The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1897-10-10

( zen Mal1dS ROMERO, tnen Minister OF
Finance, now Minister to Washington,
who contended that the zone was uncon-
/ stitItional in that it conferred special
privileges upon the few at the expense
of the many. In 1887 the Act was
amended so that goods entered for con-
sumption in the zone paid per cent.
of the total Mexican import duties. In
1891 this was raised to 10 per cent,
and in 1896 to 1711a per cent, and this
law now prevails.
Estimates of the present population
Of the zone range from $4,000 to so 600
souls. Allowing that 10000 people find
| lodgment therein, it is evident the ques-
| ton warrants the Importance given to
| it by the Mexican and American press,
to say nothing of the continual refer
! enceS in the congresses of the respect
| i've countries to the peculiar trade con-
ditions produced by this free trade belt
! separating two high-tariff countries. A
A discussion as to its advantages and
disadvantages has been carried on
with intense bitterness ever since its
establishment and so many personal
and conflicting interests are represent
ed in the statements made to the pub
| lie that it is extremely difficult to sift
the wheat from the chaff and arrive
at the real status. That is made all
/ the more difficult owing to the fact that
it is only recently the Mexican Govern
ment has paid any attention to detailed
statistics of the exports and imports.
/ so only approximate figures can be
given, based upon the careful and COM
plete returns of the American customs
| department.
During the fiscal year ending in 1894
the United States imported from Mex
leo S2S,42l,O 06 in goods, consisting
mainly of coffee, silver bearing ores,
| slsal grass, hides, lead and silver ores
During the same year we exported to
| Mexico So, Al ,S05 in manufactured
goods and breadstuffs. OF the imports
SS,22S, S92 came through the five Gus
toms districts on the northern border,
Brazos de Santiago, Corpus Christi
tLaredo), Saluria eagle Pass, Ell Paso
del Norte and Arizona CNogales). Of
the goods bought of us by Mexico, S.
| Il56SS went through these same ports.
1t is impossible to arrive at any exact
| figures as to the amount consumed by
| the inhabitants of the zone, but it is
estimated by the customs officers at the
five points named that about II per
cent, or SS13,S9O, is shipped into the
zone and that only about 3 per cent. of
this amount is re-entered for import to
Mexico on the other side and pays the
other S212 per cent. of the Mexican tar
| ifs. This would give as a result that
about 100000 in American goods were
consumed by the residents of the zone
| These fiCT1rpS Ixr
less in arriving at any idea of the real
| purchasing power of the zone in the
line of American products, for the rea-
son that this $4,000 constitutes but
an item in the real consumption. 1t is
"a wel1-known fact that the residents
of the zone buy everything they con-
sumo Of a staple character, except what
little they raise for themselves, from
the American merchants on the north
side of the river. Allowing 10000 peo-
| pie as the population of the zone, it
would be a conservative estimate to
place the yearly trade at least as high
as $500, 600 in gold, for the free zone
resident is much in the same position
as the American gentleman who lived
and built a house in China, he imports
everything except his cellar and that he
digs at home. Based upon such esti-
mates as these, the purchasing value of
the zone to the American trade is at
least $4,000,000 each year, and by many
who are in a position to be we'll in
formed in the premises, it is placed at
a much higher figure.
Until a few months ago all goods have
reached the zone by passing through
the American customs houses at the
points named along the Rio Grande.
These goods were divided into two
classes, domestic products valued at the
custom house through which they en-
tered the zone, and European goods
shipped in bond from Atlantic and Pa
cific ports in sealed cars through the
United States to zone points. Silks,
female attire, opium and other pro-
ducts upon which the United States
imposes a heavy import duty, constitute
the bulk of these foreign goods, and it
is in regard to these goods the trouble
arose last winter which caused the
Congress of the United States to at
tempt the suspension of the bonding
privilege heretofore extended to foreign
countries by the United States. 1t was
claimed by those interested in securing
| the abolition of the free zone that the
strip was simply basis of operations
for an extensive organization of SNUG
glers, and that the American merchants
in San Francisco and other places were
getting their supplies from that point
| by illegal methods. 1t was also claimed
and doubtless with truth, that the mer-
chants doing business on the north side
of the river could not pay the American
import duties and compete with the
merchants on the south side and in
ventories of the stock of foreign goods
in the stores of the three largest cities
on the north side revealed the fact that
| a thousand dollars would cover the
combined stock. On the other hand
it is claimed that the market afforded
US in the zone for domestic products
far more than compensates for this loss
of trade in imported articles and the
latter side of the argument certainly
appears to have the best of it notwith-
standing the fact that the Congress Of
the United States, through a misun-
derstanding of the true status of af-
fairs, played into the hands of few
real estate owners on the north side
of the Rio Grande, more anxious to
keep a few dollars of trade at home
than they were to serve the interests
of the country as a whole.
Prior to our attempt to put an end
to the bonding privilege allowing of
the shipping of goods through the Uni
ted States, Mexico extended no bonding