I HE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 273 



occasional outbursts of fanatical persecution and of oppressive 

 taxation, has really been the mainstay of commerce in the 

 islands. 



The earliest efforts of the Spaniards after obtaining possession 

 of the country were directed to securing for Spanish subjects a 

 monopoly of the trade, precisely as they did in their American 

 possessions, and to this end for a long time only a single ship 

 was allowed to make the voyage each year from Mexico to the 

 Philippines and from the Philippines to Mexico. These ships, 

 called by the Spaniards the Acapulco ships and known to the 

 English as the Spanish galleons, were equipped as ships of war 

 and commanded by officers of the nav}^. This monopoly insured 

 enormous profits to the adventurers who supplied the cargoes, 

 but the whole business was permeated by corruption and roguery 

 of the worst description. This condition existed, but with di- 

 minishing success, until 1815, when the last of these vessels was 

 dispatched from Acapulco, as their monopoly had been grad- 

 ually absorbed by a company chartered in Spain in 1784, called 

 " Compania de Filipinas," which by opening direct commerce 

 with Spain caused the decline and final extinction of the trade 

 via Mexico. This company, however, in consequence of bad 

 management and injudicious ventures, did not prove successful 

 and passed out of existence at the end of fifty years. In the 

 meantime some relaxation of the narrow-minded exclusive sys- 

 tem had taken place; in 1789 the port of Manila was opened to 

 foreign vessels, and in 1809 an English firm received permission 

 to establish a business house in Manila, being the first foreigners 

 to receive such concession. ', In 1814 this permission was made 

 general. 



It is, however, only since 1834, when the operations of the 

 Philippine company came to an end, that greater freedom of 

 intercourse and larger introduction of foreign capital and busi- 

 ness methods has affected materially the development of the 

 great natural resources and a foreign commerce has resulted 

 which, although far smaller in amount than it ought to be, is a 

 fair indication of what it might and would become if the country 

 should be controlled by a liberal and progressive government. 

 The statistics published in another part of this issue will give a 

 good idea of the progress and present condition of the commerce 

 of the islands. 



Internal commerce as well as the export trade suffers from 

 the lack of facilities for transportation. This is more marked 



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