The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-28
PHILIPPINES TO-DAY.
THE SPANISH AND AMERICA SYSTEMS COMPARED.
Freedom From Taxes Under Military Operations and the Cost of Civil Gov ernment.


 Operations and the Cost of Civil Gov
 ernment.
 The government which Spain main
 tained in these islands was. on paper
 the lowest priced the ingenuity of maI
 ever devised. It was in many respects
 also, the most expensive. In the ligh
 or official returns the taxes paid ant
 the cost of collecting them were neithe
 lnordinately high nor particularly bur
 densome. As a matter of fact, how
 ever, everybody knows that the part
 nershfp between church and state il these islands all but ground the natives
 into state of abject poverty and de
 pendence. What one of the partner.
 old not get the other secured. Wha neither wanted was probably not wortl the taking In any event the though
 or raising the taxpaying power of the victim seems never to have entered the mind of either.
 The government, say, was the low est priced ever devised by the in genuity of man. This was because the structure rested in it's foundations upon unpaid officials. The friars, though re- ceiving no pay from the government were none the less it's officials, as much so. In fact, as the governor general in Manila or the governors of the different provinces who drew yearly big salaries and lived on the fat of the land And they were infinitely more influential; not because they were the only Span- iards ever coming into contact with the common people, but because it was in their power to have governor removed the instant he became objectionable to them. In the country districts, indeed, the parish priest was everything. He was veritably Pooh Bah. He was in- spector of primary schools. He pre- sided over the deliberations of the health board and the board of charities. He acted as supervisor of the board of urban taxation. He was honorary pres ident of the board of public works. He certified to the correctness of the cedulas, there being no civil registra- tion and the government depending en- tirely upon the wise of the parish priest. He performed the duties of president of the board of statistics because he was the only man of intelligence or educa- tion in the parish. He controlled the taking of the census for the same reason. He certified to the civil status of his parishioners; and thus it was in his power to remove from his parish and send, if convenient, into perpetual banishment any person disturbing the peace of his mind. He censored the municipal budget before it was sent to the provincial governors. He was pres ident of the prison board, and inspected the food furnished to the prisoners. He was member of the board for par titioning crown lands, ard likewise of the provincial board. He was called upon, even in some provinces, to act as author, and the law required him to be present at all elections for mu- nicipal offices. He acted as counsellor to the municipal council, and performed the duties of censor of plays, comedies and tragedies, lest they should en- danger the public peace or be against public morals. In short. If there was singel field of government activity in which the parish priest was not the controlling factor, I don't know of it.
 The power of the parish priest was not only supplemental by an exceeding lv efficient central administration in Manila with far reaching ramifications the situation in Madrid 1 but 1t was still further strengthened by the fact that the tenure of office of i the friar curate was practically perma- net. Once settled in a parish, priest continued there until super annuation. He was therefore con- stant political factor for a generation. The same was true of the archbishop , md the bishops. The civil and military officers of Spain in the islands might | change; the priests remained. The for ner were there for not longer than | our years, and more often for shorter | period; the clergy were permanent. l The friars. priests and bishops, indeed. | Q quote the commission, ''contituted ! I solid, powerful, permanent. we'll or sanized, political force in the islands, which dominated politics The stay of hose officers who attempted to pur ue course at variance with that leemed wise by the orders was invari- l1ly shortened by monastic influence"
 The whole force of the effect of m administration resting upon this oundation may have been, there can ,e no dispute as to the economic value f such scheme of government-on 'aper. In principle it deserved a more nthusias stic defense than has yet been ccorded it; in practice. as we all now, it proved a. stench in the nostrils f humanity. Its abuses, which a nerve ess home government was either pow rless to prevent; or forced to condone, esulted in wiping off the map the last estige of the greatest colonial empire he world had ever seen. The benefits
 conferred are too often lost sight of r forgotten, think, in the strife and lrmoi of the last three years, and in he noisy clamor and strenuous insist nee which now accompany the process ( f conferring upon the natives high ( r and better civilization. ( This government, with all it's con- ' saled virtues and obvious vices, was, fter short and costly debauch in the f lusory realm of revolution and inde- ( andence, succeeded by our military ad E ,inistlation, which, in turn, is about '