Pictures of life in Mexico/Volume 2/Chapter 39
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Mexican Commerce.—Cotton Manufacture.
The chief manufactures of Mexico under the Spanish Government up to 1807 were woollens cottons gold and silver lace hats leather soap, and earthenware; but the total value of the goods which they produced did not amount to more than 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 dollars annually. Some trifling fabrics of silk were introduced since that time; and the manufactures increased considerably, in consequence of the war with England and the interruption of foreign commerce. Tobacco and gunpowder were royal manufactures and monopolies; and the former brought to the crown a clear revenue of 4000000 dollars annual. Mexican artisans were said to be remarkably skilful in works of plate and jewellery; and like some of the eastern nations, evinced great taste in imitating carved surfaces and ornaments.
The commerce of Mexico with the mother country was carried on almost entirely through the port of Vera Cruz. In time of peace the annual value of the exports was estimated at about 22,000,000 dollars, and the annual value of the imports at nearly 15,000,000 dollars, thus:—
Exports.
| Dollars. | |
| Gold and silver, in coin, bullion, and plate | 17,000,000 |
| Cochineal | 2,400,000 |
| Sugar | 1,300,000 |
| Flour | 300,000 |
| Indigo, the produce of Nuevo Espana | 280,000 |
| Salt meat and other provisions | 100,000 |
| Tanned hides | 80,000 |
| Sarsaparilla | 90,000 |
| Vanilla | 60,000 |
| Jalap | 50,000 |
| Logwood | 40,000 |
| Pimento | 30,000 |
| Total | 21,790,000 |
Imports.
| Dollars. | |
| Bale goods, including woollens, cottons, linens, and silks | 9,200,000 |
| Paper | 1,000,000 |
| Brandy | 1,000,000 |
| Cacao | 1,000,000 |
| Quicksilver | 650,000 |
| Iron, manufactured and unmanufactured | 600,000 |
| Steel | 200,000 |
| Wine | 700,000 |
| Bees'-wax | 300,000 |
| Total | 14,600,000 |
This statement is a mere approximation and a rather favourable one, founded on the average of several years of peace at the latter end of the last century.
Loans for the benefit of the republican government have been raised by granting permits to merchants (chiefly Englishmen), to introduce cotton-twist into the country. This is a prohibited article—prohibited for the purpose of cherishing the manufacturing establishments of the republic. These merchants have prospered to a considerable extent as may be seen by the annexed table, compiled from the most authentic sources.
Statistics of Cotton Manufacture.
| Departments. | Factories. | Spindles established. | Spindles in erection | Total | |
| In | Mexico | 12 | 30,156 | . . | 30,156 |
| " | Puebla | 21 | 35,672 | 12,240 | 47,912 |
| " | Vera Cruz | 7 | 17,860 | 5,200 | 23,060 |
| " | Guadalaxara | 5 | 11,312 | 6,500 | 17,812 |
| " | Queretaro | 2 | 7,620 | . . | 7,620 |
| " | Durango | 4 | 2,520 | . . | 2,520 |
| " | Guanajuato | 1 | 1,200 | . . | 1,200 |
| " | Sonara | 1 | 1,000 | . . | 1,000 |
| Total | 53 | 107,340 | 23,940 | 131,280 | |
At the time when the foregoing account was taken, the number of spindles in three manufacturing establishments, in the department of Durango, were not included; for no definite information had been supplied respecting them. They may be calculated, however, at about 4,000, which, added to the 131,280, will give a grand total of 135,000 at least. The number of looms, also, in the republic is not presented, because data have been furnished only in relation to those moved by machinery. A considerable number of hand-looms are in constant occupation throughout the republic.
Cotton Factories.
| Quantity. | Amount. | |
| I. | Lbs. | Dollars |
| The cotton factories of the republic consume, daily, with the 107,340 spindles in actual operation | 39,755 | |
| Which produce in spun thread, at the rate of one-third of a pound for each spindle | 35,780 | |
| Which, converted into mantas and rebosos, have a value of | . . . . | 39,368 |
| II. | ||
| The same factories, after the 23,940 spindles in erection are in operation, will consume daily | 48,622 | |
| Each spindle will produce thread | 43,760 | |
| Which, converted as aforesaid, will amount in value to | . . . . | 48,037 |
| III. | ||
| The consumption of cotton, in the year of 300 working-days, with 131,280 spindles, will be | 14,586,666 | |
| The produce in thread | 13,138,000 | |
| The produce in manufactured value, as above | . . . . | 14,440,800 |
| IV. | ||
| The 131,280 spindles, working day and night, will consume | 24,797,332 | |
| Produce in thread | 22,317,600 | |
| Produce in manufactured value, as above | . . . . | 24,549,360 |
| V. | |
| Looms. | |
| The 131,280 spindles will occupy (working only by day) | 8,753 |
| The same, working day and night | 14,880 |
| Number. | |
| Operatives employed by day | 17,000 |
| Do.do. day and night | 29,000 |
| VI. | |
| Quintals of cotton | |
| It will require for the 131,280 spindles working by day | 145,666 25 |
| The produce of the country, at the utmost, is not more than | 50,000 |
| Leaving a deficit of | 95,666 25 |
| Quintals of cotton | |
| But if the spindles work day and night, they will require | 247,973 12 |
| Produce of the country, as above | 50,000 |
| Leaving a deficit of | 197,973 12 |
Many persons have been induced by this condition of the market and the prohibition of importing the raw material to commence plantations of cotton: it is doubtful whether the habits of the agricultural population are favourable to their prosperity. Great dislike is evinced in Mexico to adventure in new branches of industry. Had the ancestors of the people worked on cotton plantations, the employment would be contentedly continued; but it is difficult to train the labourer to the new cultivation. Signal failures have occurred on this account, proprietors having been obliged to abandon their establishments after a considerable outlay of money in land and implements.
