Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 2.djvu/238

214 the smuggling of English and American fabrics. The manufacturers, therefore, regarded their establishments safe from competition, and their success as assured.

The average price of mantas (cotton cloth), of one vara width, used to be twentyfive cents the vara; and of twist, No. 12 to 22, about seventy-five cents the pound. It was estimated that if cotton fell, in consequence of importations being allowed, or a large crop, to twenty-five dollars the quintal, these articles would be reduced to eighteen and three-quarters cents the vara for the first, and to fifty cents the pound for the second. This condition of the market was to prevent all importations from abroad, even aided by smuggling.

There are about 5,000 hand-looms throughout the departments, which will work up all the spun yarn into mantas and rebosos, as fast as it can be made. Many of these looms are entirely employed in the manufacture of the common rebosos, the consumption of which is very great among the poorer classes. The value of these looms is estimated at between 6,000,000 dollars and 7,000,000 dollars. The number of persons employed in every way in