CHAPTER XXXIV

COMMERCE AND FINANCES

Until the year 1813 the captains-general of Puerto Rico had the superintendence of the revenues. The capital was the only authorized port open to commerce. No regular books were kept by the authorities.

A day-book of duties paid and expended was all that was considered necessary. Merchandise was smuggled in at every part of the coast,[74]

the treasury chest was empty, and the Government officers and troops were reduced to a very small portion of their pay.

The total revenues of the island, including the old-established taxes and contributions, produced 70,000 pesos, and half of that sum was never recovered on account of the abuses and dishonesty that had been introduced in the system of collection.

An intendancy was deemed necessary, and the Home Government appointed Alexander Ramirez to the post in February, 1813. He promptly introduced important reforms in the administration, and caused regular accounts to be kept. He made ample and liberal concessions to commerce, opened five additional ports with custom-houses, freed agriculture from the trammels that had impeded its development, and placed labor, instruments, seeds, and modern machinery within its reach. He printed and distributed short essays or manuals on the cultivation of different products and the systems adopted by other nations, promoted the immigration of Canary Islanders, founded the Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Country, and edited the Diario Economico de Puerto Rico, the first number of which appeared February 28, 1814.

The first year after the establishment of these improvements, notwithstanding the abolition of some of the most onerous taxes, the revenues of the capital rose to $161,000, and the new custom-houses produced $242,842.

Having placed this island's financial administration on a sound basis, Ramirez was called upon by the Government to perform the same valuable services for Cuba. Unfortunately, his successors here soon destroyed the good effects of his measures by continual variations in the system, and in the commercial tariffs. They attempted to prevent smuggling by increasing the duties, the very means of encouraging contraband trade, and the old mismanagement and malversations in the custom-houses revived. One intendant, often from a mere spirit of innovation, applied to the court for a decree canceling the regulations of his predecessor, so that, from the concurring effects of contraband and mismanagement, commerce suffered, and the country became once more impoverished.

The revenues fell so low and the malversation of public money reached such a height that the captain-general found it necessary in 1825 to charge the military commanders of the respective districts with the prevention of smuggling. He placed supervisors of known intelligence and probity in each custom-house to watch and prevent fraud and peculation. These measures almost doubled the amount of revenue in the following year (1826).

As late as 1810 the imports in Puerto Rico exceeded three times the sum of the produce exported. The difference was made up by the "situados," or remittances in cash from Mexico, which began early in the seventeenth century, when the repeated attacks on the island by French and English privateers forced the Spanish Government to choose between losing the island or fortifying it. The king chose the latter, and made an assignment on the royal treasury of Mexico of nearly half a million pesos per annum. With these subsidies all the fortifications were constructed and the garrison and civil and military employees were paid, till the insurrection in Mexico put a stop to the fall of this pecuniary manna.

It was fortunate for Puerto Rico that it ceased. The people of the island had become so accustomed to look to this supply of money for the purchase of their necessities that they entirely neglected the development of the rich resources in their fertile soil. When a remittance arrived in due time, all was joy and animation; when it was delayed, as was often the case, all was gloom and silence, and recourse was had to "papeletas," a temporary paper currency or promises to pay.

With the cessation of the "situados" the scanty resources of the treasury soon gave out. The funds of the churches were first requisitioned; then the judicial deposits, the property of people who had died in the Peninsula, and other unclaimed funds were attached; next, donations and private loans were solicited, and when all these expedients were exhausted, the final resort of bankrupt communities, paper money, was adopted (1812).

Then Puerto Rico's poverty became extreme. In 1814 there was at least half a million paper money in circulation with a depreciation of 400 per cent. To avoid absolute ruin, the intendant had recourse to the introduction of what were called "macuquinos," or pieces of rudely cut, uncoined silver of inferior alloy, representing approximately the value of the coin that each piece of metal stood for. With these he redeemed in 1816 all the paper money that had been put in circulation; but the emergency money gave rise to agioist speculation and remained the currency long after it had served its purpose. It was not replaced by Spanish national coin till 1857.

The royal decree of 1815, and the improvements in the financial situation, as a result of the new administrative system established by Ramirez, gave a strong impulse to foreign commerce. Though commerce with the mother country remained in a languishing condition, because the so-called "decree of graces" had fixed the import duty on Spanish merchandise at 6 per cent _ad valorem_, while the valuations which the custom-house officials made exceeded the market prices to such an extent that many articles really paid 8 per cent and some 10, 12, and even 15 per cent.

An estimate of the commerce of this island about the year 1830 divides the total imports and exports which, in that year, amounted to $5,620,786 among the following nations:

Per cent. Per cent.

West Indian Islands imports 53-12 Exports 26 United States imports 27-14 " 49 Spanish imports 12-18 " 7 English imports 2-34 " 6-12 French imports 2-58 " 6-58 Other nations' imports 1-34 " 8-34

The American trade at that time formed nearly one-third of the whole of the value of the imports and nearly half of all the exports.

