Philippine Commerce and the Panama Canal

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Philippine Commerce and the Panama Canal
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 7 (Issue No.9) September 1927
Year: 1927
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Fulltext: September, 1927 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 13 Philippine Commerce and the Panama Canal Carlos Pereyra in El Universal: Mexican Independent Daily A waterway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific across Panama or Nicaragua early pre sented itself to men of historical imagination as an inevitable outcome of world trade devel opment. Since Europe faces the west and Asia faces the east, and Africa has both an eastern and a western outlook, the American isthmus, in the very centre of the New World, promised to become the focus where the com merce of all continents met. Grandiloquent prophecies have come down to us in this connection. Bolivar dilated lyrical ly in his celebrated Jamaica Letter upon the great future of Central America. “The states on the Isthmus of Panama, including Guatemala, will perhaps form a league or federation. Their magnificent position between two seas will make them in course of time the emporium of the universe. Their canals will shorten the great ocean trade routes and bind Europe, Asia, and America together by commercial ties, bring ing to their happy shores the tribute of the four quarters of the globe. Possibly they are the predestined site of the ultimate capital of the world, as Byzantium was in the ancient hemi sphere.” This letter was written in 1815. In his Circular of the seventh of December, 1824, issued from Lima to call a meeting of the Cong ress of Plenipotentiaries, he also wrote: “It would seem that, if the world is ever called upon to choose a capital, the Isthmus of Panama will be its destined site, situated as it is in the centre of the world, facing Asia on the one hand and Africa and Europe on the other.” Restrepo, the historian of the Latin Amer ican Revolution, refers to Panama as follows: “That inestimable Isthmus, across which com munication can be established between the Atlantic and the Pacific, and where the trade of Europe, Asia,, and America is predestined to centre.” Bolivar and Restrepo both considered that the possession of the Isthmus and its adjacent ter ritories would be of incalculable value, because the traffic of the entire globe would meet there. It was with that idea that Paterson, an am bitious Scotchman, tried to establish a colony of his countrymen at Darien toward the end of the seventeenth century. Walter Scott has left us an immortal record of that adventurer’s conception of Panama. “This port of all the oceans and key of the universe will enable those who possess it to be the lawgivers of two hemi spheres and the arbiters of their trade. The colonists of Darien will acquire an empire greater than that of Alexander and Caesar without toil, without perils, and without the bloody crimes of the conquistadores.” Prince Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later Napoleon III, studied the project of a Nicara guan canal during his imprisonment in the fortress of Ham. His analysis of its political aspects made a profound impression upon European opinion at the time. “The geograph ical position of Constantinople crowned her the queen of the ancient world. Occupying as she did 3 central position between Europe, Asia, and Africa, she easily made herself the commercial mistress of these three parts of the planet and acquired over them an immense preponderance; for in politics, as in strategy, the centre exercises dominion over the circum ference. That might remain true even to-day were it not, as Montesquieu says, that God permitted the Turks to exist in order that the world might behold a nation capable of con quering and holding a vast empire without drawing any profit from it. There exists in the New World a country that possesses the geo graphical advantages of Constantinople but which, it must be said, has not known how to utilize them up to the present. I refer to Nica ragua. As Constantinople is the centre of the Old World, the city of Le6n is the centre of the New, and, if a waterway were dug across the narrow stretch of land that separates the Nica raguan lakes from the Pacific Ocean, her central position would give her dominion over all the coast of North and South America. Nicaragua might be, even more than Constantinople, the inevitable tollgate of world commerce. She is destined to attain some day an extraordinary position of wealth and grandeur. France, England, and Holland are deeply interested in the construction of a waterway between the two oceans. England above all has imperative political motives for carrying out that project. She has every reason to desire that Central America may become a powerful and flourishing nation, a centre of Spanish