The product of the revenue from wine cannot in Filipinas be considered
so important as that from tobacco, because the Indians are very
moderate in their drinking. The wines made from the cocoanut and
nipa (the only ones subject to the monopoly) are wholesome for the
Indians; and as the monopoly has regulated the supply for each village,
greatly improving the process of making the liquor and diminishing its
strength, the Indians prefer the monopoly to the free privilege of this
article. The failure of this revenue to increase depends on two causes:
first, that the monopoly is not extended, as it ought to be, to all the
provinces of the islands, not only thus to place all the natives on the
same footing, and so suppress the contraband trade, but to prevent by
this method the manufacture by the Indians of other beverages which
are more injurious to their health, and which, without giving them
pleasure, intoxicate them as has been the case with the brandy and rum
from sugar-cane juice or molasses; second, the great amount of the two
last-named liquors which is clandestinely furnished to the public, as
a result of the permission, very negligently guarded, which was given
to manufacture them freely to export abroad, or to sell them under a
certain tax in order that they should not injure the consumption of
the article placed under monopoly control. [Bernaldez admits that the
manufacture of the above-mentioned brandy and rum ought to be allowed,
"because otherwise the country would lose the enormous quantity of
molasses which results from the sugar-making, which has a considerable
value, but cannot be employed for other uses;" but the government
ought to maintain the value of the monopolized beverages, and at
the same time facilitate the exportation of rum and brandy. [147]
He recommends, besides the extension of the wine monopoly:] That,
as a consequence, every other kind of beverage made in the country
be prohibited in the islands for the common use of the Indians. That
the manufacture of brandy and rum from sugar-cane be allowed only
for the export trade. That each manufacturer be likewise allowed to
have a retail warehouse, under the imposts which they now pay. That
the manufacturers be compelled to establish their factories in the
immediate vicinity of Manila, where they can and must be watched,
at their own expense, by the revenue clerks. That all the brandy and
rum which is made from sugar be immediately deposited in warehouses,
the keys of which the custom-house shall take charge of, the government
levying on it moderate duties for deposit as well as for export. [148]