Culture and Use of Tobacco.
The Cultivation of Tobacco, a State Monopoly.
The seed of the tobacco plant was introduced into the Philippines from Mexico by Spanish missionaries. It is an annual, grows to the height of five or six feet, and varies greatly in flavor, not only in different provinces, but in different places in the same province. Luzon has always been more directly under the control of the Spaniards than any other part of the Archipelago. As it contains the capitol—literally the seat of Government—it is from this island that every unjust and cruel edict has proceeded since the time of the conquest. Indeed, Spain has never tried to govern more than half a dozen of the islands; and while all of the Philippines are nominally under her suzerainty, there are at least two hundred of them filled with fierce and intractable tribes—and these she has not even explored. But it is Luzon that, from first to last, has felt most heavily the weight of her iron hand. On that island, in 1781, the cultivation of tobacco was formally declared a State monopoly.
This lasted just a year and a century. The Government, after long debate on the subject, decided that, on the whole, it would be more profitable and less troublesome to demand a high license, and place the enterprise in the hands of private dealers.
A Cigar and Cigarette Factory in Manila.
The monopoly was accordingly abolished, December 31st, 1882. The natives fought against this. They had suffered horribly from State regulations. They feared to suffer more from private persecution. The friars, however, the real rulers of the Philippines, decided against the monopoly; and, notwithstanding that it was the largest source of public revenue on the islands, it was abolished.