285 
1906 over 7,000,000 proof liters were removed and from January to 
June 30 of the present year taxes have been paid on 4,380,486 proof 
liters by ninety-one of the ninety-live registered distillers. 
Three years ago no accurate statement could be obtained by the 
Government not even from the distillers as to the annual output of 
spirits, as the law repealed by the new internal revenue law imposed a 
tax on the capacity of distilling machines and not upon what was 
produced. By some the output was estimated at 50,000,000 proof 
liters and others, amongst whom were distillers, confidently asserted 
that the normal annual consumption was 42,000,000 proof liters. 
The government upon investigation soon ascertained that the 
normal annual consumption is 10,000,000 proof liters — so the present 
year is nearly a normal one. 
Agriculture in the Islands is closely connected with the distilling 
industry. When agriculture has fully regained its former prosperity 
it will show itself on the records of distillers, as prosperity in 
European countries and in America is felt by brewers and distillers and 
in the national treasuries. The native, before he enters his rice fields 
to wallow in mire up to his knees, and the hemp strippers, before 
beginning their labourious work, like to fortify themselves with a glass 
of vino. A large portion of the liquors manufactured in Manila and in 
the provinces is distributed throughout the archipelago, and bartered 
for domestic products, chiefly the staples hemp and copra. The bus- 
iness has always been lucrative and important. 
The prime materials from which spirits are manufactured here are 
the sap of the nipa palm, the sap of the coco palm, sugar, corn and 
rice, by far the most valuable and important being the sap from the 
nipa palm, “tuba” as it is called. The bulk of the spirits is now 
distilled from the nipa tuba. Tuba is much cheaper than sugar, and 
in consequence there is but little original distillation from sugar being 
carried on. A good quality of rum is taken from sugar in one of the 
provinces in which sugar cane is cultivated, but the output is not large. 
When “ tuba ” is out of season some distillers use sugar or molasses 
to a limited extent for a few months each year. Rice and a mixture 
of sugar and boiled rice are used to a limited extent, but the total amount 
of spirits manufactured from all grains is not large. The coco “ tuba ” 
gives a quality of spirits resembling closely the nipa alcohol but no 
distillation on a large scale is attempted. Distillation from tuba de 
coco has always been carried on by the primitive oaua, and now the 
modern caua is being used in this branch of the industry as well as by 
owners of small nipa lands, the product being used almost entirely for 
consumption as a beverage. 
The nipa palm regions, called nipales, are limited to belts of swamp 
land along the coast where conditions of soil, etc., are favourable. The 
nipa palm is useful for fortifying swamp-land standing in salt water and 
unfit for any other cultivation. The palm is most productive when 
planted on such land. 
The provinces in the order of their importance for the nipa palm are 
as follows: Bulacan, Pangasinan, Pampanga, Cagayan, Capiz, Surigao 
and Samar. The exact area of the nipa lands is not yet known. 
$ I 
