greatest excesses, which later
are attributed to all alcaldes in general. Upon my arrival at Manila,
I asked a very respectable Spaniard who had been in the country for
many years about what happens in the provinces. He replied to me:
"You know that the alcaldeships are reported to be worth 40,000 or
50,000 duros, and he who seeks one of those posts very earnestly has
no other object or hope than to acquire a capital in the six years
for which the government confers them. Before going to his province,
he borrows 8,000 or 10,000 duros from one of the charitable funds
at such and such a per cent. Besides, he has to pay an interest to
those who act as bondsmen for him, both to the government for the royal
treasury, and to the charitable funds which supply him with money. When
he arrives at his province he acts according to conditions ruling in
that province, for not all provinces are alike in their productions
and circumstances. He generally establishes a supply store, and,
consequently, from that moment, any other storekeeper is his rival and
enemy. If such storekeeper has a creditor whom he tries to hurry up
and goes to the alcalde, he gets no protection. If any theft happens
to him the same thing more or less occurs; for, although the alcalde
orders efforts made to ascertain the thief, far from taking those
measures earnestly, he is secretly glad of the losses of his rivals,
and it has even been asserted that there are cases in which the alcalde
himself has been the instigator of the crime. Who is your enemy? That
of your trade. But does the alcalde himself sell the goods? Sometimes
he sells and measures them, at other times he keeps an agent in the
store; the most usual thing is, if he is married, for his wife to take
charge of the expense, especially of those goods of any value. But
his greatest gain consists in making advances of money at the time
of the sowing, the period when the Indians need it and try to get it
at any cost, for their negligence and their vices do not allow them
to foresee such a case and be prepared for it. For example: a farmer
signs a paper for the alcalde which obliges him to deliver at harvest
time ten measures of sugar, which are worth at least two and one-half
duros, and he himself receives only one and one-half, consequently, by
that operation alone of advancing money, the alcalde-mayor sometimes
gains 40 per cent. But what generally happens is that the Indian is
so short sighted and is so