Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 3, 1877

No. 37.
Mr. Skilton to Mr. Hunter.

Consulate-General of the United States,
Mexico, October 5, 1877. (Received October 22.)

No. 187.]

Sir: In compliance with circular “separate” of July 13, 1877, relating to methods for increasing the commerce of the United States with Mexico, anticipating, as is directed by the circular, the annual commercial report of this consulate-general, soon to be consolidated from the reports of consuls, and otherwise made up and forwarded, I beg to transmit copies of two communications received by this consulate from two gentlemen, one now, and the other recently, in Mexico, the representatives of two business-houses of New York City, in which communications some suggestions are found bearing upon the subject.

For the moment I confine myself to mentioning the additional measure of the subvention by the Government of the United States of steam or sail freight-vessels to carry merchandise from ports of the United States to Mexican ports, at freights so reduced that goods from the United States can more successfully compete with European goods.

Very respectfully, &c.,

JULIUS A. SKILTON,
Consul-General.

[Inclosure 1 in No. 187.]

Mr. Mason to Mr. Skilton.

Mexico City, October 2, 1877.

Sir: In reply to your letter of yesterday, in which you request I should give you a sketch of the classes of general merchandise that the United States can exchange with profit to both republics, I have, in the annexed appendix, inclosed you a list, and can, with some experience through the United States, the West India Islands, and South America, assure you that there is a great field for such a trade.

There are a few matters to which I would like to draw your attention, viz:

The advisability of establishing a United States bank agency.

Admittance of samples free of duty, or the Mexican Government to allow a drawback.

The readjustment of the tariff on a system of ad valorem.

The heavy freight from the port of Vera Cruz to the city of Mexico.

The want of information of the tariff in the United States.

The necessity of having consular polices and the form of filling them up. These should be available with full information at the Mexican consul’s office in New York.

It is but a duty on my part, which I gratefully comply with, to express to you my acknowledgments for the great interest you have shown, and the many hours of your Very valuable time that you, sir, have devoted as the pioneer of the great country you represent, in aiding toward the development of a new outlet for the consumption of American manufactures and produce.

As a stranger in Mexico, to which I am accredited from one of the leading houses in New York, it is gratifying for me to say that I have been very successful. The object of the firm I represent is to open up a foreign export trade from the United States, and I find that Mexico will be a very available market in this respect, especially when mutual concessions are made between the two countries on a liberal scale, and to be established on a reciprocal basis.

It is with much pleasure that I thank you for the very valuable and useful information, in connection with the products and trade of the Mexican Republic, you have unhesitatingly always afforded me; also, for your cordial hospitality so happily spent at your consulate.

I have the honor to be, sir yours, very obediently,

GEORGE MASON.

Appendix.

Merchandise suiting Mexican market.

• Acids.
• Plows and cultivators.
• Beer, ale, and porter.
• Bells.
• Billiard-tables.
• Blacking.
• Engravings.
• Biscuit.
• Rye-flour.
• Brooms and brushes.
• Candles (patent).
• Railroad cars and engines.
• Machinery of all kinds.
• Clocks.
• Coal.
• Coal-oil and petroleum.
• Boots and shoes.
• Pianos.
• Organs.
• Cartridges and fuses.
• Gunpowder.
• Mining-powder.
• Paints, oils, and colors.
• Patty.
• Paper.
• Stationery.
• Printing-press and type.
• Bacon and hams.
• Butter and cheese.
• Condensed milk.
• Dried fish.
• Canned meats, fish, and fruits.
• Cotton, bleached in thread.
• Cotton, bleached in the piece.
• Cotton goods, printed.
• Ducks.
• Drills.
• Sail-cloth.
• Cotton yarn.
• Drugs and chemicals.
• Fancy goods.
• Glassware.
• Hats and caps.
• India-rubber goods, manufactures of.
• Nails and spikes.
• Edge tools.
• Hardware, shelf.
• Arms and revolvers.
• Varnish.
• Ready-made clothes.
• Household furniture.
• Wooden-ware.
• Willow-ware.
• Canned vegetables.
• Quicksilver.
• Sewing-machines.
• Perfumery.
• Trunks and valises.
• Carpets.
• Oilcloths.
• Harness.
• Coachmakers’ furnishings.
• Soaps.

[Inclosure 2 in No. 187.]

Mexico, September 29, 1877.

The undersigned, representative of the house of ——, New York, recently visited this city with a view of trying the experiment as to the possibility of offering with success, to the Mexican commerce, light hardware, fancy goods, and plated ware. The struggle has been a serious one, for the reason that the houses so long established, and continued by the younger members of the firms for so many years, have, therefore, had permanent agents and correspondents in Europe, from whom they have received their goods, and through whom they have given their orders. I have, however, been reasonably successful in persuading buyers here that we can furnish goods of a superior quality, and at such prices as will make it for their interest to purchase of American, manufacturers. I find that a great obstacle met with has been the high duties collected by the Government of Mexico on many articles of manufacture, and also the fact that duties are charged on gross weight, that is, case and packing. The “Free Zone” on the northern frontier is an obstacle to the profitable introduction of goods on which duties must be paid.

LOUIS W. GUTENNUTH.