The cotton crop of Mexico has been very variable in value. At Tepic, on the west coast it has been as low as fifteen dollars the quintal; at Vera Cruz on the east coast twenty-two dollars and thirty-four dollars; while at Puebla and in the capital it has risen to forty dollars and even forty-eight dollars.
In spite of all the efforts of English capitalists and diplomacy the government has steadily persevered in fostering the manufactures of the republic excepting by the occasional allowance of the importation of twist. The administration of Santa Anna was energetic in its opposition to the introduction of this article, as well as in its efforts to suppress 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 manufacture, is supposed to be not much short of 30,000.
The motive power made use of in the factories is water, which is often abundant enough for that purpose, proceeding from small streams falling from the mountains into the neighbouring plains or barrancas. Owing to the scarcity of wood (the only available fuel), and the costliness of its transportation, steam cannot be advantageously produced.
There are several manufactories of cotton balls, or thread, in Mexico; but they are not of very great importance.
Puebla is the Lowell of Mexico: the principal cotton manufactories are located there; and some of them are in very successful operation at the present time, which can be said of very few others. It was by the influence of the manufacturers of Puebla, that the permission granted to foreign merchants for the introduction of cotton-twist, in 1842, was withdrawn.
The high price of the raw material, which ranges from forty to fifty cents per pound (and in such articles as coarse cottons, the raw material constitutes the chief value), is one great obstacle to the success of cotton manufacture in the republic. Another immense disadvantage is, that all the manufacturer's machinery is transported by land at an enormous cost; and when any portion of it gets out of order, the difficulty and delay of repairing it, and the consequent loss, are incalculable. However tempting to such an investment may be the high prices of the manufactured articles, those high prices are equally tempting to smuggling, in a country with 10,000 miles of frontier and seaboard. There is, perhaps, no other country where the receipts of the custom-house are so little to be relied upon, as to the amount of importations, and where smuggling is carried on to so great an extent; even where goods are regularly imported, innumerable frauds are practised both by and upon the custom-house officers.
The climate of nearly all Mexico is suited to the growth of cotton; and no other reason appears to exist for its very limited production than the characteristic indolence of the people. Several Americans have attempted to extend its culture in this country; but their experiments have almost invariably ended in bankruptcy. A more striking proof of the unconquerable repugnance of the Mexicans to labour cannot be given than the fact that though short staple cotton sells at from forty to fortyfive cents (about 1s. 8d. to 1s. 10d. English) per pound, while they have lands and climate well adapted to its culture yet they never make enough for their own small consumption. Although the whole road from the city of Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico passes through a country inexpressibly picturesque and beautiful, yet the ignorant idle and degraded population and the general absence of cultivation and improvement produce in the mind of a spectator feeling's of unmitigated gloom and melancholy: the great mass of the population dozing out their lives with no higher thoughts or purposes than the beasts which perish around them.
It must be remarked that the estimates forming the bulk of this chapter, compiled as they necessarily are from Mexican statements, appear very favourable; and exhibit the commerce of the republic in this commodity in its most prosperous light.
As several Mexican modes of measurement have been referred to in these pages, it may be well to give a complete copy of the weights and measures now in use in the republic. Weights and Measures.
The vara, of three feet long".
The foot, of twelve inches.
The inch, of twelve lines.
The weights are:—
The quintal, of four arrobas is equal to 101 lbs. 7 ounces avoirdupois.
The arroba, of twenty-five pounds.
The pound, of sixteen ounces, is equal to 1 lb. 4 drachms nearly, avoirdupois.
The ounce, of sixteen drachms.
The drachm, of thirty-six grains.
Dry Measure.—The cahiz contains 12 fanegas; and the fanega, 12 celemines. The latter has many subdivisions. The fanega is of the capacity of 3,439 cubic inches, English, and is equal to 1 bushel 599 parts.
Liquid Measure.—The mozo of wine contains 16 arrobas, or cantaros; an arroba, 8 azumbras, or 32 quartillos. A botta contains 30 arrobas. The arroba measures 981 cubic inches, English, and is equal to 4 gallons 245 parts. The arroba of oil is equal to; gallons 33 parts.
Long Measure.—The foot is divided into 12 pulgadas, and is equal to 11 inches 128 parts English. The palmo measures 9 pulgadas, or 813 inches: the vara, 4 palmas, or 33 inches 384 parts.
For purposes of elucidation, in the tables in this volume, the terms dollar and cent have been employed: the former of eight silver rials, equal to about 4s. 2d. sterling; and the latter one hundred to each dollar. But the following is a table of Mexican coinage, with all the names of coins characteristic of the country.
Silver Coins.
| £ | s. | d. | |
| The peso, or dollar, equal to two tostons | 0 | 4 | 2 |
| The toston, equal to two pesatas | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| The pesata, equal to two rials | 0 | 1 | 012 |
| The rial, equal to two medios | 0 | 0 | 614 |
| The medio, equal to two currtillas | 0 | 0 | 313 |
Copper Coins.
| £ | s. | d. | |
| The currtillanearly | 0 | 0 | 134 |
| The claco, or jola rather over | 0 | 0 | 034 |
| The grano | 0 | 0 | 012 |