Note 34 — IV. Trade and Commerce: the Period of Restrictions

Not everything, however, is to be attributed to the influence of the galleon trade; a good deal of the neglect of the country’s natural resources was due to Spanish dislike of industrial activity. Azcarraga explains that characteristic by saying that the eight centuries of continuous struggle to drive out the Moors from Spain created a chivalrous spirit and a love of risky undertakings; the discovery of the New World furnished a wide sphere of action to that adventurous spirit, and the resulting emigration to the newly discovered lands depopulated the Peninsula to such an extent that labor could be had neither for the factories nor for agriculture. “The current of precious metals flowing into Spain from the mines of Mexico and Perú fascinated the Spaniards; created easy-going and indolent habits; held them off the mechanical arts, formerly called servile, and all desired to gird the word and enjoy the spoils of conquest.”34 This was the real cause of the decadence of Spanish industries, and not, as alleged by the monopolists of Spain, the competition of the Manila-Acapulco trade. With such causes operating to check development, it is no wonder that Philippine industries were in a primitive state down to the last years of Spanish domination.