IMPORT DUTIES:
| 1 box, 128 kilos (stove) iron without brass or copper ornaments, at 19 cents per kilo | $24 42 | |
| 1 box, 31.3 kilos. iron pipe, at 24 cents per kilo | 7 51 | |
| 1 box iron pots, with brass handles, at 24 cents per kilo | 9 48 | |
| $41 41 | ||
| Add 4 per cent. as per tariff | 1 65 | |
| $43 06 | ||
| Package duty, 50 cents per 100 kilos | 1 00 | |
| $44 06 | ||
| Add 5 per cent. as per tariff | 2 20 | |
| $46 26 | ||
| Add 2 per cent. municipal duty | 93 | |
| $47 19 | ||
| Add 5 per cent. consumption duty | 2 36 | |
| $49 55 | ||
| Dispatch of goods at Buena Vista station, City of Mexico | 38 | |
| Stamps for permit | 50 | 50 43 |
| $107 03 | ||
| Cartage in City of Mexico | 75 | |
| Total | $107 78 |
RESUME:
| Original cost of stove with exchange | $31 80 | |
| Freight, consular fees and forwarding | 24 80 | |
| Import duties | 50 43 | |
| Cartage | 75 | |
| Total | $107 78 |
[Note.—This stove was shipped from El Paso in a lot of goods for Messrs. —— & Co., the largest importing house in Mexico, thereby saving the expense of two-thirds the consular fees—$14-56—which, if paid on the invoice alone, would have added $9 71 to charges and raised the total to $117 49.]
In 1878 Hon. John W. Foster, then United States Minister to Mexico, in a communication to the Manufacturers’ Association of the Northwest, (Chicago) thus analyzed the items of cost, in the City of Mexico, of a tierce weighing gross 328 pounds, containing 300 pounds (net) of sugar cured hams:
| New York cost, 300 pounds at 11 cents | $33 00 | |
| New York expense, such as cartage, consular invoice, ($4 gold), manifest, etc., average 5 per cent. on large shipments | 1 65 | |
| Freight from New York to Vera Cruz at 1 cent per pound, payable in New York | 3 25 | |
| $37 90 | ||
| Exchange on New York, $37 90 at 18 per cent. | $6 82 | |
| Import duties in Vera Cruz, 138 kilos at 24 cents per kilo | 33 12 | |
| Municipal duties in Vera Cruz, $1 03 for every 400 pounds | 84 | |
| Lighterage and handling from steamer to warehouse ($1 to $1 50 per every 200 pounds) | 1 63 | |
| Maritime brokerage, 2 per cent. on freight ($3 25) | 07 | |
| Opening and closing barrel | 50 | |
| Additional charges in Vera Cruz for stamps and cartage to railroad station | 1 50 | |
| Commission in Vera Cruz, 2 per cent. on $70 66 | 1 41 | |
| Exchange on Vera Cruz, 1 per cent. on $39 06 | 39 | |
| Railroad freight from Vera Cruz to City of Mexico, 140 kilos at $54 32 per ton | 7 60 | |
| Local duties in City of Mexico, 2 per cent. on Federal duty, $33 12 | 66 | |
| Local expense in City of Mexico, cartage in depot, expense in custom house, etc. | 75 | |
| Total | $93 19 |
Therefore, $1 in hams in New York was worth $2.82 in Mexico, or 31 cents per pound! A similar analysis showed that an invoice of ten kegs of cut nails, which cost in New York $22.50, when imported into the City of Mexico cost $141.64, or $1 value in nails in New York was equal to $6.29 in Mexico, and salt that cost $2 a barrel in New York, cost $20.40 in Mexico. These are simply specimens of tariff duty, but the internal revenue system is no less remarkable.
Every inhabitant of the republic who sells goods to the value of $20 must give the buyer an invoice of same, and affix and cancel a stamp of corresponding value. Retail sales are exempt from this law so long as they are less than $20. Retail sellers in the market, or others whose capital does not exceed $300, are exempt. Tickets of all descriptions, railroad, theatre, etc., must have a stamp, also each page of the report of meetings; each leaf of a merchant’s ledger, cash or day book, and every cigar sold separately must be delivered to the buyer in a stamped wrapper. Sales of spirits pay 3 per cent; gross receipts of railroads (city) 4 per cent; public amusements, 2 per cent of entrance fees; playing cards 50 per cent, and mercantile drafts pay a dollar on the hundred. Each beef animal on leaving a town pays 50 cents; each fat pig, 25 cents; each sheep, 12 cents; and everything else you can mention.