An American consul resided at the capital and all the principal ports had deputy consuls. The articles of importation from the United States were principally timber, staves for sugar-casks, flour and other provisions, and furniture.[75]

The financial history of Puerto Rico commences about the middle of the eighteenth century. In 1758 the revenues amounted to 6,858 pesos. In 1765, to 10,814, and in 1778 to 47,500. Their increase up to 1,605,523 in 1864 was due to the natural development of the island's resources, which accompanied the increase of population; yet financial distress was chronic all the time, and not a year passed without the application of the supposed panacea of royal decrees and ordinances, without the expected improvement.

From 1850 to 1864, for the first time in the island's history, there happened to be a surplus revenue. The authorities wasted it in an attempt to reannex Santo Domingo and in contributions toward the expenses of the war in Morocco. The balance was used by the Spanish Minister of Ultramar, the Government being of opinion that surpluses in colonial treasuries were a source of danger. To avoid a plethora of money contributions were asked for in the name of patriotism, which nobody dared refuse, and which were, therefore, always liberally responded to. Of this class was a contribution of half a million pesos toward the expenses of the war with the Carlists to secure the succession of Isabel II, and Sunday collections for the benefit of the Spanish soldiers in Cuba, for the sufferers by the inundations in Murcia, the earthquakes in Andalusia, etc. From 1870 to 1876 a series of laws and ordinances relating to finances were promulgated. February 22d, a royal decree admitted Mexican silver coin as currency. December 3, 1880, another royal decree reformed the financial administration of the island. This was followed in 1881 by instructions for the collection of personal contributions. In 1882 the Intendant Alcazar published the regulations for the imposition, collection, and administration of the land tax; from 1882 to 1892 another series of laws, ordinances, and decrees appeared for the collection and administration of different taxes and contributions, and October 28, 1895, another royal decree withdrew the Mexican coin from circulation.

In the same year (March 15th) the reform laws were promulgated, which were followed in the next year by the municipal law.[76]

In the meantime commerce languished. The excessively high export duties on island produce imposed by Governor Sanz in 1868 to 1870 brought 600,000 pesos per annum into the treasury, but ruined agriculture, and this lasted till the end of Spanish rule.

The directory of the Official Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Navigation of San Juan, at the general meeting of members in 1895, reported that it had occupied itself during that year, through the medium of the island's representative in Cortes, with the promised tariff reform, but without result. Nor had its endeavors to obtain the exchange of the Mexican coin still in circulation for Peninsular money been successful on account of the opposition of those interested in the maintenance of the system. The abolition of the so-called "conciertos" of matches and petroleum had also occupied them, and in this case successfully; but the directors complained of the apathy and the indifference of the public in general for the objects which the Chamber of Commerce was organized to advocate and promote, and they state that within the last year the number of associates had diminished.

The Directors' report of January, 1897, was even more gloomy. They complain of the want of interest in their proceedings on the part of many of the leading commercial houses, of the lamentable condition of commerce, of the inattention of their "mother," Spain, to the plausible pretentions of this her daughter, animated though she was by the most fervent patriotism.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 74: Rafael Conty, subdelegate of the treasury of Aguadilla, sailed round the island in a sloop in 1790 and confiscated eleven vessels engaged in smuggling.]

[Footnote 75: For commercial statistics of Puerto Rico from 1813 to 1864, see Senor Acosta's interesting notes to Chapter XXVIII of Abbad's history.]

[Footnote 76: _Vide_ Resena del Estado Social, Economico e Industrial de la Isla de Puerto Rico por el Dr. Cayetano Coll y Toste, 1899.]

CHAPTER XXXV

EDUCATION IN PUERTO RICO

In Chapter XXIII of this history we gave an extract from his Excellency Alexander O'Reilly's report to King Charles IV, wherein, referring to the intellectual status of the inhabitants of Puerto Rico in 1765, he informs his Majesty that there were only two schools in the whole island and that, outside of the capital and San German, few knew how to read.

In the mother country, at that period, even primary instruction was very deficient. It remained so for a long time. As late as 1838 reading, writing, and arithmetic only were taught in the best public schools of Spain. The other branches of knowledge, such as geography, history, physics, chemistry, natural history, could be studied in a few ecclesiastical educational establishments.[77] The illiteracy of the inhabitants of this, the least important of Spain's conquered provinces, was therefore but natural, seeing that the conquerors who had settled in it belonged to the most ignorant classes of an illiterate country in an illiterate age. Something was done in Puerto Rico by the Dominican and Franciscan friars in the way of preparatory training for ecclesiastical callings. They taught Latin and philosophy to a limited number of youths; the bishop himself gave regular instruction in Latin.

A few youths, whose parents could afford it, were sent to the universities of Caracas and Santo Domingo, where some of them distinguished themselves by their aptitude for study. One of these, afterward known as Father Bonilla, obtained the highest academic honors in Santo Domingo.

