The Necessity of large Capitals in Mexico.--The Finances and
Revenue.--The impoverished Creditors of the State.--Princely
Wealth of Individuals.
Having spoken of the Church, the great power which overawes the
government, it is also proper to mention the secondary powers: the men
of colossal fortune. In a country like Mexico, whose wealth arises from
mines of silver, these immense private fortunes are requisite to the
successful development of its resources. Large capitals must be
constantly hazarded on the single chance of striking a _bonanza_, in an
adventure as uncertain as a game of _monte_. The abandoned mine often
turns out to be the treasury of an untold fortune to the man who was
laughed at for attempting its restoration, while the most promising
adventure proves a total failure. The temptations to these adventures
are dazzling in the extreme. The ambitious man forgets the shame and
irretrievable ruin that follows a failure, and looks only to the
chances of winning a title of nobility and "a house full of silver."
Men who shun the gambling-table will adventure all on a mine, and in a
year or two they have passed from the memory of men, for they have
become poor. Again, a man of slender means has become rich in the
Mexican sense, which means a man of millions, and then he is at once
elevated by his admirers into that brilliant constellation which is the
"great bear" of the Mexican firmament.
STATE CREDITORS.
Still, these powerful private individuals prevent the consolidation of
any government, whether republican or dictatorial, and put far off that
necessary evil, the confiscation of the estates of the Church. If there
is a Congress in session, its members are influenced as our own are
influenced. They are swayed this way and that by private interests.
When Congress is not in session, they are constantly operating upon the
treasury, or, rather, the minister of the treasury is diving about
among them to raise the means to keep afloat from day to day. They will
not submit to their full share of taxation. When they advance money on
the pledge of some income, it is on the most onerous terms, so that at
least one quarter of the revenue of Mexico is used up in interest or
usury. Long experience has reduced the business of shaving the revenue
to a system. The most common way to do this is to buy up some claim at
twelve and a half cents on a dollar, and then couple it at par with a
loan of money on the assignment of some _rent_. Every thing is farmed
out, until at last, two years ago, Escandon proposed to farm the whole
foreign duties.
Many a time have I sat down in the large ante-room of the treasury to
look upon and study the characters of those who have come there to be
disappointed, when promises will no longer satisfy hunger. One poor
woman had got a new promise in 1851, and three months' interest, on
money _deposited_ with the Consolado of Vera Cruz, and invested in 1810
in building the great road of Perote. Santa Anna, on his return, gave
her a new order, and she presented it to the minister with bright
hopes, when he gave her fifteen dollars--all he had in the treasury.
The best way to collect a debt at Mexico is to convert it into a
foreign debt, if possible, and then, if there is a resident that stands
high with his minister, the matter meets with prompt attention. He that
can buy a foreign embassador at Mexico has made a fortune.
MEXICAN MILLIONAIRES.
I have spoken of two rich men of Mexico, the first Count of Regla, and
one who has succeeded to his mine. As I was standing on the Paseo, a
lad passed driving a fine span of mules. "That is the Count de Galvez,"
said my companion, "the son of the late Count Perez Galvez, the lucky
proprietor of the _bonanza_ in the mine of La Suz at Guanajuato."
"But that _bonanza_ has given out," said I.
"No matter; this boy's inheritance is sometimes estimated at
$9,000,000." A snug capital with which to begin the world!
Laborde, the Frenchman who projected and established the magnificent
garden at Cuarnavaca, and also built, from his private fortune, the
great Cathedral of Toluca, made and spent two princely fortunes in
successful mining, and at last ended his checkered career in poverty.
The Countess Ruhl, the mother of young Galvez, and her brother the
Count Ruhl, are also fortunate miners. The latter is now interested in
the _Real del Monte_. But the rich man of the Republic is the Marquis
de Jaral, in the small but rich mining department of Guanajuato. This
man's wealth surpasses that of all the three patriarchs put together. A
few years ago, the whole amount of his live-stock was set down by his
_administrador_ (overseer) at three million head. He then sent thirty
thousand sheep[71] to market, which yielded him from $2.50 to $3 a
head, or from $75,000 to $90,000 annually. The goats slaughtered on the
estate amounted to about the same number, and yielded about the same
amount of revenue. Besides all this, there is his annual product of
horses and cattle, and corn and grain fields many miles in extent.
Truly this Marquis of Jaral is a large farmer. But as I said of mining,
so I may also say that large capitals are necessary to carry on
agriculture successfully in the vast elevated plains of the northern,
or, rather, interior departments, for the whole value of the valley of
Jaral consists in an artificial lake, which an ancestor of the present
proprietor constructed before the Revolution for the purpose of
irrigation; for, without irrigation, his little kingdom would be
without value. I might speak of many other landed proprietors whose
estates are princely, but none are equal to Jaral. Indeed, all men of
wealth possess landed estates. It is the favorite investment for
successful miners to purchase a _few_ plantations, each of a dozen
leagues or so, under cultivation.
[71] WARD'S _Mexico_, vol. ii. p. 470.