PEACE AND PROSPERITY
Unexampled material prosperity has come to the islands, partly as a
result of the establishment of peace, and the improvement in means
of communication; partly from a very different cause.
Among other dire calamities which he says have befallen the
Philippines Blount includes "tariff-wrought poverty," [184] and he
roundly scores the Congress of the United States for its attitude
toward the suffering Filipino.
As a simple matter of fact, tariff legislation enacted by Congress has
been the commercial salvation of the islands. The tariff law of 1909,
known as the Payne Bill, was passed August 5, 1909, and went into
effect sixty days thereafter. In order to make the effect of this
act more apparent, the figures from July 1, 1909, in the following
statistical tables are printed in bold-faced type. These tables speak
for themselves, very loudly.
Internal-Revenue Statistics
-----------+--------------+----------++-------------+------------+--------------
| Total | || | Total | Increase (+)
Fiscal Year| Collections | Increase || Fiscal Year |Collections | or
| | || | | Decrease (-)
-----------+--------------+----------++-------------+------------+--------------
| | Per Cent || | | Per Cent
1906 [185] | $4,434,364 | -- || 1910 |$7,160,810 | +22
1907 | 4,729,515 | 7 || 1911 | 7,922,787 | +11
1908 | 5,542,022 | 17 || 1912 | 8,389,929 | + 6
1909 | 5,871,267 | 6 || 1913 |9,035,922 | + 8
-----------+--------------+----------++-------------+------------+--------------
Trade with the United States
----------------------+------------------+----------------+----------------
| Imports from the | Exports to the |
Fiscal Year | United States | United States | Total
----------------------+------------------+----------------+----------------
1899 | $1,150,613 | $3,540,894 | $4,691,507
1900 | 1,656,469 | 3,635,160 | 5,291,629
1901 | 2,666,930 | 2,572,021 | 5,238,951
1902 | 4,035,243 | 7,871,743 | 11,906,986
1903 | 3,944,082 | 13,863,059 | 17,807,141
1904 | 4,843,207 | 11,102,860 | 15,946,067
1905 | 5,839,512 | 15,678,875 | 21,518,387
1906 | 4,333,917 | 11,580,569 | 15,914,486
1907 | 5,155,478 | 12,082,364 | 17,237,842
1908 | 5,079,670 | 10,332,116 | 15,411,786
1909 | 4,693,831 | 10,154,087 | 14,847,918
1910 | 10,775,301 | 18,703,083 | 29,478,384
1911 | 19,483,658 | 16,716,956 | 36,200,614
1912 | 20,970,536 | 21,619,686 | 42,390,222
1913 (at the rate of) | 26,264,218 | 23,573,865 | 49,838,083[186]
----------------------+------------------+----------------+----------------
Total Trade, including that with the United States
Column headings: FY: Fiscal Year; ID: Increase (+) or Decrease (-); PC: Per Cent
-----+-------------------+--------------------+-------------+------------------
| | | | Foreign Tonnage
| Imports | Exports | Total | Cleared
FY +-------------+-----+-------------+------+ Customs +-----------+------
| Value | ID | Value | ID | Collections | Amount | ID
-----+-------------+-----+-------------+------+-------------+-----------+------
| | PC | | PC | | | PC
1899 | $13,116,567 | -- | $14,640,162 | -- | $3,106,380 | 336,550 | --
1900 | 20,601,436 | +57 | 19,821,347 | +35 | 5,542,289 | 636,034 | +89
1901 | 30,276,200 | +47 | 23,222,348 | +17 | 8,982,813 | 987,094 | +55
1902 | 32,029,357 | + 6 | 24,544,858 | + 6 | 8,528,938 | 1,104,968 | +12
1903 | 32,978,445 | + 3 | 33,150,120 | +35 | 9,540,706 | 1,542,200 | +40
1904 | 33,221,251 | + 1 | 30,226,127 | - 9 | 8,493,868 | 1,542,138 | --
