I have thought it of sufficient interest to send you a translation of the
same.
[Inclosure in No.
933.—Translation.]
Resignation of Minister of Finance.
department of government.
When, a few days ago, I was called to take charge of the department of
finance, I stated to the President the inconveniences, personal as well
as public, which interposed for the administration as well as for myself
in accepting such a difficult post, to the discharge of whose duties I
could bring neither the great knowledge which is indispensable, nor the
political influence, separated as I am from the parties which have
unfortunately divided our country, although I do not think that in order
to serve the country it is necessary to belong to a faction, the
opposition which it was presumed my appointment would meet in Congress,
figuring very especially among the motives of my excuses. With all due
frankness I stated to him that although I did not feel capable of
changing the actual situation of the treasury, I did think adopting
strict economy, and procuring order and honesty in the collection and
disbursement of the taxes, might save the nation from the crisis through
which it is passing. I particularly called the attention of the
President to the inconveniences which, in my judgment, are presented by
the initiative sent to the chamber asking authorization to hold a
universal exposition, endeavoring, as far as was possible, to enforce my
arguments, in order to convince him that neither the state of the public
treasury nor the foreign relations, nor the condition of the country
which is threatened by new disturbances, would permit of our inviting
the other nations to a competition in which we could present nothing but
our poverty and our ill-concealed discord. As the President did not
oppose to my objections any other consideration than the obligation
contracted, and
[Page 804]
recognized the
weight of my observations, I had a right to think that they had effected
the conviction in his mind that it was necessary to desist from the
idea, and I accepted the post to which I was called.
Upon informing myself of the condition of the federal treasury, I found
that it was much worse than could have been imagined, my resolutions
took new force, to the extent of convincing me that no amount whatever
should be spent, no matter what the object to which it might be
destined, except to meet the necessities and obligations of the
nation.
The idea which I previously had of the inconvenience of defraying the
large expenses demanded by a universal exposition became more and more
strengthened, and for this reason as well as because I found the
appropriations of the estimate covered by the demands that were made on
them, my first act upon entering the department, was to order the
suspension of the daily payment of $500 which the tax office was
delivering for the works, which, inasmuch as they were not to be
completed, were wholly unnecessary.
The situation of the public treasury at present may be judged, if not
with all exactness, at least with considerable precision, by having in
sight a few data. The probable receipts relied on for meeting the
demands on the treasury amount to $557,724.12, while the expenditures
reach $867,812, producing a monthly deficit of $308,078, which obliges
the administration to live on the resources of the future.* This explains the large
debt which exists in favor of the officers of the administration, which
corresponding to the civil list alone, already amounts to $442,815.75,
while that of the military exceeds a million dollars.
In the presence of this situation, which could not be more precarious, I
do not think that it is either my duty, or that I would act
conscientiously, to accept the responsibility of the situation which
will have to be brought on the treasury by the burden of $500,000 which
has been estimated for the exposition. With this conviction, and when,
as I have indicated, the suspension of the payments made by the tax
office had been ordered, you will understand the disagreeable impression
caused on me upon learning that the President had ordered the
continuance of said payments, and insisted upon carrying out the
exposition. If to this is added the wholly gratuitous opposition excited
against me in the Chamber of Deputies, impelled by bastard interests,
when I had relied on having its support in carrying out the work of
reforming the public treasury, it will be understood that it is not
possible for me to continue in a post in which I would have remained
notwithstanding finding myself attacked from the very commencement by
calumny and defamation; solely animated by the conviction which I have
always entertained that order and economy constitute the best financial
plan that can be adopted, and that it does not consist in imposing on
society new sacrifices which it cannot support, hoping that the day of
justice and reason, which I did not consider very distant, would
vindicate me.
To-day being deficient in the faith which impelled me to confront a
difficult situation, I should abandon the post in order to remove the
obstacle which my presence might offer to the following of the course
which the administration propose to pursue.
I beg you, upon bringing this resignation to the knowledge of the
President, to be pleased to reiterate to him my gratitude, and accept
for yourself the assurances of my consideration.
J. H. RAMIREZ.
Mexico, April 9,
1879.
