Other increases and savings which the royal exchequer can make,
in the various directions which are here stated.
1. It is assumed that there are, at the lowest figure, six thousand
heads of barangay in the provinces of these islands; for although, by
the ordinance, each headship ought to have forty-five entire tributes,
it is certain that there are few which reach that number, and that
there are many of five, eight, ten, and twenty tributes. Therefore,
assigning to each headship, on the average, at most thirty tributes,
they make the six thousand above stated, the number of tributes
[in them being] one hundred and eighty-three thousand, three hundred
and thirty, the lowest computation that can be made of headships and
of tributes. As three persons in every headship are exempted [from
paying tribute], the royal exchequer is deprived of the value of nine
thousand entire tributes, which, at the rate of ten reals, make eleven
thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos. Therefore, by abolishing the
said headships, and making the governadorcillo or headman of each
village responsible for the collection of the tributes therein (as is
done in Nueva España), or by allowing the said headships and decreeing
that those who hold them shall pay tribute (as they formerly did,
by order of the visitor, Auditor Don Joseph Arzadun), this increase
in the tribute will result to the advantage of the royal exchequer,
by the sum of eleven thousand, two hundred and fifty pesos.
2. It is generally the case that the heads of barangay keep back
from the king, at a very low estimate, at least ten tributes each,
on account of the dispersion of the houses of the Indians, which
renders almost impossible any exactness in the tax-lists which
for this purpose are committed to the said headships. Therefore,
if the reduction of the villages into parishes [52]--which I have
continually urged, and shall ask from this government--could be
effected, not only would the aforesaid collection of the tribute be
greatly facilitated, especially if it were committed, as I have said,
to the governadorcillos and leading chiefs; but the tax-lists would be
exactly drawn up by the alcaldes, and the said ten tributes in each
barangay which have been mentioned would not be kept back from the
king. This, estimated for the six thousand [headships], would come
to the number of sixty thousand tributes; at the rate of ten reals
each, the royal treasury would enjoy an increase from this source,
which would reach the sum of seventy-five thousand, five hundred pesos.
3. By order of the above-mentioned visitor, no exemption from
tribute was enjoyed by the officials of the villages, except by the
governadorcillos and headmen; and counting six exempt persons [each]
in three hundred and sixty villages alone--without including the
visitas, which also have their officials--they make the number of two
thousand, one hundred and sixty, which make one thousand and eighty
tributes. These, at the rate of ten reals, amount to one thousand,
three hundred and fifty pesos; consequently, by taking away these
exemptions the royal exchequer will be increased by this sum.
4. The singers, sacristans, and doorkeepers of the churches in the
villages are paid from the communal treasury of the Indians, and have
their fees at all the feasts, burials, etc. [53] By exempting them
from polos and personal services, and taking away their exemption from
the tribute, [there would be gained] two thousand and thirty-eight
and one-half whole tributes, which in the general [statement of]
accounts for the year 765 are reckoned as exempted on account of the
service of the churches in the villages tributary to the crown; the
increase to the royal exchequer would be two thousand, five hundred
and forty-eight pesos, one tomin.
5. Those who are for the same reason exempted in the villages of
private encomiendas, according to the said general statement, number
one hundred and ninety-six and one-half whole tributes. By abolishing
this exemption, the increase to the royal treasury will be two hundred
and forty-five pesos, five tomins.
6. The confusion in the accounts of the royal revenue in the provinces;
the arrears [in despatch of business] which they experience in
the offices; the increased losses of ships, with goods belonging
to the royal account, which are made a pretext [for not settling
their accounts]; losses by fire; uncollectible charges; negligence
in pushing the collections that ought to be made; and other damages
which follow from the said confusion--all these are reckoned at thirty
thousand pesos a year. If the debits and credits were in money,
and not produce, and the alcaldes were obliged to supply the royal
storehouses, transporting at their own account the commodities from
the provinces--these being placed to their credit, according to the
stipulation made with each one--with the rest which I have presented
before the royal Audiencia and superior government, the royal exchequer
would render available the said sum of thirty thousand pesos.
7. Likewise I have asserted in the royal Audiencia that the Indians
ought not to be paid for the conveyance of their tributes, [when
paid] in kind, from their villages to the capital of their province,
as being contrary to the laws (ley 1, titulo 9, libro 8, and ley 63,
titulo 5, libro 6, in the Recopilación de Yndias) which treat of
the tributes of the crown, and plainly show the obligation of the
Indians to carry their tributes to the said capitals--differently
from the tributes of encomiendas and from general appraisements,
which are mentioned in ley 44, titulo 5, libro 6, in which it is
commanded that the tributes be paid in the villages. Consequently,
if the aforesaid conveyance is at the cost of the Indians, as seems
just, and not at that of the royal exchequer, not only will the frauds
arising from such entries in the accounts of the alcaldes be avoided,
but his Majesty will save the expense which is mentioned in the third
item of statement iv, which amounts to the sum of six thousand pesos.
