COMMERCIAL POSSIBILITIES OF THE PHILIPPINES
If the commercial possibilities of any region are to be attractive to
Europeans or Americans, it must have a just and stable government;
a reasonably healthful climate; fairly good means of communication
and transportation; forest, agricultural, mineral or other wealth,
and labour with which to develop it. Proximity to main lines of travel
and to markets is also an important consideration.
The present [178] government of the Philippines is highly effective
and the state of public order leaves little to be desired. Doubt has
been expressed as to the stability of the existing régime, but it is
at the very least safe to assume that the United States will never
withdraw from the islands without leaving behind a government which
will assure to the residents of the archipelago, foreign and native,
personal safety, just treatment and security of property rights.
Health conditions are now excellent, and the death rate among whites
at Manila is lower than that in many European and American cities. If
one will only vary the monotony of the continuous warmth by making
an occasional trip to Baguio, and take reasonable precautions as to
food, drink and exercise, there is no reason why one should not die
of old age.
Means of communication by land are now fairly good and steadily
improving. The seas are well lighted and the main lines of sea travel
have been carefully surveyed.
The islands have many beautiful harbors and, as we have seen, at
Manila, Cebú and Iloílo extensive harbour improvements have already
been made. There are no special difficulties attendant upon the
loading or unloading of ships anywhere in the archipelago. The rapid
extension of highways, and the construction of additional railways,
are facilitating and cheapening land transportation.
The natural resources of the country are unquestionably vast. I
have already devoted a chapter to the discussion of the forests and
their wealth.
As to the mineral resources, while we have much still to learn we
already know that there are excellent lignite, some coking coal
and extensive deposits of high-grade iron ore and of copper. One
flourishing gold mine is now giving handsome returns, and several
others seem to lack only the capital needed to develop them on a
considerable scale in order to make them pay; dredges are operating
for gold with great success in the vicinity of Paracale in eastern
Luzón, and there are other gold placer fields in the islands which
are worthy of careful investigation. The prospect of obtaining in
quantity a high-grade petroleum with paraffine base rich in low-boiling
constituents is very good.
Difficulties in the way of the development of the mining industry are
to be found in the disturbances of geological formations which are
inevitably met with in volcanic countries, in the dense tropical
vegetation which in many regions covers everything and renders
prospecting difficult, and in the unevenness of the rainfall which
in some parts of the archipelago results in severe floods at one
season and in the lack of sufficient water to furnish hydraulic power
at another. But we are at least free from the troubles incident to
freezing cold, and in my opinion a prosperous mining industry will
ultimately be built up in the Philippines.
Agriculture has always been, and will doubtless long continue to be,
the main source of wealth. In the lowlands may be found conditions of
soil and climate favourable to the growing of all important tropical
products. Owing to the position of the islands with reference to the
northeast and southwest monsoons, practically any desired conditions
as regard humidity and the distribution of rainfall can be found. There
are regions which have strongly marked wet and dry seasons, and regions
in which the rainfall is quite uniformly distributed throughout the
year. In some provinces the heaviest rains come in January, while
in others they come in July or August. The Philippine Weather Bureau
has gathered an immense amount of very valuable rainfall statistics
and is constantly adding to its present store of knowledge. Father
José Algué, its distinguished director, can always be depended upon
to furnish any obtainable information.
But this is not all. We are not confined to tropical products. In the
highlands of Luzón and of Mindanao practically all the vegetables and
many of the grains and fruits of the temperate zone may be produced.
When well fed, properly directed and paid a reasonable wage, the
Filipino makes a good field labourer. Much of his so-called laziness
is unquestionably due to malnutrition. A diet made up largely of rice,
especially if that rice be polished, does not develop a maximum of
physical energy.
When threshing machines were first introduced it was impossible to get
Filipinos to handle the straw. The work was too strenuous for them. We
soon discovered that by picking fairly strong men, and feeding them
plenty of meat, we could make them able and willing to do it.
Some extraordinary misstatements have been made as to Manila's
position with reference to main lines of travel and to markets. In
this connection Blount says that it is an out-of-the-way place so
far as regards the main travelled routes across the Pacific, [179]
and adds that shippers would not take to unloading cargo there before
finally discharging it on the mainland of Asia.
With singular inconsistency he also says that Manila could never
succeed Hongkong as the gateway to Asia. [180]
One might almost believe him ignorant of the fact that Hongkong is an
island, separated from the continent of Asia, and that the very thing
which he says would not happen at Manila, to wit the "unloading by
way of rehearsal, before finally discharging on the mainland of Asia,"
is the thing which has made Hongkong harbour one of the busiest ports
in the world.
Manila has numerous very definite advantages over Hongkong. Health
conditions are vastly better, and there is far less danger that
crews of vessels will become infected. Ocean going steamers come
alongside piers and unload directly into great sheds which protect
goods during storms. The pier sheds have direct connection with the
electric railway system of the city, so that freight can be quickly
and cheaply transported under cover. The Manila breakwater affords
excellent protection during typhoons, whereas Hongkong harbour is
periodically swept by storms which cause great damage to shipping
and very serious loss of life.
Hongkong is a free port, but the construction of bonded warehouses
at Manila for the reception of goods intended for reshipment would
largely make up for the fact that Manila is a port of entry.
The reply to the claim that Manila is far from markets and established
lines of travel is simple. Look at the map and compare it with
Hongkong!
Let us now consider more in detail the resources of the Philippines.
