Chapter VIII: Part 8

"As for the second point, the amount of the commerce, this was formerly without any limitation; and during the time (which was short) while that condition lasted the islands acquired what strength and wealth and grandeur they now possess." (Juan Grau y Monfalcón in Extracto Historial by Antonio Alvarez de Abreu; Madrid, 1736.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 30, p. 50.)

This is the point of view taken by Azcarraga in his La Libertad de Comercio en Filipinas.

[96] "In 1603, that is, when our colony had only thirty-two years of existence, there were already in the capital 25,000 Chinese, and the number of Japanese must have been also quite considerable, since they formed a colony which occupied the barrios of San Anton and San Miguel, at present inhabited by natives and a great portion of the white population." (Azcarraga, La Libertad de Comercio, p. 44.)

[97] "37. Accordingly the commerce of this city is extensive, rich, and unusually profitable; for it is carried on by all these Chinese and their ships, with those of all the islands above mentioned and of Tonquin, Cochinchina, Camboja, and Siam--four separate kingdoms, which lie opposite these islands on the continent of Great China--and of the gulfs and the numberless kingdoms of Eastern India, Persia, Bengala, and Ceilan, when there are no wars; and of the empire and kingdom of Xapon. The diversity of the peoples, therefore, who are seen in Manila and its environs is the greatest in the world; for these include men from all kingdoms and nations--España, Francia, Inglaterra, Italia, Flandes, Alemania, Dinamarca, Suecia, Polonia, Moscobia; people from all the Indias, both eastern and western; and Turks, Greeks, Moros, Persians, Tartars, Chinese, Japanese, Africans, and Asiatics. And hardly is there in the four quarters of the world a kingdom, province, or nation which has not representatives here, on account of the voyages that are made hither from all directions--east, west, north, and south." Description of Filipinas Islands, Bartholomé de Letona, O. S. F.; La Puebla, Mexico, 1662.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 36, p. 205.)

[98] "Number 96. Distinctions in products from the islands, and their qualities with respect to those of España.

"All these products that are trafficked from the islands are divided into six (sic) classes. The first is of silk, in skeins, thread, and trama. The second, the silk textiles. The third, the cotton textiles. The fourth, the products of the islands. The fifth, other small wares and articles that are brought. Of these, the last class amounts to but little, and is not harmful to the commerce of España, as it is composed of rarities and foreign products. The fourth class, namely, that of the products of the islands, by that very fact ought to be exported--a claim that is founded on justice; since it is not usual to prohibit to any province its own trade, and the exportation of its products wherever they may have a sale, even though foreign commerce be denied to it. Besides, this sort has the characteristic of the third, namely, that these wares are so cheap that their like cannot be supplied from España, as has been said, on account of the great difference of their prices. (In the margin: "In number 95.") Hence, the wares of these kingdoms would not be used any more, even did those of the islands fail; nor less, even if there were an over-supply. For the Indians and negroes care only for the linens of China and Filipinas, and, if they do not have them, they get along without them; for they have no wealth to give eight reals for what costs them one and one-half reals. One thousand bales of linen which is shipped from Sevilla in each trading fleet always finds a sale, and no more can be carried (to Nueva España)--because that would create a lack in España, and it would, moreover, be too advantageous to the foreigners, to whom almost all this commodity belongs. Two thousand bales of cotton textiles exported from Manila are also consumed (there); and the fact that there is less or more does not cause any considerable loss in the linen made from flax and hemp, nor does it involve much money; for the two thousand bales of cotton are worth one hundred and fifty thousand pesos, while one thousand of fine linen are worth more than one million." (Informatory Memorial addressed to the King, Juan Grau y Monfalcon, Procurator General; Madrid, 1637.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 27, pp. 200-201.)

[99] Ibid., pp. 98-104.

[100] Ibid., pp. 115-116.

[101] Ibid., pp. 120.

[102] Ibid., pp. 186-197.

[103] Ibid., p. 158.

[104] Ibid.

[105] Recopilación de Leyes, Lib. IX, Tit. XXXV, Ley VI. In Bl. and Rb., Vol. 17, pp. 30-31. Jan. 11, 1593.

[106] Ibid., Ley XV.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 17, pp. 31-32. Jan. 11, 1593.

