Polynesian., 1844-08-03

lafc OF tne nation, Wnen II proceeds nOneSt'
ly, awarding condign punishment to delin.
qucnts, and thereby preventing the efforts
and cndeavors of the Spectator, in league
with the employee, faithless to the govern.
ment and the nation. Let the Judges pro.
coed with impartiality, let the law be applied
with severity, and only so will be arrested
the progress of a cancer which, under the
shield of the impunity of crimes, is already
eating into the very ~entrails of society,""
After these admissions on the part of five
of the most talented, honest, and expert.
enced Of Mexican financiers, / will not be
considered hasty, rash or uncharitable, if
pronounce Contraband to be an evil, which
did exist, it is true, under the Spanish Gov.
eminent, but which acquired ten-fold vigol
under the Independent Government, ant
which, for % years, has resisted all attempts
that have been made to cure it.
Now, whence derives its existence, this
monster er,l, this rcproach of the Mexican
name, this foul blot on Republicanism, thi:
devourer of the vitals of the country, thi.
cause of its Bankruptcy and discredit, of un.
paid soldiers, civil servants and creditors
This curse, or cancer, spreading every
where, ~vitiating all ranks and classes of citi
zcns, corrupting their morality, eating int
the very %entrails of society, and sapping tn,
groundwork itself on which the social edifc,
stands, in proud defiance of all fiscal AM
penal laws, and confessedly beyond tn,
means of Government to control it
answer unhcsitatingly, and without fea
of contradiction, founded upon the nature
of men and things, as tried and proved b,
90 years eXperience-in the fiscal system
which has been adopted, and pertinaciously
chung to, ever since Mexico became indie
pendent.
In confirmation of this opinion, l refer tn
reader to the table marked No. 9, in thu
Appendix, prepared at my request, by on
Of the best informed and most respectful,
merchants Of this city.* 1t shews, in on,
connected and comparative point Of view
the prime cost of six principal articles
of consumption, and a calculation of tn,
duties leviable thereon, under the diffcrcn
Tariffs that have been in force, since 1896
and that will be levied in 1914, under thu
new Tariff lately decreed. Let any mer
chant, any statesman, or any political econ
omist examine that statement, and the sys
tenn of erorbitant duties which it unfolds
and then say, if a system more favorable t.
the COntrabandist, more ~ruinous to the I'm
porter, more prejudicial to the Consumer
and more detrimental to the public revenue
could have been invented.
Yet it is not to be suspected that the Mex
lean Legislature wished to check the pro
grcss of the extensive, and naturally ricl
country, for which they make laws. Bre'
up in the Spanish school of Political Econo
my, and inheriting all the prcjudices of thci
fore-fathers, their Legislation takes it's char
actcr from that ofthe mother country. Henc,
arises the anomaly, that tho the most enlight
ened of their ministers of Finance, have pub
lishcd calculations of the loss to the Treasu
ny by the prohibition of foreign Cottons, an,
recommended a reduction of duties as tn
only effectual remedy for contraband, al
such arguments have been lost upon thos
who frame the laws, who, like those of Spain
in the face of the lessons derived from othe
nations, and from their own experience
have piously stuck to the maxim that tw,
and two make four; in other words, that
the treasury be in want, and if an ~existin,
duty of fifty per cent yield five millions q
dollars, by putting on another fifty, they viii
get ten millions.
That this maxim is not to be relied on, il
matters of revenue, has been proved owe
and over again in other countries, and ha
recently been proved in this, in the case c
the Is per cent consumption duty. Upo
the effect of that duty, the Elk. minister, DO
Jarier Echererria, thus expresses himself:-
"To the facility which exists in our cour
try for contraband, is added the stimuli
given to it by the ~surcharge now Of 10 pc
cent to the s per cent consumption hithert
levied o. foreign goods; because there exist
no doubt that TO INCREASE THE CONTRIB
TONS, Is TO DIMINISH THEIR PRODUCTS, Ell
pecially where their collection rests upo
the good faith of those who owe the dutie.