rd for the Royal Treasury (_vide_ p. 54).

The _Encomenderos_ were, in the course of time, superseded by
Judicial Governors, called _Alcaldes_, who received small salaries,
from L60 per annum and upwards, but were allowed to trade. The
right to trade--called "_indulto de comercio_"--was sold to the
_Alcalde-Governors_, except those of Tondo, [99] Zamboanga, Cavite,
Nueva Ecija, Islas Batanes and Antique, whose trading right was
included in the emoluments of office. The Government's object was
economy.

In 1840 Eusebio Mazorca wrote thus [100]:--"The salary paid to the
chiefs of provinces who enjoy the right of trade is more or less P300
per annum, and after deducting the amount paid for the trading right,
which in some provinces amounts to five-sixths of the whole--as in
Pangasinan; and in others to the whole of the salary--as in Caraga;
and discounting again the taxes, it is not possible to conceive how
the appointment can be so much sought after. There are candidates up
to the grade of brigadier who relinquish a P3,000 salary to pursue
their hopes and projects in governorship."

This system obtained for many years, and the abuses went on
increasing. The _Alcaldes_ practically monopolized the trade of their
districts, unduly taking advantage of their governmental position to
hinder the profitable traffic of the natives and bring it all into
their own hands. They tolerated no competition; they arbitrarily
fixed their own purchasing prices, and sold at current rates. Due to
the scarcity of silver in the interior, the natives often paid their
tribute to the Royal Treasury in produce,--chiefly rice,--which was
received into the Royal Granaries at a ruinously low valuation, and
accounted for to the State at its real value; the difference being the
illicit profit made by the _Alcalde_. Many of these functionaries
exercised their power most despotically in their own circuits,
disposing of the natives' labour and chattels without remuneration,
and not unfrequently, for their own ends, invoking the King's name,
which imbued the native with a feeling of awe, as if His Majesty were
some supernatural being.

In 1810 Tomas de Comyn wrote as follows:--"In order to be a chief
of a province in these Islands, no training or knowledge or special
services are necessary; all persons are fit and admissible.... It is
quite a common thing to see a barber or a Governor's lackey, a sailor
or a deserter, suddenly transformed into an Alcald