Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 15.djvu/810

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. increasing, many natives do not eat it. Among other products are cocoanuts, cocoa, wheat, indigo, sesame, peanuts, many varieties of vegetables, and spices in the south. Large quantities of copra, the dried meat of the cocoanut, are prepared for export. The pastoral industries are extensive. Some of the islands, as Masbate, have comparatively little tilled ground and depend more largely upon live stock. It is estimated that Masbate has 10,000 carabaos, 55,000 cattle, and 5000 horses. Cattle of a small humped variety are raised for beef on several islands. Swine and fowls are found in every native settlement. The Government experimental farm near Manila is for the purpose of encouraging the production of crops. Experiments with alfalfa and other forage plants have been very successful, and most of the vegetables grown in the United States, excepting melons and white potatoes, yield well. The Government distributes seeds and is giving special attention to coffee-growing. Very little land is owned by the peasantry, who rent their small holdings, paying half the crop to the owners. About 500,000 acres of the best tillable lands are owned by three of the Koman Catholic societies which do not encourage thrifty farming; it is likely that their lands will be purchased by the Government and sold to the tenants. The settlement of the land question is of the highest importance, as it is impossible in most cases to give a safe title to lands.

The most important manufactures are the products of the tobacco works. The largest tobacco factory in Manila has over 10,000 employees. Most of the natives smoke home-made cigars, and over 150,000,000 cigars are annually exported. The leaf is cured and manufactured by means of modern machinery, many of the cigarette machines are worked by steam, and Manila is the chief centre of all tobacco products. Fabrics of Manila hemp, wool, cotton, silk, and piña fibre are woven on hand looms; and bamboo, rattan, palm leaves, and other material are used with intelligence and skill in making mats, hats, bags, cigar cases, and a large variety of other articles. Rope, soap, leather, sugar, and some other commodities are made by antiquated and imperfect processes, but much skill has been developed in erecting the better class of buildings, and in making furniture and wood carvings.

Trade relations with foreign countries have grown rapidly since law and order were restored throughout most of the islands about the beginning of 1900, as the following table, giving the value of exports and imports, shows:

The large increase in the trade between the Philippines and the United States is shown by the following table:

The trade in 1901 with the other countries that are most important in Philippine commerce is indicated in this table:

The exports consist very largely of agricultural products. Manila hemp and sugar, the leading staples of the islands, are the principal factors in the trade, their combined value usually amounting to more than 75 per cent. of the total export valuation. In 1900 the value of the principal exports was: Manila hemp, $13,290,400; sugar, $2,397,144 (smaller than usual); copra and cocoanuts, $3,184,853 (unusually large); cigars and cigarettes, $1,164,369; leaf tobacco, $1,033,900; hides and skins, $311,183. The exports were classified as: Products of agriculture, 87 per cent.; manufactures, 7 per cent.; miscellaneous, 6 per cent.

The imports are chiefly manufactured articles, cotton goods usually forming one-third to nearly one-half of the total, and foodstuffs. Rice is the most important of the agricultural imports. The value of the chief imports in 1900 was: Cotton manufactures, $8,727,777; rice, $4,365,056; iron and steel articles, $1,425,233; wheat flour, $475,236; malt liquors and cider, $1,113,684; mineral oils, $374,717; silk manufactures, $385,984; glass and glassware, $395,620.

Manila hemp is almost the only article imported into the United States, the value of the fibre brought to this country in 1902 amounting to $6,318,470.

Great Britain leads in the foreign trade with the Philippines, chiefly on account of its large purchases of Manila hemp and its surpassing sales of cotton cloth. The United States supplies more foodstuffs, excepting rice, which comes from Cochin-China, than any other country; and its sales of iron manufactures to the islands in 1902 amounted to $957,342. In the same year the imported foodstuffs amounted to over $14,000,000, or about two-fifths of the total imports.

The three leading ports of the islands are Manila, Cebú, and Iloilo. The situation of (q.v.) gives it superior advantages in the domestic and foreign trade of the islands. Vessels, however, having a draught of more than sixteen feet are compelled to anchor two miles from the shore, and are dependent upon lighterage for loading and unloading cargoes. The Government intends to dredge an inshore harbor and protect it by breakwaters, so that the largest vessels may tie up at the docks. Cebú and Iloilo are the chief ports of the islands of Cebú and Panay, respectively, in the Visayan or great central group of islands between Luzon and Mindanao. There are also three ports of secondary importance: Aparri, on the north coast of Luzon, a large centre of tobacco shipments; Zamboanga, the leading port of Mindanao; and Jolo, the chief port of the Sulu Archipelago, in the south. Custom houses are maintained at these six ports, and