Part 11

+------------+------------+------------ Year | Area under | Production | Total value |cultivation | of sugar | of sugar | | | products ------+------------+------------+------------ | Acres | Short tons | | | | 1913 | 435,188 | 345,080 | $12,849,000 1914 | 418,676 | 408,343 | 14,314,000 1915 | 427,710 | 421,196 | 16,606,000 1916 | 444,189 | 412,278 | 17,068,000 1917 | 459,436 | 425,270 | 19,352,500 1918 | 507,818 | 474,750 | 20,579,500 1919 | 494,692 | 453,350 | 37,231,400 1920 | 487,783 | 466,917 | 79,648,600 1921 | 596,363 | 589,443 | 48,189,500 1922 | 595,066 | 533,194 | 29,974,125 ------+------------+------------+------------

The quantity and value of the exportation of this product is shown below:

+---------------------------------------------+--------------------------------- | To all countries | To the United States +------------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+---------- | | | | | | | Year ended | Quantity | Value | Average |Percentage| Quantity | Value |Percentage December 31-- | | |value per| of total | | | of total | | | 1,000 | export | | | sugar | | | kilos | | | | export --------------+------------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+---------- | Kilos | Pesos | Pesos | | Kilos | Pesos | | | | | | | | 1913 |157,333,707 |14,065,778 | 89.40 | 14.72 | 30,716,886| 3,128,072| 22.24 1914 |236,498,001 |22,119,186 | 93.53 | 22.71 |168,530,115|16,483,706| 74.62 1915 |211,012,817 |22,620,430 | 107.20 | 21.02 | 82,841,168|10,283,159| 45.46 1916 |337,490,000 |37,175,185 | 110.12 | 26.58 |131,885,246|17,267,401| 46.45 1917 |205,908,492 |24,555,357 | 119.25 | 12.84 | 62,377,758|10,811,518| 44.08 1918 |273,258,396 |31,608,780 | 115.67 | 11.69 |106,080,676|16,559,780| 52.39 1919 |136,060,322 |30,415,701 | 223.55 | 13.44 | 32,159,363| 7,717,934| 25.37 1920 |180,340,670 |99,238,520 | 550.28 | 32.83 |123,947,209|78,697,869| 79.30 1921 |289,876,164 |51,037,454 | 176.07 | 28.96 |150,478,581|33,752,357| 66.13 1922 |362,071,661 |51,165,110 | 141.31 | 26.77 |244,851,617|40,020,490| 78.22 --------------+------------+-----------+---------+----------+-----------+----------+----------

Tobacco--The Manila cigar.--The Manila cigar is just as well known to the world as the Manila hemp. It is among the few manufacturing enterprises that have developed factory conditions in the Islands.

[History]

For generations the Spaniards conducted the tobacco business in the Philippines on the basis of Government monopoly. The monopoly came to an end in 1882 when the Filipino workers defied both the Spanish government and those directing the work in the factories because of the harsh and cruel treatment they were getting.

Thereafter, for many years, the tobacco business suffered extreme depression, and it was not until American occupation that the industry received anything of a stimulus. The Manila cigar, however, was then at a disadvantage in comparison with cigars from other countries, because the latter were allowed a discount from the tariff, while the Manilas were required to pay the full customs duty.

With the establishment of free trade, however, between the islands and the United States the Manila cigar has been able to compete with other cigars in the United States, by far the greatest market therefor. This fact accounts for the unprecedented steady increase of the amount of cigars exported from the islands. In 1904 the exports amounted to 104,753,000 cigars, valued at P2,011,790. In 1919 the exports had risen to 392,339,000 worth P18,157,707.

[The Tobacco Region]

Although tobacco is grown in many parts of the islands, all that which is exported comes from the Provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya, in northern Luzon. All grown elsewhere is consumed locally, also exported to European and other countries. The tobacco growing districts in these three provinces lie in the valley of the Cagayan River, a stream which is about 160 miles long. The valley is from 2 to 14 miles wide. During the rainy season, which is between the time that one crop is harvested and the next one planted, the Cagayan River rises to a height of 40 feet inundating all of the lowlands. This overflow never fails, and it always leaves on the valley a deposit of rich soil, renewing the fertility of the entire valley and making the use of fertilizers unnecessary. On one field in Cagayan Valley, crops have been produced without interruption and without fertilizer for one hundred and thirty-five years.