The first thing that impresses one who studies their agriculture
is the extremely primitive state of development to which it has
attained. Rice is the bread of the people and is produced in
large quantities, but as a rule land is prepared for planting it
by ploughing with what is little better than a crooked stick, which
may or may not have an iron point, and by subsequent puddling with a
muck rake, both instruments being drawn by carabaos. As the ground
cannot be worked in this fashion until the rains come on, and the
young plants should be set in the ground very shortly thereafter,
the period during which the soil can be prepared is brief, and the
amount brought under cultivation is correspondingly small. Rice is
usually planted in seed beds and transplanted by hand, the object of
this procedure being to give it a start over the weeds which would
otherwise swamp it. It is a common thing to see a crowd of men,
women and children setting it to the music of a small string band,
with which they keep time. Organizations which have the reputation
of maintaining a rapid rhythm are quite in demand because of the
increased amount of rice set! Ordinarily, in the lowlands at least,
comparatively little attention is paid to subsequent weeding, and
when harvest time comes the crop is usually gathered by cutting off
the heads one at a time. Threshing is frequently performed in the
open air on a floor made of clay and carabao dung. Often the grain is
trodden out under the feet of the owners themselves; sometimes it is
stripped off by drawing the heads between the teeth of an instrument
somewhat resembling an inverted iron rake; again it is beaten off
against stones; a more advanced method is to drive horses, carabaos
or cattle over the straw until the grain has been loosened from the
straw. The palay [181] is usually winnowed in the wind, although crude
fanning mills are sometimes employed for this purpose. The threshing
takes much time, and while it is in progress great loss results from
the depredations of rats and wild hogs, from unseasonable rain-storms,
and from the carrying off of the grain by the threshers. A large part
of the palay employed for local domestic use is husked by pounding it
in wooden mortars and winnowed by tossing it in flat baskets. As a
result of such methods the Philippines, which ought to export rice,
are compelled to import it, the figures for the last 15 years being
as follows:--
Rice Imports
Fiscal Tons Value
Years (Metric)
1899 58,389 $1,939,122
1900 109,911 3,113,423
1901 178,232 5,490,958
1902 216,403 6,578,481
1903 307,191 10,061,323
1904 329,825 11,548,814
1905 255,502 7,456,738
1906 138,052 4,375,500
1907 112,749 3,662,493
1908 162,174 5,861,256
1909 137,678 4,250,223
1910 184,620 5,321,962
1911 203,083 6,560,630
1912 260,250 10,569,949
1913 179,205 7,940,857
American influence has already made itself strongly felt on the
rice industry and small steel ploughs, of suitable size to be drawn
by single animals, are coming into very general use. A steadily
increasing amount of rice is harvested with sickles instead of with
small bladed knives. Modern threshing machines are rapidly discouraging
the employment of the threshing methods of biblical days, and their
operation in the large rice producing regions is a good business
for persons with limited capital, as the returns are immediate and
the investment is small. The customary toll taken for threshing is
one-eighth of the output.
While under my direction, the Bureau of Agriculture began the
introduction of modern threshing machines. The amount of grain obtained
from a stack of given size when thoroughly machine-threshed before
there had been time for waste was so much greater than that to which
the Filipinos had been accustomed that they thought that there must
be a deposito of grain hidden away somewhere within the machine, and
insisted on sticking their heads into it in search of this supposed
source of supply!
Many small, mechanically driven hulling machines are now in use
and the number of regular rice mills, with up-to-date machinery for
hulling and polishing, steadily and quite rapidly increases.
The rice industry has at present two great needs: the first is
irrigation, the second, careful seed selection. The average Filipino
depends directly on rainfall for irrigation water, and although there
may be a stream close at hand, he does not trouble to turn it on to
his land unless conditions happen to be exceptionally favourable. The
result is that dry years cause a very heavy, and largely avoidable,
loss to the islands. A dependable supply of irrigation water would make
two crops a certainty where one is now more or less of a gamble. The
insular government is spending considerable sums on irrigation work,
and in my opinion it offers a wide field for profitable private
investment.
There are in the Philippines many different varieties of rice,
each with its peculiar advantages and disadvantages. There is no
possible doubt as to the opportunity which lies before the skilled
plant breeder to increase the crop, and shorten the time required
for its production, by the methods which have been so successfully
applied to wheat and other grains.
Finally, in the highlands of Bukidnon, in Mindanao, there are
immense areas which can be cultivated and planted with motor-drawn
machinery. After taking off the first crop it would be readily possible
to plough, harrow and seed in one operation, and here, if anywhere,
modern harvesters and threshers can be employed to good advantage. In
short, rice can be grown in Bukidnon as wheat is grown in the United
States, and the company which goes into this business on a large
scale should make money.
Abacá, commonly called Manila hemp, was for many years the most
important Philippine export. The plants from which it is produced
resemble bananas so closely that the uninitiated cannot distinguish
them. They furnish the longest and strongest cordage fibre in
the world. The Philippines have practically a monopoly on its
production. Abacá culture is carried on in a very primitive way. The
plants require well-drained soil and for this reason the Filipino
often puts them out on steep mountain sides. The forest is felled,
the timber is burned on the ground and the young plants are set
before weeds have time to encroach. The bolo is usually employed for
subsequent "cultivation," which consists in the occasional chopping
down of weeds. Fortunately the shade in an abacá plantation is so deep
that it materially impedes the growth of other plants. The fibre is
obtained from the leaf petioles which make up the stem. At the present
time practically all of it is stripped by hand. This is a slow and
tedious process, involving very severe physical exertion to which the
average Filipino is disinclined, and serious losses often result from
inability to get the crop seasonably stripped. Stripping is greatly
facilitated if the knife under which the fibre bands are drawn has a
serrated edge, but in that case the fibre is not thoroughly cleaned,
soon loses its original beautiful white colour, and diminishes in
strength owing to decay of the cellular matter left attached to it.