American enterprise, strong enough to uphold the national banner of her race and to help Mexico to resist the pressure of its invaders from the North.” Here, as in the affirmations of Bolivar, we find joined with an erroneous geographical idea of the economic value of an interoceanic canal a desire to see it, under English auspices, made a buttress against the expansion of the Past and Present in All the National Companies Last Yeai Alberto Barretto, President Salvador Laguda, Vice-Pres. Miguel Unson, Director Paciano Dizon, Director Jose S. Hilario, Director Claude Russell, Director Carlos Young, Director This Year National Development Company Capt. H. L. Heath, President Paciano Dizon, Vice-Pres. Miguel Unson, Director Claude Russell, Director Carlos Young, Director Walter Z. Smith, Director Alberto Barretto, President Frank B. Ingersoll, Vice-Pres. Romarico Agcaoili, Director Rafael Corpus, President Serapion Valle-Cruz, Vice-Pres. J. P. Heilbronn, Director C. M. Cotterman, Director R. Renton Hind, Director A. Gideon, Director Gregorio Agoncillo, Director Baldomero Roxas, Director Catalino Lavadia, Director R. R. Hancock, President Jose F. Fernandez, Vice-Pres. A. Gideon, Director Tomas Earnshaw, Director Juan M. Gutierrez, Director Jose S. Hilario, Director H. B. Pond, Director James Ross, Director Antero Soriano, Director Jose Paez, President James Ross, Vice-Pres. Tomas Earnshaw, Treasurer Arsenio Luz, Director Jo$e S. Hilario, Director Filemon Perez, Director A. Gideon, Director National Coal Company Frank B. Ingersoll, President Romarico Agcaoili, Vice-Pres. Alberto Barretto, Director H. L. Heath, Director Salvador Lagdameo, Director Philippine National Bank Rafael Corpus, President C. M. Cotterman, Vice-Pres. Serapion Valle-Cruz, Director J. P. Heilbronn, Director R. Renton Hind, Director A. Gideon, Director John Gordon, Director Manuel de Yriarte, Director A. B. Cresap, Director Manila Railroad Company R. R. Hancock, President H. B. Pond, Vice-Pres. A. Gideon, Director Tomas Earnshaw, Director Juan M. Gutierrez, Director Jose S. Hilario. Director R. J. Harrison, Director Fulgencio Borromeo, Director Miguel Romualdez, Director Manila Hotel Jose Paez, President James Ross, Vice-Pres. Tomas Earnshaw, Treasurer Arsenio Luz, Director Jose S. Hilario, Director Filemon Perez, Director A. Gideon, Director Alberto Barretto, President Paciano Dizon, Vice-Pres. Carlos Young, Director Claude Russell, Director Jose S. Hilario, Director Cebu Portland Cement Comfany Alberto Barretto, President Paciano Dizon, Vice-Pres. Carlos Young, Director Claude Russell, Director Jose S. Hilario, Director SPACE for RENT OFFICES Automobiles by Month General Merchandise Bonded Cargo Rates Reasonable Furnished on Application Tel. 2-24-21 Available now—should be in big demand soon! TAKE ADVANTAGE Annual stockholders’ meet ing: First Tuesday after the first Monday in March of each year. 3:00 p. m. Luis Hernandez, Secretary. Annual stockholders’ meet ing: Second Monday of August of each year. A. H. Langara, Secretary. Annual stockholders’ meet ing: Second Tuesday of March of each year. Santos Martinez, Secretary. Annual stockholders' meet ing: Last Tuesday of March of each year. Arturo La Torre, Secretary. Annual stockholders’ meet ing: Second Friday of April of each year. W. E. Antrim, Secretary. Annual stockholders’ meet ing: First Tuesday after the first Monday in March of each year. 9:00 a. m. Jesus J. Santos, Secretary. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 14 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL September, 192 ’ United States. One of the ironies of history is that this same Prince Louis Napoleon was destined later, as Emperor of France, to open the Suez Canal, half a century before the Pana ma Canal was built, thus belying his own proph ecies as to the greater immediate importance of the American waterway. The only man whose prophetic vision pene trated to the bottom of the problem was Goethe. The German poet comprehended in one glance the significance for world commerce of both the Egyptian canal and the Central American canal, and the political factors that each re presented for two great empires. In his con versations with Eckermann he referred to Hum boldt’s opinion as to various points where it would be easy to connect the Atlantic and the Pacific across the Isthmus, and said: “Good. All this is reserved for the future and for a great spirit of enterprise. But one thing is certain—incalculable benefits for all the world, both civilized and uncivilized, will follow open ing a canal between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean big enough to accommodate large vessels. It would surprise me, however, if the United States were to let the opportunity pass and fail to take the matter into her own hands. There are reasons for believing that this young nation, with its rapid progress toward the west, will within thirty or forty years