514 The National Geographic Magazine 



their feet or driving carabaos (see illus- 

 trations, pages 510-511) over it as a 

 means of thrashing it, generally occupy 

 the best part of three months in the 

 work and suffer losses of rice in waste, 

 stealage, leakage, etc., of 25 per cent 

 of the entire crop. They thrash the 

 crop so slowly in fact that in many 

 cases they eat it up as fast as they 

 thrash it. Their methods of hulling 

 and cleaning are equally crude, and the 

 valuable by-products, as well as much 

 of the rice, are wasted. Ity thrashing 

 the crop by steam-power the rice be- 

 comes a marketable commodity at once, 

 and the farmer and his laborers have 

 time to put in other crops. Several 

 steam-thrashing outfits have been or- 

 dered by Filipinos. 



" One curious trait of the Filipino," 

 says Mr W. C. Welborn, chief of the 

 Bureau of Agriculture, "seems to be 

 that he is willing to buy what he has 

 actually seen to be good ; but one need 

 not talk about any improvement or ad- 

 dition to what he has not seen. He 

 will believe none of it, and wants what 

 he has seen demonstrated — no more and 

 no less. It is often charged that the 

 Filipino will not work, and hence will 

 never develop the country. I believe 

 he now expends enough energy (largely 

 unprofitably spent, carrying heavy bur- 

 dens long distances, tramping out rice, 

 cleaning it in mortars, and doing all 

 manner of hard work in the crudest 

 way) to make the country a garden if 

 properly directed." 



Some of the developments of the year 

 were (1) improvements in the parks, 

 buildings, and sanitation of Manila ; 

 (2) continued work on the harbor sys- 

 tem, which when completed will enable 

 Manila to ' ' offer to the shipping of the 

 world a safe and commodious harbor, 

 with a minimum depth of 33 feet, which 

 will undoubtedly be the best in the 

 Orient ; " (3) the completion of the 

 Benguet road to the Bagino sanitary 

 resort ; (4) useful experiments in the 



introduction of American cattle, and im- 

 proved and new varieties of agricultural 

 products. 



WE OCCUPY THE BEST POSITION ON 

 THE MAP 



A few paragraphs from the address of the Sec- 

 retary of the Treasury ; Hon . Leslie M. Shaw, 

 to the American Bankers" Convention, Wash- 

 ington, October 11, 1905. 



WE point with pride to our export 

 trade of a billion and a half, and 

 with our thumbs in the armholes of our 

 waistcoats we contemplate our skill and 

 foresight and our ability as international 

 merchants. 



Of our aggregate exports about $1,- 

 000,000,000 consists of raw cotton, food 

 products, petroleum products, crude cop- 

 per, lumber, and other raw materials and 

 crude articles, of which we produce a 

 surplus which the world not only needs, 

 but must have. 



The time is coming, gentlemen — with 

 our increasing population more largely 

 urban than ever, with factories multiply- 

 ing more rapidly than farms, with limit- 

 less manufacturing resources and match- 

 less aptitude for production — when the 

 United States will need new and impor- 

 tant markets. The world may come to 

 us in its own ships for the products of 

 our farms and the raw products of our 

 mines, but it will not come in its own 

 ships for the finished products of our 

 factories. The time is coming when we 

 will need international bankers and in- 

 ternational merchants and an interna- 

 tional merchant marine. 



We occupy the best position on the 

 map. We have the safest and most con- 

 venient form of money in the world. We 

 speak the language of commerce. Our 

 farms produce more than the farms of 

 any other country. Our mines yield 

 more gold literally by the carload, silver 

 by the train load, and there is unloaded 

 on the shores of a single commonwealth 

 more iron ore than any other country 

 produces. Our forests yield 1 00,000, 000 