The production of high-grade fibre or of comparatively worthless
stuff is chiefly a matter of good or bad stripping.
Abacá requires evenly distributed rainfall and constant high humidity
for its best development, and should not be planted in regions
subject to severe drought, which greatly reduces the crop and may
kill the plants outright. Experience has shown that it richly repays
real cultivation.
The trunks are heavy, and water makes up a large part of their weight,
but they are full of air chambers, float readily and could be rafted or
sluiced to a central cleaning plant wherever conditions are favourable
for so transporting them. The one great desideratum of the industry is
a really good mechanical stripper which will turn out clean, high-grade
fibre in large quantity at small cost. At least one machine has been
brought reasonably near perfection. In my opinion all that is now
necessary is to put a skilled mechanic into the field with it under
service conditions, and keep him there until such minor difficulties
as remain have been successfully overcome. Stripping mills could
readily be established in regions like that along the lower Agusan
River, where climate and soil are ideal and water transportation is
always available. A reasonable number of such plants in successful
operation would go far toward revolutionizing the hemp industry,
the development of which is at present greatly handicapped by the
production of enormous quantities of badly cleaned fibre, which does
not sell readily, whereas first-class abacá is without a rival and
always sells at a high price.
The table on the opposite page shows the value and amount of hemp
exports during a period of fifteen years.
Copra, or the dried meat of the coconut, has now become one of the
most important exports of the islands, which lead the world in its
production. The table on the opposite page shows the rapid increase
in copra exports.
Hemp Exports
------------------------------++----------------------------------
|| To United States, including
To All Countries || Hawaii and Porto Rico
-------+---------+------------++------------+--------+------------
| | Value || Percentage | | Value
Fiscal | Tons | in U. S. || of Total | Tons | in U. S.
Years | | Currency || Exports | | Currency
-------+---------+------------++------------+--------+------------
1899 | 59,840 | $6,185,293 || 45.1 | 23,066 | $2,436,169
1900 | 76,709 | 11,393,883 || 52.6 | 25,764 | 3,446,141
1901 | 112,215 | 14,453,110 || 34.6 | 18,158 | 2,402,867
1902 | 109,969 | 15,841,316 || 58.3 | 45,527 | 7,261,459
1903 | 132,242 | 21,701,575 || 54.7 | 71,654 | 12,314,312
1904 | 131,818 | 21,749,960 || 58.8 | 61,887 | 10,631,591
1905 | 116,733 | 22,146,241 || 59.6 | 73,351 | 12,954,515
1906 | 112,165 | 19,446,769 || 59.5 | 62,045 | 11,168,226
1907 | 114,701 | 21,085,081 || 61.7 | 58,389 | 11,326,864
1908 | 115,829 | 17,311,808 || 52.7 | 48,814 | 7,684,000
1909 | 149,992 | 15,833,577 || 51.0 | 79,210 | 8,534,288
1910 | 170,789 | 17,404,922 || 43.6 | 99,305 | 10,399,397
1911 | 165,650 | 16,141,340 || 40.5 | 66,545 | 7,410,373
1912 | 154,047 | 16,283,510 || 32.3 | 69,574 | 7,751,489
1913 | 144,576 | 23,044,744 || 43.3 | 63,715 | 11,613,943
-------+---------+------------++------------+--------+------------
Copra Exports
------------------------------++----------------------------------
|| To United States, including
To All Countries || Hawaii and Porto Rico
-------+---------+------------++------------+--------+------------
| | Value || Percentage | | Value
Fiscal | Tons | in U. S. || of Total | Tons | in U. S.
Years | | Currency || Exports | | Currency
-------+---------+------------++------------+--------+------------
1899 | 14,047 | $656,870 || 4.7 | ---- | ----
1900 | 37,081 | 1,690,897 || 7.8 | ---- | ----
1901 | 52,530 | 2,648,305 || 10.0 | 103 | 4,450
1902 | 19,687 | 1,001,656 || 3.6 | ---- | ----
1903 | 97,630 | 4,472,679 || 11.2 | 61 | 9,173
1904 | 54,133 | 2,527,019 || 7.0 | 174 | 9,231
1905 | 37,557 | 2,095,352 || 5.6 | 205 | 14,425
1906 | 66,158 | 4,043,115 || 12.3 | ---- | ----
1907 | 49,082 | 4,053,193 || 11.8 | 1,110 | 108,086
1908 | 76,420 | 5,461,680 || 16.6 | 2,968 | 228,565
1909 | 105,565 | 6,657,740 || 21.1 | 4,714 | 287,484
1910 | 115,285 | 9,153,951 || 22.9 | 5,538 | 447,145
1911 | 115,602 | 9,899,457 || 24.9 | 12,241 | 1,030,481
1912 | 169,342 | 16,514,749 || 32.8 | 24,160 | 2,339,144
1913 | 113,055 | 11,647,898 || 21.9 | 7,460 | 720,245
-------+---------+------------++------------+--------+-----------
An extraordinary drought, which seems to have extended throughout the
Far East, is largely responsible for the decrease in exports during the
last fiscal year, its effect having been felt long after it had passed.