occupy and settle the extensive territories that lie beyond the Rocky Mountains. It is also likely that along the coast of the Pacific, which Nature has blessed with large and safe harbors, great trading cities will eventually arise which will build up a trade between China and the East Indies on the one hand and the United States on the other. Should this happen, it would be not only desirable but imperative for mer chant and naval vessels to pass readily from one coast of North America to the other by some shorter and safer route than the long, expensive, and dangerous trip around the Horn. I repeat, it is absolutely imperative for the United States to be able to communicate rapidly from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean, and I believe she will do it. I should like to live to see it, but it .will not come in my day. In the second place, I should like to see a canal connecting the Danube and the Rhine, but that is so vast an enterprise that I doubt if it will be carried out, considering our scanty resources. Third and last, I should like to see the English in possession of a canal across the Suez. Those three things would be worth the trouble of waiting here fifty years to behold.” Goethe died in 1832. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869, and the Panama Canal in 1914, four centuries after Balboa first cast his eyes upon the Southern Sea. In the interim, as if to demonstrate the fallibility of even the greatest human genius, Germany was able with little effort to construct a great system of inland waterways uniting her important rivers. Never theless, the German poet had a correct appre ciation of the place the two great inter-oceanic highways were respectively to occupy in the commerce of the world. The Suez unites the most densely populated portions of the earth— Western Europe, the East Indies, China, and Japan. The Panama Canal benefits primarily the domestic trade of the United States, and that nation’s commerce with the Far East and with the western coast of South America. The Eastern States of North America were settled and developed without an interoceanic canal: but the railway across Panama deter mined the future of California. As soon as the Canal was built, a large part of the freight carried by the transcontinental lines—except, of course, local traffic—was transferred to vessels of ten or twelve thousand tons, which carried such commodities as timber from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic seaboard, and the manufactures of the East to the Pacific Coast. From the very beginning, therefore, the do mestic commerce of the United States has accounted for one quarter of the annual move ment through the Canal. Next in importance are exports from Atlantic and Gulf cities of the United States to Asiatic markets, which consti tute fourteen and one-half per cent of the ton nage by that route. North America competes with Europe for business on the west coast of South America, but her relative nearness to that market adds fifty per cent to the effective carrying capacity of every vessel she employs in this trade. Consequently the Panama Canal is first and foremost an instrument for the inter nal development of the United States and the expansion of her Pacific commerce. Some people formerly argued that the Panama Canal and other waterways across Central America were destined primarily to be highways for world navigation, because the United States did not possess a merchant fleet and would be compelled to use British, German, French, and even Japanese vessels for its own business by that route. But they counted without their host, as the increase in American tonnage engaged in the export trade—from one million to ten million tons—testifies.—Living Age. LUMBER REVIEW First Semester of 1927 Arthur F. Fischer Director of Forestry Figures covering lumber export of this coun try for the first six months of the year show a falling off of about 1,000,000 board feet as compar ed with that of simi’ar period last year. This decrease, however, can easily be explained and is to be attributed mainly to the civil strife now raging in China and, to a certain extent, to the recent financial Crisis in Japan. Financial troubles in Australia of late and overstocking of the markets there helped also to reduce our export to that country during the period covered by this report. Under normal conditions, China should have imported from the Islands at least 6,000,000 board feet during the first six months of this year and our total export for this period should have been about 40,000,000 board feet. As it is, China only received from us slightly over 2,000,000 board feet. The actual export figures for the first six months of this year are 30,717,528 board feet valued at P 2,450,859 as compared with 31,616,408 board feet valued at P2,550,581, or a falling off of about 1,000,000 board feet and about 1*100,000 in value. This