------+------------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------
| To all countries | To the United States
+------------+-----------+--------+--------+-------------------+-------------------+---------
| | |Average |Per cent| Number | Value | Average
| | |value |of total+------------+------+-----------+-------+ value
Year | Number | Value |per |exports | | Per | | Per | per
| | |thousand| | Cigars | cent | Pesos | cent | thousand
------+------------+-----------+--------+--------+------------+------+-----------+-------+---------
| | Pesos | Pesos | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
1913 | 191,762,442| 6,024,468| 31.42 | 6.31 | 71,513,141| 37.29| 3,285,776| 54.54 | 45.95
1914 | 154,753,363| 4,630,318| 29.92 | 4.75 | 56,205,050| 36.32| 2,400,252| 51.84 | 42.71
1915 | 134,647,687| 4,114,605| 30.56 | 3.82 | 61,169,600| 45.43| 2,302,444| 55.96 | 37.64
1916 | 193,025,578| 5,688,751| 29.47 | 4.02 | 111,478,216| 57.75| 4,066,242| 71.48 | 36.47
1917 | 284,524,500| 9,588,192| 33.70 | 5.07 | 202,198,534| 71.07| 7,725,966| 38.20 | 38.29
1918 | 360,144,827| 14,252,637| 39.57 | 5.21 | 248,747,584| 69.07| 11,365,675| 79.85 | 45.69
1919 | 392,339,462| 18,157,707| 46.28 | 8.07 | 263,942,555| 67.27| 13,828,639| 76.16 | 52.39
1920 | 421,545,143| 25,442,276| 60.35 | 8.43 | 316,862,859| 75.17| 21,092,607| 82.90 | 66.57
1921 | 154,879,488| 6,454,886| 41.67 | 3.66 | 68,216,608| 44.04| 3,960,503| 61.36 | 58.06
1922 | 300,484,824| 11,602,219| 38.61 | 6.07 | 173,317,046| 57.68| 8,519,576| 73.43 | 49.16
------+------------+-----------+--------+--------+------------+------+-----------+-------+---------
SECONDARY FOOD PRODUCTS.--Corn leads in importance among the
secondary food products. In 1918 there were 1,035,067 acres grown to
corn producing 11,269,258 bushels valued at $10,686,061. The other
food crops worth mentioning under this heading are sweet potatoes,
cassava, sesame, mongoes, peanuts, bananas, mangoes, citrus, lanzones,
and a great number of tropical fruits and vegetables. Including the
edible algæ and fungi there are more than 100 species of plants in
the Philippines, either wild or cultivated, that find a place in
the dietary system of the people. So rich is the country in food
producing plants.
PROSPECTIVE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES.--The plants from which the various
other tropical staple products in the world's markets are derived,
such as rubber, coffee, tea, cacao, pepper, cinchona, and cassava are
all known to thrive well in the Philippines, although the growing of
those enumerated is yet of comparatively little importance. Rubber
has the greatest future of these. The great Island of Mindanao,
which is outside the typhoon zone, has been found to be suitable
to the growing of rubber. All the large rubber plantations of the
Philippines are located on Mindanao or the adjacent Island of Basilan.
During the early years of American occupation, when the acreage
planted to rubber in other countries increased by leaps and bounds,
the erroneous impression somehow gained ground that the Philippines
were unsuited to rubber. And it is not very many years ago that a
planter was able to demonstrate beyond doubt that rubber could be
grown in the Islands successfully. The company he heads now has some
80,000 rubber trees planted. The success of its operations has induced
others to plant rubber, and while the Philippine output of rubber is
still insignificant, it may be said that the rubber industry has come
to stay.
IRRIGATION.--Irrigation has been practiced in the Philippines in some
form for centuries, for, in general, it may be said that the certainty
of a rice harvest depends upon irrigation to supplement the natural
rainfall. When the rainfall is copious and well distributed during the
rice growing season, there is little demand for artificial irrigation
but in the event of a drought or irregular rainfall irrigation
has to be used to insure a normal rice crop. With irrigation it is
also possible to grow two crops of rice a year, whereas without it
the planting of one is often hazardous. Prior to 1908 very little
attention was given to the development of irrigation systems so that
the only irrigation works constructed were by private and communal
enterprise. These old systems are found in different parts of the
Islands, the most notable being the extensive systems with permanent
dams, tunnels, and ditches constructed by the friars and the remarkable
side hill terraces built by the mountain people in the subprovince
of Ifugao.
Studies of irrigation possibilities have now advanced sufficiently to
warrant the Bureau of Public Works recommending a ten-year program for
the construction of 40 irrigation systems in 20 of the principal rice
producing provinces to water an area of approximately 750,000 acres. It
is estimated that these 40 systems will cost about $25,000,000. With
these systems completed and operating, there will be no further need
of importing rice from other countries.
[Rural Credit]
RURAL CREDIT ASSOCIATIONS.--The Rural Credit Law has removed
the restriction in the Corporation Law requiring P200,000 paid-in
capital before a bank may be started. Under the new law, associations
may incorporate with a paid-in capital as low as P100 or as high as
P10,000. The Government does not furnish any financial help except that
the organizing staff is paid and maintained by it. To give security
to small investors the bonded municipal treasurer acts as treasurer
ex-officio of the association and Government auditors audit its books.
The purpose of the Rural Credit Law is to encourage small farmers to
coöperate and furnish their own capital. Only one association may be
incorporated in a municipality to avoid rivalry and factions.
On October 19, 1916, the first rural credit association was
incorporated, and after practically six years, there are now 544
incorporated associations with a paid-in capital of P807,178.
NUMBER OF RURAL CREDIT ASSOCIATIONS AND AVERAGE NUMBER OF STOCKHOLDERS,
AMOUNT OF CAPITAL STOCK PAID UP, AND LOANS MADE IN 1923, BY PROVINCES
AND SUBPROVINCES
Province and Number of Number of Capital Loans
subprovince associations stockholders paid up