[107] Ibid., Ley XXXIV.--Bl.and Rb., Vol. 17, p. 32. Jan. 11, 1593.

[108] Ibid., Ley LXVIII.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 17, p. 33. Jan. 11, 1593.

[109] La Libertad de Comercio, p. 49.

[110] Recopilación, Lib IX, Tit. XXXV, Leyes LXXIV, LXXV, and LXXVI.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 17, pp. 42-44.

[111] Pedro Quiroga.

[112] Recopilación, ibid., Ley LXXVIII.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 17, pp. 44-45.

[113] As to the effect of these restrictions Azcarraga says: "* * * thus, at the end of that century, there was nothing but poverty and discontent in the city; the white population had hardly increased; commerce, confined within the narrow sphere of periodic voyages to Acapulco, was languishing, without attempting to engage in any other kind of traffic; and poverty was reflected even in the very troops stationed in the city, who did duty unshod and without uniform (camisa), frequently committing robberies at the Chinese stores. * * *" (La Libertad, p. 54.)

[114] Extracto Historial, Antonio Alvarez de Abreu.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 44, p. 231.

[115] Ibid., p. 236.

[116] Ibid., p. 232.

[117] Ibid., pp. 256-258.

Also Azcarraga, La Libertad, pp. 58-59.

[118] Royal decree of October 27, 1720, enforcing that of 1718, provides further that: "The values of the lading which the said ships are to carry from the Philippines to the port of Acapulco may be up to the amount of 300,000 pesos, which must come invested strictly and solely in the following kinds of merchandise: gold, cinnamon, elephants, wax, porcelain, cloves, pepper, cambayas, and linens woven with colors (lienzos pintados), chitas, chintzes, gauzes, lampotes, Hilocos blankets, silk floss and raw silk spun, cordage, and other commodities which are not silks." These ships are prohibited from carrying silken fabrics, "satins, pitiflores, velvets, damasks, Pekin silks (Pequines), sayasayas, brocades, plain satins, grograms, taffetas; silver and gold brocades; embroidered pieces of silk stuff for (covers of) beds, the (hangings for) drawing-rooms (estrados), and women's petticoats; silken gauzes flowered with gold and silver; pattern pieces for petticoats, figured or embroidered; dressing-gowns, chimones, or made-up garments; hose, ribbons, or handkerchiefs; or any fabric which contains silk." (Commerce in the Philippines with Nueva España, 1640-1736, by Antonio Alvarez de Abreu; Madrid, 1736. (From Extracto Historial.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 44, pp. 266-268.)

[119] Ibid., p. 306.

[120] Extracto Historial, Antonio Alvarez de Abreu.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 45, pp. 57-59.

[121] For a detailed list of the goods sent to Mexico, and as to what was done with them there, see Informatory Memorial addressed to the King, Juan Grau y Monfalcon, 1637.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 27, pp. 198-200.

"Number 95. Trade of the islands necessary in Nueva España, because of their goods.

"In regard to the first part, which pertain to the merchandise, the trade of the Filipinas is so necessary today in Nueva España, that the latter country finds it as difficult as do the islands to get along without that trade; and its lack cannot be supplied with merchandise from these kingdoms. The wares taken to Acapulco are plain and figured velvets, satins, and damasks; grograms, taffetas, and picotes; headdresses and stockings; silk, loose and twisted, in skeins, that reeled on spindles, and woven; thread; tramas, plushes, and other silk stuffs and textiles. Of cotton, there are sinavafas, fine glazed buckrams (bocacies), glazed linen (olandilla), fine muslins (canequies), and semianas; and of cotton and silk, beds, curtains, coverlets, quilts, and other pieces. (They also carry) civet, musk, and amber; gold and pearls; crockery-ware, cabinets, and articles made of wood and other things; and the products of the islands themselves, of which mention has been made (in the margin: "In number 15"). But the bulk of the commerce is reduced to the silk and cotton textiles; for there is but little else that is rare or elegant, or that has much export. From the skeined silk, and the silk thread, and trama are manufactured in Nueva España velvets, veils, headdresses, passementeries, and many taffetas, which were taken to Perú when there were ships that went to Callao, and to other parts of the Indias--where the black, brown, and silver-colored goods that are sent from Sevilla do not arrive in good shape, because the sea rots them. It is known that the skein silk of China is more even and elegant for delicate and smooth fabrics than is the Misteca which is produced in that kingdom; besides that, there is less of the latter kind than is necessary in the country. By this trade and manufacture, more than fourteen thousand persons support themselves in Mexico, La Puebla, and Antequera, by their looms, the whole thing being approved by royal decrees. Of the cotton textiles, linens (lienzos) are used in Nueva España more than any other stuff, as they are so cheap that they sell for one and one-half or two reals per vara. Therefore, they are desired by the Indians and negroes; and when these are lacking, even though there should be an over-supply of the linens of Europa, they do not want them or use them, as those are dear and not so much used by them; and they get along with their own cloths from Campeche or La Guasteca, and others that they weave."

