16 



The entire milling equipment of the Philippine sugar industry is of 

 a type dating back at least thirty or forty years as compared with the 

 other tropical sugar-growing countries. Up to the year 1910 there was 

 not a single modern mill nor a piece of vacuum apparatus on a planta- 

 tion in the Islands. At this writing there are said to be one or two 

 small modem mills in operation, one large one under construction 

 and several others in prospect. These modem mills are the greatest 

 need of the Philippine sugar industry and offer an exceptionally fine 

 field of investment both for the capitalists and the growers who will 

 supply the central mills with cane. 



During the Spanish sovereignty of the Philippine Islands the bulk 

 of the crop generally went to the United States, Great Britain, China, 

 and Japan where it was in constant demand. The United States 

 has always been a much larger consumer of Philippine sugar than 

 Spain, which took only a comparatively small part of the crop. Japan 

 has rapidly developed her sugar fields in Formosa and has about 

 ceased buying in the Philippines, but China has continued to take a 

 considerable portion of the lower grade sugars in decreasing quantities 

 up to the present time. The American refineries generally demand 

 grades polarizing 96° or more and will only take the low grade sugars 

 of the Philippines when the better grades are scarce and high priced. 

 The price paid then is usually less than the polarization would indicate 

 the value to be on account of the excessive waste in refining and the 

 increased cost in ocean freight for transporting this extra weight from 

 the Philippines to American ports. 



The political event having the greatest effect on the Philippine 

 sugar industry during the American occupation of the Islands was 

 the passage by Congress of the Payne Tariff Bill in August, 1909, 

 under the provisions of which up to 300,000 tons of Philippine sugar 

 are allowed admission free of duty into the United States each year. 

 The previous A^t placed the duty on Philippine sugar (and all other 

 Philippine products) at 75 per cent of the regular tariff rate. This 

 last tariff concession has had the effect of greatly increasing both 

 the price of sugar and the amount exported to the United States and 

 has led to a considerable increase in the amount of cane planted; but 

 the limitation to 300,000 tons that may enter duty free acts as a check 

 on the investment of capital in modern mills which are so greatly 

 needed for the proper development of the industry. Under present 

 conditions the grower is able to recover only a part of the sugar 

 content of the cane produced in his fields on account of the very 

 antiquated and ineflficient milling facilities at his disposal. Also the 

 quality of the sugar produced is inferior and does not sell readily to 

 the refiners of the United States, on account of the demand there being 

 for the higher grades. 



