The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Vol. 6, No.7 (July 1926)

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Vol. 6, No.7 (July 1926)
Issue Date: Vol. 6, No.7 (July 1926)
Year: 1926
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extracted text: Is Our Insolvency Law Constitutional? Yesterday and Today in Manila’s Motor World cXuierica’s Forfeiture of Far Eastern Lands (Facsimile of First U. S. Oriental Treaty) cXcquiring a Larger Chinese Merchant Population cTManila Hemp: Abaca—The Green Gold Plant Iloilo Waterworks System Underway The Economic Outlook of the Filipino Philippine Comment in the American Press Family Laws of the Apayaos The Nation’s 150th Birthday in Manila Editorials Current Business Reviews and Other Articles of Commercial and General Interest: Fully Illustrated [p] INVESTMENT SECURITIES Your individual requirements carefully analyzed and suitable selections offered through our affiliate, the NATIONAL CITY COMPANY which maintains more than fifty offices throughout the United States, Canada and elsewhere. Manila Office -.............................................. Pacific Building 5. Williams, Manager /.V REXPOXDIXG TO ADVERTISEMEXTS PEEAXE MEXT10X TEE AMERICAX (HAMPER OE COMMERCE JOCRX 1 July. 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL HUPMOBILE “8” You must buy’ a HUPMOBILE to get all these advantages. An ideal companion for pleasure or business Simplicity—Economy—Reliability—Durability The HUPMOBILE EIGHT is easily within reach of those who desire a fine quality car at a MODERATE COST. Whether as a sport car or for elegant town carriage the NEW HUPMOBILE EIGHT is offered in a model which satisfies the most exacting taste. Extremely liberal time payment plan makes possible the immediate enjoyment of a HUP MOBILE “8” SOLE AGENTS 23w.c?‘ Parsons Hardware Co., Inc. 22728 P. O. BOX 422 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 19: The New CHRYSLER “60” AGAIN CHRYSLER QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE A New Lower Priced Six ROADSTER— Cash P3250.00 Terms 3400.00 COACH — Cash P3625.00 Terms 3800.00 SEDAN — Cash P3850.00 Terms 4050.00 PRICES TOURING —Cash P3150.00 Terms 3350.00 Chrysler 60 Quality Features 1 6 - Cylinder Chrysler motor 2 54 Brake Horsepower 3 60 miles or more per hour 4 5 to 25 miles in 7 % seconds 5 22 miles per gallon of fuel 6 7-bearing crankshaft 7 Impulse neutralizer 8 Purolator oil filter 9 Centrifugal air cleaner 10 Fuel pressure oiling system 11 Chrysler hydraulic 4-wheel brakes 12 Duco finish 13 Full Balloon Tires First shipment arriving on July 21. On Display July 24, 25, 26. LUNETA MOTOR COMPANY I 54 San Luis Tel. 370 i The Distinctive Character— I 1883. the best of of EL ORIENTE CIGARS is due to a quality blend that never changes y Shapes Makers of high grade Manila cigars since As good as years ago. El Oriente Cigar Factory, MANILA, P. I. Inc IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL eAmerican Chamber of Commerce Journal PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS (Member, Chamber of Commerce of the United Slates.) ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER MAY 25, 1921, AT THE POST OFFICE AT MANILA, P. I. LOCAL SUBSCRIPTION—P4.00 PER YEAR. FOREIGN SUBSCRIPTION 53.00, U. S. CURRENCY, PER YEAR. SINGLE COPIES—35 CENTAVOS WALTER ROBB, Editor Mrs. GEO. L. MAGEE. Advertising BOARD OF DIRECTORS H. L. Heath. President C. M. Cotterman, Vice President J. W. Haussermann, Second Vice President (66 Broadway, N. Y.) B. A. Green. Treasurer H. M. Cavender P A. Meyer E. E. Selph, General Counsel S. F. Caches (absent) Robert E. Murphy George H. Fairchild. ALTERNATE DIRECTORS: Fred A. Leas John L. Headincton W. L. Marshall John T. Pickett John R. Wilson, Secretary COMMITTEES EXECUTIVE: H. L. Heath. Chairman C. M. Cotterman S. F. Caches RELIEF: W. J. Odom, Chairman Carl Hess John Gordon MANUFACTURING: John Pickett, Chairman R. A. McGrath Fred A. Leas LEGISLATIVE: C. M. Cotterman, Chairman Frank B. Ingersoll FINANCE AND AUDIT: B. A. Green, Chairman C. M. Cotterman George H. Fairchild FORBIGN TRADE: M. M. Saleeby, Chairman J. P. Heilbronn H. M. Cavender PUBLICATIONS: H. L. Heath, Chairman Walter Robb BANKING AND CURRENCY: Stanley Williams, Chairman H. B. Pond RECEPTION AND ENTERTAINMENT H. M. Cavender HOUSE: John L. Headington, Chairman Frank Butler LIBRARY: SHIPPING: H. M. Cavender, Chairman L. L. Spellman CHAMBER INVESTMENTS: C. M. Cotterman, Chairman B. A. Green I MANILA P. I. CONTENTS FOR JULY, 1926 VOLUME 6 NUMBER 7 Page Celebrating the Nation’s 150th Anniversary ................. 