Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productionsThe Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
Of the agriculture of the Filipinas Islands, in general, and of their principal productions
The Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]
The Filipinas Islands, on account of the fertility of their land, their abundant rains, and the great number of animals for labor, constitute an agricultural colony; and to the readiness with which the country supplies the principal articles for human support has been due the rapid increase of its population. And although the Indians, as a general thing, only devote themselves to the cultivation of what they actually need for subsistence, the annual production so far exceeds the necessities of the people that very seldom has the failure or scarcity of provisions been experienced. The abundance of its arablelands and the excellence of its products have also rendered this colony capable of a considerable commerce with the other nations, at a much greater advantage over the other colonies, inasmuch as the land is tilled by free labor, which costs only the value of its food and clothing; and not by slaves, who, besides those expenses, occasion that of the premium or interest on the money invested in their purchase, which causes a difference of at least a third more in the cost of the manual labor employed in agriculture.
The neglected condition in which agriculture is in Filipinas, considered under this last aspect, and the backwardness in knowledge of the manipulations required in the preparation of its raw products for their consumption in trade, proceed from the following causes: (1) The lack of a stable and regular system of commerce which can assure to the inhabitants of the islands the annual exportation of the produce of an extensive agriculture. The foreign vessels resort to the ports there, some years in excessive number and others very infrequently; and this irregularity always produces an effect opposed to the interests of the colony. The extraordinary rise in prices—which during the last three years has reached a value double that from which the ability to sell at all times would enable the colony to gain a profit—and the consequent lack of commodities for supplying all the vessels, prevent them from returning in the following years; while the decline of prices below what is fair, caused by the non-arrival of ships, discourages large production in agriculture. The Indians are absolutely without capital and storehouses which would enable them to hold back their produce for another market. They are induced tocultivate the soil solely by their present advantage; they always sell, but they suffer from the stern law of trade which, although it flatters them in years of scarcity, equally tyrannizes over them in years of abundance—for they are always deceived regarding the actual prices of the general market, of which they are ignorant; and one year only of unsuccessful sales, whether from lack of foreign ships, or through the loss of their crops, will be a warning to them for a long time. In short, the agriculture of Filipinas at this time depends on the irregular and transient stimulus which is furnished to it by the peripatetic capital of the mestizo, who buys only in the years when he calculates that he must in view of the condition of the crops and the market, make a profit; while the Indian farmer always sows his seed heedless of results, and without the guidance of that elementary principle in affairs of commerce that the estimate of what he acquires ought to be based on a calculation of the market for it. For the corrective of this evil, and assuming that, for reasons that are rightful and conformable to sound policy (as I have set forth), the residence of foreigners in the islands ought not to be permitted, I find no other means than this, that the government encourage, by judicious measures, the direct and unlimited commerce of España with that colony—of which I shall speak in another chapter, [presenting] the rough sketch of a plan which ought to produce the following effects: (a) The definite and reliable annual exportation from those islands, not only of the great quantity of sugar, indigo, coffee, and other native products which are needed in the ordinary consumption of España, but of that which Spanish commerce candispose of in the other nations and free ports of Europa. (b) The establishment of Spanish trading posts [factorias] in the interior of the provinces of Filipinas, which the Spanish mercantile interests will carry on for the sake of acquiring the agricultural produce at first hand, freeing the Indians from the oppressive rule of the mestizo trader, and forming contracts with them, at prices agreed upon, for a certain number of years.
[The backward condition of agriculture proceeds] (2) from the lack of great agricultural establishments. One of the causes for this is the fact that the capital of the islands, which ought to be employed for that object, has been diverted by the commerce of India, China, and Nueva España, which offers greater and quicker profits. The religious orders administer their estates as in mortmain, or by ecclesiastical rules. The Indians cultivate, not from inclination but through necessity, the little plots of ground on which they have fixed their abodes. They lack the buildings and appliances necessary for the preparation of the little sugar and indigo that they collect; and from that results the wretched and unreliable quality of those articles which so discredits them in the trade. They lack also the capital to incur the expenses of a regular plantation, and these enterprises require costly outlays at the start. But this cause of backwardness would be remedied by the impulse which would be given to commerce by the exportation of native products, which would attract to agriculture the capital which it has hitherto lacked, and by the special protection which the government can grant to large capitalists who may devote themselves to agriculture.
