Reorganization and New Policies, I770-I800
changing conditions inevitably brought about by the progress made, but the measures adopted for the purpose were too drastic. Missionaries take tlze lead. No one realized the need of a change in the temporal administration of the missions more than the missionaries themselves. For many years the Padres had felt that the adminis- tration of temporal property was foreign to their sacred calling. But they also perceived the irrefutable fact that the Indians gathered in the missions were really only children, unaccustomed to and incapable of managing their own affairs. They, just as the royal officials, fully realized that the mission was a center for both the Christianization and the civilization of the natives. In the accomplishment of the second purpose, the Indians had to be instructed patiently in gainful occupations and taught habits of self-restraint, of sustained effort, and of industry in order that they might fit themselves to take their places as useful citizens in a civilized community. It was for this reason that the mis- sionaries had become the administrators of the communal property of the neophytes as well as their guardians and preceptors. The Discretorio (Senior Council) of the College of Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe of Zacatecas, which, since the withdrawal of the missionaries of Queretaro, had taken over the administration of the missions in Texas, addressed a petition to the new commandant general, Caballero de Croix, on January 13, 1780. They earnestly entreated him to relieve the mis- sionaries in Texas of the grave responsibility of the temporal adminis- tration of the missions, a task alien to their ministry. While this had been a duty necessary in the early years, it was now felt that a con- tinuation of the practice only served as a constant source of disagree- ment with royal officials. Many who looked with envy upon the material success of the missions accused the missionaries unjustly of private interest in defending the neophytes from exploitation and despoliation. It should, however, be kept in mind, they pointed out, that the neophytes were constantly being replaced in these missions by new arrivals and that, even among those who had been in residence for relatively long periods of time, individually there were few who could be entrusted with the administration of their share of the mission property. The Indians, they declared, were by nature and experience simple, not understanding the wiles of civilization. They had no conception of material values. For example, they would gladly exchange a copper kettle, an ax, a hoe, or even a metate (grindstone) for a piece of brown sugar or for two or three ounces of powder. A horse, a cow, or any other possession would
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