The oasis., 1895-09-14
Ex TERRITORIAL JURISDICTION.

lScuCu Oht lullbNihS NiiNuihi NV S'i7 lectors of customs, further modifying the circular of July 24, 1895, relative to transportation of goods in bond through the Mexican free zone:
 ''lt having been reported to this de- partment that merchandise trans ported in bond through the United States to interior points in Mexico be- yond the free zone is invariably entered at the Mexican custom house on the frontier, whence it is forwarded after full duties are paid, collectors are instructed that consular yeriiica- tion provided for by the order of July 24, 1895. will be at the Mexican from tier, said order being modified so as to provide for the consular yeriiicatiOn for the district through which the merchandise was imported, and they shall certify that the merchandise has passed beyond the limits of the free zone, and shall require satisfactory evidence of payment of the full and regular duties assessed by the govern ment of Mexico on goods destined for points beyond the limits of the free zone
 By this time the above quoted cir cular is ia the hands of the various officials charged with it's enforcement The question naturally arises how they will be able to exercise the ex- territorial jurisdiction necessary to such enforcement? How are the transportation corporations, who have given bond that the goods in transit shall not be unloaded in the United States to follow those goods into Mex leo and secure certificates that the full Mexican duties have been paidg By what right does the United States demand they shall? By what right does the United States attempt to inter- fere with the administration of the Mexican customs service anyway?
 If Mexico sees fit to establish free zone, within which foreign merchant disc is admitted at nominal duties. it is her right to do so. If the American government desires to help the traffic Of American transDortation companies by permitting transmission in bond through its territory of goods destined to points in Mexico, it has that right if it desires to suspend any part Of that privilege, that is likewise right. But when it comes to invading for eign land and making regulations there calculated to interfere with the domestic regulations of that country -though 1t be to prevent evasion of our own domestic regulations the American government is surely seek ing the exercise Of an unwarrantable ex-territorial jurisdiction.
 The trouble seems to be that merch- ants within the free zone are hayiI g their goods consigned to points beyond ito which transportation charges are the same and after the goods have crossed the border changing the desti- nation, paying the free zone duty only, and evading the American re~ gulation. The United States now proposes to stop that by withholding the regular consular landing certifi- cate unless proof is supplied that the full Mexican duty has been paid. Without that landing certificate the American railway, whose duties under it's bond ceased a. the line, is not re- leased. That is all there is to it. Then that the railroad must pay the amount of the bond on all such con signments. The sufferer is the Amer ican railway, and It's only safety lies in refusal to accept all merchandise for transportation in bond. The re- suit will finally be to drive off from American railways the traffic for Mex ico in bond East of the continental divide it will go into Mexico through the gulf ports: and on the west through the DOrJs on the Pacific and