sation. In the first place, because the
just motives of complaint would cease, caused not only by the tribute,
but also the manner of its collection; and an end would then be put
to those intrigues and extortions the district magistrates commit,
under the title of zealous collectors of the king's revenue, and the
power of a multitude of subaltern tyrants, comprehended under the
denomination of chiefs of native clans (cabezas de barangay) would
then also fall to the ground; a power which, if now employed for the
purpose of oppressing and trampling on the liberties of inferiors,
might some day or other be converted into an instrument dangerous
and subversive of our preponderance in the country. In the second
place, if, among all the civilized nations a head-tax (poll-tax)
is in itself odious, it must incontestably be much more so among
those whose unlettered state, far from allowing them to know that
the social order requires a certain class of sacrifices for its
better preservation, makes them attribute exactions of this kind
to an abuse of superiority. Hence are they led to consider these
restraints as the symbols of their own slavery and degradation, as
in fact the natives in these Islands have ample reasons for doing,
when the legal exemption of the whites is considered, without any
other apparent reason than the difference in color. Independent of
this, the substitute above alluded to would be extremely expedient,
inasmuch as it would greatly simplify the plan of administration,
the accountant's department would be freed from the most painful
part of its labors, and the district magistrates and sub-collectors
would not so frequently be entangled in their accounts, and exposed
to expensive and interminable lawsuits, as now so often happens.

[Possible Revenue substitutes.] The difficulty, however, of
finding out this compensation or substitute is a matter of some
consideration. On the one hand, if it was attempted to distribute
the proceeds arising out of the tributes on other branches, such as
tobacco, native wine, bonga, and custom house, it would, at first
sight, appear possible, through the medium of an almost invisible
augmentation in the respective sale prices and in the king's duties,
that this important object might easily be attained; but, on the
other, it might be apprehended that the additional value put on
the articles above-mentioned, would produce in their consumption
a diminution equal to the differenc