Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/199

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THE NATIONAL FINANCES.

to try and restrict the national expenditures to this amount.

The following are the reported receipts and expenditures of the republic for the years 1880-'81 to 1883-84 inclusive:


YEARS.


Receipts.


Expenditures.


1880-'81

$26,550,000

$24,900,000
1881-'82  30,400,000  30,590,000
1882-’83  32,850,000  37,580,000
1883-’84

 37.620.000

 42,760,000

As for the sources of national revenue, the customs are understood to yield about one half; taxes on sales and stamps, some $5,000,000; post-offices and telegraph lines, $650,000; lotteries, $800,000; while the receipts from taxes levied by the States (mainly on sales also) amount to from $8,000,000 to $10,000,000, or about one half the receipts from customs.

In respect to the foreign commerce of Mexico, a report on the "Commercial Relations of the United States," issued by the United States Department of State in 1883, says: "Owing to the system, or, rather, to the lack of system, in regard to the collection and publication of customs returns by the national Government, it is impossible for our consuls in Mexico to supply any trust-worthy statistics concerning the foreign commerce