Page:Mexico in 1827 Vol 1.djvu/406

376 The Monopoly of Tobacco, from the time of its establishment in 1764 till the Revolution of 1810, was proved by experience to be one of the most productive, and least oppressive taxes possible. On a term of nearly thirty years it yielded a net annual profit of four millions of dollars; and although this was reduced to about half a million during the first part of the Civil war, the facility with which the disorder into which the establishment had fallen was remedied in 1817, and the importance which it regained in the short interval of tranquillity that afterwards occurred, (from 1818 to 1820), not unnaturally attracted the attention of the new Government after the establishment of the Independence.

After much discussion it was resolved, that the old Royal Monopoly should be kept up under certain modifications, which the change of system seemed to require. The cultivation of Tobacco was, therefore, prohibited throughout the Federation, with the exception of the district in the immediate vicinity of Orizaba and Cordova, where a certain quantity is