that to Governor Basco we are indebted for having
doubled the annual amount of the revenue of these Islands, by merely
rendering the consumption of tobacco subservient to the wants of the
crown. It was he who placed these Islands in the comfortable situation
of being able to subsist without being dependent on external supplies
of money to meet the exigencies of government. It ought, however, to
be remarked that, although they have been in the habit of receiving
the annual allowance of $250,000 for which a standing credit was
opened by the government at home on the general treasury of New
Spain, considerable sums have, nevertheless, on various occasions,
been remitted from the Philippines to Spain, through the channel of
the Captain-General. * * * If these remittances have been suspended
for some years past, it has evidently been owing to the imperious
necessity of applying the ordinary proceeds of the revenue, as well
as other extraordinary means, to unforeseen contingencies arising
out of peculiar circumstances.

[Tobacco belt.] The planting and cultivation of tobacco are now
confined to the district of Gapan, in Pampanga Province, to that of
Cagayan, and to the small Island of Marinduque. The amount of the
crops raised in the above three points and sold to the king, may,
on an average, be estimated at fifty thousand bales, grown in the
following proportion: Gapan, forty-seven thousand bales; Cagayan,
two thousand, and Marinduque, one thousand. This stock, resold at the
monopoly prices, yields a sum equal to about one million of dollars,
and deducting therefrom the prime cost and all other expenses,
legally chargeable on this branch, the net proceeds in favor of the
revenue amount to $550,000 or upwards of one hundred twenty-two per
cent. This profit is so much more secure, as it rests on the positive
fact that, however great the quantity of the article sold furtively and
by evading the vigilance of the guards, as the demand and consumption
are excessive and always exceed the stock on hand, a ready sale cannot
fail to be had for all the stock placed in the hands of the agents
of the monopoly. From this it may also be inferred how much the net
proceeds of this branch would be increased, if without venturing too
far in extending the plantations and consequent purchases, care was
taken to render the supplies more proportionate to the consumption;
for, by a clear profit of one hundred twenty-two per cent, falling
on a la