From 1820 to 1823, under the auspices of a constitutional government, intellectual life in Puerto Rico really began. A Mr. Louis Santiago called public attention to the necessity of attending to primary education. "The greatest evil," he said, "that which demands the speediest remedy, is the general ignorance of the art of reading and writing. It is painful to see the signatures of the alcaldes to public documents." He wrote a pamphlet of instructions in the art of teaching in primary schools, which was printed and distributed through the interior of the island. The governor, Gonzalo Arostegui, addressed an official note to the Provincial Deputation charging that body to propose to him "without rest or interruption, and as soon as possible," the means to establish primary schools in the capital and in the towns of the interior; to the municipalities he sent a circular, dated September 28, 1821, recommending them to facilitate the coming to the capital of the teachers in their respective districts who wished to attend, for a period of two months, a class in the Lancasterian method of primary teaching, to be held in the Normal School by Ramon Carpegna, the political secretary. A certain amount of instruction, talent, and disposition for magisterial work was required of the pupils, and those who already had positions as teachers could assist at the two months' course without detriment to their salaries.

The fall of the constitutional government in Spain, brought about by French intervention and the reaction that followed, extinguished the light that had just begun to shine, and this unfortunate island was again plunged into the intellectual darkness of the middle ages.

Persecution became fiercer than ever, and the citizens most distinguished for their learning and liberal ideas had to seek safety in emigration.

For the next twenty years the education of the youth of Puerto Rico was entirely in the hands of the clergy. With the legacies left to the Church by Bishop Arizmendi and other pious defuncts, Bishop Pedro Gutierrez de Cos founded the Conciliar Seminary in 1831, and appointed as Rector Friar Angel de la Concepcion Vazquez, a Puerto Rican by birth, educated in the Franciscan Convent of Caracas.

In the same year there came to Puerto Rico, as prebendary of the cathedral, an ex-professor of experimental physics in the University of Galicia, whose name was Rufo Fernandez. He founded a cabinet of physics and a chemical laboratory, and invited the youth of the capital to attend the lectures on these two sciences which he gave gratis.

Fray Angel, as he was familiarly called, the rector of the seminary, at Dr. Rufo's suggestion, asked permission of the superior ecclesiastical authorities to transfer the latter's cabinet and laboratory to the seminary for the purpose of adding the courses of physics and chemistry to the curriculum, but failed to obtain it, the reasons given for the adverse decision being, "that the science of chemistry was unnecessary for the students, who, in accordance with the dispositions of the Council of Trent, were to dedicate themselves to ecclesiastical sciences only." The rector, while expressing his regret at the decision, adds: "I can not help telling you what I have always felt--namely, that there is some malediction resting on the education of youth in this island, which evokes formidable obstacles from every side, though there are not wanting generous spirits ready to make sacrifices in its favor." [78]

Some of these generous spirits had organized, as early as 1813, under the auspices of Intendant Ramirez, the Economic Society of Friends of the Country. Puerto Rico owes almost all its intellectual progress to this society. Its aim was the island's moral and material advancement, and, in spite of obstacles, it has nobly labored with that object in view to the end of Spanish domination. From its very inception it established a primary school for 12 poor girls, and classes in mathematics, geography, French, English, and drawing, to which a class of practical or applied mechanics was added later. In 1844 the society asked and obtained permission from the governor, the Count of Mirasol, to solicit subscriptions for the establishment and endowment of a central college. The people responded with enthusiasm, and in less than a month 30,000 pesos were collected.

The college was opened. In 1846 four youths, under the guidance of Dr.

Rufo, were sent to Spain to complete their studies to enable them to worthily fill professorships in the central school. Two of them died shortly after their arrival in Madrid. When the other two returned to Puerto Rico in 1849 they found the college closed and the subscriptions for its maintenance returned to the donors by order of Juan de la Pezuela, Count Mirasol's successor in the governorship.

If the unfavorable opinion of the character of the Puerto Ricans to which this personage gave expression in one of his official communications was the motive for his proceeding in this case, it would seem that he changed it toward the end of his administration, for he founded a Royal Academy of Belles-Lettres, and a library which was provided with books by occasional gifts from the public. He introduced some useful reforms in the system of primary instruction, and inaugurated the first prize competitions for poetical compositions by native authors.

From the returns of the census of 1860 it appears that at that time only 17-12 per cent of the male population of the island knew how to read, and only 12-12 per cent of the female population. Four years later, at the end of 1864 there were, according to official data, 98,817 families in Puerto Rico whose intellectual wants were supplied by 74 public schools for boys and 48 for girls, besides 16 and 9 private schools for boys and girls respectively.

In 1854 General Norzagery, then governor, assisted by Andres Vina, the secretary of the Royal Board of Commerce and Industry, had founded a school of Commerce, Agriculture, and Navigation. After sixteen years of existence, this establishment was unfavorably reported upon by Governor Sanz, who wished to suppress it on account of the liberal ideas and autonomist tendencies of its two principal professors, Jose Julian Acosta (Abbad's commentator) and Ramon B. Castro. In the preamble to a secret report sent by this governor to Madrid he says: "This supreme civil government has always secured professors who, in addition to the required ability for their position, possess the moral and political character and qualities to form citizens, lovers of their country, i.e., lovers of Puerto Rico as a Spanish province, _not of Puerto Rico as an independent state annexed to North America_."