sons of men who had made a fine show and left much money, which their sons had squandered because they had not been well trained in youth."[1] The great possibilities of Manila as an entrepôt of the Asiatic trade were unrealized; for although the city enjoyed open trade with the Chinese, Japanese, and other orientals,[2] it was denied to Europeans and the growth of that conducted by the Chinese and others was always obstructed by the lack of return cargoes owing to the limitations placed upon the trade with America and to the disinclination of the Filipinos to work to produce more than was enough to insure them a comfortable living and pay their tributes. That the system was detrimental to the economic progress of the islands was always obvious and its evils were repeatedly demonstrated by Spanish officials. Further it was not only detrimental to the prosperity of the islands but it obstructed the development of Mexico.
- ↑ Zúñiga, i, p. 274.
Le Gentil remarked that as the Spaniards in Manila had no landed estates to give them an assured and permanent income, they were dependent upon the Acapulco trade, and had no resources to fall back upon if the galleon were lost. Money left in trust was often lost or embezzled by executors or guardians, and it was rare that wealth was retained three generations in the same family. Voyage, ii, pp. 110–112.
- ↑ Of the commerce with China it is not necessary to speak at length, as a full account of it is given in Morga. It was entirely in the hands of the Chinese and Mestizos and brought to Manila oriental textiles of all kinds, objects of art, jewelry, metal work and metals, nails, grain, preserves, fruit, pork, fowls, domestic animals, pets, "and a thousand other gewgaws and ornaments of little cost and price which are valued among the Spaniards." (Morga, p. 339.) Besides the Chinese, that with Japan, Borneo, the Moluccas, Siam, and India was so considerable that in spite of the obstructions upon the commerce with America, Manila seemed to the traveler Careri (p. 444) "one of the greatest places of trade in the world."