1905 | 30,879,048 | - 7 | 32,355,865 | + 7 | 8,263,444 | 1,417,396 | - 8
1906 | 25,799,290 | -16 | 31,918,542 | - 1 | 7,553,206 | 1,455,055 | + 3
1907 | 28,786,063 | +12 | 33,721,767 | + 6 | 8,194,708 | 1,293,266 | -11
1908 | 30,918,745 | + 7 | 32,829,816 | - 3 | 8,318,020 | 1,464,448 | +13
1909 | 27,794,482 | -10 | 31,044,458 | - 5 | 8,539,098 | 1,392,333 | - 5
1910 | 37,067,630 | +33 | 39,717,960 | +28 | 8,286,073 | 1,715,268 | +23
1911 | 49,833,722 | +34 | 39,778,629 | +0.2 | 8,678,810 | 1,808,308 | +15
1912 | 54,549,980 | + 9 | 50,319,836 | +26 | 9,363,296 | 1,939,079 | + 7
1913 | 56,327,533 | +11 | 56,683,326 | +17 | 8,246,026 | 1,868,811 | - 4
-----+-------------+-----+-------------+------+-------------+-----------+------
------------+---------------+-------------------+-----------------
| Receipts from | Amounts of |
| Percentage | Business on which | Increase (+)
Fiscal Year | Tax on | Percentage Tax | or Decrease (-)
| Business | is Collected |
------------+---------------+-------------------+-----------------
| | | Per Cent
1906 | $666,996 | $200,098,983 | --
1907 | 677,847 | 203,354,298 | + 2
1908 | 643,707 | 193,112,160 | - 5
1909 | 631,877 | 189,563,361 | - 2
1910 | 759,718 | 227,915,673 | +20
1911 | 885,804 | 265,741,443 | +17
1912 | 951,775 | 285,532,500 | + 7
1913 | 1,110,000 | 333,000,000 | +17
------------+---------------+-------------------+-----------------
The Philippine government collects as internal revenue one-third of
one per cent of the gross business done by merchants and manufacturers
in the islands. The fiscal year ending June 30, 1909, was the last
before the opening of free trade with the United States. The figures
for the four subsequent years therefore show the resulting stimulus
to business.
The gross business on which the percentage tax was collected in
1909 was $190,000,000 (P380,000,000). The increases over that year
have been:--
------+---------------------------------+-------------
| Increases over 1909 |
+------------------+--------------+ Percentage
Year | United States | Philippine | of Increase
| Currency | Currency |
------+------------------+--------------+-------------
1910 | $38,000,000 | P76,000,000 | 20.0
1911 | 76,000,000 | 152,000,000 | 40.0
1912 | 96,000,000 | 192,000,000 | 50.5
1913 | 143,000,000[187]| 286,000,000 | 75.3
+------------------+--------------+-------------
| $353,000,000[187]| P706,000,000 |
------+------------------+--------------+-------------
The gross business increased by a fifth in one year; by two-fifths
in two years; by more than a half in three years; and by more than
three-quarters in four years.
In the year 1909 the total exports and imports of the Philippine
Islands amounted to $59,000,000 (P118,000,000). The increases over
that year have been:--
------+----------------------------------+-------------
| Increases over 1909 |
+-------------------+--------------+ Percentage
Year | United States | Philippine | of Increase
| Currency | Currency |
------+-------------------+--------------+-------------
1910 | $18,000,000 | P36,000,000 | 30.5
1911 | 31,000,000 | 62,000,000 | 52.5
1912 | 46,000,000 | 92,000,000 | 77.9
1913 | 61,000,000[188]| 122,000,000 | 103.4
+-------------------+--------------+-------------
| $156,000,000 | P312,000,000 |
------+-------------------+--------------+-------------
The total trade increased by nearly one-third in one year; by more
than a half in two years; by more than three-quarters in three years;
and more than doubled in four years.
