receiving, in the aggregate, for the sale of his cargo, from twelve to fifteen dollars."
The manufacture of leather is also one of the great industries of Mexico; but, with the exception of the sewing-machine, which has been largely introduced, in this and other occupations, the product is exclusively one of handicraft In a country where everybody rides who can, the saddlery business is especially important; and by general acknowledgment there are no better saddles made anywhere in the world than in Mexico; and yet the United States has for many years exported from twenty to thirty thousand dollars' worth of saddles annually to Mexico. The explanation is, that the mechanical appliances used in the United States for making the "trees," and for stamping, cutting, sewing, and ornamental stitching, enable the American manufacturers to pay an import duty of fifty-five per cent, and undersell the hand-product of the low price (but dear cost) Mexican artisan. Consul-General Sutton, of Matamoros, reports to the State Department, under date of July, 1885, that Mexican dealers send to the United States model saddle-trees and designs for trappings, and find it more profitable to have the major part of the work of saddle-making done there, than to do it all by the low-wage hand-labor of their own country.