Coconut oil is very extensively used in making high-grade soaps,
and is now also employed in the manufacture of butter and lard
substitutes. Their quality is excellent, they keep well in the
tropics, and being non-animal in their nature are not open to the
æsthetic or religious objections which some people entertain toward
oleomargarine and true lard. Lard made from coconut oil is of course
especially appreciated in Mohammedan countries. There is a steady
demand for the shredded coconut used by confectioners. The press-cake
which remains after the oil has been extracted is a valuable food for
fattening animals. A rich, palatable and nutritious "milk," on which
"cream" rises in a most appetizing manner, is made by wringing out
fresh shredded coconut in water. Whether or not it can be preserved
and utilized as a commercial product remains to be seen, but the
experiment would be worth trying.
Thus far coconut cultivation has been conducted in a very haphazard
way. In fact, the existing groves are hardly cultivated at all. Nuts
or young trees are put into the ground in whatever fashion seems good
to the individual planter, and are invariably set too closely. There
may be a little initial cultivation, but usually nothing is done
except to cut down weeds and brush with a bolo, and often even this
is neglected. The trees, once established, are left to shift for
themselves, and are soon contending with each other for root space
and air. The owner cuts notches in their bark in order to facilitate
climbing. Water gathers in them and starts decay.
If under such circumstances coconut growing is so profitable that
to-day plantations can hardly be bought at any price, what will happen
when carefully selected seed nuts are put out at proper intervals and
growing trees are given high cultivation? In considering the profits
resulting from coconut culture, estimates are sometimes based on
twenty nuts to the tree per year, while forty are considered a very
liberal allowance. This number is even now largely exceeded throughout
extensive areas in the Philippines under the unfavourable conditions
above described. The effect of good cultivation can be determined,
in a measure, by the condition of trees which chance to be so situated
that the ground near them is kept clean. The results of fertilization
can be estimated by observing the condition of trees standing near
native houses. I recently endeavoured to have the nuts on a series
of such trees counted from the ground. This proved impossible. In
fact, it was necessary to cut out a bunch of nuts in order to make
it possible for a climber to scramble over the great masses of fruit,
and get among the leaves. I therefore bought the nuts on several trees
and had them thrown down. The trees were in a little Manobo village,
and the ground around them was cultivated. The two which seemed to be
bearing most heavily could not be climbed, as bees had taken possession
of them. The third best tree had three hundred ninety-seven nuts on it;
the fourth only three hundred twenty-three, but its output had been
reduced by tapping a number of its blossom stalks for tuba. All the
nuts were very large. The meat from an average specimen was carefully
dried and we found that one hundred fifty-six such nuts would make
a picul of copra. A common estimate of the average number of nuts
required for a picul is three hundred.
Of the whole number of nuts on these trees a few would have failed
to develop, owing to lack of room, but it is fair to suppose that
the first would have ripened three hundred fifty nuts and the second
two hundred seventy-five. Actual observation has shown that it takes
nuts two hundred thirty-eight to two hundred fifty-nine days to mature
in Mindanao.
Coconut trees attain a great age, and a producing plantation in the
Agusan valley would be a mine of wealth.
The time required for the trees to come into bearing varies from
five to seven years with differing conditions of soil and climate,
and with the altitude above sea-level. I have seen individual trees
heavily loaded with nuts at four and a half years. The owner of a
coconut plantation must wait for his returns, or grow something else
meanwhile. Quick growing catch crops may at first be raised between
the rows if soil conditions are favourable, but it must be remembered
that coconut trees thrive on soil so sandy that it will produce little
else of value. They require abundant water and plantations should be
well open to the breeze. Such conditions are frequently found along
the seashore, which doubtless explains the belief so common among
natives throughout the tropics that the coconut will not grow where
it cannot "hear" or "see" the sea. The trees do equally well on open
inland plains.
They have few enemies or diseases in the Philippines, the bud rot which
has caused such destruction in other countries being almost unknown
there. They resist wind storms admirably, and even typhoons seldom
uproot them, but violent gales injure the leaves and blow down the
fruits, thus temporarily checking production. While coconut growing
is profitable on suitable soil throughout the islands, it can be
carried on most safely to the south of the typhoon belt.
At present practically all Philippine copra is either sun-dried or
smoked. The latter process hardens the outer layer of the meat before
it is thoroughly dried within, and also causes the deposit of more or
less creosote. The resulting product moulds and decays readily, and
has given Philippine copra an evil name, but this will not seriously
interfere with the sale of a good article from the islands, as its
quality will be readily determinable.
Until within a very short time the crudest and most antiquated hand
machinery has been used in the local manufacture of coconut oil. Soon
after the American occupation a modern oil mill was established at
Manila. It prospered until it burned, which it rather promptly did
for the reason that it was constructed of Oregon pine, which speedily
became soaked with coconut oil, and was ready to flash into flame at
the touch of a lighted match or of a cigarette butt.
A new mill of iron, steel and reënforced concrete has now been
erected. It is equipped with the latest machinery and labour-saving
devices, and is reported to be operating on a wide margin of profit.
The market for coconut oil seems to grow more rapidly than the
supply increases. There is abundant room for more oil mills in the
Philippines, especially as the machinery used in extracting coconut
oil is equally well suited to the milling of castor beans, peanuts
and sesamum, all of which can be produced in any desired quantity.
Modern drying apparatus is just beginning to be imported for copra
making.
