488 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[Jan. 1, 1901. 
Cattle Tax, it over 10 are kept for breeding 
purposes. I dc not know tlie tax. 
Stamps on Invoices or Bills. 3 cts. on every 
$.5 (or part of |5) value of cjoofls l)OU<;lit. 
Stamps ON Uhkques 5 cts. Do on draft or bills 
$U0 2 et8. »500 5 cts. 'oeyorid $500 1 ct. for every 
$100 or fraction. 
Stamps ON Lkdgee S14 95, cash book ft9 9J, 
Journal 75 cts, all liable to Governinent Ex- 
amination, a very good itiingr too. 
Legal Kate of Interest 6 per cent. The 
usual rate cliarged is 12 per cent. 
Export Duties on coffee remitteil, cacio nil, 
Rubber nil, Tobacco nil, Vanilla nil. Sugar nil, and 
Aguardiente, none. 
Import Duty has to be |)a,id on all To)ls, 
Machinery, PlouE;hs, Harness, Bags, (if good 
ones are wanted) etc, that are used on an 
estate. (See enclosed letter from Mex. Commer- 
cial Company), 
Police.— 1 maintain that Mexico is not wch 
policed. I except the capital, towns and large 
villages. The nearest village to me is some 25 
miles off and has two policemen. Being in Vera 
Cruz state, they are useless to me. The capiti! 
of this district is about 60 miles off, and takes 
three days, over a fearful track, to reach. These 
are the nearest police that I can call upon. Since 
my arrival there have been four murders (two of 
wiiich were by my own discliarged men) that I 
have heard of, and one arrest, and this last duo 
entirely to my action. As to minoi ofl'erces, such 
as brutal anil serious assaults, no notice is taken. 
Prisons are an absolute disgrace, Hanging is not 
allowed and imprisonment, no disgrac. The 
worst punishment is to send a m-an to the Army. 
A criminal or absconding labourer has only got 
to get into another state and is practically 
free from punishment a-d arret. Certain'y 
every estate can have its own police, 
but has to pay $20 a month per man, 
feed and hou-^e both himself and his horse. 
Government.— As in the United States, there is 
no " covenanted " Civil Service in Mexico, but 
unlike the United States, though a mock form of 
voting is gone through. Practically all the 
Governors of the States, tlie Federal officials and 
b he members of the Legislature are nominated 
and appointed by the President, and it is lucky 
for Mexico that President Diaz still remains at 
tlie head of alFairs. I consider him the ablest man 
in America, Every State official is under the 
thumb of the Governor, and as their appoint- 
ments only rests on favour, they with few ex- 
ceptions do his bidding, and all hasten to make 
" hay while the sun shines." They are all badly 
paid. Each State is sub-divided into districts at 
the head of which is the Jefe Politico and with 
him theJuez, or Judge, both responsible to the 
Governor. Each district again is divided into 
municipalities under an " Alcalde and " Agente 
Municipal," who are responsible to the J 616 and 
Juez. Until we got our own "Alcalde" and 
" Agente Municipal," whom, of course, we have 
to pay, we were under two Indians who could 
neither read nor write a word of Mexican. I will 
give t«o examples of the result. Two of my nou.se 
servants in a drunken fit, broke into the dispensary 
and drank some carbolic acid that was in a used 
whiskey bottle. One died and was buried next 
' day. i nolilied these oilicials and three days after 
they came do\.'n, and 1 was informed by the 
Secretary that I w,i:i liable to a heavy lino for 
jurying 'him before llm oliicitUij had seen the body. 
Backsiiee^^h smooihp.d everything. Case No. 2. 
O.ie of liiy men whilst bathing in the river was 
diowned, though his \vU<i and several others s^w 
what v.'.is hrtppe'iiu^ and never .=aid a word or 
tried to he'p. This is not sinsul.ir, f ir iliey all 
have a dread of anything that has to do with their 
com Is t:\ j s ice. O i Monday evening his body 
was foun'! half a mile down the river and on 
Tne- I y moj ning I notiliad the officials, leaving 
liis bo iy v,-hcrc it was found. Four days after 
tliey c.!.nni dov, n, o ily to examine a skeleton, as 
in ihe n;ea;ilinie the carrion eig'e had done 
the work for which it is protected in 
this cjuiiiry. 'i he macliineiy of tlie law 
is sloiv beyond al! irnigination, ami justice, t» 
quote K'p''".-> " hulds the longer 
purse" as regards the state courts. I have had 
a sinii)le c ise on .a pio-note going osi now for a 
year and w.g are j ist a=i we started, the Judt;e 
having taken one year to discover that the case 
v.M.s a "civil" and not a " coisinierci il " one, 
and there is every appcarancr? lint this ilecisi.m 
was triven unihr iasiruciioiis. The S'lpieme Cmu t 
of tli3 Ueputilic i-:, I bel'ev,', h-yond repioicli. I 
q^uote the woids of an intiaential piid well edu- 
cated Mexican met chant to mo : — " In I he matter 
of jn^tic? we aic faf behind in Mexico, and 
General D az seems to be more hent on material 
progiess ihm upon moral a Ivancement.'' 
PitoDUCTS. - Cultivation as understood in the 
East is quite unknown as yet in I\Iexico, unless 
aniong-t the few men of E.is'.ern exiicricnce. l'"rom 
what £ h tve sten. there is a want of even elc- 
mc itaiy knowledge of planting. Once the plant 
is planted (often as not " stuck in ") three to 
four weedings or cutting down the weod.s with 
a machete a year is all the cultivaiii)n that is 
given. The soil and climate do 'he rest. This 
want of knowledge is due in my opinion to the 
following cxuses;— 1st. The want of "go" and 
education amongst the vast inijurity of Mexicvn 
planters. 2iid. The hid and costly labour. 3id. 
The richness and productiveness of the soil. 
Whether in the face of costly transport and the 
labour conditions, euhivation will pay, remains to 
be proved. What I do know is that at the pre- 
sent moment there are very few solvent coffee 
and tobacco planters in Mexico, and a large 
number of estates of the former have been aban- 
doned and of the latter put out of cultivation. 
Estimates coming from Mexican, or American 
sources I entirely mistrust ; first, because the 
Mexican as a rule only calculates the amount 
he spends on labour, and the American esti- 
mates come from men with land to sell. 
Crop estimates are more reliable, but even 
these should be discouiitel considerably. I 
have carefully worked out the cost of properly 
opening, cultivating and biinging into fearing 
the following products under existing circum- 
stances in this section and append the same. If 
I have erred at all it is on the expenditure side, 
as of course, every planter has his own ideas of 
how a work should be done. I have taken tlie 
acreage of each estate as 500 ojiened. 
Coffee. —To bring into bearing, say 4th year 
$30'J per acre. Returns in full bearing 8 cwts. 
the acre, Cost of cultivation .^120 the acre. 1 
have seen absolutely no disease. 
Tobacco.— The first year will cost $15 the arroha 
(25 lb, Spanish) value .fl8 the arroba. The 2nd 
year will cost i^lO the arroba value $20 to $23 
the arroba. Only under ex[)ert management. The 
yield here for the 1st crop is a,n aver.igo 2j arroba^ 