[122] "The basis of it was, and is, the funds called "Obras Pías" (Pious Works). These are funds under various denominations, whose origin was the piety of well-meaning Spaniards, who dying rich have bequeathed large sums for the purpose of lending to deserving traders to commerce or continue their career with. The administration of these is confided to various religious and charitable institutions, or to civil associations--the trustees forming a board, at which the sums to be lent, etc., are determined. Their statutes differ in many unessential points; but their general tenor is the same, viz., that sums not exceeding two-thirds of the fund shall be lent on respondentia at certain rates of interest, which are fixed according to the risk of the voyages; and these, when repaid, shall be added, principal and interest, to the original fund. The interests are 25 per cent. to Acapulco, 15 to Bengal, and so in proportion. The total of the capitals of these establishments (there are 12 or 14 of them), amounted to about three millions and a half of dollars in 1820, of which about two millions are due to the funds on various risks, principally those of New Spain: of this the major part is considered as lost by those best qualified to judge of the subject.

"The principal employ of these funds has been in the commerce to Acapulco; and from the facility with which capital was procured, the excessive gambling spirit which this introduced, as well as the system of mutual accommodations from the trustees of different funds, and the utter absence of the wholesome restraint of public examinations of their accounts, it has resulted that more harm than good has been done by these establishments. The original intentions are entirely perverted, a few small sums being lent to young adventurers (when they have powerful friends), but far the greatest part is employed by the trustees themselves under the name of a relation or friend." (Remarks on the Philippine Islands, and their capital Manila, 1819-1822, by an Englishman.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 51, pp. 148-149.)

[123] Zuñiga, Estadismo de las Islas Filipinas.

Historia General de Filipinas, José Montero y Vidal, Chapter XXVIII.

[124] It is represented that the seamen are allowed to carry each 30 pesos' worth of goods as a private investment, in order to encourage Spaniards to enter the marine service; but this ought to be increased to 300 pesos (the allowance made to the men on the fleets that go to the Indias), for more Spaniards are needed on the Acapulco trade-route--hardly one-third of the men on the galleon being of Spanish birth, the rest being Indians--and on the rivera of Cavite." Extracto Historial, Antonio Alvarez Abreu, 1736.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 44, Pp. 307-308.

[125] Azcarraga, La Libertad, pp. 81-95.

[126] "This trade and commerce is so great and profitable, and easy to control--for it only lasts three months in the year, from the time of the arrival of the ships with their merchandise, until those vessels that go to Nueva España take that merchandise--that the Spaniards do not apply themselves to, or engage in, any other industry. Consequently, there is no husbandry or field-labor worthy of consideration. Neither do the Spaniards work the gold mines or placers, which are numerous. They do not engage in many other industries that they could turn to with great profit, if the Chinese trade should fail them. That trade has been very hurtful and prejudicial in this respect, as well as for the occupations and farm industries in which the natives used to engage. Now the latter are abandoning and forgetting those labors. Besides, there is the great harm and loss resulting from the immense amount of silver that passes annually by this way (of the trade), into the possession of infidels, which can never, by any way, return into the possession of the Spaniards." (Morga's Sucesos.--Bl. and Rb. Vol. 16, p. 187).