Sugar and tobacco are the remaining principal agriculture
products. Both can be very advantageously grown. All that has been said
relative to primitive methods in rice, hemp and coconut production can
be repeated with emphasis in discussing sugar culture. The machinery
and methods employed might almost be called antediluvian, and it is a
wonder that sugar could ever have been produced at a profit under such
conditions as have prevailed. Deep ploughing was unknown. There was
not an irrigated field of cane in the islands. The most modern of the
estates was equipped with a three-roll mill, and with some vacuum pans
which the owner did not know how to use. The soil was never fertilized,
and no sugar grower dreamed of employing a chemist. Forty to sixty
per cent of the sugar in the cane was thrown out in the bagasse,
and that extracted was full of dirt and promptly began to deliquesce.
Philippine sugar could never have competed successfully in the world's
market under such conditions.
Fortunately one modern central has already been established, and
several others are in process of construction. Up-to-date mills could
well afford to grind cane for Filipinos, giving them outright as much
sugar as they had previously been able to extract from it and making
a very handsome profit out of the balance. But as yet most Filipinos
have not learned the benefit of coöperation, and are too suspicious
to contract their crops of cane to a mill. It follows that mill
owners must control, in one way or another, land enough to produce
cane sufficient to keep their mills in profitable operation. As we
have seen advantage has been taken of this fact by unscrupulous sugar
men in the United States who have secured legislation limiting the
amount of land which corporations authorized to engage in agriculture
may own, with the deliberate intention of thus crippling the sugar
industry in the Philippine Islands. It is iniquitous so to handicap
an important industry in a colonial dependency, and this legislation
should be stricken from the statute books.
Fortunately there is no law limiting the right of individuals to
contract their crops, nor is it apparent that such a law could be
enacted. Furthermore, there is no law limiting the amount of land which
an individual may hold, nor is it likely that any will be passed. It
would therefore seem that while vicious legislation may interfere
with the rapid development of the sugar industry in the Philippines,
it cannot destroy it.
The table on the opposite page shows the amount and value of sugar
exports for the past fifteen years.
It is said that the tobacco which now produces the famous Sumatra
wrapper originally came from the Philippines, which now have to
import it. This condition of things is mainly due to lack of system
and care in tobacco growing. Seed selection is almost unknown; worms
are not picked; fertilization is not practiced; the system under which
each labourer settles on the land, plants as much or as little as he
pleases, and manages his crop in his own way, is in vogue, and it is
an eloquent testimonial to the merits of soil and climate that the
tobacco so grown is good for anything.
Sugar
------------------------------++-----------------------------------
|| To United States, including
To All Countries || Hawaii and Porto Rico
-------+---------+------------++------------+---------+------------
| | Value || Percentage | | Value
Fiscal | Tons | in U. S. || of Total | Tons | in U. S.
Years | | Currency || Exports | | Currency
-------+---------+------------++------------+---------+------------
1899 | 57,447 | $2,333,851 || 15.9 | 2,340 | $143,500
1900 | 78,306 | 3,000,501 || 12.3 | 143 | 21,000
1901 | 56,582 | 2,293,058 || 8.6 | 2,153 | 93,472
1902 | 67,795 | 2,761,432 || 10.0 | 5,225 | 293,354
1903 | 111,647 | 3,955,828 || 9.9 | 34,433 | 1,335,826
1904 | 75,161 | 2,668,507 || 7.2 | 11,626 | 354,144
1905 | 113,640 | 4,977,026 || 13.4 | 57,859 | 2,618,487
1906 | 125,794 | 4,863,865 || 14.8 | 7,302 | 260,104
1907 | 120,289 | 3,934,460 || 11.5 | 6,610 | 234,074
1908 | 151,712 | 5,664,666 || 17.2 | 48,476 | 2,036,697
1909 | 112,380 | 4,373,338 || 14.0 | 21,285 | 881,218
1910 | 127,717 | 7,040,690 || 17.6 | 94,156 | 5,495,797
1911 | 149,376 | 8,014,360 || 20.1 | 128,926 | 7,144,755
1912 | 186,016 | 10,400,575 || 20.6 | 161,783 | 9,142,833
1913 | 212,540 | 9,491,540 || 17.8 | 83,951 | 3,989,665
-------+---------+------------++------------+---------+------------
The domestic consumption of tobacco is very large. Practically every
one smokes. Exportations are increasing. The tables on pages nine
hundred and nine hundred one will give an adequate conception of the
recent growth of the tobacco industry.
Bananas form an important part of the food of the people, yet there
is not such a thing as a real banana plantation in the islands. The
average Filipino has a few plants around his house, but with many of
them even this is too much trouble, and they prefer to buy the fruit
at a comparatively high price in the local markets. Good bananas sell
readily in Manila at half a dollar a bunch, and the best varieties
bring even a higher price. The latter may be bought at ten cents
a bunch in the Agusan River valley, where conditions are ideal for
their successful cultivation. I recently measured a series of trunks
there which ran from forty inches to four feet in circumference.
