Texas on the Eve of tlee Mexican Revolution
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citizens needed. He was further allowed to bake other kinds of bread if he had time. To insure his monopoly, the city agreed to impose a fine of six pesos on anyone found guilty of making bread for sale with- out permission. The city specified certain standards which he had to meet. A city inspector was to examine the bread for texture, weight, and amount of cooking. Loaves that were short of weight, burned, or not well done, were to be condemned and given to the prisoners in the jail. To prevent excess profits from the monopoly, it was stipulated that the maximum profit was not to exceed twenty-five per cent. The monopoly was binding on the city only until a better offer was made. 21 01·dinances. Parking meters are comparatively modern, but Governor Salcedo initiated the idea and for the same purpose-to obtain revenues. In his proclamation of January 16, 1809, he pointed out that the city needed money to keep the plazas and streets clean and. to furnish enter- tainment on holidays. To that end, riders and muleteers would be charged twenty-five cents, he said, for the right to hitch their mounts and beasts of burden. The hitching zone was restricted to the area in the rear of the church on the main plaza. Hitching elsewhere was liable to a fine of two pesos. 2 '!, The registration of vehicles and the issuance of license plates is not new to Texas either. In December, 1809, Governor de Salcedo ordered owners to register their vehicles with their ward commissioner. Each registrant was to receive a numbered license which was to be attached to the front of the vehicle. This regulation applied to all residents within the jurisdiction of Bexar, which extended for almost thirty miles in all directions. Failure to comply with this regulation made the owner liable to confiscation of his property. 23 A regulation was adopted prohibiting a man and a woman riding the same horse, particularly on feast days. The custom was considered indecorous. Galloping and racing on the streets was likewise declared unlawful. The reason given was that it endangered the lives of pedes- 21Agreement entered into between the Villa de San Fernando de Bexar and Pedro Geronimo Longueville, January 23, 1806. Bexar Archives. 12 M. de Salcedo to the Citizens, January I 6, 1809. Nacogdocl,es Arcnives, XII, PP• r-2. "M.· de Salcedo to the Citizens, December 3, 1809. Nacogdoclres Arc/rives, XII, pp. II-12.
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