"When, without risking any capital of his own, the merchant might thus share the enormous profits of this trade, with no more exertion than signing the invoices and letters (they were written by Indian clerks), and receiving the treasure on the return of the vessel, it is not surprising that for nearly two centuries they neglected all the other commercial advantages which surrounded them, or that such a commerce produced such merchants; the history of it and of them for that period may be confined to a few words:--they were agents of the merchants of Madras and Bengal, receiving and shipping their goods, and returning their proceeds, while their profits were confined to a large commission on them." (Remarks on the Philippine Islands and on their capital Manila, 1819-1822, by an Englishman.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 51, p. 150.)

[127] "... This I say, then, Sire, that it is a most pitiable thing that there is not a man in all these Philippine Islands--Spaniard, or of any other nation--saving some religious, who make their principal aim and intent the conversion of these heathen, or the increase of the Christian faith; but they are only moved by their own interests and seek to enrich themselves, and if it happened that the welfare of the natives was an obstacle to this they would not hesitate, if they could, to kill them all in exchange for their temporal profit. And since this is so, what can your Majesty expect will happen if this continues? From this inordinate greed arises the violation of your Majesty's decrees and mandates, as everyone is a merchant and trader--and none more so than the governor, who has this year brought ruin upon the country. There comes each year from Nueva España a million in money, contrary to the mandate of your Majesty, all of which passes on to the heathen of China. From here, in violation of your Majesty's decrees, cargoes are loaded for the Peruvians and the merchants of Mexico, without leaving room for those of this country--especially the poor, who are unable to secure any interest therein except for a wretched bundle which is allowed them as a cargo. If I were to go into the multitude of evils which are connected with this, I should have to proceed ad infinitum." (Letters from the archbishop of Manila to Felipe II; Ignacio de Santibañez; Manila, June 24 and 26, (1598);--Bl and Rb. Vol 10, p. 145.)

[128] Azcarraga: La Libertad, p. 68.

[129] "By this system for two centuries the South American market for manufactures was reserved exclusively for Spain, but the protection did not prevent Spanish industry from decay and did retard the well-being and progress of South America. Between Mexico and the Philippines a limited trade was allowed, the profits of which were the perquisites of the Spaniards living in the Philippines and contributed to the religious endowments. But this monopoly was of no permanent advantage to the Spanish residents. It was too much like stock-jobbing, and sapped all spirit of industry. Zúñiga says that the commerce made a few rich in a short time and with little labor, but they were very few; that there were hardly five Spaniards in Manila worth $100,000, nor a hundred worth $40,000, the rest either lived on the King's pay or in poverty. 'Every morning one could see on the streets of Manila, in greatest poverty and asking alms, the sons of men who had made a fine show and left much money, which their sons had squandered because they had not been well trained in youth.' The great possibilities of Manila as an entrepôt of the Asiatic trade were unrealized; for although the city enjoyed open trade with the Chinese, Japanese, and other orientals, it was denied to Europeans and the growth of that conducted by the Chinese and others was always obstructed by the lack of return cargoes owing to the limitations placed upon the trade with America and to the disinclination of the Filipinos to work to produce more than was enough to insure them a comfortable living and pay their tributes. That the system was detrimental to the economic progress of the islands was always obvious and its evils were repeatedly demonstrated by Spanish officials. Further it was not only detrimental to the prosperity of the islands but it obstructed the development of Mexico." (Historical Introduction, by Edward Gaylord Bourne.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 1, pp. 67-68.)

[130] "Trade between America and the Far East all passed for a time through the port of Manila. This commerce was greatly desired by the Spanish colonists of Mexico, Perú, and Chile, but the selfish and rapacious merchants of Spain so influenced the policy of the mother country as to throttle this trading and prevent for more than two hundred years the legitimate development of the islands. From the early part of the seventeenth century until 1837 the Philippines were in the grasp of a protective monopoly, which not only prevented the productive development of the soil, but kept the Filipinos down to those necessarily restricted numbers which attend a population that raises nothing in excess of its daily needs. If there is one thing to be learned from this and every other study of increase of population in a fertile and tropical country it is that population increases in exact proportion to the agricultural production and export." (Dr. D. P. Barrows, in Philippine Census, 1903, Vol. 1, p. 247.)