Table showing the Number of Cigars removed from Manufactories for
Domestic Consumption and for Export during the Past Eight Fiscal Years
--------------+--------------------------------------------+-------------
| Cigars Manufactured and |
Fiscal Year +----------------+-------------+-------------+
ended June 30 | Consumed in | Exported | Shipped to | Total
| the Philippine | to Foreign | United |
| Islands | Countries | States |
--------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
| Number | Number | Number | Number
1906 | 74,184,537 | 94,110,336 | 231,206 | 168,526,079
1907 | 79,476,459 | 117,684,485 | 82,175 | 197,243,119
1908 | 82,986,278 | 115,738,939 | 29,570 | 198,754,787
1909 | 86,800,520 | 116,981,434 | 867,947 | 204,649,901
1910 | 89,272,890 | 109,006,765 | 87,281,673 | 285,561,328
1911 | 96,115,525 | 104,604,170 | 27,531,596 | 228,251,291
1912 | 109,924,014 | 104,476,781 | 70,518,050 | 284,918,845
1913 | 96,193,811 | 106,563,541 | 102,894,077 | 305,651,429
--------------+----------------+-------------+-------------+-------------
Table showing the Number of Cigarettes removed from Manufactories for
Domestic Consumption and for Export during the Past Eight Fiscal Years
--------------------------+------------------------------+---------------
| Cigarettes Manufactured and |
+----------------+-------------+
Fiscal Year ended June 30 | Consumed in | Exported to | Total
| the Philippine | Foreign |
| Islands | Countries |
--------------------------+----------------+-------------+---------------
| Number | Number | Number
1906 | 3,509,038,750 | 21,062,844 | 3,530,101,594
1907 | 3,509,999,575 | 158,349,812 | 3,668,349,387
1908 | 3,774,303,310 | 72,387,396 | 3,846,690,706
1909 | 4,122,385,209 | 53,250,328 | 4,175,635,537
1910 | 4,138,647,668 | 34,859,581 | 4,173,507,249
1911 | 4,058,603,123 | 35,425,865 | 4,094,028,988
1912 | 4,369,153,048 | 35,776,760 | 4,404,929,808
1913 | 4,449,340,088 | 51,431,838 | 4,500,771,926
--------------------------+----------------+-------------+---------------
Table showing the Quantity of Smoking Tobacco Exported during Each
of the Past Five Fiscal Years
-------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
| Total Exports during the Fiscal Year
Country to +----------+----------+----------+----------+---------
which Exported | 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912 | 1913
-------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------
| Pounds | Pounds | Pounds | Pounds | Pounds
Canary Islands | 33,488 | 18,547 | 21,329 | 28,645 | 59,454
For consumption on | | | | |
high seas | 14,490 | 17,655 | 22,610 | 24,488 | 29,257
France | 4,740 | 6,182 | 11,334 | 3,091 | 11,433
China | 2,233 | 1,586 | 7,938 | 6,077 | 9,569
All others | 5,082 | 5,174 | 25,791 | 4,151 | 7,417
+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------
Total | 60,034 | 49,145 | 89,004 | 66,452 | 117,130
-------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+---------
Table showing the Quantity of Leaf Tobacco Exported during the Calendar
Years 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1912
-------------------------+---------------------------------------------------
| Calendar Year
+------------+------------+------------+------------
| 1909 | 1910 | 1911 | 1912
-------------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------
| Pounds | Pounds | Pounds | Pounds
Exported in the leaf[182]| | | |
To the United States | 13,503 | 12,269 | 4,946 | 93,928
To other countries | 21,218,588 | 26,469,800 | 28,354,636 | 28,041,374
+------------+------------+------------+------------
Total | 21,232,079 | 26,482,069 | 28,359,582 | 28,136,302
-------------------------+------------+------------+------------+------------
Note.--All figures given above are for unstemmed leaf.
There are numerous varieties of bananas in the Philippines, and some
of them are of unrivalled excellence, but fruit of uniform quality is
unobtainable, if desired in any considerable quantity. In the course
of a brief morning visit to the Zamboanga market I have seen fifteen
to twenty different varieties of bananas on sale there, of which a
considerable proportion were full of tannin and fit only for cooking.
A banana plantation gives returns at the end of a year from the time
of planting, and the fruit ought to be grown on plantation scale for
the markets of Cebú, Iloilo, Manila and Hongkong.
Throughout extensive areas conditions are ideal for rubber production,
and Para, castilloa and ceara trees all thrive. Those of the latter
species reach their most perfect development in Bukidnon, where they
grow at an astonishing rate and produce hemispheres of foliage which
look almost solid. A plantation of these trees should be not only
beautiful to look upon but very profitable.
Conditions in the highlands of Luzón, in the sub-province of Bukidnon,
and in other portions of Mindanao, are admirably adapted to the
production of coffee. Indeed, one of the few known wild varieties
is indigenous to the Philippines. The coffee at present produced is
grown in violation of every accepted principle of coffee culture,
but is nevertheless excellent in quality, and any surplus not required
for local consumption is eagerly bought up for shipment to Spain. In
Bukidnon the opportunity for growing coffee upon a large scale is
excellent.
There is little doubt that tea could be advantageously produced in
the Philippine highlands, especially in northern Luzón.
Throughout extensive regions the soil and climate are ideal for
growing cacao, from which is made the chocolate of commerce. It has
numerous insect enemies, and careful scientific cultivation is needed
to obtain the best results.
A determined and very successful effort is being made by the Bureau
of Education to interest the Filipinos in raising corn, which is a far
better food than is rice. They are being taught how to grind and cook
it for human food, and its use, which has long been common in islands
like Cebú, Negros, Siquijor and Bohol, is rapidly increasing. It can
be grown to good advantage in the Philippines, and at existing prices
its production upon a commercial scale for human consumption would be
profitable, but there is another good use to which it can be put. The
supply of fresh pork is not equal to the demand, and there would be a
ready market, at a high price, for a largely increased amount. Corn-fed
hogs are practically unknown in the islands. They ought not to be.
