PHILIPPINE ISLANDS AND AMERICAN CAPITAL. 189 



along our northern, eastern, and southern borders in close proximity 

 to water transportation and to the large cities of the seaboard. They 

 can be drained, as were the swamps of England. Their fertility will 

 make this profitable, and they will support a large population. 



The public highways of the United States are, on the whole, in 

 anything but a desirable condition, and their improvement is a good 

 investment for the commonwealth. We have railroads to build, 

 harbors to deepen, and canals to dig. The United States is young 

 yet, and tremendous tasks await her labor and capital. 



In this country, so full of promise for the future, we are still 

 using borrowed foreign capital. In The Forum for February, 1895, 

 Mr. Alfred S. Lauterbach said, " That the people of the United 

 States require European capital for the full development of the great 

 resources of our country there can be no doubt." The same author 

 made a " very conservative estimate," and said that we owed to 

 Europe annually: 



" For dividends and interest upon American securities still held abroad, 



minimum $75,000,000 



" For profits of foreign corporations doing business here, and of non- 

 residents, derived from real estate, investments, partnership profits, 

 etc., about 75,000,000 



$150,000,000" 



That is to say, we were paying a five-per-cent interest on $3,000,- 

 000,000 of foreign money. 



As to the second assumption: It is claimed by some that we 

 should have the Philippines because they will furnish us the tropical 

 products that we are using in ever-increasing quantities. Two things 

 are revealed in the examination of our needs of tropic products 

 and a comparison of the Philippines with the American tropics: 



1. That the Philippines are at a great disadvantage in location 1 . 



2. That America is of sufficient area and natural wealth to meet 

 all our needs, and more. 



As to location : It is a first principle of commerce to get supplies 

 where they are most accessible. It is about ten thousand miles 

 from New York to Manila, twelve hundred to Havana, and eighteen 

 hundred to the continent of South America. Under these conditions 

 the freight rates must always discriminate in favor of tropic America. 

 The disadvantage of the Philippines is increased by the fact that the 

 ships going from San Francisco or Panama to Manila are compelled 

 to carry their coal three thousand four hundred miles at one stretch 

 from Honolulu to Yokohama, the most available route. Then, 

 again, a large part of our tropic trade, and one that shows promise 

 of the most growth, is in the green fruits, such as cocoanuts, pine- 

 apples, lemons, oranges, and bananas. Of the last article our im- 



