Page 186 - Mediterranea-ricerche storiche, n. 48, aprile 2020flip

186 Roberto Rossi

On the revenue side (table 7), the greater sum, beyond the initial
donation of the founder Ortiz Cortés, necessary for the building of the
institute, is to be ascribed to the revenues generated by the Royal Lottery.
The problem of financing the institution was revealed immediately at the
time of the beginning of the assistance activities. However, in the ideas of
Fernando Ortiz Cortés the Poor House should have supported itself thanks
to the proceeds generated by the manufacturing activity carried out by the
inmates, the huge construction and set-up costs together with those to
ensure the necessary equipment for the operation, made this way
unsatisfactory. The profits generated for the sale of clothes produced inside
the Poor House by the inmates, for 1803 amounted to 951 pesos, just 3%
of the incomes, participation in funerals (2,100 pesos), for which especially
children were required, was much more remunerative. Right from the start,
the Crown did not want to commit itself financially to the institution, while
maintaining control over it. The administrative-financial model that
emerged from the original idea and was modified by the authorization bills
was based on a structure in which the financing came from private
individuals and the church, while the administration was guaranteed by
the crown (through the viceroy) and by the chapter of the Cathedral.
Despite these premises, the financial difficulties immediately
threatened the functioning of the Poor House. In 1782, after much
pressure from the administrators and the viceroy Martin de Mayorga,
the sovereign granted an endowment to the Poor House constituted by
a part of the proceeds of the Royal Lottery (equal to 2.5% on each ticket
sold) for an amount of about 12,000 annual pesos. Later, some
revenues previously belonging to the Society of Jesus were also
attributed to the Mexico City Poor House .
33
Table 8 lists the annual salaries paid by Mexico City Poor House in
1803 to administrative and service personnel. It is interesting to note
that the salary received by the administrator represented about 26%
of the total wages and that of the first chapel was 13%. The master
artisan, who had the task of verifying the work done by the inmates (it
was generally a skilled artisan), was paid through the only housing
within the institution, without providing for a specific salary. The
structure of wages denotes with sufficient clarity the prevalence of
public and ecclesiastical power within Poor House, where members
appointed by the viceroy and the Cathedral Chapter held the two key
roles .
34

33 S.M. Arrom, Containing the poor. The Mexico City Poor House cit., pp. 107-115; J.
Abadiano, Establecimientos de beneficencia: apuntes sobre su orígen cit., pp. 27-31.
34 Agi, Audiencia de México, 2791, exp. 8, Expediente relativo a la fundación en
México de un hospicio, 1797.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XVII - Aprile 2020
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)