---------------------------------------+---------------+----------------
| United States | Philippine
| Currency | Currency
---------------------------------------+---------------+----------------
Total increase of business as above | $353,000,000 | P706,000,000
Total increase of trade as above | 156,000,000 | 312,000,000
+---------------+----------------
Total increase of business and trade | $509,000,000 | P1,018,000,000
---------------------------------------+---------------+----------------
An attempt has been made to make political capital out of one of the
heavy drops in hemp values. [189]
It is astonishing how fully Providence sometimes squares accounts
with the falsifier. Whatever may be thought of the advisability or
inadvisability of the hemp duty rebate, there is no escape from the
conclusion that it does not determine the price of hemp. While it
is true that there has been a time during the past two years when
the hemp grower received half, or less than half, the price for
his product which he obtained ten years ago, it is also true that
during the latter part of this same period he has received very much
higher prices than either he or any of his ancestors ever before
obtained. This apart from the fact that the price ten years ago was
quite abnormal, due to crop shortage resulting from a bad state of
public order. It is a poor rule that does not work both ways. If the
hemp rebate is responsible for the recent slump in prices, it must
also be responsible for their having later "kicked the beam."
The facts set forth in the following tables are also significant of
improved conditions:--
Banking
-------------+--------------+-----------------
| Total |
Fiscal Year | Resources of | Increase (+)
| Commercial | or Decrease (-)
| Banks |
-------------+--------------+-----------------
| | Per Cent
1906 | $15,351,690 |
1907 | 17,054,358 | +11
1908 | 17,454,214 | + 2
1909 | 18,138,425 | + 4
1910 | 22,856,455 | +26
1911 | 24,557,697 | + 7
1912 | 35,885,728 | +46
1913 | 31,210,177 | -13
-------------+--------------+-----------------
Postal Savings Bank
-------------+---------------------+-----------------------------
| Depositors in the | Total Amount Due Depositors
Fiscal Year | Postal Savings Bank | at Close of Year
+--------+------------+--------------+--------------
| Number | Increase | Amount | Increase
-------------+--------+------------+--------------+--------------
| | Per Cent | | Per Cent
1907 [190] | 2,331 | | $254,731 |
1908 | 5,389 | 131 | 515,997 | 102
1909 | 8,782 | 63 | 724,479 | 40
1910 | 13,102 | 49 | 839,123 | 16
1911 | 28,804 | 120 | 1,049,737 | 25
1912 | 35,802 | 24 | 1,194,493 | 14
1913 [191] | 38,075 | | 1,252,189 |
-------------+--------+------------+--------------+--------------
Coastwise Tonnage Cleared
----------------------+---------------+-----------------
| | Increase (+)
Fiscal Year | Tonnage | or Decrease (-)
----------------------+---------------+-----------------
| | Per Cent
1899 | 237,852 | ----
1900 | 482,685 | +103
1901 | 676,307 | + 40
1902 | 773,243 | + 14
1903 | 832,438 | + 8
1904 | 905,821 | + 9
1905 | 840,504 | - 7
1906 | 774,032 | - 8
1907 | 899,915 | + 16
1908 | 978,968 | + 9
1909 | 1,045,075 | + 7
1910 | 1,053,426 | + 1
1911 | 1,303,606 | + 24
1912 | 1,362,620 | + 5
1913 (at the rate of) | 1,262,136[192]| - 7
----------------------+---------------+-----------------
Importations of Coal (Equal Consumption Very Nearly) [193]
----------------------+-----------------
| Metric Tons
Fiscal Year | (2205 Pounds)
----------------------+-----------------
1899 | 30,812
1900 | 87,238
1901 | 126,732
1902 | 236,332
1903 | 268,650
1904 | 295,716
1905 | 269,666
1906 | 268,577
1907 | 295,684
1908 | 322,928
1909 | 294,902
1910 | 375,518
1911 | 413,735
1912 | 436,687
1913 (at the rate of) | 408,118 [194]
----------------------+-----------------
If possible, let us have more of this same kind of tariff-wrought
poverty and commercial distress! The country needs it.
