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540 official or mercantile act at government offices. But the evil seems eradicable. It is estimated that at the present time the loss to the government amounts to $3,000,000 annually. This illegal traffic is extensively carried on along the northern frontier.

At each principal port is stationed a capitan de puerto, whose duties are both of a civil and naval character. He has charge of the police force, and it is incumbent upon him to support and aid the customs authorities. In case of shipwreck, it is his duty to save and take care of stranded property; and if it is foreign, he has to call for the coöperation of the consular agent, should there be one at his port.

The national mercantile marine received a fostering care on the part of the government from the earliest days of the republic, especially the coasting trade, foreign vessels being only allowed to carry goods from one Mexican port to another, when there was no Mexican vessel at the port of departure bound to the same destination. In 1830 Mexican citizens were permitted to purchase foreign-built vessels and place them under the national flag, but it was required that the masters, officers, and at least two thirds of the crews should be Mexican citizens. Nor was any vessel under the Mexican flag to be owned by a foreigner. In January 1856, certain allowances were decreed to Mexican vessels engaged in foreign trade; and in December 1883 a decree was passed aiding the