Our Catleolic Heritage in Texas
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been and were being deprived of a part of their pay as a result of quites, or discounts. For example, a presidio with a garrison of fifty men, assigned four hundred and fifty pesos for each soldier and six hundred pesos for the captain, cost His Majesty twenty-three thousand one hundred pesos a year. But although this sum was paid in full by the royal treasury in Mexico City or its branches in the provinces, the following amounts were deducted by the captains as quites before it reached the soldiers: first, two thousand three hundred and ten pesos, then five hundred and eighty pesos, and lastly, one thousand more, making a total of three thousand eight hundred· and ninety pesos, equivalent to a loss of seventy-eight pesos per soldier. As a result of this practice each man received only three hundred and seventy-two pesos a year. In some instances the amounts indicated were deducted as "expenses," but the rate of discounts was higher or lower in proportion to the number of men in the presidio. The inspector was to correct such abuses wherever found. The provisions, personal equipment, arms; horses, and other supplies needed by the various garrisons were generally bought in Mexico City or other trading centers situated nearer to the different posts by agents or representatives of the captains to whom the consignment was sent. These goods were usually billed at as high a price as the greed or bad con- science of the agent dictated, to which the captain generally added a percentage for his own benefit before he sold them to the soldiers. Con- sequently the men received but a very small portion of goods or supplies for their salary. This was the reason why so many of them were poorly clad, poorly armed, and unfit to perform their duties as soldiers. Brigadier Rivera was to make a careful study of these conditions and to recommend means of putting a stop to such a deplorable practice. It was customary, furthermore, for the captains to leave vacancies caused by desertions or death unfilled, continuing to report the men as present on their muster roll and collecting the full salary allowed. But more reprehensible than this, was the habitual employment of the soldiers paid by His Majesty to guard the presidios on the private liaciendas, ranches, and mines of their officers. They not only lost all sense of discipline, but they were kept away from their posts, so that they were unable to oppose successfully the frequent raids of the Indians, who grew bolder in pro- portion as they found no resistance. The outcome of such neglect was a heavy loss of property and life in the unprotected settlements and missions that had been established in the vicinity of the poorly guarded presidios. The inspector was further to determine with all care whether the original
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