By an order, issued on the 17th of the month, by the minister of
treasury, it was required that federal circulation and export duties
should be paid upon the whole sum, in this capital, before leaving, with
exception of seven per cent. of the total amount sent, upon which the
federal and circulation duties alone would be charged.
The existing export duty is five per cent., circulation duty two per
cent., and the federal duty one and three-quarters per cent. As all
import duties are now required to be paid in coin, or its equivalent, at
the ports, the requirement of the payment of export duties upon coin
sent from here to Vera Cruz, whether the same was designed to be
exported or not, with the exception of the small amount of seven per
cent. of the sums forwarded, occasioned a great deal of unfavorable
remark, but was submitted to by the merchants because there was no
remedy available.
Coin cannot be sent from here to Vera Cruz by the merchants, except by a
government conducta, and in any case federal and circulation duties have
to be paid.
On the arrival of the conducta at Puebla, the merchants of that place and
correspondents of houses here placed in it further sums of money for
remission to Vera Cruz.
On the 21st of March, before the arrival of the conducta at Puebla, the
governor of that State telegraphed to the minister of treasury for
instructions as to what duties he should collect upon sums placed in the
conducta at that city, with the specification of what would belong to
the general government, and what to the State.
The minister replied the following day, the 22d, in these words: “All the
duties of conductas belong to the general government, and are to be paid
at the ports, in conformity with the law.—Romero.”
It will be noted that on the 17th, only five days before, an order had
[Page 448]
been issued requiring the
duties on the funds leaving here to be paid in this capital.
On the same date, the 22d, the minister of treasury instructed the
collector of customs at Vera Cruz to collect full duties on funds placed
in the conducta at Puebla.
The governor of Puebla, it appears, did not obey the order of the
minister of treasury, but required the merchants placing funds in the
conducta at that place to pay there the federal and circulation duties,
amounting to three and three-quarters per cent.
On the arrival of the conducta at Vera Cruz, the merchants, to whom these
orders were unknown, were astonished to find the funds placed in the
conducta at Puebla a large portion of which was in small coin and not
suitable for export, charged not only again with federal and circulation
duties, but also with export duty.
After remonstrances made by the merchants at Vera Cruz, and at this
place, the government finally relinquished the charge of export duty
upon the small coin and sums not designed for export, of the funds that
had come from Puebla, but insisted that, as the governor had been
instructed not to collect the circulation and federal duties at Puebla,
the merchants must pay those duties over again at Vera Cruz, and collect
them back from the governor at Puebla, who would be instructed to return
them; thus making the merchants, who had no discretion in the premises,
responsible, and the sufferers for the failure of the government to
exact obedience from its own officer.
And in this manner the matter has rested.
As this affair very clearly illustrates the utter uncertainty and the
embarrassment under which commerce labors in this country, and as the
injustice manifested in this and other similar acts is alienating from
the government its best friends among the merchants, I have thought it
desirable to make this reference to the transaction, and to transmit to
the department herewith translations of the orders referred to.
[From the Diario Oficial, city of
Mexico, April 15,
1868.—Translation,]
Order for payment of duties by
conducta.
Department of Treasury and Public
Credit.
The citizen President has thought proper to order that the treasure
to leave on the 20th instant by conducta, for the port of Vera Cruz,
shall pay in this capital the respective duties of exportation,
circulation, and federal contribution, with exception of seven per
cent, of the total amount that may be sent, upon which shall be
exacted solely the circulation and federal duty, to the end that the
commerce may dispose of that amount in said port as may be most
convenient.
Independence and liberty! Mexico, March 17, 1868.
ROMERO.
To the Auditor
charged with the administration of the revenue of
the district.
By telegraph the governor of the State of Puebla states to this
department, under date of the 21st of March, 1868, the
following:
Citizen Minister: I beg you will have the
goodness to state to me what duties are to be collected upon the
treasurer that may be placed by the merchants of this place in the
conducta, which is shortly to pass by this city, specifying what
belong to the general government and what to the State.
