Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/546

526 Among the sources for village revenue was the yield of community land, each Indian being obliged to cultivate a certain amount, or to pay a tax. The funds were generally invested in mortgages, with advice of an oidor and in charge of royal treasury officials, under bond, who disbursed for crown taxes, school and mission expenses, and other purposes. The capital could not be encroached upon, save in extreme cases and with approval of the Indians; indeed this as well as a part of the inflowing money came to be held almost as crown property, and the real owners met with such difficulty when making demands thereon that they seldom renewed the effort.

Office-holding in America possessed special features not alone in its allurements, but in its effect on the destinies of Spanish colonies. Almost every person above the artisan class who migrated to the Indies came to engage in commerce or to obtain office. In fact nearly all the higher posts were occupied by them, partly on the long established principle, as instanced by the restrictions on oidores, to let no official exercise jurisdiction in a province or district where he was bound by ties of kinship. This seemed the more necessary in countries so distant from the seat of government, and whose population had by personal conquest and colonization acquired more immediate rights and greater freedom of discussing them. To the children born within the bounds of loyal Spain, and influenced by no foreign ties, must, therefore, be intrusted the supervision and management for their king of these less secure possessions. They also had readier access to plead for positions. Creoles could not be wholly excluded, and a share