"But in all these works, though useful and important, there is observed, among others, the absence of antecedents relative to economic and mercantile legislation, the scarcity of data to show the development of wealth of the country and of its commercial movement, the lack of a critical analysis of the legal provisions concerning such activities, and of their influence on the decadence or progress of production and commerce." (Manuel Azcarraga y Palmero, Gobernador civil cesante de Manila, Alcalde mayor que ha sido de Cagayan y de Bulacan, Auditor honorario de Marina, etc., La Libertad de Comercio en las Islas Filipinas.--Madrid, 1872, pp. 9-10.) [2] " * * * The result is that Spanish writers, with them the Filipinos, and to a great extent the writers of Philippine treatises in other languages (drawing hastily upon Spanish sources), have over emphasized the political history of this Philippine record. Of course, in Spain and the Spanish countries long-standing habit makes it the tendency to look to government for everything, and to think of all amelioration of evils and all incitements to progress as coming from above; while social and economic conditions in the Philippines are such as to emphasize this tendency, the aristocracy of wealth and education standing apart from the masses and being, to the latter, identified in the main with the government, with the "powers above." Nevertheless, it is to be insisted that social and economic progress in the Philippines during the last half-century should be considered separately and studied more practically than they have been thus far." (Le Roy's Bibliographical Notes.--Bl. and Rb., Vol. 52, 134.) [3] For detailed discussion of this theory, see The Economic Interpretation of History, by E. R. A. Seligman. Also, History of Civilization in England, by H. T. Buckle, Vol. I, Chapter II, Influence Exercised by Physical Laws over Organization of Society and the Character of Individuals. This chapter is reprinted in Sociology and Social Progress, by T. N. Carver. [4] "In many ways the next decade of the history of the Philippines may resemble the splendid development of the neighboring country of Japan. Both countries have in past times been isolated more or less from the life and thought of the modern world. Both are now open to the full current of human affairs. Both countries promise to play an important part in the politics and commerce of the Far East. Geographically, the Philippines occupy the more central and influential position, and the success of the institutions of the Philippines may react upon the countries of southeastern Asia and Malaysia to an extent that we cannot appreciate or foresee." (Dr. D. P. Barrows, A History of the Philippines, pp. 9-10.)