(In case the method which is suggested in the sixth item preceding
this be established, the said sum will inure to the benefit of the
alcaldes-mayor, who should at their own account and risk render a
statement, with payment, of the entire proceeds of the tributes; and
in the obligation or contract with each one the said benefit should
be kept in view, in order that it may inure to the benefit of the
royal exchequer.)
8. There has always been an outcry in España against the purchase
of public offices in the Yndias, notwithstanding that these have
been placed on sale only in the exigencies of the crown. If the sale
of these offices on the royal account is a question involving much
scruple, it necessarily follows that it would be an injustice to sell
them on the account of those who have authority to make appointments
to those offices ad interim. Consequently, by reëstablishing the
oldtime method--by which the candidates for the posts of alcalde
must present themselves before the royal Audiencia with documentary
evidence of their merits, in order that three qualified persons
might be presented to the superior government, in the first, second,
and third places respectively, for each post of alcalde--the dangers
arising from the sale of offices which has been practiced in some
governments would be avoided; and the selection [of officials] would
be more conformable to justice and less mercenary (as I represented to
his Majesty in the year 760). The royal exchequer could thus save the
salaries of the alcaldes and magistrates (as is done in Nueva España),
which saving would amount, as in the second item of statement iii,
to the sum of seven thousand, five hundred pesos.
(If the alcaldeships were knocked down to the highest bidder in the
auction-hall, together with the farming of the tributes, it would
result in even greater profit to the royal exchequer.)
9. The offices of commander and military officers of the ship which
goes annually to Acapulco are bestowed on citizens of this city; and
the appointments to these offices can be made without giving them the
salaries which hitherto they have enjoyed; for they are sought not
so much for the salaries as for the honor, and for the free passage,
with comfortable berths and conveniences, [which is furnished to
officers]. Consequently the royal exchequer could save the amount of
the said salaries, which exceeds ten thousand pesos.
10. In the paper of suggestions and the report which I cited in
the first item of statement v, are mentioned the many advantages
which would result from the establishment of guilds [gremios]
which I propose; and from the increase of the royal revenues by the
half-annats from the officials [of the crown]; and by the duties of
one-fifth on silver and gold. These metals are wrought, at the will
of the silver-smiths, of various standards and degrees of purity,
contrary to the provisions of the royal decree of March 17, 1735; and
as I cannot fix the exact amount for the aforesaid duties, a moderate
estimate is made, at the lowest [standard], that the increase of the
royal revenue would amount to some seven thousand pesos.
11. In each village there is a governadorcillo or headman, a deputy
(and, if the village is a large one, two or three), a constable
(and likewise two others, in large villages), an inspector of
grain-fields [juez de sementeras], another of palm-trees, and a
notary. In the visitas of the villages there are likewise deputies,
constables, and inspectors of grain-fields. The large villages are
more numerous than the small ones. If we allow for each one of the
three hundred and sixty villages one headman or governadorcillo,
only one deputy and one constable, one inspector of palm-trees and
another of grain-fields, these make in each village, on the average,
six offices which annually pay the half-annat, by a custom which was
introduced into these islands in violation of the law of the Indias,
which exempts the Indians from this royal impost. But in the settlement
of its amount there is an unusual variation and difference, by which
in the provinces of Tondo, Bulacan, Balayan, and Laguna de Bay (which
are close to Manila) a governadorcillo pays twelve pesos, a deputy
six pesos, and the constables, inspectors, and notaries four pesos
[each]; while in the other provinces which likewise are close to
this capital--Pampanga, Batahàn, and Cavite--a governadorcillo pays
six pesos, a deputy four pesos, and the constables, inspectors, and
notaries three pesos [each]. In all the other and remote provinces,
a governadorcillo pays only one peso, six granos; a deputy, six and
one-half reals; and the constables, inspectors, and notaries, three
and one-half reals. From this it results that each village in the
four first-named provinces pays thirty-four pesos, and each village
in the three other provinces close by pays only twenty-two pesos; and
in the thirty-seven villages of these three provinces the difference
which there is between paying twenty-two pesos each and (as in the
former) thirty-four, is four hundred and forty-four pesos--which is
the increase for the said royal impost, if the payment is fixed at
thirty-four pesos.
