[28] Azcarraga, La Libertad, pp. 81–95.
[29] “This trade and commerce is so great and profitable, and easy to control—for it only lasts three months in the year, from the time of the arrival of the ships with their merchandise, until those vessels that go to Nueva España take that merchandise—that the Spaniards do not apply themselves to, or engage in, any other industry. Consequently, there is no husbandry or field-labor worthy of consideration. Neither do the Spaniards work the gold mines or placers, which are numerous. They do not engage in many other industries that they could turn to with great profit, if the Chinese trade should fail them. That trade has been very hurtful and prejudicial in this respect, as well as for the occupations and farm industries in which the natives used to engage. Now the latter are abandoning and forgetting those labors. Besides, there is the great harm and loss resulting from the immense amount of silver that passes annually by this way (of the trade), into the possession of infidels, which can never, by any way, return into the possession of the Spaniards.” (Morga’s Sucesos.—Bl. and Rb. Vol. 16, p. 187).
“When, without risking any capital of his own, the merchant might thus share the enormous profits of this trade, with no more exertion than signing the invoices and letters (they were written by Indian clerks), and receiving the treasure on the return of the vessel, it is not surprising that for nearly two centuries they neglected all the other commercial advantages which surrounded them, or that such a commerce produced such merchants; the history of it and of them for that period may be confined to a few words:—they were agents of the merchants of Madras and Bengal, receiving and shipping their goods, and returning their proceeds, while their profits were confined to a large commission on them.” (Remarks on the Philippine Islands and on their capital Manila, 1819–1822, by an Englishman.—Bl. and Rb., Vol. 51, p. 150.)
[30] ”... This I say, then, Sire, that it is a most pitiable thing that there is not a man in all these Philippine Islands—Spaniard, or of any other nation—saving some religious, who make their principal aim and intent the conversion of these heathen, or the increase of the Christian faith; but they are only moved by their own interests and seek to enrich themselves, and if it happened that the welfare of the natives was an obstacle to this they would not hesitate, if they could, to kill them all in exchange for their temporal profit. And since this is so, what can your Majesty expect will happen if this continues? From this inordinate greed arises the violation of your Majesty’s decrees and mandates, as everyone is a merchant and trader—and none more so than the governor, who has this year brought ruin upon the country. There comes each year from Nueva España a million in money, contrary to the mandate of your Majesty, all of which passes on to the heathen of China. From here, in violation of your Majesty’s decrees, cargoes are loaded for the Peruvians and the merchants of Mexico, without leaving room for those of this country—especially the poor, who are unable to secure any interest therein except for a wretched bundle which is allowed them as a cargo. If I were to go into the multitude of evils which are connected with this, I should have to proceed ad infinitum.” (Letters from the archbishop of Manila to Felipe II; Ignacio de Santibañez; Manila, June 24 and 26, (1598);—Bl and Rb. Vol 10, p. 145.)
[31] Azcarraga: La Libertad, p. 68.
[32] “By this system for two centuries the South American market for manufactures was reserved exclusively for Spain, but the protection did not prevent Spanish industry from decay and did retard the well-being and progress of South America. Between Mexico and the Philippines a limited trade was allowed, the profits of which were the perquisites of the Spaniards living in the Philippines and contributed to the religious endowments. But this monopoly was of no permanent advantage to the Spanish residents. It was too much like stock-jobbing, and sapped all spirit of industry. Zúñiga says that the commerce made a few rich in a short time and with little labor, but they were very few; that there were hardly five Spaniards in Manila worth $100,000, nor a hundred worth $40,000, the rest either lived on the King’s pay or in poverty. ‘Every morning one could see on the streets of Manila, in greatest poverty and asking alms, the sons of men who had made a fine show and left much money, which their sons had squandered because they had not been well trained in youth.’ The great possibilities of Manila as an entrepôt of the Asiatic trade were unrealized; for although the city enjoyed open trade with the Chinese, Japanese, and other orientals, it was denied to Europeans and the growth of that conducted by the Chinese and others was always obstructed by the lack of return cargoes owing to the limitations placed upon the trade with America and to the disinclination of the Filipinos to work to produce more than was enough to insure them a comfortable living and pay their tributes. That the system was detrimental to the economic progress of the islands was always obvious and its evils were repeatedly demonstrated by Spanish officials. Further it was not only detrimental to the prosperity of the islands but it obstructed the development of Mexico.” (Historical Introduction, by Edward Gaylord Bourne.—Bl. and Rb., Vol. 1, pp. 67–68.)
[33] “Trade between America and the Far East all passed for a time through the port of Manila. This commerce was greatly desired by the Spanish colonists of Mexico, Perú, and Chile, but the selfish and rapacious merchants of Spain so influenced the policy of the mother country as to throttle this trading and prevent for more than two hundred years the legitimate development of the islands. From the early part of the seventeenth century until 1837 the Philippines were in the grasp of a protective monopoly, which not only prevented the productive development of the soil, but kept the Filipinos down to those necessarily restricted numbers which attend a population that raises nothing in excess of its daily needs. If there is one thing to be learned from this and every other study of increase of population in a fertile and tropical country it is that population increases in exact proportion to the agricultural production and export.” (Dr. D. P. Barrows, in Philippine Census, 1903, Vol. 1, p. 247.)
[34] ”* * * All thrifty activity was regarded as despicable. No trader had a seat in the Cortes of Aragon. As late as 1781 the Academy of Madrid was obliged to offer as the subject for a prize essay the proposition that there was nothing derogatory in the useful arts. Every tradesman and manufacturer sought only to make enough money to enable him to live on the interest of it or to establish a trust fund for his family. If he was successful he either entered a cloister or went to another province in order to pass for a noble. In Cervantes we find the maxim: ‘Whoever wishes to make his fortune seeks the church, the sea (i. e., service in America), or the king’s house.’ The highest ambition of the nation in its golden age was to be to Europe just what the nobility, the clergy, and the army were to single nations. Consequently there was an enormous preponderance of personal service in the industrial organism, and much of this was purely for ostentation. Nowhere in the world were there so many nobles, so many officers, civil and military, so many lawyers and clerks, priests and monks, so many students and school-boys, with their servants. But as truly, nowhere in the world were there so many beggars and vagabonds.” (The Spanish Colonial System, by Wilhelm Roscher, pp. 3–4.)