[131] "* * * All thrifty activity was regarded as despicable. No trader had a seat in the Cortes of Aragon. As late as 1781 the Academy of Madrid was obliged to offer as the subject for a prize essay the proposition that there was nothing derogatory in the useful arts. Every tradesman and manufacturer sought only to make enough money to enable him to live on the interest of it or to establish a trust fund for his family. If he was successful he either entered a cloister or went to another province in order to pass for a noble. In Cervantes we find the maxim: 'Whoever wishes to make his fortune seeks the church, the sea (i. e., service in America), or the king's house.' The highest ambition of the nation in its golden age was to be to Europe just what the nobility, the clergy, and the army were to single nations. Consequently there was an enormous preponderance of personal service in the industrial organism, and much of this was purely for ostentation. Nowhere in the world were there so many nobles, so many officers, civil and military, so many lawyers and clerks, priests and monks, so many students and school-boys, with their servants. But as truly, nowhere in the world were there so many beggars and vagabonds." (The Spanish Colonial System, by Wilhelm Roscher, pp. 3-4.)

[132] Azcarraga, pp. 117-118.

[133] See Bl. and Rb., Vol. 52, pp. 307-322. Also Vidal, Historia General de Filipinas, Vol. 2, pp. 285-297; Mas, Informe Sobre el Estado de las Islas Filipinas en 1842, part II, pp. 28-31; and the Boletin de la Sociedad Económica for the different years.

[134] Jagor, Travels in the Philippines, chapter 25.

Memoria Sobre el Desestanco del Tabaco en las Islas Filipinas, José Jimeno Agius, Manila, 1871.

[135] "* * * at the time of Basco there were in Camarines four and a half million mulberry trees, and this was one of the results of the industrious administration of that famous governor, and of the first patriotic attempts of the Economic Society, so ably aided by the alcalde mayor, Don Martin Ballesteros, who later became factor of the Company in said province. At the request of the Society the first seeds were sent to Manila in 1780 by an Augustinian by the name of Fray Pedro Galiano; the director of the Company decided at all cost to stimulate this production, by advancing big sums * * (and) thought of introducing Chinese laborers for this purpose, and even proposed to bring over families from Granada, Valencia, and Murcia, well acquainted with this kind of industry; and, according to report of those agents, the first crops gave good results because of the continuous sprouting of the leaves, possibly the harvesting of even nine crops in each year. They were assured too, that according to Chinese experts, the silk of the country was inferior to that of Nanking, but very much superior to that of Canton." (Azcarraga, p. 133.)

[136] "The cultivation of the indigo had already been encouraged and improved by another Augustinian, Fray Matias Octavo, with the generous aid of a worthy merchant of Manila, Don Diego Garcia Herreros, applying the method then used at Guatemala; (thus) it was possible in 1784 to make a shipment, by the warship Asuncion, which found a good market in Cadiz. With these antecedents, the Company did not have to do much to exploit this product, and limited itself to making advances to the farmers for the purchase of implements needed * * *, and buying everything that was offered for sale; thus in 1786 it was able to export one hundred and forty quintals of this valuable article, and double that in 1788." (Ibid., pp. 133-134).

[137] "With the same eagerness the Company devoted itself to promote the cultivation of the sugar cane, and very soon began to reap the harvest of its well-calculated attempts, and shipped for the Peninsula in 1786 eight hundred and sixty arrobas, and in 1788, nine thousand six hundred and sixty three arrobas for the same place, and for China and India; and thus this article continued to progress, always heading the list of exports from the country, since in a memorial or report sent to the king in 1790 by Governor Don Felix Berenguer de Marquina, it is stated that the amount of sugar exported the year before was between forty and fifty thousand piculs." (Ibid., pp. 134-135.)

[138] Azcarraga says that upon cotton, which--at different times, especially during the revolutionary war in the United States--had been recommended to the chiefs of the provinces as an article to whose cultivation they should especially devote themselves, the company placed a great deal of hope, because of its good quality; it could compete with what the English exported from the coasts of Malabar, and thus, by promoting its cultivation in great scale, at the same time that the projected textile factories of the country would be supplied with raw materials, it would supply the constant demand of China; these expectations were confirmed by the good sale which the first shipment of one hundred and fifty sacks to China had, and thus the directors adopted this article as the chief commodity for its trade. (Ibid.)

