Mr. Plumb to Mr.
Seward.
No. 197.]
Legation of the United States,
City of Mexico,
October 2, 1868.
Sir: In dispatch No. 75, of the 8th February
last, I advised the department of the appointment by this government, of
a commission for the formation of a new tariff.
This commission, it seemed then to be expected, would report in time for
the new tariff bill to be submitted to Congress by the executive, at the
April session of the present year; but up to the present moment their
labors do not appear to have been completed.
The pendency of such a measure has naturally tended to delay
importations, and the government has now published a notice, that while
the contemplated change in the tariff relates mainly to its
simplification and the placing of the different duties in one sole rate,
and it is not designed to raise or to lower the duties now collected,
that under any circumstances it is not probable the new tariff can be
completed so as to go into operation under a year from the present
time.
I beg to inclose herewith a translation of this notice.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
Hon. William H. Seward, Secretary of State, Washington, D. C.
[From the Diario Oficial, city of
Mexico, September 30,
1868.—Translation.]
Official statement regarding the proposed new tariff.
CHANGE OF TARIFF,
It has come to the knowledge of the supreme government that one of
the causes that has contributed to the present bad condition which
is observed, of commerce, occasioned by the paralyzation of
mercantile transactions, is the expectation that a new tariff will
soon be issued, changing the duties upon various articles, which
would determine any combinations now made by the importing
houses.
It is also asserted that in some ports, as in Vera Cruz, information
is even had as to the rates fixed in the new tariff upon articles of
principal consumption.
The government desiring to calm the fears that may exist on this
account, we hasten to state, with the proper authorization, that the
principal object proposed by the executive in contemplating a reform
in the tariff, was that of simplifying that now in force, reducing
to a single quota the duties which in conformity with it are
collected, simplifying so far as possible the operations of commerce
and of the custom-houses, and at once adopting the decimal system of
weights and measures which in conformity with our legislation has to
be observed in the republic. It was not contemplated to raise or to
lower the duties that are now collected upon foreign
merchandise.
The commission appointed by the executive to prepare the project of
the new tariff has not informed the department of treasury that it
has concluded its labors. When the result of its labors shall be
submitted, the government will consider the same, with the interest
and the deliberation that so important an affair requires.
It win hear the opinion of the principal custom-houses of the
republic, of the press, and of the national and foreign commerce,
before conceding to the project its sanction, and in every case it
will take care to avoid that there shall result from it prejudices
to the merchants who have made their orders in conformity with the
tariff now in force.
It is, therefore, almost certain that supposing there should be some
alterations in the duties now collected, which is not probable, the
new tariff could not commence to be in force under a year, and that
for this reason legitimate commerce has nothing to fear in now
making orders based upon the present tariff.
