. The Philippine Islands . elago. As itcontains the capitol—literally the seat of Government—it is fromthis island that every unjust and cruel edict has proceeded sincethe time of the conquest. Indeed, Spain has never tried to governmore than lialf a dozen of the islands; and while all of the Philip-pines are nominally under her suzerainty, there are at least two hun-dred of them filled witli fierce and intractable tribes—and these shehas not even explored. But it is Luzon that, from first to last, hasfelt most heavily the weight of her iron hand. On that island, in1781, the cultivation of tob
. The Philippine Islands . elago. As itcontains the capitol—literally the seat of Government—it is fromthis island that every unjust and cruel edict has proceeded sincethe time of the conquest. Indeed, Spain has never tried to governmore than lialf a dozen of the islands; and while all of the Philip-pines are nominally under her suzerainty, there are at least two hun-dred of them filled witli fierce and intractable tribes—and these shehas not even explored. But it is Luzon that, from first to last, hasfelt most heavily the weight of her iron hand. On that island, in1781, the cultivation of tobacco was formally declared a Statemonopoly. This lasted just a year and a century. The Government, afterlong debate on the subject, decided that, on the whole, it wouldbe more profitable and less troublesome to demand a high license,and place the enterprise in the hands of private dealers. The monopoly was accordingly abolished, December 31st, 1882. The natives fought against this. Thev had suffered horribly from 327. Culture aud Use of Tobacco. 229 State regulations. They feared to suffer more from private perse-cution. The friars, however, the real rulers of the Philippines,decided against the monopoly ; and, notwithstanding that it wasthe largest source of public revenue on the islands, it was abolished. OPPRESSIVE CONDITIONS IN LUZON. From 1781 to 1882, then, in Luzon the followmg conditions pre-vailed : First, in tlic Philippines natives were never allowed to ownland, -the property of the State. By paying for the privilege theymight receive permission to cultivate the soil. During the con-tinuance of the monopoly, m certain districts in northern Luzon,only tobacco plants were permitted to be placed in the ground.\ot one foot of his poor little plot could the native use for his ownsubsistence. Moreover, he was forced to contract with the Gov-ernment to raise 4000 plants a year ; not one leaf of which could hecall his own. Every family was bound to produce a given quan
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectphilippinesdescripti
