" which were made by penniless Europeans
in former times by pecuniary help "just in the nick of time" were
no longer possible, for every known channel of lucrative transaction
was in time taken up by capitalists.

It was the capital brought originally to the Philippines through
foreign channels which developed the modern commerce of the Colony,
and much of the present wealth of the inhabitants engaged in trade
and agriculture is indirectly due to foreign enterprise. Negros Island
was entirely opened up by foreign capital. In Manila, the fathers of
many of the half-castes and pure natives who at this day figure as
men of position and standing, commenced their careers as messengers,
warehouse-keepers, clerks, etc., of the foreign houses.

There were a great many well-to-do Spaniards in trade, but few whose
funds on starting were brought by them from the Peninsula. The first
Spanish steamer-owner in the Colony, a baker by trade, owed his
prosperity to the support of Russell & Sturgis. One of the richest
Spanish merchants (who died in 1894) once kept a little grocer's shop,
and after the failure of Russell & Sturgis he developed into a merchant
and shipowner whose firm became, in time, the largest Spanish house
operating in hemp and other produce.

About 14 Spanish firms of a certain importance were established in
Manila, Yloilo, and Cebu, in addition to the Europeans trading here
and there on the coasts of the Islands. In Manila there were (and
are still) two foreign bank branches [122] (one with a sub-branch in
Yloilo), three bank agencies, and the Philippine private banking-house
of J. M. Tuason & Co.; also the "Banco Espanol-Filipino," which was
instituted in 1852, with a capital of P400,000, in 2,000 shares of
P200 each. The capital was subsequently increased to P600.000. [123]
Authorized by charter, it issued notes payable to bearer on demand from
P10 upwards. The legal maximum limit of note issue was P1,200,000,
whilst the actual circulation was about P100,000 short of that
figure. This bank did a very limited amount of very secure business,
and it has paid dividends of 12 to 15 per cent.; hence the shares were
always at a premium. In 1888, when 12 per cent, dividend was paid,
this stock was quoted at P420; in 1895 it rose to P435. The _Obras
Pias_ funds (_vide_ p. 245) constituted the orginal capital of the
bank. The new position of this institution, under the (American)
Insular Government since 1905, is explaine