[139] Text of decree is given in Montero y Vidal, Historia, Vol. 2, pp. 302-303.

[140] Estadismo, Vol. 1, p. 273.

[141] Azcarraga, Chapters 9, 10, and 11; Mas, Part II, pp. 31-35; Vidal, Historia, Vol. II, pp. 297-307.

[142] In this way a new element was introduced which was essential for economic development: capital. Up to that time money had been scarce and it was all derived from local sources: owing to the conditions to which we have heretofore referred our community was obliged to furnish its own capital. It was necessarily small, first, on account of the slight productive forces, second, because of the easy destruction of acquired property, which was dissipated in fires and storms principally. In those first days of our history, the preservation and transmission from one generation to another of created and inherited wealth was, as it is even now, a problem almost impossible of solution. The general construction of houses, manufactured from such weak and transient elements as cane and nipa, does not leave us in a condition to conserve: it leaves us rather in a condition of easy destruction, as may be readily understood. So it is, that we get the benefit of only a small part of the property acquired by the generations that have gone before us. Where will you find even the trace of so many millions of cane and nipa houses which have absorbed the money earned by past generations? Destroyed by fire and storms. In their destruction was also involved all the industrial production, all the labor converted into capital represented by furniture, books, manuscripts, cloths, jewelry, coins, articles, of practical utility, religious, artistic and every sort of objects which ran the same precarious risk and had the same ephemeral existence as our flimsy cane and nipa houses."--Results of the Economic Development of the Philippines.

[143] "The taking of Manila in 1762 by the English had subsequently great influence on our future. They, during the occupation of Manila, had an opportunity to know the natural resources of this country, the condition of abandonment and neglect of agriculture and commerce, and the contempt that was felt for them, and realize the possibilities that existed for material development as understood by the British. As a result of such contact with the Filipinos English commerce was able to understand the conditions of our archipelago until then entirely unknown, owing to the conditions of their tutelar sequestration, and, on their part, the authorities and prominent persons of Manila had occasion to observe, during the short period of the occupation of Manila, what the English were who had been reputed as the enemies par excellence of the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion. It is said that they appropriated to themselves the money that they found in the treasury, which, on the other hand, we must assume, was found empty, both because Anda y Salazar took with him what he could find there to organize the war, and because private persons concealed their treasure. From whatever source it may have come, either brought by them as was really the case, or taken from the Filipinos, the fact was, that in order to maintain themselves, they spent a great deal of money and placed in movement the dormant activity of all whom they found within their reach." (Ibid.)

[144] Azcarraga, pp. 151-152; also Mas, under Comercio Exterior, p. 2.

[145] "The first result was the collision of the new arrivals with the exploiters of the old order, whose peaceful possession of a livelihood which suited them--because nobody questioned it or disturbed it--was suddenly threatened by the competition of more active, more industrious, better prepared and richer individuals, supported by firms located in the most important centers of the commercial world. In the same manner as, by arrival of the Spaniards, the old Filipino caciques were subjected to the Spanish officials, now the caciques who dominated during the period of tutelar sequestration found themselves immediately supplanted and converted into something lower than the new caciques of the economic order. They (the former) understood that such supremacy would give them (the latter) supremacy in everything. To defend their position they had recourse to the anti-foreign sentiments of the entire community; foreigners had always been regarded as the enemies of Spain and God; they must be the enemies of the Filipinos, too. The crusade was not new; it had been used before with excellent results at the time of the English domination. This campaign was hardly started when the cholera for the first time made its appearance in Manila. Taking advantage of that event, which was also called providential, the rumor was started that the foreigners had poisoned the waters of the Pasig, with the results that in 1820 the people of Manila exterminated the foreigners who were then residing at the capital." (Tavera, Ibid.)

[146] Le Roy, The Americans in the Philippines, Vol. 1, p. 33, Diccionario Geográfico-Estadistíco-Historico de las Islas Filipinas, Manuel Buzeta and Felipe Bravo, (Madrid, 1850-1851).

[147] Bowring, A Visit to the Philippines (London, 1859), p. 301.

[148] Mas, under Comercio Exterior, pp. 28-29; also Azcarraga, Chapter 13.

