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166, shall be changed for an equal amount in custom-house stamps. For this operation the interested party shall pay, to the administrator of whom he receive the stamps, two per cent in money (coin) of the total value of the stamps." All imports into Mexico at the present time are liable, therefore, to these multiple assessments; and the extent to which they act as a prohibition on trade may be best illustrated by a few practical examples.

In 1885, an American gentleman, residing in the city of Mexico as the representative of certain New England business interests, with a view of increasing his personal comfort, induced the landlady of the hotel where he resided (who, although by birth a Mexican, was of Scotch parentage) to order from St. Louis an American cooking-stove, with its customary adjuncts of pipes, kettles, pans, etc. In due time the stove arrived; and the following is an exact transcript of the bills contingent, which were rendered and paid upon its delivery: