Page:Vol 6 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/517

Rh States, the invasion by the French, and the ensuing struggle for existence as a nation, sank the republic more deeply in liabilities. But the national vitality is great, as evidenced in the increase of revenue from legitimate sources. The receipts for the five fiscal years 1869 to 1874 were $78,636,331, averaging $15,727,266 yearly, and those of the years 1874 to 1879 were $90,856,712, or an average of $18,171,342 a year. In 1879-80, the revenue was $21,124,037, and in 1880 — 1, $21,329,912; of which sum $14,324,676 represented the receipts from customs, $3,411,498 from stamps, and the rest from several other sources. The expenditures for the year had been estimated at $24,216,518, but they exceeded that sum in $2,983,424.

Mexico was experiencing a financial crisis in 1884–5. The expenditures authorized by congress amounted to $38,903,353, whereas the revenue was not expected to reach even $27,000,000. The prospects for 1885-6 were still less reassuring. The government, being convinced that sixty per cent of the probable receipts would not cover the liabilities of the floating debt which had been in course of payment, clearly saw the necessity of introducing a great economy in the expenses, and of at once arranging and consolidating the national debt. In order to effect this, on the 22d of June, 1885, laws were passed to put off the payment of liabilities of previous years, and to adopt other measures deemed necessary. The government also took advantage of the crisis, to fix the basis for the adjustment of the debt, with a view to its future payment. It was thought that by these measures the government would be enabled to meet its current obligations. Among the expenditures the government had assumed were $2,477,467 of subsidies to several railroad companies,