R. J. GARCIA.
[Page 449]
By telegraph it is stated to the governor of the State of Puebla as
follows:
All the duties of conductas belong to the general government, and are
to be paid at the ports, in conformity with the law.
ROMERO.
March 22, 1868.
[Telegram.]
To the Collector of the Maritime Custom-house of
Vera Cruz:
You will collect upon the treasure placed in the conducta at Puebla
full duties, and retain the same at the disposition of this
department, giving advice of the amount.
ROMERO.
March 22, 1868.
The collector of the maritime custom-house of Vera Cruz states to
this department, under date of the 24th of March, 1868, as
follows:
Citizen Minister: I do not know what are
the duties you place upon the treasurer from Puebla, under your
telegram of Yesterday.
I therefore ask that you will advise me in due time, so that I may be
able to comply with your order.
J. A. GAMBOA.
To the collector of the maritime custom-house of Vera Cruz it is
stated as follows:
Mexico,
March 24, 1868.
Upon the treasure leaving Puebla, and that collected by the conducta
at other points in its transit from here to your port, you will
collect eight and three-quarters per cent. being the duties of five
per cent. of exportation, two per cent. of circulation, and one and
three-quarters per cent. of federal contribution.
ROMERO.
In a telegraphic dispatch to this department the collector of the
maritime customhouse of Vera Cruz, under date of the 25th of March,
states as follows:
I will comply with your telegraphic order to collect all of the
duties upon the treasure placed in the conducta in its transit from
Puebla, which collection, I understand, is to take place, although
the permits may show that it has been paid at the point of
departure, at least unless you direct otherwise.
J. A. GAMBOA.
By telegraph to this department the collector of the maritime
custom-house of Vera Cruz, under date of the 5th of April, 1868,
states as follows:
Citizen Minister: The conducta has arrived,
and this custom-house will dispatch it to-morrow. According to the
order of the department of the 24th of March, fall duties are to be
collected here upon the treasure received in the transit of the
conducta from the capital to this port; but as in the permits it is
stated that the two per cent, of circulation and the federal
contribution is already paid, the collection having been made by the
officers dispatching the same, acting perhaps under the provisions
of the regulations for conductas, I beg that you will be pleased to
state to me if, notwithstanding this, I am to exact again the two
per cent. and the federal contribution.
J. A. GAMBOA.
To the collector of the custom-house of Vera Curz it is stated by
telegraph as follows:
Mexico,
April 6, 1868.
As was opportunely stated to you, you are to collect all the duties
upon the treasure placed in the conducta on its transit from here to
your port, even though the permits state that the duty of
circulation, which ought not to be collected at these points, has
been paid.
The proper orders have been given that what has been so collected
shall be returned.
ROMERO.
By telegraph it is stated to the governor of Puebla as follows:
It has reached the knowledge of this department that in that State
there has been collected upon the treasure which left by the last
conducta for Vera Cruz the duty of circulation and the federal
contribution; and as these revenues belong to the general
government, in conformity with the law of classification of revenues
now in force, in virtue of which I timely directed that these duties
should be collected in the ports,
[Page 450]
the citizen President directs me to state to
you that you will be pleased to order the respective officers to
return what they have collected under the two per cent, of
circulation, and the federal contribution, as it has been determined
that the said treasure shall pay all of the duties Vera Cruz.
Independence and liberty! Mexico, April 6, 1868.
ROMERO.
The governor of the State of Puebla, under date of the 6th of April,
states to this department as follows:
The duties of circulation and the federal contribution collected upon
the treasure which left here in the conducta have been collected, as
has been the case with all the preceding, for the federal treasury,
as I have taken special care that nothing that belongs to it shall
enter the State chest.
The federal contribution just caused will go into the office of
stamped paper, and the duty of circulation is in vigorous deposit at
the disposition of treasury bureau, to which notice has been
given.
