in the general destruction of aboriginal arts and 

 records by the Spaniards. Notwithstanding the natural anxiety 

 of Spain to furnish her colonists with her manufactures, she could 

 never prevent the people from weaving and wearing this sponta- 

 taneous product of their soil. And, although the cultivation of 

 the raw material was neglected or not pursued with the ingenious 

 industry that would have made it a great staple product, it is 

 nevertheless estimated that the annual value of the domestic manu- 

 facture in Mexico amounted to about $5,000,000. After the con- 

 summation of national independence, foreign nations hastened to 

 seize the trade of Mexico and to fill the markets with an abundant 

 but costly supply of European and American stuffs. The drain of 

 the precious metals which this caused from a country that pos- 

 sessed no other article of export to pay for the imported merchan- 

 dize by exchanges, soon alarmed the financiers of Mexico, and ac- 

 cordingly a higher scale of duties was adopted for the encourage- 

 ment of domestic manufactures. This, for a long time, served only 

 to augment the cost of apparel to the Mexican consumer, whilst it 

 had no other material effect upon the fabrics of the country ex- 

 cept to seduce a number of wealthy landholders into the erection 

 of factories, which have cost them, at least, ten if not twelve mil- 

 lions of dollars. Unluckily, however, this amounted merely to the 

 creation of vast establishments which could not rely upon the re- 

 sources of the country for their supply, for the factories were built 

 before the farms were opened by which they were to be furnished 

 with the staple ! 



It is a fact, therefore, not very generally known, that Mexico has 

 become a manufacturing country. The water power which is 

 abundant in many parts of a mountainous region like that of 

 Mexico, affords great facilities for such establishments. 



In 1843 there were 53 cotton factories in the republic with a 

 total of 131,280 spindles, and it was estimated that, — looking 

 to Mexico alone for the supply, — there would be an annual defi- 

 ciency of a large quantity of the raw material. This calculation, 

 it must be remembered, does not include the consumption of cotton 

 by hand looms, an immense number of which are in constant use 

 through the republic. 



In consequence of this evident deficiency, and the prospect of 



