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184. Of household goods he is ignorant. A few untanned hides are used for beds, and dressed goat or sheep skins serve for mattress and covering.

The food of the masses consists mainly of agricultural products—corn (tortillas), beans (frijoles), and fruits, which are for the most part the direct results of the labor of the consumer, and not obtained through any mechanism of purchase or exchange. Persons conversant with the foreign commerce of Mexico are also of the opinion that not more than five per cent of its population buy at the present time any imported article whatever; or that, for all purposes of trade in American or European manufactures, the population is much in excess of half a million. Revenue in Mexico from any tariff on imports must, therefore, be also limited; and this limitation is rendered much greater than it need be by absurdly high duties; which (as notably is the case of cheap cotton fabrics) enrich the smuggler and a few mill-proprietors, to the great detriment of the national exchequer.

It is clear, therefore, that the basis available to the Government for obtaining revenue through the taxation of articles of domestic consumption, either in the processes of production, or through the machinery of distribution, is of necessity very