The collection was made in punctual compliance with the decrees of
the 23d of May, 1853, 11th of July of the same year, articles 12,
13, and 15 of the 12th of September, 1857, and the circular of the
4th of December last, without the employés of the State having used
a single cent of the same, nor done more than observe the said
supreme dispositions. If, notwithstanding this, and the provisions
contained in article 15 of the said decree of the 11th of July,
1853, the citizen President insists that the return of the duties
shall be made, I beg that you will be pleased to so state to me.
R. J. GARCIA.
In a telegraphic dispatch to the governor of Puebla it is stated as
follows:
Mexico,
April 6, 1868.
From the 15th of October, last year, it was ordered that all the
duties of conductas should be paid at the ports, and it has so been
taking place; finally, on the 22d of last month, I stated to you by
telegraph that the duties of the last conducta which left this city
were to be paid entirely at Vera Cruz.
For these reasons, and as the order of October annulled any anterior
disposition, it is necessary that you should direct that the duties
spoken of in your telegram of to-day shall be returned.
ROMERO.
The governor of Puebla, in a telegram dated the 7th of April, states
as follows:
I have no knowledge, nor do I believe that in this government there
has been, of the order of the 14th of October, to which your
telegram refers. I have, notwithstanding, at once given orders to
the administrador of the revenues to make the return of duties that
you order, and I will advise you when that operation is
concluded.
R. J. GARCIA.
In answer to your telegram relating thereto, dated to-day, and by
direction of the President, I remit to you copy of the order of the
14th of October of last year, by which it is provided that all
duties caused by the treasure taken by conductas to the ports shall
be paid at the ports.
ROMERO.
Independence and liberty! Mexico, April 7, 1868.
The Governor
of the State of Puebla.
The collector of the custom-house at Vera Cruz, in a telegram dated
the 7th of April, 1868, states to this department as follows:
Citizen Minister: The order of the
department of yesterday, that I have received to-day, relating to
the collection of the entire duties upon the last conducta, will be
duly complied with.
My inquiry of the 5th was occasioned by the resistance made by the
parties interested to the double payment of duties, that is so far
as relates to those of circulation and the federal contribution,
which have been paid in the places of the transit where the treasure
was entered, it being urged that, having already paid those duties,
they could not be comprehended in the previous disposition of your
department.
To-day, with the resolution which you have answered, I will oblige
them to pay, as there can be no doubt they should, under the
understanding that, if they refuse, I will order the treasure upon
which the duties are exacted to be deposited in the customhouse, and
will not permit its extraction until the duties are satisfied.
The parties interested pretend that there should be extended to them
the same grace that was obtained from the government by the commerce
of the capital, of the deduction of seven per cent. from the sum
which each one receives, and that there shall not
[Page 451]
be collected upon this the export
duty; and they also solicit that this duty shall not he charged upon
small coin which cannot be exported.
As this is not within my faculties to decide, I submit it to the
decision of the department, stating at the same time that in some of
the permits issued from the capital which contained small coin, it
appears that the export was collected.
J. A. GAMBOA.
By telegraph it is stated to the collector of the custom-house of
Vera Cruz as follows:
Mexico,
April 7, 1868.
Several merchants of your port have represented to this department
that a great part of the sums taken by the conducta, in its transit
from Puebla to Vera Cruz, consists in small coin that cannot be
exported, and the rest is destined to remain in that port for the
payment there of duties caused at the custom-house.
In virtue of this the citizen President directs that you do not
collect export duties upon the small coin, nor upon the funds which
in the permits are stated to be destined only for that port and not
for exportation.
The duties of circulation and the federal contribution collected in
Puebla have been ordered to be returned, and the governor of the
State advises that he has ordered the same to be returned to the
parties interested.
ROMERO.
Mexico,
April 14, 1868.
True copies:
J. M. GARMENDIA, Chief
Clerk.
