pious fund of the californias—matters which appear in the report which the secretary of interior and exterior presented to the chambers in 1830.
The Pious Fund of the Californias has suffered a very deplorable fate, notwithstanding that it is very valuable, not only on account of the value of its estates, but also on account of its capital invested. The former do not produce as much as they should, on account of the want of ready money necessary for their cultivation; nor do the latter produce any important revenues, because they are partly loaned to persons guaranteeing to pay annuities, many of whom fail to pay; and partly to the public treasury, which does not pay either, nor can it do so at present, on account of its well-known distresses. Thus it is that for many years past there have been very considerable arrearages in the payment of the salaries to the missionaries, so that the amounts which are now owing them on this account form a very large sum, which, according to the most recent accounts that exist in the department in my charge, can not be less than one hundred and thirty thousand dollars.
The document No. 3, prepared in view of the last examined and approved accounts, up to the year 1827, gives a clear and detailed idea of the properties belonging to the fund, the successive falling off of the proceeds of the principal estate in which it has an interest being shown therein.
It is clear that those territories, concerning whose economic and political importance there is no doubt, find themselves very much neglected in their civil and religious administration, and it is the more so because their advance in every branch involves no expense upon the national treasury. The Pious Fund belonging to these territories would be sufficient of itself to completely fulfill these important ends, if its proceeds were put to use, and in order to attain this object, the Government proposes to concentrate upon this point the special attention which it merits, at least in so far as returns can be expected from [Page 374] the country properties, which are very susceptible of improvement. Never, however, will these proceeds to the extent that they can be turned into cash suffice of themselves alone for the endowment of the missions and other uses for which they were intended. In order to fulfill this completely, it would be necessary to add to them the properties of the missions of the Philippines, which certainly can not be applied to a purpose more analogous, nor more in conformity with the original will of the founders.
Document No. 3 (número 3), Transcript, page 220, is a recital of some of the capitals of the Pious Fund, which up to 1827 was invested as there indicated.
The next table shows the yearly proceeds and expenses of the hacienda Ciénega del Pastor for the years therein indicated. Then follows a list of some of the amounts due the Pious Fund of California by the national treasury, together with their unpaid interest, until the year 1842. This corresponds in the main with the inventory presented by Don Pedro Ramirez.