[149] "The merchants and even all the residents of Manila during the epoch of the Acapulco (trade), firmly believed that the interruption of its voyages would be the infallible and total ruin of the colony, and that upon them depended even the maintenance of the inhabitants of the farms. However, experience has demonstrated the error in which they were." (Mas, Ibid., pp. 2-3.)

After giving a table of imports and exports for 1810, Mas says: "From this statement it is seen that at that epoch the commerce of the Philippines was reduced mostly to receiving funds from New Spain, and, in return, remitting articles of China and India; that the importation of foreign goods consumed in the Philippines amounted to 900,000 pesos, and the exportation of the products of the country, such as sugar, indigo, hide, etc., did not amount to 500,000 pesos. The gains, therefore, from that traffic, for which Manila was only a port of exchange, were divided between the merchants who had the monopoly of the galleon, but the wealth of the territory received but small advantages from it." (Ibid.)

[150] Mas, Ibid., p. 4.

[151] Azcarraga, p. 18.

[152] An item in the memoir published by the Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Manila, 1860), containing a list of its achievements, is to the effect that on August 8, 1834, "abacá" was exported for the first time. (See Bl. and Rb., Vol. 52, p. 317.)

Azcarraga (p. 19) gives the following figures for hemp:

Piculs
exported.

1840 83,790
1845 102,490
1850 123,410
1853 221,518
1857 327,574
1858 412,502

[153] Azcarraga (p. 167) gives the following figures for Iloilo:

Foreign Countries. Manila.
Piculs of Sugar. Piculs of sugar.

1859 9,344 77,488
1860 40,176 72,592
1861 44,256 29,312
1862 102,464 98,912
1863 170,832 80,000

[154] Azcarraga, pp. 168-169.

[155] Jagor, (Spanish edition, Madrid, 1874), p. 255.

[156] "From these dates (referring to the opening of the ports) the prosperity of the Philippines advanced steadily and rapidly without interruption until the outbreak of the Philippine revolution six years ago. To this period is due the propagation of the hemp fields of Ambos Camarines, Albay, and Sorsogon; the planting of the innumerable coconut groves; the sugar haciendas of Pampanga and Negros; the tobacco fields of Cagayan and the Ilocos provinces; the coffee of Batangas, and the utilization everywhere of the specially adapted soils for the production of these admirable articles of trade. One thing is to be noticed, and is important in estimating the future development of the islands. The money that was invested here was not brought in by capitalists but was made here. Haciendas arose from small beginnings, and this continued prosperity apparently suffered no diminution or check until it was interrupted by the ravages and desolation of warfare. * * *" (Barrows, Census of the Philippine Islands (1903), Vol. 1, p. 446.)

[157] Bowring, p. 410.

"The Filipinos gave a proof of their intelligence and of their aspirations by sending their children to Manila to be educated, buying furniture, mirrors, articles of luxury for their homes and persons; buying pianos, carriages, objects imported from the United States and Europe which came their way, owing to foreign trade. These articles caused a revelation which produced a revolution in the social mind, thanks to that veritable revolution of an economic character which permitted the only possible development--the material development." (Tavera, Ibid.)

[158] Jagor, ibid., p. 256.

[159] "The needs of commerce, demanded not by the poor but by the powerful, were attended to; for that reason roads were made, bridges were built, new highways of communication were opened, public safety was organized in a more efficient manner, the abuses of the dominators had greater publicity and, therefore, were fewer and more combated, the mail service was improved, Spaniards and other Europeans penetrated into the provinces, the natives themselves were permitted to go from one pueblo to another and change their residence, and the Filipinos were able to place themselves in contact with the civilized world, emerging from their prolonged and harmful sequestration, thanks to the workings of economic forces." (Tavera, Ibid.)

[160] "During the previous epoch the so-called natural resources constituting the extractive industries--consisting of the collection of the spontaneous products of nature--were exploited: whereas freedom of trade brought about the development of agriculture which had already been initiated by the Real Compañía. In Ilocos, indigo was made, in Batangas, Pampanga, Bulacan, Laguna and the Visayas, sugar-cane was cultivated and sugar made; in Albay abaca was produced. Bigan, Taal, Balayan, Batangas, Albay, Nueva Caceres, Cebu, Molo, Jaro, Iloilo began to be covered with solidly constructed buildings; their wealthy citizens would come to Manila, make purchases, become acquainted with the great merchants, who entertained them in their quality as customers whose trade they needed; they visited the Governor-General, who would receive them according to the position that their money gave them; they came to know the justices of the Supreme Court, the provincials of the religious orders; they brushed up, as a result of their contact with the people of the capital and, on returning to their pueblo, they took in their hearts and minds the germ of what was subsequently called, "subversive ideas" and, later still, "filibusterismo."

