severe penalties, and special officers were selected to enforce these regulations. The product was purchased by the government at a stipulated price,[1] as a rule low enough to make its growth almost unprofitable, and then resold, either raw or manufactured, chiefly as cigars and cigarettes. This soon became a considerable source of revenue to the government, giving in 1801 and 1802 net profits of about $4,000,000[2] for each year. An attempt made by the crown to establish plantations failed, and the old system of purchasing was continued. Regular importations were also made from Cuba and Louisiana, to supply certain kinds which could not be raised in New Spain.[3]
Tobacco and cigar factories were established in many cities and towns, but the most prominent were those at Mexico and Querétaro, each of which employed about 7,000 persons of both sexes, whose pay aggregated more than $700,000 a year.[4] The annual product of all the establishments represented about $7,500,000, of which nearly one half fell to the share of the crown.[5]
Among the chief sources of wealth to the Spaniards during the eighteenth century, and the one least restricted by the government, was the raising of livestock. New Spain with its sparse fauna and rich
- ↑ The average price at which leaf tobacco waa purchased by the government was three reales a pound, and it was resold for ten, at a profit of 233 per cent. Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., 282. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 445, is evidently mistaken when he gives the price at two and a half reales per kilogram.
- ↑ In 1801 they amounted to $3,993,834, in 1802 to $4,092,629. The total since the establishment of the monopoly till 1809 exceeded $123,000,000. México, Analisis, 44. For partial statistics of the period mentioned, see Fonseca and Urrutía, Hist. Real Hac., ii. 437.
- ↑ The produce of the districts of Vera Cruz and Orizaba amounted annually to about 20,000 quintals. Humboldt, Essai Pol., ii. 445.
- ↑ From $777,651 paid in 1783, it declined to $684,109 in 1792, but again rose in 1794 to $773,442. Gazeta Mex., i. 12; ii. 276-7; iii. 10-11, 223; iv. 11-12, 248; V. 265; vii. 33.
- ↑ Details concerning this monopoly may be found in Revilla Gigedo, Instruc., 281-99; Galvez, Instruc., 18-54; Fonseca and Urrutía, Hist. Real Hac., ii. 353-486.