Both corn and camotes flourish in Bukidnon, where the former often
attains a height of from twelve to eighteen feet and produces one to
four ears to the stalk. Here, as elsewhere, careful seed selection
rapidly increases the crop. Camotes, planted after the first ploughing,
kill out all grass and weeds, but rapidly impoverish the soil. Planting
camotes on a large scale and close subsequent pasturing of the land
with hogs would leave the soil enriched and in excellent condition
for planting with other crops. A little corn would put camote-fed
hogs in splendid condition for the market. In this way it would be
possible to raise them inexpensively and on a large scale.
The Philippines produce citrus fruits in considerable variety. Some of
the native oranges and lemons are excellent. No care has as yet ever
been given to their cultivation. They are never pruned or sprayed,
nor is the ground around them kept clean. The larger Philippine towns
and cities afford a good market for citrus fruits, and any surplus
could be shipped to neighbouring Asiatic cities. Experiments in
budding American varieties on to the native stock are now in progress.
In many parts of the islands climate and soil are perfectly adapted
to the production of pineapples, which at present usually grow
uncared for. One pineapple plantation has already been established,
and a factory for canning the product is under construction. Others
will follow.
Roselle, from the fruit of which is made a jelly equal to currant
jelly in colour, and very similar to it in flavour, grows luxuriantly
and produces heavy crops of fruit. An excellent fermented drink may
be made from its leaves and stems.
Mangos, commonly considered to be the best fruit produced in the
islands, can be successfully canned.
Guavas grow wild over extensive areas, and a properly located factory
could produce guava jelly in large quantity.
Briefly, there is every opportunity for the profitable investment of
brains, capital and energy in agricultural pursuits along a score of
different lines. Such investment would be of immense advantage to
the Filipinos themselves. They are neither original nor naturally
progressive, but they are quick to imitate, and would follow the
example set for them. Their country would readily support eighty
million people, and it has eight million, so there is still room for
a few foreigners.
If rice is the bread of the people, fresh fish is their meat. Twenty
or thirty thousand pounds of fresh fish are sold daily in Manila,
and the supply is inadequate to meet the demand. A similar condition
exists in many of the larger towns throughout the archipelago. Dried
fish is extensively used, and sardines preserved in brine find a
ready sale. They may be taken in immense quantities in the southern
islands at certain seasons. The intelligent application of modern
methods to the taking, preserving and marketing of fish would give
immediate and large returns.
Rinderpest appeared in the islands in 1888, and from that time until
the establishment of civil government under American rule swept through
the archipelago practically unchecked, causing enormous losses to
agriculture. For a time it was impossible to plough anything like
the normal amount of land, because of the lack of draught animals.
Promptly upon their establishment, the Bureau of Science and the
Bureau of Agriculture began a determined campaign against this the
most dangerous pest of cattle. The fight has never ceased up to the
present time. While the disease is not completely stamped out, its
ravages have been reduced to insignificant proportions, and the natural
increase of the surviving animals has rehabilitated agriculture.
Good draught animals still bring abnormally high prices. I well
remember that in Spanish days an ordinary carabao cost $7.50, and an
excellent one could be purchased for $12.50. Similar animals to-day
bring from $50 to $75 each, and in certain districts the best carabaos
sell for $100 each.
There is still a great shortage of beef cattle. Refrigerated meat is
imported in large quantities, but many of the Filipinos do not like it,
and will not buy it unless compelled to do so by the lack of any other.
It has been found impracticable to remedy these conditions by importing
Chinese cattle or carabaos for the reason that cattle disease is
prevalent in the regions from which they would necessarily come,
but a way out of the difficulty has now presented itself. Nellore
cattle, one of the humped breeds of India, belonging to a distinct
race known as zebus, are immune to rinderpest, and do not suffer from
tick fever, which is prevalent throughout the islands. They flourish
in the Philippines, and do especially well in Bukidnon.
They are much larger than the Chinese cattle now in common use, walk
faster, are extremely gentle and make superior draught animals. Their
flesh is excellent. Cattle raising in Mindanao on a large scale is
certainly possible, and offers a most attractive field for investment.
The establishment of a great silk-growing industry is dependent only
upon the necessary capital and initiative. The Bureau of Science has
laid the foundation for it by conclusively demonstrating that silk
worms, and the mulberry trees on the leaves of which they thrive,
flourish here. Worms have now been grown for six years, and have
never suffered from any disease. Filipina women and girls, with their
deft fingers, would make excellent help for silk culture. Indeed,
the opportunity to engage in it would be a great boon to them in many
parts of the islands where they now lack profitable employment.
Manufacturing is as yet in its infancy. There are a number of regions
where very cheap power can be had by hydraulic development. That the
Filipinos make good factory labourers has been abundantly demonstrated
in existing tobacco factories, a hat factory, a match factory and a
couple of small factories for the manufacture of tagal braid, [183]
all in successful operation. With plenty of good labour, cheap power
and abundant raw materials, important manufacturing industries should
be developed.
I will not discuss at length the possibility of engaging profitably
in trade. Such possibility exists wherever commodities are bought and
sold, and here as elsewhere profits or losses largely depend on the
abilities of individuals. But the question of the trade relations,
present and possible, between the Philippines and the United States
is one of very great importance.
In the next chapter I show the enormous increase in the total trade
of the country since the American occupation, and the rapid growth
of trade with the United States.
