"Decree No. 15," February 19, 1825
Summary: The government in Saltillo issued a decree governing the sale and distribution of tobacco in the provinces of Coahuila and Texas. Article 4 directed that all sales of tobacco except by the state be prohibited and article 5 ordered the government to establish a cigar manufactory for that purpose. In the meantime, the executive was charged with regulating the sale of tobacco for the benefit of the state.
The Congress of the State of Coahuila and Texas has thought proper to decree as follows:
ARTICLE 1. In the different places to which it belongs, and where the same have not yet had their due and entire effect, the executive shall order the immediate fulfilment of the decree of the general Congress of the 9th of February, of the year last past, the provisions of the supreme executive of the 12th of the same month, and the regulations of the 8th of December last, relative to the new project and arrangement of the tobacco income.
ART. 2. Should there be no judges in this capital capable of duly attesting and classifying the various kinds of tobacco, the value of which has to be paid to the holders thereof, according to its class, the executive shall order that of the tobacco, which, on examination thereof for this sole object in the places where it is found to exist, shall prove to be profitable and fit for consumption, both crude and manufactured, the necessary quantity shall be forwarded to the manufactory of Mexico, that the same may be duly attested and classified, taking measures to prevent the transportation thereof being attended with unnecessary expense.
ART. 3. The executive, after being informed of the classification of the different kinds of tobacco, shall take care that the value thereof be punctually paid within such prudential term as he shall compute to be consistent with the different attentions of that branch of the revenue.
ART. 4. After the publication of this law in the chief towns of the districts, the sale and consumption of tobacco, crude and manufactured, shall be prohibited; in pursuance thereof the State alone can
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hereafter expend and provide for the consumption thereof in the towns of the same, for which purpose a cigar manufactory shall be established in this capital, as soon as possible, for paper cigars and other kinds, with such offices as are absolutely necessary. The executive shall propose the number and class of the same, their salaries, shall frame suitable regulations; all of which he shall gives[sic] notice to Congress for approval.
ART. 5. To put the manufactory in operation, and to give life and activity to the income, the executive shall contract a loan of the amount he shall deem necessary, on the most suitable basis and conditions; making to the contractor such proposals as are just, and capable of being punctually fulfilled, likewise admitting proposals of the same kind; for all which he shall have sufficient power.
ART. 6. During the interval, until the regulations specified in art. 4 are approved, he shall be likewise duly authorized to protect the financial concerns, and faithful management of the manufactory, taking all such measures as he shall deem seasonable and prudent, to have the purchasers of paper made at the most reasonable prices; but as this article is very dear at present, to compensate for the high price thereof, two cigars shall be deducted from each bunch, and in the places where the cigars are sold, it shall be expressly prohibited to exact any other tax from any cause, and on any pretense whatever.
ART. 7. As regards the organization of this rent, proper provision shall shortly be made in the plan for the provisional regulation of all the State rents, to be decreed by another law.
For the fulfilment thereof, the governor of the state ad interim shall cause the same to be published and circulated.
Given in Saltillo on the 19th of February, 1825.
Source Copy Consulted: "Decree No. 15," February 19, 1825, reprinted in H.P.H. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897, 12 vols., (Austin: Gammel Book Co., 1898), 1:124-125. http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas