536 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



and two crops are grown every year, and one 

 crop of tobacco on the same ground. Manila 

 hemp is a native plant grown in abundance in 

 forest lands. Though other tropical countries 

 are probably suitable for its culture, it is pro- 

 duced nowhere except in the Philippines. The 

 problem of increasing the product does not de- 

 pend on cultivating more plants, but on extract- 

 ing the fiber more easily. The hand-machines 

 now used are carried into the hemp forests and 

 worked by three men. The process is so slow 

 that only about a sixth of the plants are cut and 

 stripped into fiber. The fiber deteriorates rapidly 

 after the stalks are cut, and therefore the extrac- 

 tion can not be carried on at a central factory 

 unless transportation is much improved. From 

 the hemp and from the native pineapple fiber the 

 natives weave handsome light diaphanous cloths, 

 often shot with threads of bright silk, that are 

 universally worn. The pineapple cloths are also 

 exported to Singapore, where the Chinese pay for 

 them high prices. This fiber, too, is extracted 

 by primitive hand-machines. The tobacco of the 

 Philippines is inferior to that formerly grown. 

 No fresh seed has been imported from Cuba in 

 many years, and no attention is given to the se- 

 lection of seed. David G. Fairchild, sent as an 

 expert to explore the agricultural resources of 

 the islands by the Department of Agriculture, 

 suggests the distribution by the Government of 

 good Sumatra and Havana seed and selected seed 

 of Manila-grown tobacco. Rubber, gutta-percha, 

 tea, coffee, and cotton are proposed as experi- 

 mental cultures. For the exploitation and protec- 

 tion of the valuable timber resources of Mindanao 

 and other islands the methods pursued in Java 

 by the Dutch are recommended for imitation. 

 The hard woods of the Philippines are remark- 

 able for size as well as quality. There are large 

 forests of giant trees, some of them, like the 

 hard dark brown harra wood, 7 or 8 feet thick. 

 Imports were larger during the early period of 

 the American occupation than later. In 1902 

 they showed no appreciable increase owing to a 

 scarcity of money and the still unsettled state of 

 important districts. Exports fell off because 

 when the blockade was first raised the accumu- 

 lated stocks of hemp and other products were 

 shipped at once, and this temporary movement 

 soon came to an end. Southern Luzon, which 

 produces hemp and copra, and Samar, one of 

 the most important hemp islands, were so dis- 

 turbed that there was little to export in the early 

 part of 1902, and the hemp exports of Leyte 

 suffered from an influx of Samar rebels. Cebu, 

 which was first pacified, became the most impor- 

 tant source of the hemp supply. Sugar culti- 

 vation in. Panay and Negros was not disturbed. 

 Rice was planted in smaller quantities than usual, 

 and the crop, owing to drought, was unusually 

 light. Agriculture was retarded not only by the 

 impoverishment and disturbance resulting from 

 five years of warfare, but by the loss of a large 

 proportion of the water buffaloes by rinderpest 

 and another epidemic disease peculiar to the is- 

 lands. From Mindanao the Mohammedan Malays 

 ship hemp, rubber, gums, and other tropical prod- 

 ucts. The Sulu Archipelago has more trade with 

 Singapore than with Manila, and it is carried 

 on by Chinamen. From Palnan they ship bird's- 

 nests and trepang to Hong-Kong. 



The total value of imports in 1902 was $32,- 

 750,000 in gold, of which nearly half came from 

 British ports. The exports amounted to $20,750,- 

 000, of which $13,750,000 went to British ports. 

 The exports of hemp were 913.349 bales. The 

 export duty on hemp sent to the United States 



was abolished. Owing to local and temporary 

 causes the exports of sugar, copra, and tobacco 

 declined. The failure of the rice-crop in many 

 districts caused such a dearth of food that the 

 Government appropriated $2,000,000 in silver to 

 buy and transport rice to be sold at cost price 

 in the places most in need. Formerly the Phil- 

 ippines produced a surplus of rice to export to 

 China, but the exports gradually fell off and 

 finally ceased, and of late years large quantities 

 have been imported from Cochin-China, Burma, 

 and Siam to supply the deficiency of the home 

 crops. Tobacco, sugar, and the popular and in- 

 creasing hemp-crop are much more profitable 

 than paddy planting, which is carried on in most 

 instances on a small scale by petty cultivators 

 who grow little more than is necessary for their 

 own families. The most primitive and laborious 

 methods are used in cultivating, harvesting, and 

 cleaning the paddy. As rice of both the variety 

 grown under water and the upland variety 

 thrives in the Philippines, and there is a great 

 deal of unused land suitable for its growth, it 

 is intended to promote the cultivation by eco- 

 nomical methods on a commercial scale so that 

 the country will not depend on others for its 

 food-supply. The great increase in imports as 

 compared with Spanish times is not due to larger 

 production, but to the amount of money put into 

 circulation by the army and the civil adminis- 

 tration. Large amounts have been paid out in 

 wages for public works. Wages have doubled, 

 and labor is still so scarce that those who are 

 engaged in private enterprise deplore the exclu- 

 sion of Chinese. The natives are considered by 

 some to be too indolent and careless by nature 

 to be suitable for work on a large scale. Others 

 find them honest and industrious. A temporary 

 relaxation of the restrictions on Chinese immigra- 

 tion is under consideration, though in the long 

 run Gov. Taft says that native labor must be 

 depended on. The value of real estate in the 

 centers of population has gone up enormously. 

 Activity in building, especially in Manila, created 

 a demand for native timber. In spite of the de- 

 pression of agriculture due to war, rinderpest, 

 and cholera, reducing the area under cultivation 

 to only half that of ordinary years, the imports 

 of merchandise in the year ending June 30, 1902, 

 exceeded the figures of any previous year,amount- 

 ing to $22,141,842 in gold. From" the date of 

 the American occupation the total imports were 

 $96,135,694, on which over $22,500,000 duties were 

 collected. Gov. Taft held out hopes to the Fili- 

 pinos that after two years there would be free 

 trade between the United States and the islands. 

 The United States Supreme Court decided that 

 duties collected in the United States under the 

 general tariff law were illegal and that free trade 

 existed until Congress enacted a tariff to govern 

 the trade relations between the Philippines nm! 

 the United States. The Philippine tariff bill 

 voted by Congress, which went into force on 

 March 8, 1902, reduces the import duties 25 per 

 cent, on Philippine products imported into the 

 United States and on United States products im- 

 ported into the Philippines. The export duties 

 on Philippine products shipped to the United 

 States are reduced proportionally by means of 

 a rebate if the goods are consumed in the Uni- 

 ted States. Germany and Great P.rilain com- 

 plained of this reduction as a preferential rate 

 imposed to the detriment of the old-established 

 trade in Manila hemp, and hence contrary to 

 the assurance given by the United States. Ger- 

 man, English, French, and Chinese have enter- 

 prises in the Philippines and have brought much 



