Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 29.djvu/473

Rh them to fully supply to the domestic demand of the country for sugar from its undoubtedly great natural resources—five and a half dollars' worth of sugar having been exported from the United States into Mexico in 1883, for every one dollar's worth imported during the same year from Mexico into the United States; and, secondly, in respect to tobacco, by the testimony, based on careful investigation, of some of the best manufacturing authorities in the-United States, that, while the best grades of tobacco for cigar purposes can now be raised in the United States at from ten to fifteen cents per pound, the cost of Mexican tobacco of a corresponding quality ranges from twenty-five to fifty cents per pound. It is difficult to see, therefore, what valid objections from merely trade considerations can be offered to the consummation of such a measure on the part of the United States, or to affirm which of the two countries would be the greatest gainer from the adoption of such a policy. Nay, more, it would be difficult for any one to show, wherein anything of commercial or industrial disadvantage could accrue to the United States, even if it were to allow every domestic product of Mexico to be imported into her territory free of all import taxes or restrictions—articles subject to internal revenue taxes in the United States being manifestly excepted—without asking any like concessions from Mexico in return. Such a proposition may at first seem preposterous, but let us reason a little about it. In the first place, it is exactly the policy which Great Britain now offers to Mexico. Can the United States afford to bid less for the trade of the American Continent than her great commercial rival? Again, Mexico wants, or is likely to want, everything which the United States especially desires to sell, and the only drawback to a great extension of trade between the two countries is the lack of ability on the part of Mexico to pay for what she wants. And this inability at the present time is very great. Apart from the precious metals, the quantity and value of domestic merchandise which Mexico can export to pay for such foreign products as she may desire, as already pointed out, are comparatively small, and consist almost exclusively of the most crude natural products. For the year 1883 nearly eleven twelfths of all her exports consisted of the ixtle and heniquen fibers; woods, mainly dye and ornamental; coffee, hides and skins, vanilla, horse-hair, catechu, and sarsaparilla. Notwithstanding, also, that Mexico is an agricultural country, she does not produce sufficient material (cotton and wool) to keep her small number of textile factories in operation; but imports about three fifths of her raw cotton from the United States (5,877,000 pounds in 1885), and a considerable portion of her wool from Australia. What Mexico would sell to the United States, if all tariff restrictions were removed from her exports, would be such crude materials as have been specified—all articles of prime necessity to the American manufacturer. Reduced to terms of labor, the exchanges would