100 



MANILA DAILY BULLETIN 



*The Philippines- America s Trade Gibraltar 



in the Far East 



If the United States is to retain the place 

 as a commercial power that she has acquired 

 during the progress of the great war, she, in 

 common with the rest of the world, must 

 turn her eyes to the vast markets and fields 

 of undeveloped resources in the Far East. 

 With the possible exception of Africa and 

 Russia, the producing areas of the world 

 outside of the immediate Orient have all been 

 tapped, but in China, particularly, and in the 

 non-Japanese islands of the Pacific lies the 

 great opportunity of the next generation, 

 a great opportunity because of the fact that 

 the exploitation of resources will bring com- 

 parative wealth to millions of Orientals who 

 for the first time in the history of the world 

 will become a considerable factor in the 

 world's buying markets. 



The United States, through the benevolent 

 policy which it has always pursued in the 

 Orient, has acquired a position to profit by 

 this opportunity that is not enjoyed by any 

 other power in the world. American motives 

 alone are not suspected as imperialistic. 

 ^But no matter how great this moral ad- 

 vantage may be, it will avail the American 

 business man nothing unless he makes the 

 most of other and more tangible advantages 

 which are also his. 



The Philippine Islands, under the American 

 flag or nominally independent after more than 

 a score of year? of American rule, is potential- 

 ly .the strategic base for American commer- 

 cial operations in the Far East, and Manila 

 is already recognized by the far-seeing man 

 of business as the great distributing point 

 for American manufactures in this new field. 

 As these words are being written there 

 is enroute to Washington a special mission, 

 composed of some of the leaders among the 

 Filipino people, both business men and those 

 in public life. They will seek to secure from 

 congress a grant of Philippine independence, 

 but at the same time they will do everything 

 in their power to bring about closer commer- 

 cial relations between the Philippines and 

 the United States. 



The point that it is essential for the Amer- 

 ican business man to remember is that no 

 matter what the decision of congress on the 

 political status of the Philippine Islands may 

 be, the opportunities which they offer to him, 

 both in themselves and in their geographic 

 relation to the vast and thickly populated 

 regions that are soon to become centers of 

 production for the entire world and markets 

 for the products of the western nations, will 

 not be changed. 



INTERISLAND SAILING VESSELS TRANSFERRING SUGAR TO STEAMER FOR SHIPMENT TO NEW YORK, ILOILO 



It is safe to predict that no political changes 

 will be made that do not bring with them 

 guarantees of stability that are more than 

 sufficient, and it is equally certain that the 

 altruistic policies of America in the islands 

 have won for her a willingness on the part of 

 their inhabitants to safeguard and foster the 

 interests of her nationals for all time to come. 



The Philippines of tomorrow, equally with 

 the Philippines of today, will be America's 

 trade Gibraltar in the Far East. 



That Americans are awakening to this 

 realization has been made manifest in many 

 ways since the beginning of the European 

 war. Port facilities at Manila have sud- 

 denly become inadequate to meet the needs 

 of the situation, and the Philippine govern- 

 ment has been forced to extraordinary efforts 

 to keep pace with the growth of our imports. 

 New piers are being designed and before 

 many months are past the port facilities of 

 Manila will be among the finest offered by 

 any shipping center on the Pacific. 



Already Manila is becoming the trans- 

 shipment point for American products des- 

 tined for India, the Straits Settlements, the 

 Dutch possessions, and French Indo-China. 

 A free zone to provide ample attractions and 

 accommodations for the development of this 

 important trade has been proposed and has 

 the support of the government bureau of 

 commerce and industry. That such a zone 

 will be created in the near future seems as- 

 sured. 



The advantages which Manila has to offer 

 along these lines are not hard to find. 



In the first place Manila has direct steamer 

 service to America, to Europe, to China, to 



Japan, to India and the Straits Settlements, 

 to the Dutch Indies and to Australia. In 

 this service American vessels are coming to 

 play a more and more prominent part, and it 

 will not be many months before an American 

 mail line 17-day service between San Francisco 

 and Manila will be realized. 



In the second place, Manila has its geo- 

 graphical position. A circle with Manila as 

 its center and with a radius of 1,700 miles, 

 a little over half the distance across the 

 United States, embraces a population of 

 nearly 126,000,000, while a larger circle, 

 with a radius of 3,500 miles, slightly more 

 than the distance from New York to San 

 Francisco, includes nearly half of the world's 

 entire population. The vast population and 

 undeveloped resources of China are practical- 

 ly at the doorstep of the Philippines. 



The Malayasias are already trading with 

 America by way of the Pacific, but with a 

 return to normal conditions, as has been point- 

 ed out by Walter S. Wheaton, in an article 

 which recently appeared in the Pan Pacific, 

 some of this business, principally that with 

 the British Indies, will return to the Atlantic 

 routes via Suez "except such of that business 

 as we can arrange to care for from our first 

 and last American port of call, Manila, which 

 is only 1370 miles northeast of Singapore and 

 correspondingly near all Indias and Ma- 

 laysia countries, and which should be a dis- 

 tributary point for American commerce in 

 that portion of the world. Manila should 

 be warehousing and gateway port, and that 



(Concluded on page 108) 



PARTIAL VIEW Of MANILA HARBOR AS IT APPEARED AT THE OPENING OF HOSTILITIES, AUGUST 1014 



