8 



known as copra, coprax, and copraz.. The exportation of copra is detri- 

 mental to the best interests of the planter, tending to enrich the manu- 

 facturer and impoverish the grower. The practice, however, is so firmly 

 established that the writer can only record a probably futile protest 

 against its continuance. 



The causes which for a long time will favor the exportation of copra 

 instead of oil in this Archipelago may be briefly stated as follows : 



(1) An oil-milling plant, constructed with due regard to economy of 

 labor and the production of the best quality of oil, would involve an out- 

 lay of capital of $2,500, gold, and upward, according to capacity. The 

 production of copra requires the labor of the planter's hands only. 



(8) The oil packages must be well-made barrels, casks, or metallic 

 receptacles. The initial cost of the packages is consequently great, their 

 return from distant ports impracticable, and their sale value in the mar- 

 ket of delivery is not sufficient to offset the capital locked up in an un- 

 productive form. On the other hand, copra may be sold or shipped in 

 boxes, bags, sacks, and bales, or it may even be stored in bulk in the 

 ship's hold. 



(3) When land transportation has to be considered, the lack of good 

 roads still further impedes the oil maker. He can not change the size 

 and weight of his packages from day to day to meet the varying passa- 

 bility of the trail. On the other hand, packages of copra may be ad- 

 justed to meet all emergencies, and the planter can thus take advantage 

 of the market conditions which may be denied to the cil maker. 



(4) Perhaps the most serious difficulty the oil maker has to contend 

 with is the continuous discouragement he encounters from the agent of 

 foreign factories, who buys in the open market and, bidding up to nearly 

 the full oil value of the copra, finds an ample manufacturer's profit paid 

 by the press cake, so valuable abroad, but, unfortunately, practically 

 without sale or value here. The residue from the mill may be utilized 

 both for food and for manure by the oil maker who is a tree owner and 

 who maintains cattle. For either of these purposes its value rates closely 

 up to cotton-seed cake, and the time is not remote when it will be recog- 

 nized in the Philippines as far too valuable a product to be permitted to 

 be removed from the farm excepting at a price which will permit of the 

 purchase at a less figure of an equivalent in manure. So active are the 

 copra-buying agents in controlling this important branch of the indus- 

 try, that they refuse to buy the press cake at any price, with the result 

 that, in two instances known to the writer, they have forced the closure 

 of oil-milling plants and driven the oil maker back to his copra. 



Many copra-making plants in India and Ceylon are now supplied with 

 decorticating, breaking, and evaporating machinery. The process em- 

 ployed in this Archipelago consists in first stripping the ripe fruit of 

 the outer fibrous husk. This is effected by means of a stout, steel spear- 

 head, whose shaft or shank is embedded firmly in the soil to such a depth 



