would lower the cost of production materially. Meanwhile, a considerable quantity of manufactured cotton is imported, in spite of the excessive tariff. It was imported from Great Britain more largely in the past than from the United States. The railroads will probably alter that in time; but at present raw cotton may be carried by water from the Gulf to Liverpool, manufactured in Manchester, sent back to Vera Cruz, and thence by expensive rail to the capital, cheaper than from the United States to the same point. Another curious circumstance is, that although the cotton factories in Mexico have quadrupled in twenty years, and although the land around Queretaro and Orizaba, the chief cotton-making centres, is well suited to the growth of the plant, and it is actually grown there. New Orleans cotton is used exclusively at Orizaba, and one-half of that manufactured at Queretaro is also American. There is no reason why Mexico should not grow and manufacture all the cotton it requires.
The other manufactures of the country are trifling. The pottery, which has a reputation in excess of its merits, is at least adequate for the common uses of the people, whose culinary and
