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Rh cent of the imports to enter free of duty. That of 1884-5 gave similar treatment to 22.9 per cent of the imports.

On the other hand, Mexico sought to have foodstuffs produced within the country. Imports were loaded with increasing tariff rates, with the result that between 1872-3 and 1888-9 the proportion of foodstuff items in the total, and their actual value fell off sharply. The economic advance, which was then under way, however, was so rapid that in the latter part of the Diaz régime foodstuff demands were so great that imports increased in spite of the high tariffs and greater local production.

After 1892 the chief tariff classifications are animal substances, vegetable substances, minerals, textiles, and their manufactures, and machinery and apparatus. It is not possible to trace such groups as foodstuffs through these figures satisfactorily, so comparisons must follow the Mexican classifications. They show a remarkable expansion of Mexican imports reflecting the rapid economic exploitation of the country. Between 1893-4 and 1912-13 imports of animal substances increased four fold in value. Leather goods and preserved meats, lard and wool imports, all indicative of a higher standard of life than the Mexican had formerly enjoyed and of the demand created by the presence and example of the foreigner, constituted more than one-half of the total in the class.

Imports of vegetable substances increased between 1893-4 and 1912-13 over two and a half fold. The growth was general in a large number of lines, the most important of which was cotton. The local cotton