This extraordinary story of rapid increase in commercial prosperity,
as well as in the volume of commerce between the Philippines and the
United States, is but a faint indication of what would come about
under a fixed policy which assured future adequate protection to life
and property in these islands.
Specific assurance that the United States would not surrender
sovereignty over the archipelago until its inhabitants had demonstrated
both ability and inclination to maintain a stable, just and effective
government would be followed by a steady, healthful commercial
development which would bring in its wake a degree of prosperity
hitherto unknown and undreamed of. The Philippines have the best
tropical climate in the world; soil of unsurpassed richness;
great forest wealth; promising mines; and a constantly growing
population willing to work for a reasonable wage. Give assurance
of a stable government, and prosperity will increase by leaps and
bounds. Turn the country over now, or ten years from now, to the
Filipinos to govern, and the reputable business men, mindful of
Aguinaldo's demand for his share of the war booty when Manila was
taken; of the attempted confiscation of the lands of the religious
orders and of Spanish citizens generally, [195] of the proposal to
tax foreigners [196] as such, and of the torturing of friars, other
Spaniards and Filipinos as well, in order to extort money from them;
of the widespread brigandage, the raping, the officially authorized
and directed murdering and burying alive which prevailed during the
period of undisturbed Filipino rule, will fold their tents like the
Arabs and quietly steal away. There will remain that peculiar class
of business men who, as the Filipinos put it, love to fish in troubled
waters. They will not lack good fishing grounds.
Should we not stimulate the commercial development of the islands
by adopting liberal provisions as to the sale of public lands,
safeguarding the public interest by imposing at the same time severe
conditions as to cultivation? And should not our anti-imperialist
friends cease to rail at those of their countrymen who are willing to
spend the money without which commercial development is impossible? Can
they not grasp the fact that the influx of Americans and American
capital sounds the death knell of slavery and peonage? It was Americans
whose testimony enabled me to prove to the world the existence in
the Philippines of these twin evils, and to bring pressure to bear
which resulted in prohibitive legislation. It is Americans who are
helping the poor Filipinos to become owners of land. It is Americans
who are encouraging them to take contracts for cultivating cane,
so that they have a direct interest in the crop.
Increasing prosperity means more money for the maintenance of
order, for schools, for hospitals, for sanitary work and for public
improvements. The diminution of exports which would promptly follow
any serious disturbance of the peace of the country would result in
the loss of much of the ground already gained.
The average business man is not a sentimentalist. So long as he
can safely carry on his work, and can be sure of just treatment, he
does not worry much over the nationality of the government officials
who maintain such conditions, but he will not invest his money in a
country where it is not reasonably certain that such conditions will
continue to prevail.
The business men of the Philippines know by experience what American
government of the archipelago means. Some of them know, also by
experience, what Filipino rule means. The slump in real estate
values and customs receipts which so promptly followed Mr. Wilson's
expression of hope that the frontiers of the United States might soon
be contracted, conclusively demonstrated their opinion as to the effect
of Philippine independence on the peace and prosperity of the country.
The number of Filipinos who thus far have demonstrated ability
successfully to manage large commercial enterprises is exceedingly
limited. Must not commercial prosperity coexist with political
independence, if the latter is to be stable?
During the visit of the congressional delegation which accompanied
Mr. Taft on his return to the Philippines in 1907, public sessions
were held at which the Filipinos were given opportunity to make
complaints. One fervid orator denounced the collection of customs dues,
internal revenue taxes, the land tax and the cedula tax. A congressman
asked him how he expected to get money to run the government after
all taxes were abolished. He replied, "That is a detail which can be
settled later."
Would it not be well to consider, at this time, one very important
detail, namely, what would be the effect on the insular government
of a marked falling off in the business from the taxes on which
practically all of the insular revenues are at present derived?