Puerto Rico History - Colonial Administration
By the end of the 18th century the colonial rule of Puerto Rico was of an administrative type, forged in the fire of the mercantile system and based upon the Code of the Laws of the Indies (1691), the greater part of its provisions dating from the time of Phillip III, and from the revised code of Spanish law (1795), a legal document which consecrated royal absolutism in its most unfavorable form. Their political significance was reflected in the strict supervision exerted by the Crown in all matters pertaining to the colony, and the centralization of power under its representatives, particularly the military.
Within such a system, all power rested with the Governor who, under the provisions of book III of the "Laws of the Indies," was virtually omnipotent. He was in charge of promulgating decrees and insuring execution of the law, thus exerting both executive and legislative authority; as military captain he was head of the army and navy; as intendent he was at the head of Treasury affairs; as Supreme Judge he took part in the administration of justice; as Royal Vice-patron he participated in the administration of the church, thus exercising ecclesiastical authority.
The colonists, on the other hand, had no representative at the metropolitan center. They even lacked freedom of movement from town to town, permission being required from municipal authorities until the mid-19th century. They did not participate in the enactment of laws nor did they have a representative organ which could control the Governor's excesses.
An obvious need of such a system was for the helm of the colonial ship to be in the hands of men of superior talent and motivation. But nature is not overly lavish in providing such individuals, nor is military service the best school in which to learn civil administration. Time and time again the colony bore witness to the fact that those accustomed to arbitrary military power and to implicit obedience imperiled the most elementary forms of good government.
The existing economic regime, inspired by a mercantile system which held the colony to be a mere dependency or factory which the metropolis would operate to its own advantage, was no more advantageous to the island than the political structure was advantageous to the individual. Under such a system, the islanders could do very little to influence either the causes or effects of economic depressions.
Given the commercial theory that the chief wealth of a country is a favorable balance of trade, commerce became a monopoly of Spain, the Crown maintaining exclusive rights to the import needs of the colony as well as rigorous control, to the extreme of limiting the traffic lane with the peninsula first to Seville and then to Cadiz, and on the island, to the port of San Juan.
At this rate insular production was frequently subject to heavy charges and strong restrictions, giving the colony a "sui generis" status of foreign territory with respect to the metropolis. Such trade never reached extraordinary proportions, but the profits principally benefited the Spanish producers and their agents in the island, which in turn constituted a group capable of exerting vast influence.
Inasmuch as local agriculture and industry could supply only a small part of local needs, the island had to import clothing, tools, agricultural implements, paper, flour, oil, and the thousand and one indispensable articles needed for subsistence.
Commerce began to develop with foreign countries, however, after having been prohibited for almost three centuries. This development was possible because of certain provisions which the metropolis was forced to adopt in response to pressing circumstances, such as the ordinance of 1778 by which Spain granted authorization to neutral nations to trade with its colonies for the duration of the war with England. Similar provisions included the Royal Decree of 18 November 1797, which opened colonial markets to foreign traffic while the new war with England lasted, in order to counteract the isolation of the colonies created by the English naval power. The Royal Decree of 1801 instituted a system of special licenses providing access to Spanish colonial ports; and the Royal Decree of 1804 reestablished commerce with neutrals as a result of the new war between England and France.
The United States came to be the beneficiary under this system. From mid-November 1796, to mid-July 1801, 15 North American ships gained admittance to San Juan, and 14 more were admitted in the brief 3 1/2-month span immediately following. In 1807, 18 ships arrived at the port of Philadelphia from Puerto Rico.
Agriculture, in spite of the high fertility of the soil and the importance of the island, the possession of which would have enhanced the fortune of an active nation, was in a sad state, its productive capacity held back by numerous restrictions and prohibitions, such as those imposed upon ginger (1602-03), on wheat and tobacco (1614) and by an avalanche of various duties. Under such conditions the only industry that had gained some stature besides coffee was sugarcane, which had begun to develop shortly after the destruction and ruin in the Haitian Colony of Guarico. Such events brought old demands to the surface. In Puerto Rico and the other West Indies colonies, interest became manifest in the development of sugar production for the purpose of replacing Guarico. The rise in the price of sugar from 4 to 25 silver coins per unit was an attractive incentive in addition to exchange benefits with the countries which had been supplied by Guarico.
The United States, in particular, was seeking new sources of supply of tropical fruits, given her own lack of colonies and her exclusion from the markets in the British colonial empire. The farmers and landowners of Puerto Rico took advantage of the circumstances under the license system to deal with those foreigners authorized by the Governors. In 1803, Puerto Rican sugar exports to the United States reached a total of 263,200 pounds valued at $15,790.
The industrial field, however, was limited to the manufacture of sugar. The balance of the industries of the island consisted of some small factories for the manufacture of straw articles, pottery, wood-work, saddle and leather implements, wax candles, tanned leather,tobacco, and snuff. The metropolis, through the protection of its national industries, the stabilization of salaries in the peninsula and the monopoly on consumption, restricted the industrial expansion of the island, the latter suffering from the vagaries of legislation passed without its participation.
Restrictions fell on the most promising industries such as sugar, which, since 1544 had been subject to burdensome taxes. Rum also was affected and on occasion prohibited, an industry which, if freely developed, would be sufficient for the welfare of the island, despite such heavy taxation as Spain might choose to impose. But this industry languished because of the heavy tax on extraction and distillation, making it impossible for the island to compete with the imported wines, even in her own domestic market. The cattle industry, which had enjoyed periods of delayed prosperity, was in a precarious situation due to the tax of forced supply.
The condition of the public treasury, as a consequence of the restricted growth of productive resources, was lamentable. Inasmuch as the value of insular production amounted to only $70,000 per year, the treasury had a continuous deficit which, with more or less regularity, was absorbed by the "Situado" fund established in 1582.
The administrative apparatus was in a state of complete disorganization, and treasury business was being conducted with great irresponsibility. Employees remained at half pay for as long as 75 months. To ascertain the rate of production in each branch of industry was a major undertaking. Accounts were not settled; and in the rare case of a settlement, the purpose was more likely that of covering up the evidence of waste rather than of direct payment.
Bankruptcy was frequent, and many items paid were not entered in the books. A result of such administration was a widespread lack of public works and services. The roads on the island affirmed a contemporary of the time were so rough, swampy, narrow, and dangerous that they seemed more fit for birds than for men.
Sanitation services were very deficient; public cultural institutions were few. In 1797, according to the illustrious botanist Pierre Ledná and confirmed by Bishop Juan Bautista Zengotita, 70 percent of the population was illiterate as a result of the scarcity of schools. In 1805, Governor Montes complained of the lack of elementary schools, and hence the sorrowful neglect of the education of the island's youth. In San Juan; in 1808, in spite of its being the capital, there were only two local government operated elementary schools along with a few privately run schools.
Secondary education was in the hands of the convents of Santo Domingo and San Francisco in San Juan, and higher education was limited to the College and Culture Center of Santo Tomas within the Convent of Santo Domingo, where philosophy and theology courses were accredited in Spain by Royal Decree as of August 24, 1788. But as the latter had academic value for ecclesiastic students only, the majority of the island's youth had to study in Spain, Santo Domingo, Mexico, and Venezuela.
The tax system was a labyrinth of confusion because of the multiplicity of taxes as well as the lack of proportionality in distribution. The administration of justice in the interior depended upon so-called lieutenants of war, a kind of inferior judge appointed by the Governor, generally having scanty educational or judicial background; judicial appeals belonged within the jurisdiction of the "Audiencia" of Cuba, thus constituting an expensive, slow, and deficient system.
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