Page:A Study of Mexico.djvu/21

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CONTENTS.
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PAGE


CHAPTER VIII.
Taxation in Mexico — Each State and town its own custom-houses — Practical illustrations of the effect of the system — Cost of importing a stove from St. Louis — Export taxes — Mexican taxation a relic of European mediævalism — The excise or internal tax system of Mexico — A continuation of the old alcavala tax of Spain — Effect of taxation upon general trade — The method of remedy most difficult — Parallel experience of other countries — Greatest obstacle to tax reform in Mexico 163
CHAPTER IX.
The Federal budget — Receipts and expenditures — Principal sources of national revenue — Foreign commerce — Coinage of the Mexican mints — Imports and exports — The United States the largest customer for Mexican products — Silver monometallism in Mexico — Its inconveniences and abandonment — Introduction of paper money — Sanitary conditions of Mexico — Terrible mortality of the cities of Mexico and Vera Cruz 188
CHAPTER X.
Political relations, present and prospective, of the United States and Mexico — The border population — Their interests, opinions, and influence — The bearing of the Monroe doctrine — The United States no friends on the American Continent — Opinions of other nations in respect to the United States — Adverse sentiments in Mexico — Enlightened policy of the present Mexican Government — Religious toleration — Recent general progress — Claims of Mexico on the kindly sympathies of the United States — Public debt of Mexico — Interoceanic transit and traffic 207