Next to rice, cotton goods form the most important element in the
consuming markets of the islands, and the rapidity with which the
United States is gaining control of this trade is well illustrated
in the following table, showing by years the value of such goods
imported since 1904:--
Importations of Cotton Cloth
-----------------+------------------+---------------
| United States |
Year | Hawaii and Porto | All Countries
| Rico |
-----------------+------------------+---------------
1904 | $278,106 | $4,919,840
1905 | 764,990 | 6,346,962
1906 | 278,796 | 6,642,329
1907 | 1,056,328 | 8,320,079
1908 | 604,742 | 7,909,395
1909 | 508,229 | 6,862,135
1910 | 2,043,000 | 8,444,453
1911 | 4,110,837 | 10,305,017
1912 | 4,143,067 | 9,246,595
1913 | 6,827,082 | 11,483,638
+------------------+---------------
Total | $20,615,177 | $80,480,443
| +---------------
Annual average | | $8,048,044
-----------------+------------------+---------------
From a proportion of slightly over five per cent of the total trade in
manufactures of cotton in 1904, importations of the American product
have increased until they supply fifty-nine per cent of the present
local demand!
The following table is of especial interest. It shows in the first
column the nature and amount of the total exports from the United
States and in the second the nature and amount of United States
exports to the Philippine Islands.
----------------------------------------------+-----------+---------------
| To All | To Philippine
| Countries | Islands
----------------------------------------------+-----------+---------------
Foodstuffs in crude condition, and food | |
animals | 7.48 | 2.25
Foodstuffs partly or wholly manufactured | 13.19 | 14.39
Crude materials for use in manufacturing | 30.10 | .42
Manufactures for further use in manufacturing | 16.84 | 7.19
Manufactures ready for consumption | 32.04 | 75.73
Miscellaneous | .35 | .02
+-----------+---------------
Total | 100.00 | 100.00
----------------------------------------------+-----------+---------------
The most profitable class of exports is manufactures ready for
consumption. It forms no less than 75.73 per cent of the United
States exports to the Philippines. The least profitable exports are
crude materials for use in manufacturing, which make up but forty-two
hundredths of one per cent of the total exports to the Philippines.
Tropical and sub-tropical products are constantly increasing in
popularity in the United States, which is able to produce them to
so small an extent that although the classes included in this table
comprise nearly forty per cent of the total United States imports
for the year, there are but two on which duty is levied.
The following table shows the amount and value of tropical products
imported into the United States during the year ended June 30, 1913:--
------------------------+--------------------+--------------
Products | Amount | Value
------------------------+--------------------+--------------
| |
Cocoa | 140,039,172 lb. | $17,389,042
Coffee | 863,130,757 lb. | 118,963,209
Fibres | 407,098 T. | 49,075,659
Manufactures of fibres | ---- | 76,972,416
Fruits and nuts | ---- | 42,622,653
Goatskins | 45,729,000 T. | 24,790,417
Gums of various kinds | ---- | 15,138,895
Rubber | 214,000,000 lb. | 101,333,158
Matting | ---- | 1,651,813
Vegetable oils | ---- | 38,112,883
Silk, unmanufactured | ---- | 84,914,717
Spices | 65,225,401 lb. | 6,187,136
Sugar | 4,740,041,488 lb. | 103,639,823
Tea | 94,812,800 lb. | 17,433,688
Leaf tobacco | 67,454,745 lb. | 35,919,079
Manufactured tobacco | ---- | 6,577,403
Cabinet woods | ---- | 8,880,000
Rattans and reeds | ---- | 1,800,000
| +--------------
| | $751,401,991
------------------------+--------------------+--------------
The balance of trade with the more important countries from which we
get these products is heavily against us, as is shown by the following
table in which I have included Switzerland, not because we get tropical
or sub-tropical products from that country, but because it furnishes
us embroideries, etc., which could be very cheaply produced in the
Philippines. The figures are for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1913:--
---------------+--------------------+------------------+-----------------
| | | Balance against
| U. S. Imports from | U. S. Exports to | U. S.
---------------+--------------------+------------------+-----------------
Brazil | $120,155,855 | $42,638,467 | $77,517,388
Cuba | 126,088,173 | 70,581,154 | 55,507,019
British E. I. | 116,178,182 | 15,108,956 | 101,069,226
Japan | 91,633,240 | 57,741,815 | 33,891,425
China | 39,010,800 | 21,326,834 | 17,683,966
Switzerland | 23,260,180 | 826,549 | 22,433,631
Mexico | 77,543,842 | 54,571,584 | 22,972,258
Colombia | 15,992,321 | 7,397,696 | 8,594,625
Venezuela | 10,852,331 | 5,737,118 | 5,115,213
Egypt | 19,907,828 | 1,660,833 | 18,246,995
+--------------------+------------------+-----------------
| $640,622,752 | $277,591,006 | $363,031,746
---------------+--------------------+------------------+-----------------
There is no such relationship with the Philippines, which during 1912
imported $20,770,536 worth of merchandise from the United States to
offset the $21,619,686 worth shipped to that country.
The Philippines could readily produce all of these products in
quantities sufficient to meet the demands of the United States if
there were proper development of the resources of the islands, which
have rich land, good labour and suitable climate, but lack capital
and competent, skilled supervision.
The situation has been admirably summed up in the following statement
issued some time since by the Manila Merchants' Association:--
"The Philippines will consume of imported commodities what they are
able to pay for. Their purchasing capacity will always be measured
by their production of export commodities. There is nothing that
they produce, or are adapted to produce, that the United States is
not at present under the necessity of buying from foreign countries
whose import trade it does not, and never will, control. Thus it
cannot hope for such advantages in other fields yielding tropical
products as it already possesses in these Islands."
The Philippines should furnish the bulk of the tropical products
imported into the United States. The commerce between the two countries
should in the very near future increase to $100,000,000 per year each
way and should go on increasing more and more rapidly thereafter.