[Government control and Guaranty]

No cigar in the world today is produced under such carefully prepared and rigidly enforced regulations as the Manila cigar. The Philippine government has assumed control of the industry, has established invariable standards of excellence, and has guaranteed the production under its own official stamp. If you will examine the next box of Manila cigars you see, you will find that it bears a label stating that its contents are guaranteed by the Philippine government. One of the regulations enforced provides that, under certain limitations, cigars which reach the American dealer in a damaged condition may be returned to the Philippines at the expense of the Philippine government. Another regulation is to the following effect:

"To be up to the standard established by the Government, Philippine cigars are required to be made from good, clean, selected tobacco, properly cured and seasoned, exclusively the product of the Provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya, well made with suitable spiral wrapper and with long filler from which must have been removed all stems dust, scrap or sun-burned tobacco; cigars to be properly assorted and packed in clean receptacles of wood not before used, manufactured from native wood known as Calantas or from imported cedar. No cigars made between sunset and sunrise may be graded as standard."

[The Cigar Factories]

The factories in which the Manila cigars are made are worth visiting. They are counted among the show-places of the city. Visitors are always welcome and given an opportunity to follow the entire process of manufacture from the time the bales of tobacco reach the warehouses until the finished cigars are packed in air-tight cases for shipment to all parts of the world.

In these factories every precaution is taken to guard against dirt and disease. No one is employed except after a searching physical examination and thereafter all the employees are regularly examined twice a month. Every now and then, government inspectors visit the factories, and these have a right to condemn a lot of cigars which they do not think is up to the standard.

No scraps of any kind are used in the making of Manila cigars. There are no broken leaves and no dust. There is nothing in the cigar but long, clean leaves of tobacco. The Manila cigar is the mildest made. It is the most pleasant and satisfying smoke that can be had at any price.

CIGARS EXPORTED, 1913-1922

+------------------------------------------+------------------------------------------------- | To all countries | To the United States +------------+-----------+--------+--------+-------------------+-------------------+--------- | | |Average |Per cent| Number | Value | Average | | |value |of total+------------+------+-----------+-------+ value Year | Number | Value |per |exports | | Per | | Per | per | | |thousand| | Cigars | cent | Pesos | cent | thousand ------+------------+-----------+--------+--------+------------+------+-----------+-------+--------- | | Pesos | Pesos | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1913 | 191,762,442| 6,024,468| 31.42 | 6.31 | 71,513,141| 37.29| 3,285,776| 54.54 | 45.95 1914 | 154,753,363| 4,630,318| 29.92 | 4.75 | 56,205,050| 36.32| 2,400,252| 51.84 | 42.71 1915 | 134,647,687| 4,114,605| 30.56 | 3.82 | 61,169,600| 45.43| 2,302,444| 55.96 | 37.64 1916 | 193,025,578| 5,688,751| 29.47 | 4.02 | 111,478,216| 57.75| 4,066,242| 71.48 | 36.47 1917 | 284,524,500| 9,588,192| 33.70 | 5.07 | 202,198,534| 71.07| 7,725,966| 38.20 | 38.29 1918 | 360,144,827| 14,252,637| 39.57 | 5.21 | 248,747,584| 69.07| 11,365,675| 79.85 | 45.69 1919 | 392,339,462| 18,157,707| 46.28 | 8.07 | 263,942,555| 67.27| 13,828,639| 76.16 | 52.39 1920 | 421,545,143| 25,442,276| 60.35 | 8.43 | 316,862,859| 75.17| 21,092,607| 82.90 | 66.57 1921 | 154,879,488| 6,454,886| 41.67 | 3.66 | 68,216,608| 44.04| 3,960,503| 61.36 | 58.06 1922 | 300,484,824| 11,602,219| 38.61 | 6.07 | 173,317,046| 57.68| 8,519,576| 73.43 | 49.16 ------+------------+-----------+--------+--------+------------+------+-----------+-------+---------

SECONDARY FOOD PRODUCTS.--Corn leads in importance among the secondary food products. In 1918 there were 1,035,067 acres grown to corn producing 11,269,258 bushels valued at $10,686,061. The other food crops worth mentioning under this heading are sweet potatoes, cassava, sesame, mongoes, peanuts, bananas, mangoes, citrus, lanzones, and a great number of tropical fruits and vegetables. Including the edible algæ and fungi there are more than 100 species of plants in the Philippines, either wild or cultivated, that find a place in the dietary system of the people. So rich is the country in food producing plants.

PROSPECTIVE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES.--The plants from which the various other tropical staple products in the world's markets are derived, such as rubber, coffee, tea, cacao, pepper, cinchona, and cassava are all known to thrive well in the Philippines, although the growing of those enumerated is yet of comparatively little importance. Rubber has the greatest future of these. The great Island of Mindanao, which is outside the typhoon zone, has been found to be suitable to the growing of rubber. All the large rubber plantations of the Philippines are located on Mindanao or the adjacent Island of Basilan.

During the early years of American occupation, when the acreage planted to rubber in other countries increased by leaps and bounds, the erroneous impression somehow gained ground that the Philippines were unsuited to rubber. And it is not very many years ago that a planter was able to demonstrate beyond doubt that rubber could be grown in the Islands successfully. The company he heads now has some 80,000 rubber trees planted. The success of its operations has induced others to plant rubber, and while the Philippine output of rubber is still insignificant, it may be said that the rubber industry has come to stay.

