September, 1910.] 



259 



Miscellaneous. 



from day to day without those reserve 

 supplies so necessary where crops are 

 uncertain, without the alleviation from 

 suffering which modern medicines and 

 surgery can give, without the nourishing 

 kinds of food so necessary to build up 

 the strength of the body, without houses 

 built to withstand the elements, with- 

 out, in fact, most of those things which 

 modern civilisation believes to be neces- 

 sary for the happiness of a community. 



An analysis of the fundamental condi- 

 tions of life reveals in part the reasons 

 for these conditions. A very large pro- 

 portion of the people have been held in 

 that primitive condition where each 

 man supplied all of the things necessary 

 for his own use and got along with only 

 what he could personally produce. We 

 must bend our efforts to advance the day 

 when each individual supplies the arti- 

 cles whichheis best fitted to produce, ivhich 

 he sells to his fellowmen, and uses the 

 money thus gained to purchase of others 

 the things tvhich they can produce better 

 and cheaper than he. This is the 

 essence of trade, and this condition of 

 affairs is impossible without economical 

 and adequate means of transportation 

 hitherto woefully lacking; 



Capital Needed. 



Our success in accomplishing our prin- 

 cipal object in these Islands, namely, 

 that of bettering the condition of the 

 people, may be best measured by the 

 increase from time to time in the rate 

 of wages and in the value of imports 

 and exports. 



Let us turn our attention to a few 

 comparative figures. The total popu- 

 lation of Hawaii is 198,000 people, or 

 about one-fortieth part of the population 

 of the Philippine Islands, now approxi- 

 mately eight millions. The total ex- 

 ports from Hawaii in 1907 were $29,000,000, 

 the 'total export from the Philippine Is- 

 lands for the same year were $31,000,000. 

 In other words, Hawaii produced for 

 export approximately thirty-six times 

 as much per capita as did the Philip- 

 pine Islands. This is not because their 

 labourers are superior, as Hawaii has 

 come here in search of labourers, and 

 reports that those few whom they have 

 obtained are equal to their Japanese, 

 Korean, and other labourers. 



Porto Rico has 1,000,000 people, or one- 

 eighth the population of the Philippine 

 Islands, and in 1907 its exports were 

 $27,000,000. Porto Rico evidently does 

 not exercise the same degree of economy 

 in the use of its labour as does Hawaii, 

 for it produces only one-sixth as much 

 per capita for export, and still Porto 

 Rico exports six times as much pet- 



capita as do the people of the Philippine 

 Islands. Were these islands to produce 

 for sile to other couutiies as much 

 per capita as Porto Rico, the total 

 exports would be $216,000,000. Were 

 they to produce as much per capita as 

 Hawaii, the total exports would be 

 $1,179,000,000 a year. 



The explanation of this lies in the fact 

 that Hawaii has an abundance of capital, 

 employs modern methods of cultivation 

 and manufacture, modern freight-hand- 

 ling devices, and suitable and adequate 

 steamship and railroad facilities, In 

 other words, in Hawaii the work of the 

 labourer counts, in the Philippine Islands 

 it does not. No, it is not labour that is 

 wanted here, it is capital. Many Fili- 

 pinos have a tendency to oppose the 

 introduction of capital into these Islands, 

 either frcm the United States or from 

 foreign countries, fearing lest somehow 

 it should militate against the realisation 

 of their aspirations. In my judgment 

 ifc will have the opposite effect. It is 

 true that it might be possible in the 

 course of several generations to develop 

 the latent resources of the Philippine 

 Islands without the assistance of outside 

 capital, and finally to accumulate enough 

 to develop the domestic business from 

 within. But why wait ? We had better 

 attract for our use the accumulations of 

 wealth already made in other countries, 

 sure that the advantages which flow 

 from them will far more than offset any 

 possible disadvantage due to the fact 

 that some of the profits will leave the 

 country, or that the owners of the capital 

 will endeavour to influence the adminis- 

 tration of the Islands or their political 

 status. 



Capital demands a stable government. 

 Capital is not particularly interested in 

 the colour or design of the flag, It 

 wants just equitable la/ws, sound and 

 uniform policy on the part of the govern- 

 ment, just and fair treatment in the 

 Courts. The faith of the United States 

 is pledged that cdl of these benefits shall 

 be permanently assured to the Filipinos. 

 No capitalist need feel alarmed as to 

 the security of his investment provided 

 it has been made in such a way as to 

 fxdfbl the conditions imposed by law. The 

 United States stands pledged to the 

 establishment and maintenance of a 

 stable government in the Philippine 

 Islands, not for the sake of sucb capital 

 as may be invested here only, but for 

 the sake of the welfare of the Philippine 

 people and of the good faith of the 

 United States before the world. The 

 security of foreign capital is merely an 

 incident in the general security of 

 property and other rights to the Fili- 