12. The seven provinces above mentioned have one hundred and eleven
villages, and to fill up the complement of three hundred and sixty
there remain in the remote provinces two hundred and forty-nine
villages. Each one of these pays only five pesos, one tomin; and
by ruling that they shall pay twenty-two pesos this impost will be
increased by sixteen pesos, seven reals in each village. Multiplying
this by two hundred and forty-seven, the number of villages, the
said increase will amount to the sum of four thousand, two hundred
and one pesos, seven tomins; and by equalizing [the payments of]
all the provinces, at the rate of thirty-four pesos for each village,
the aforesaid increase will rise to seven thousand, one hundred and
eighty-nine pesos, seven tomins.
13. In my report of May 10, 760, in which I demonstrated the defective
foundation of the commerce here, I proposed the increase of sixty
thousand pesos every year, [in the amount of the permission?] his
Majesty to permit the return of the silver from Acapulco with the
impost of eight to ten per cent; and it is certain that the ten per
cent will produce to the royal exchequer annually, on the average,
one hundred thousand pesos, which is the amount in which the royal
officials at Acapulco are interested.
14. In a report of June 25 in the same year, I proposed that the
boletas should be applied to the benefit of the royal exchequer;
[54] this increase would be at least fifty thousand pesos.
15. In a report of June 5 of the same year, I proposed to save the
expense of one [university] chair of civil law [Instituta], which
would yield an increase of four hundred pesos.
16. In a report of July 14 of the same year was mentioned the
abandonment of the sale of [papal] bulls; and it was shown that this
could produce at each publication at least one hundred pesos, which
would be an annual increase of fifty thousand pesos
17. The contract for working the iron mine called Santa Ynes [55] was
knocked down to the highest bidder at the royal auctions, before the
late war, and afterward its operation ceased entirely. Consequently,
by working the said mine on the royal account, on the terms which I
proposed in the cited paper of suggestions, and in a written statement
which I presented to the government (from which no action has yet
resulted), the royal exchequer will gain the increase and profit of
more than fifty thousand pesos.
18. By reëstablishing the farming or monopoly of playing-cards,
either (preferably) by contract or by its administration or the royal
account, as is commanded by the royal decrees of February 5, 730 and
November 28, 1734, it could produce in all the provinces more than
twenty thousand pesos, at the lowest estimate, in increase of the
royal revenue.
19. By establishing the monopoly of cock-fighting [56] in these islands
(as in Mexico), with the charge of one grano for each Indian who
resorts to the said sport, and reckoning forty-eight granos (which
make four reals) for forty-eight times [57] when each, at the least,
would bet each year, four hundred thousand persons would share [in
contributing to] the royal exchequer two hundred thousand pesos, at
the least reckoning. For it is certain that there are more than eight
hundred thousand souls who are able to bet on the cocks, and that,
on account of their vicious dispositions and extraordinary addiction
to this sport, it might be reckoned that each one would gamble more
than eighty times a year; in that proportion the proceeds of this
income, which here is estimated at only two hundred thousand pesos,
would exceed four hundred thousand pesos.
20. By establishing similarly the monopoly of tobacco, [58] there
would be an enormous increase in the royal revenue, since in the
form of snuff [polvos] it is used by nearly all the Spaniards
(both ecclesiastical and secular) in the islands. By establishing
monopoly shops in the villages of the provinces, the consumption
[of snuff] would be great; but that of leaf tobacco and cigars would
be incomparably greater yet, on account of being used by more than
a million of souls; for it is certain (as is the case) that even
the boys and girls use the said tobacco before they [are old enough
to] exercise their reason [antes de tener vso de razon]. It can be
asserted without exaggeration that this traffic would produce more
than four hundred thousand pesos.
21. In a report of June 5 of the aforesaid year 760, I explained the
increase which the royal revenues might obtain, and in the cited paper
of suggestions I proposed the means, by which the monopolies of buyo
and wine [59] could be augmented by more than a hundred and thirty
thousand pesos; for it is certain that if these were extended to all
the provinces (they now have no wider limit than five leguas from
this capital) they would produce for the royal treasury enormous sums.
22. The casting of plows is permitted to one person only, who is
appointed by the government; if this were sold at auction it certainly
would produce, at the lowest estimate, the sum of seven hundred pesos.
Thus the savings and increases of revenue contained in this sixth
statement would produce to the royal treasury the aforesaid sum of
one million, one hundred and fifty-seven thousand, one hundred and
thirty-nine pesos, five tomins every year.