(3) From the ignorance of the Indians, not only of the various methods of making plantations, but of the means of preparing the raw materials for their employment in the trade—a cause which is so universal and so mischievous that the agricultural products of Filipinas, which ought to be, on account of their excellent character and the extent of territory of the islands, commodities which should supply all the markets of Europe and hold the first rank in quality, are the most scarce in general commerce, and moreover lowest in price, as I am going to prove by some instances. The sugar of Filipinas is today the most important commodity for exportation which the commerce there includes. The cultivation of the sugar-cane cannot be improved; but the manufacture of the sugar is so defective that, in spite of the superior quality of the cane, the sugar which is produced from it is inferior to that which is calledterciado[i.e., brown] at Habana. Although in the market of Cadiz the white sugar from Habana is worth thirty-two to twenty-five silver reals, and the brown sugar twenty-six to twenty-eight, the white sugar of Manila is worth twenty-four to twenty-five12—that is, nine silver reals less than the former, and two or three reals less than the latter on each arroba. Consequently, the temporary privilege granted by his Majesty in exempting the products of Filipinas from duties is the only support of the expeditions which have come [thence] to the Peninsula; and it is unquestionable that when that privilege ceases that commerce will likewise come to a complete stop. Forif from the twenty-four silver reals, the highest price at which an arroba of the Manila sugar can be sold, be deducted for duties eight reals and twenty-seven maravedís, the trader will receive a price of only nineteen silver reals, five cuartos; subtracting from this the fourteen and one-half reals of the prime cost at Manila (according to the latest information received), and the only profit left to him would be four reals, three maravedís—with which it is absolutely impossible for him to pay either the heavy freight charges on that commodity, or the interest on money and the insurance premiums, on a voyage three times as long as that from Habana. The low price [of sugar] in the market has no other cause than the lack of skill at Manila for manufacturing the sugar; this art is there found entirely in its infancy, and without any other method than that which, since very ancient times, the Chinese have taught them. [The sugar-makers have not proper machinery or appliances, or the knowledge, for any of the stages of the process; and their product is inferior, when it might be as good as that of Habana—or even better, if the same skill and care were used in making it as are used there. The above profit of nine reals on the arroba, if equally divided among the grower, the manufacturer, and the government (for duties which in that case should be imposed on the sugar), would yield each of them $300,000 annually, on the estimated production of 1,000,000 arrobas which would be practicable for Filipinas—to say nothing of the increased benefits to the laboring class—with improved methods of manufacture. To secure this, the government must be energetic in promoting large establishments there, and introducing machinery andskilled laborers. “The funds in the communal treasury of the Indians, which at the present time must reach about $300,000, and whose object is the benefit of those same Indians,” might aid the government in meeting the expenses of such measures; the skilled artisans could instruct the Indian farmers in the new improved methods, and the industry would be almost perfected in two years’ time, at very little expense. Bernaldez describes in similar manner the deficiencies, possibilities, and needs of the indigo, coffee, and cacao industries, and urges the government to extend like care to these; what has been done thus far by the colonial government has been quite ineffective, because it has been in the form of proclamations and enactments which merely required small plantations to be made by all the inhabitants, but these failed because they disregarded the principles of political economy and made no provision for the individual interest of the cultivator.] There are, then, two means which ought to be adopted for the promotion of large plantations in Filipinas, incentive and instruction; and for this it is necessary to grant pecuniary rewards to the agriculturists, and furnish them with teachers from the near-by islands of Java or even Bourbon, where not only coffee but cacao is cultivated.
(4) And, finally, the cause which likewise exerts a powerful influence in [causing] the neglected and backward condition of agriculture is the slothfulness of the Indians and their absolute indifference to acquiring and keeping property. [This sloth is caused by the climate, the abundant supply of the necessities of life with little labor, and the hospitality which prevails among the natives;] and if it were not thatin the capital and its adjacent provinces there has now been introduced a certain degree of decency and [even] luxury in some families of that class, it would be difficult to find any one to render service or to practice the useful arts that are necessary in villages. [With a people like this, it would be hazardous to attempt to compel them to work; but “even if they are naturally slothful, they have their likes and dislikes; and a wise government ought to avail itself of these two powerful resources to urge them to work.” The Indians dislike to pay direct taxes, and hate the collector of these; also they are passionately fond of cockfighting and spectacles of all sorts, and of office-holding; and if these characteristics are considered in the policy of the government much can be done to make them industrious. Bernaldez recommends: That a system of direct, unlimited, and regular commerce be established between España and Filipinas, for the purpose of maintaining a reliable and definite annual exportation of the latter’s products. That agricultural establishments be protected by the government, being allowed (although at their own expense) the assistance of a band of irregular soldiers. That machines, tools, and other aids to agricultural production be admitted free of duties. That skilled workmen be taken to the islands as instructors in the manufacture of sugar and indigo, and cultivators of coffee, etc., with their machinery and tools; their salaries for three years and their transportation to Manila being paid from the communal funds of the Indians. That large rewards be paid to the farmers who shall make large plantations of coffee and other useful trees or establish the silk industry. That the owners of these large plantations shall be allowed tokeep on their lands each a cockpit for his laborers, free of expense. That groups of Indians, Chinese, and mestizos, limited to twenty families each, who shall maintain an indigo or sugar plantation of a certain extent in good condition, shall be relieved from paying the tribute so long as the plantation is kept up. That every Indian who works for wages during five consecutive years, to the satisfaction of his employer, shall be perpetually exempted from tribute, the employer paying the laborer’s tax for twenty years. That the Indians and mestizos who cultivate large plantations on their own account shall have the preference for the offices in their respective villages. That the government of Filipinas take measures to avoid frauds in connection with these proposed changes.]