New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-02-20


canitaI oil ennlovs sxteen establishments large and
small one or two of which have enginesand hydraulic
resses The oils are various, bat the larger business
aDpears TO be done in table oils. Thus at The pllnci
nal Of the establishments the dJonoh gram, peculiar
TO Mexico is pressed out with remarhoDle prom.
Two hundred and fifty arr0bas OF gram can DO useu
-, IN d,v Welding beside oil paste which is good
Gov tel The arroba of paste sells for 81, and pays
Tho cost Of manufacture The oil is extracted at
cost of a. so or g. and sells forS and s. Owe OIL
"a slower manufacture and has not such depend
epce of crop as the grain OIL There is little reason
10 doubt that in proportion to its wider demand COZ
fee is an equally good business in various localities
do not doubt that the completion of
railroad to Jalapa would give manifold
increase to its agriculture and trade, and
stimulate the commerce Of Vera Cruz But tho
shameful fact in sight is that Mr. Zangronis, pub
licspiried man. has been laborng to have railroad
from Vera Cruz for four years past with the ulti-
mate result of being enabled TO lay down mule
track for the poor distance of so kilometers. Yet
even this is refreshing when one leaves the dill
qence Arc the Jalapenos and Vera Cruzanos stupid
altogetherH No; they are poor and penurious
sharing the poverty of their country and Its puzzled
want Of knowing just low and where to begin Inc
aforesaid poverty can sometimes descend WIN most
unreasoninp hostility on wemerting enterprise, as
Mr. Zanrronz's other railroad i'll the city attests'
He once ran small branch to the wharf ior tne ac
commodation of freight, but one day, having
brooded over the innovation, the cargadofes' or
cargo-carrers tore up his rails dong III eject Wha'
many wretched people have done before at great OK
pense-and it has not paid to lay them since. lhese
facts, however ought not to excite wonder or I'M
charitableness.
Vera Cruz. once perhaps the richest city OF It's
small size in the world is still the grim and cheer
less fixture which, plctorially speaking 1t has been
for centuries Heavy ea-damps make 1t dlthcult 10
keep its housc-fronts clearly; and accordingly us
aspect is backened, SCARED and loperlike Almost
islanded by lagoons and sand and sea, ana walled
like fortress it is manifest relic Of tho luxurious
barbarism which the Spaniards left deeaying IN the
New World. Cool comfort may be found inside its
airy Spanish houses and FrenehSpanish hostelry
may be had for considerable money. Buzzards Hook
at all points overhead with the gravity OF DOOM
These black sculptures ornament the cornlces OF the
two-story palace, crowd round the cathedral DOME
spy above the market take perch above the hospital
and mount III company on the highest cross. Auey
love the church as if they were so many frayes mis-
stoned in its behalf to feed off the garbage OF tho
worlds sins. Really, Mr.. Hawthorncs white doves
in Rome are as milk -and-water to Bishop Peredos
church-Lirds There is n dark orientalism in Vera
Cruz and o good Turk might sound muezzn from It's
tower.
Eighty years. perhaps have gone by since 4 new
house was built in the walled precincts OF this $40"
CITY, Property has not Of course. increased in value.
The house which belongs to the wife of Gen. lrlm
must have cost originally $4,000 more, and now 1T
could be sold for between $4,000 and $4,000 Con-
vent property has improved with business use, nav
ing first sold FOR hasy and petty prices or been gwen
away in reward of service. Everywhere III inc
towns is the same pr9yern OF p5opely told
that might buy house. or even small church, Tor
from 500 to 500; but this may be slight under
Ing outside the walls of the seaport. which,
strange TO cay, was closed slX months ago
to prevent communication with q petty pro,
nunciado whom the Governor scarcely iound
il difficult TO suppress by teegraphc order; lt ~
not probable that he has any political trsuble with
the poor Of the city, The hali-famished cargadores
who live on tho ftfu commerce of the place threaten
at times, the scamps of the neighhorhood may say
and steal without any certain justice being wrought
ont on them but am told that considering the
precarous life of the poor and the bad state OF me
courts and of commerce. the poor behave thenselVes
better, perhaps. than their masters. This IS not
hard 10 believe The cargadOre, by the way, IS %
Wcll-sWindled drudge, victim OF number OF pIOts
as for instance, if his foreman elect receives go
for ten hands, he is apt to pocket third and share
the rest-so that here again is tho old story OF the
poor depressing the poor. STILL tho laboror prefers
to follow the swndler who introduces them TO the
But it is in a national respect that the business OF
| Vera Cruz is important. This port gives from
|
tonal budget and has, of course the wealthiest OF
the Mexican ustomhouses. French and German
goods rather than English, upperhand just now,
| and Of American commerce l hear coHtparatiyey
little. Lions OF taxation guard the general entrance
TO commerce, and the result is 10 narrow trade and
give il to mOnOpOlists whom il concerns tie III the
main whether the duties arc high or low; The
trouble is not altogether at the Vera Cruz Aduana
To iustrate OF hinges worth 500 pays four per
cent in duties at port or s. 10 this tax is added
20 per cent for works of material progress
IS per cent for the railroad; 10 per cent in
ternaional; % per cent cOntra-rogistro, and in
dustral aud municipal duties OF nine reals per
$2OO-making in all the very heavy burden OF Slf W
Cruz alone Brass articles pay about six per cent duty
ut port, and on SlC0 the duties M to the City OF
| Mexico reach to the amount OF 50 70. The accumu-
| lated duties dry goods have heard TeckoDed
above the ninetics OF course excessive taxation Is
not conservative Of morals or money; but leave
these pOrtentOus figures without extended comment,
not having stated all the dues 10 which commerce
here is subject Hard il may be TO reform the case
! but the case itself is worth knowing.