IRRIGATION.--Irrigation has been practiced in the Philippines in some form for centuries, for, in general, it may be said that the certainty of a rice harvest depends upon irrigation to supplement the natural rainfall. When the rainfall is copious and well distributed during the rice growing season, there is little demand for artificial irrigation but in the event of a drought or irregular rainfall irrigation has to be used to insure a normal rice crop. With irrigation it is also possible to grow two crops of rice a year, whereas without it the planting of one is often hazardous. Prior to 1908 very little attention was given to the development of irrigation systems so that the only irrigation works constructed were by private and communal enterprise. These old systems are found in different parts of the Islands, the most notable being the extensive systems with permanent dams, tunnels, and ditches constructed by the friars and the remarkable side hill terraces built by the mountain people in the subprovince of Ifugao.

Studies of irrigation possibilities have now advanced sufficiently to warrant the Bureau of Public Works recommending a ten-year program for the construction of 40 irrigation systems in 20 of the principal rice producing provinces to water an area of approximately 750,000 acres. It is estimated that these 40 systems will cost about $25,000,000. With these systems completed and operating, there will be no further need of importing rice from other countries.

[Rural Credit]

RURAL CREDIT ASSOCIATIONS.--The Rural Credit Law has removed the restriction in the Corporation Law requiring P200,000 paid-in capital before a bank may be started. Under the new law, associations may incorporate with a paid-in capital as low as P100 or as high as P10,000. The Government does not furnish any financial help except that the organizing staff is paid and maintained by it. To give security to small investors the bonded municipal treasurer acts as treasurer ex-officio of the association and Government auditors audit its books.

The purpose of the Rural Credit Law is to encourage small farmers to coöperate and furnish their own capital. Only one association may be incorporated in a municipality to avoid rivalry and factions.

On October 19, 1916, the first rural credit association was incorporated, and after practically six years, there are now 544 incorporated associations with a paid-in capital of P807,178.

NUMBER OF RURAL CREDIT ASSOCIATIONS AND AVERAGE NUMBER OF STOCKHOLDERS, AMOUNT OF CAPITAL STOCK PAID UP, AND LOANS MADE IN 1923, BY PROVINCES AND SUBPROVINCES

Province and Number of Number of Capital Loans subprovince associations stockholders paid up

Pesos Pesos

Abra 11 908 5,766 17,749.72 Agusan 3 222 4,185 4,595.00 Albay 14 1,916 15,188 52,703.05 Antique 12 2,095 35,596 95,237.75 Bataan 8 1,425 20,972 52,535.85 Batangas 15 2,180 31,428 112,678.59 Bohol 34 7,208 6,175 138,243.37 Bulacan 22 2,195 30,824 75,292.80 Cagayan 14 1,355 14,404 41,618.50 Camarines Norte 4 302 4,000 3,903.00 Camarines Sur 20 2,311 27,628 101,468.92 Capiz 24 2,362 34,882 125,913.76 Cavite 17 1,924 28,856 108,447.54 Cebu 14 1,188 20,637 68,348.34 Cotabato 1 141 2,372 2,975.00 Davao 5 527 9,005 9,520.50 Ilocos Norte 16 4,569 18,952 57,974.10 Ilocos Sur 20 3,101 19,726 50,654.86 Iloilo 30 5,076 68,209 199,912.19 Isabela 8 698 7,611 18,093.00 Laguna 20 1,815 21,501 62,233.64 Lanao 1 125 1,984 2,788.96 La Union 14 2,774 21,382 62,891.56 Leyte 10 937 6,711 19,306.70 Masbate 2 98 2,491 2,580.00 Misamis 14 1,415 18,455 26,744.79 Nueva Ecija 19 1,698 30,209 98,095.31 Nueva Vizcaya 6 703 5,189 12,737.76 Oriental Negros 4 269 3,690 7,878.50 Occidental Negros 4 384 11,378 23,295.50 Palawan 2 154 3,544 7,710.00 Pampanga 20 1,826 42,675 117,602.50 Pangasinan 41 9,464 77,146 186,512.29 Rizal 15 1,950 25,700 69,022.50 Romblon 6 544 6,690 10,039.00 Samar 12 1,104 13,759 47,620.35 Sorsogon 9 737 7,724 24,956.10 Surigao 5 386 5,655 15,824.00 Tarlac 15 2,761 39,844 131,155.60 Tayabas 19 2,023 41,898 86,637.99 Zambales 13 2,095 13,028 47,327.59 Zamboanga 1 149 1,114 850.00 --- ------ ------- ------------ Total 544 75,114 807,178 2,401,676.46

FOREST RESOURCES

[Area]

The forests of the Philippines cover about 18,706,093 hectares, or 72,224 square miles, which is about 63.1 per cent of the total area of the Archipelago. Of these number, 16,609,108 hectares or 64,127 square miles, 88.6 per cent of the entire forest area are of a commercial character. In addition, there are estimated to be about 2,096,985 hectares, or 8,096 square miles of second growth forests which will yield large quantities of fine wood and small size timber. It is said that taken together, the virgin and second growth forests in the Islands cover an area about equal to the area of the State of Nebraska.

