A Revelation of the Filipinos 



143 



the principal seaports is strongly em- 

 phasized by the great lack of docks and 

 wharves throughout the islands. But 

 few ports have docks at which an inter- 

 island steamer can unload, and conse- 

 quently every pound of freight and 

 all passengers must be landed in small 

 boats. One of the great drawbacks to 

 the commerce of the Philippines has 

 been the lack of dock facilities in the 

 harbor of Manija for ocean-going ships. 

 As a result, all vessels exceeding 15 feet 

 draft must be lightered while lying at 

 anchor some distance from the wharves 

 and at considerable expense, more espe- 

 cially during the prevalence of the rainy 

 season, when frequent typhoons inter- 

 rupt the work of loading and unload- 

 ing. This great obstacle to commerce 

 will soon disappear, however, through 

 the foresight of the Philippine Com- 

 mission in making ample appropria- 

 tions for the improvement of the Pasig 

 River and the construction of an arti- 

 ficial harbor south of and adjoining 

 the entrance to the river, with wharves 

 capable of receiving and discharging 

 at all seasons the largest sea-going 

 vessels. 



These improvements, which are to be 

 completed by June 30, 1905, at a cost 

 of about $4,000,000, will make Manila 

 one of the great ports of the orient. 

 Direct trade with the United States will 

 then be the rule and not, as in the past, 

 the exception. Manila will become a 

 great mercantile depot and point of dis- 

 tribution of American and foreign mer- 

 chandise of all kinds, destined for either 

 the Philippines, China, or other points. 

 The development of the abundant coal 

 deposits in the Philippines, with the 

 harbor improvements above referred to, 

 will make Manila the chief coaling port 

 in the East, surpassing Nagasaki in this 

 respect, for the coal is of a quality equal 

 to that of Japan and the coaling facili- 

 ties of Manila will be much superior to 

 those of the Japanese city. The com- 

 mercial importance of Manila will be- 



come still more apparent when the Pan- 

 ama Canal is completed. 



USE OF LIQUOR AND TOBACCO 



The value of manufactured tobacco 

 far exceeds any other industrial pro- 

 duct, liquors and other beverages come 

 next, and the two combined make 38.5 

 per cent of the value of all manufact- 

 ured products. It should not be in- 

 ferred from this that the Filipinos use 

 these articles in excess, or that intem- 

 perance prevails, for, while nearly the 

 entire population use liquor and tobacco 

 in some form, they do so in great mod- 

 eration. That the state of manufact- 

 ures in the Philippines is what it is 

 should occasion no surprise when we 

 review the colonial system of govern- 

 ment which generally prevailed for so 

 many centuries. Under this system the 

 Filipinos received but little encourage- 

 ment to engage in industrial pursuits, 

 and manufactures were not developed. 

 The capital invested in manufactures 

 exceeds $20,000,000. 



IMPROVEMENTS IN THE LAW COURTS 



Many important and salutary changes 

 have been made by the Insular govern- 

 ment. Stenographers and typewriters 

 have been substituted for longhand 

 writers in the courts. The Spanish co- 

 lonial judiciary as it existed in the Phil- 

 ippines at the time of American occupa- 

 tion has been transformed into a system 

 under which, says Chief Justice C. S. 

 Arellano in the chapter on " The Judi- 

 ciary," " we have a more simple code 

 of civil and criminal procedure, follow- 

 ing American methods, and an avoid- 

 ance of the great delays which previ- 

 ously existed in the disposal of cases 

 and criminals. In fact, delay is now 

 more a question of a sufficient number 

 of judges than, as formerly, of volumi- 

 nous and abstruse forms and of petty 

 interlocutory appeals or other means of 

 obstructing and arresting the course of 

 justice." 