"The opening of the Suez Canal brought us nearer to Europe, and, carried along by the current of economical nature, came the ideas and principles of a political character which did no less than to revolutionize the ideas predominant in a country which had existed so completely separated from the nations of the modern world. Already the "brutes loaded with gold" dared to discuss with their curate, complain against the alcalde, defend their homes against the misconduct of the lieutenant or sergeant of the police force; such people were starting to emancipate themselves insensibly as a consequence of their economic independence. Their money permitted them effectively to defend questions involving money first, then, those of a moral character--they were becoming actually "insolent" according to the expression of the dominators: in reality, they were beginning to learn to defend their rights." (Tavera, Ibid.)

[161] For a good discussion of the growth of population since Spanish conquest down to 1903, see Census of the Philippine Islands, Vol. 1, pp. 442-445.

[162] This principle is stated as follows: "The beginnings of social evolution * * * are always to be found in a bountiful environment. Moreover, density of population follows abundance of food, whether the supplies are obtained from the soil directly, or indirectly, in exchange for manufactures; and other things being equal, the activity and the progress of society depend, within limits, on the density of population.

A sparse population, scattered over a poor soil, can carry on production only by primitive methods and on a small scale. It can have only the most rudimentary division of labor; it cannot have manufacturing industries, or good roads, or a rapid interchange of intelligence; all of which, together with a highly developed industrial organization and a perfect utilization of capital, are possible to the populations that are relatively dense.

A highly developed political life, too, is found only where population is compact. Civil liberty means discussion, and discussion is dependent on the frequent meeting of considerable bodies of men who have varied interests and who look at life from different points of view. Movements for the increase of popular freedom have usually started in towns.

Education, religion, art, science, and literature are all dependent on a certain density of population. Schools, universities, churches, the daily newspaper, great publishing houses, libraries, and museums come only when the population per square mile is expressed by more than one unit, and their decay is one of the first symptoms that population is declining. * * *."--Franklin H. Giddings, The Principles of Sociology, (New York, 1911), pp. 366-367.

[163] "These changes show how important it was to establish at different points, extending over two hundred miles of the Archipelago, commercial centers, where it was desirable that foreigners should settle. Without these latter, and the facilities afforded to credit which hereby ensued, the sudden rise and prosperity of Iloilo would not have been possible, inasmuch as the mercantile houses in that capital would have been debarred from trading with unknown planters in distant provinces, otherwise than for ready money." Jagor, Travels in the Philippines. (London, 1875), p. 304.

Azcarraga, pp. 168-177; 197-198.

Le Roy, Bibliographical Notes, 1860-1898.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 52, pp. 112-114.

[164] Jagor gives credit to the two American houses in the Philippines for the development of the abacá into an important article of export. These American houses in the first years sank large sums of money in advance loans, and were only able to get the business on a paying basis when, in 1863, they were permitted to establish warehouses and presses in the provinces at the principal points where the crop was produced, and to deal directly with the producers. Jagor (Spanish edition, p. 264); Le Roy, The Americans in the Philippines, Vol. 1, pp. 33-34.

For an interesting discussion of the struggle between England and the United States for supremacy in the Philippines, and the role played by the English banks in that struggle, see a pamphlet entitled Commercial Progress in the Philippine Islands, by Antonio M. Regidor and J. Warren T. Mason, (1905).

[165] This prefix does not seem, however, to be genuine in the language, so that the Chinese have mistaken the first syllable Ta for their own word (adjective preposed) ta "great", and dropped it with their usual contempt for foreign nations. But all this is conjectural.

[166] apparently Sanskrit ... some such sound as ... Vaisadja.--Parker (China, London, 1901.)--C.

End of Project Gutenberg's Philippine Progress Prior to 1898, by Various