[Ownership]

More than 99 per cent of the timber belongs to the Philippine government and is under the administrative control of the Bureau of Forestry. Less than 1 per cent is held under title of private ownership.

[Volume of Timber Resource]

The volume of this timber resource of the Philippines is 192,000,000,000 board feet or 777,000,000 cubic meters. Most of the timber belong to the dipterocarp family. The largest reach about 200 feet in height and some specimens have a diameter of 7 feet. The well-known woods of this family are tanguile, red lauan, almon, apitong, guijo, and yakal. These woods have found favorable acceptance in the markets of China and the United States.

Next to the dipterocarp family is the molave family. Among the woods of this family are aranga, duñgon, and molave. There are about 1,036,000 hectares of this timber with a total volume of 7,680,000,000 board feet. These woods are appropriate for railway ties and for building construction purposes.

[Timber Output and Export]

The timber output of the islands was 184,628 cubic meters in 1911; 297,094 cubic meters in 1914; 385,150 cubic meters in 1918 and 630,973 in 1922. It is said that this output can be trebled, even quadrupled, without exhausting the supply for several hundred years.

The export of timber in 1914 was 27,070 cubic meters valued at P681,272; for 1916, 40,164 cubic meters worth P1,030,276; for 1919, 15,704 cubic meters worth P791,823 and for 1922, 43,008 cubic meters worth P1,656,812.

The lumber industry in the islands offers many advantages. The government charges are nominal, ranging from P2.00 to P10.00 per 1,000 board feet according to class. Logging and sawmill equipment and machinery enter free of duty if imported from the United States and only 15 per cent duty, if bought from other countries. For fuel, sawmill waste can be utilized. Water power is available from streams in a number of places.

[Obtaining a Tract of Timber]

The public forests of the Philippines are not sold, but are developed under a license system. Small operators usually work under ordinary yearly licenses for definite small areas. Exclusive licenses, or concessions as they are popularly called, are generally in the form of a twenty-year exclusive license to cut and extract timber and other forest products from a specified tract. The land itself is in no way affected by such a license. Only the timber and minor forest products are included.

[Sawmills]

At present there are about 50 sawmills of all sizes and descriptions operating in the Islands. About 12 of these can be compared to the average modern sawmills in the United States. The largest sawmills are located on timber concessions, while the others are operated under short-term licenses. The total cut of the sawmills of the Philippine Islands is about 100 to 130 million board feet per year.

MINOR FOREST PRODUCTS.--This term includes all products of the forest except timber or lumber. Many of the minor forest products of the Philippines are at present almost unknown in the world's markets and are largely confined to local use.

The most important are nipa, sugar, and alcohol; rattan, used in making furniture; Manila copal or almaciga, used in making high grade varnish; lumbang, a nut-producing high grade oil for varnish; dye-woods and barks; guttapercha and rubber; paper pulp; fibers suitable for making baskets, hats, mats, ropes, etc.; soap barks; pili nuts, declared by many as superior even to almonds; wax; and different kinds of medicinal plants.

MINERALS

The Islands are rich in mineral products, and it should not be long before the working of minerals should constitute one of its basic industries. The most important minerals are gold, silver, lead, zinc, copper, iron, coal, petroleum, sulphur, asphalt, asbestos, manganese, guano, mineral waters, gas, cement, and many others of minor importance.

Gold.--There are a number of successful gold mines in the islands today. One of them is the Colorado mine in Masbate which produces P2,000 worth of gold a day at a cost of P1,000. Other successful mines are those of Paracale, Ambos Camarines; Baguio, Mountain Province; and Aroroy, Masbate. There are large areas of placer ground in Nueva Ecija, Mindanao, and Misamis.

According to an estimate of the Bureau of Science, there are in all 800 to 1,000 square kilometers of placer grounds in the Philippines still undeveloped. The production of gold in 1916 was 2,265,789 fine grams, worth P3,011,755; in 1918 the production was 1,937,941 fine grams valued P2,575,970.

Silver.--Silver is found alloyed with the gold in all of the gold deposits in the ratio of 1 to 4. No attempt has as yet been made to develop the silver mines of the islands. There is no doubt, however, that the silver deposits can be advantageously developed on a commercial basis because the supply of silver in the world is declining and because the neighboring countries, such as China and Japan, are on the silver standard basis.