falling off of our export, how ever, is no indication that demand for our prod uct abroad is decreasing. On the contrary, our records show that the demand by our reg ular customers abroad is steadily increasing and there is every reason to believe that it will continue to increase from year to year. But the further development of our export trade will depend chiefly on our ability to find new mar kets, to expand the present ones and to satisfy our customers. Our lumbermen are, apparently, exerting themselves to attain these ends. The United States continues to be our biggest customer and is likely to remain so for many years. Japan, practically an insignificant mar ket about three years ago, has lately shown great activities, and all indications point to still greater demands for our product by that coun, try. The Japanese trade should be of particular interest to our lumbermen because the yearly import of Japan from all sources exceeds 1,200,TIMBER AND LUMBER EXPORT: FIRST HALF 1927 Destination United States.................................................... Japan................................................................. China................................................................. Australia............................................................ Great Britain.................................................... Netherlands...................................................... Italy................................................................... Belgium............................................................. Hongkong.......................................................... Spain................................................................. B. East Indies................................................. Canada.............................................................. Egypt................................................................. Guam................................................................. Total.......................................................... Raising Old Glory at Guam—1898. Landing Party from Gunboat Charleston 000,000 board feet. From America alone her. import last year was about 900,000,000 boar I feet, consisting mostly of Douglas fir or Orego; pine. Our export woods have already four -' their places in the Japanese markets and their uses are steadily increasing. Our soft woods especially have a particular appeal to the Japan - ese wood workers and builders and there reason to believe that the demand for such woo. will be permanent. Japanese dealers who ai already familiar with our lumber realize th and were not slow in making the necessar connection with Philippine lumbermen to suppl ; the Japanese markets with thePhilippine produc An interesting development of our lumbc industry is the demand for round logs abroac This is practically a new trade, but there : ■ every reason to believe that it is going to develop on a big scale. Buyers abroad, however, usually demand that the logs they buy should be grade?, according to certain accepted grading ruler. At present, unfortunately, we have not adopte' as yet such grading rules, but as the trade ir round logs grows the adoption of standar. grading rule will naturally follow. The Bureai of Forestry, with the cooperation of local lum bermen, is now studying this subject. The trad, in round logs should interest not only the bij lumbermen but also the small timber trader? because round logs are easier to supply thai sawn lumber. With respect to local activities, the figure: show that the production of the principal mills for the first six months of the year was about 90,000,000 board feet as compared with about 87,000,000 board feet for the same period last year, or an increase of about 3,000,000 board feet, while lumber shipments to the local markets for this period total about 92,000,000 board feet, or practically the same as that of the same period last year. The lumber in stock at the lumber yards of the various sawmills on June 30 of this year was about 35,000,000 board feet as compared with 32,000,000 on June 30 of last year. In judging the activities of the local markets, it is well to remember that the demand for lumber is usually weak during the rainy season and active from November to May. The export trade from January to June, 1927, is shown by the following table: 1927 1926 January-June January-June Board Feet Value Board Feet Value 30,717,528 1’ 2,450,859 31,616,408 I* 2,556,581 17,038,440 P 1,535,567 14,389,712 P 1,254,572 265,088 7,553,136 443,167 5,119,800 7,721,464 2,088,624 123,182 665,497 1,910,544 175,780 3,138,872 973,504 259,253 1,837,192 144,191 76,902 119.144 10,890 61,904 6,600 66,992 6,811 22,472 2,320 48,336 3,614 11,872 1,000 225 36,464 2,914 2,968 17,808 4,453 4,664 61,480 518 6,127 96,672 11,309 10,176 800 848 290 848 370 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL
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