5 Yesterday and Today in Manila’s Motor World ............ 6 Manila Hemp: Abaca—The Green Gold Plant (By H. H. Boyle and Walter Robb) .......................................... 8 Captain Stanford Reporting on Dewey Drydock............ 9 John L. Headington—A Personal Sketch ....................... 9 America’s Forfeiture of Far Eastern Lands ................. 10 Editorials (By Walter Robb): Cause and Effect ........................................ 1.2 The Government’s Beau Gestes ................................. 12 Good Business Prospects ............................................ 12 Opening Bids for Public Supplies ............................. 12 Acquiring a Larger Chinese Merchant Population.... 13 Is Our Insolvency Law Constitutional?........................... 14 Philippine Comment in the American Press ................. 10 Iloilo Waterworks System At Last Underway............... 18 Economic Outlook of the Filipino (By Percy’A. Hill).. 20 Page Reviews of June Business: Rice (By Percy A. Hill) ............................................ 22 Lumber (By Francisco Tamesis)............................. 23 Tobacco (By P. A. Meyer)........................................ 23 Shipping (By H. M. Cavender)................................. 21 Hemp (By L. L. Spellman) ...................................... 26 Copra and Its Products (By R. K. Zercher) .......... 27 Exchange (By Stanley Williams) ........................... 27 Sugar (By George H. Fairchild) ............................. 28 Family Laws of the Apayaos .......................................... 29 Story: The Cross Sinister (By Percy A. Hill) .......... 31 Rubber in the Philippine Typhoon Belt (By A. H. Mnzzall) ........................ 32 Statistical Review of Commerce: Imports and Exports from and to Atlantic and Pacific Ports by Nationality of Carrying Vessels. 34 Principal Exports ............................................. 35 Principal Imports .............................................. 35 Port Statistics ............................................................. 35 Carrying Trade ........................................................... 35 Foreign Trade by Countries .................................... 35 The American Chamber of Commerce is ready and willing' at all times to furnish detailed information to any American Manufacturer, Importer, Exporter or other Americans who are Interested In Philippine matters. Address all communications and requests for such information to the Secretary of the Chabei, No. 14 Calle Finpin, Manila, P. I. The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines is a member of the UNITED STATES CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, and Is the largest and most adequately financed American Chamber of Commerce outside the continental boundaries of the United States. The organization has Twelve Hundred mem bers, all Americans, scattered over the Philippine Archipelago from Tawi Tawi to the Batanes. The organization of branches In all the American communities of the Asiatic Coast is being stimulated. M® The AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS should not be confused with other organizations bearing similar names such as the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines, the Philippine Chamber of Commorce, the Philipplne-American Chamber of Commerce and the Manila Chamber of Commerce. THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 FOR SALE Second Hand Machinery One Alternator, 250 KW; 2200 volts; 60 cycle, 3 phase, direct con nected to cross compound Hamil ton-Corliss Engine 12-24 x 36; with generator panel and rheostat. Two 100 KW Alternators; 2200 volts; 60 cycle, 3 phase; belted, 18" pulley; direct connected exciters; with generator panels. Two Venn-Severin Crude Oil Eng ines, 60 HP each One Worthington surface conden ser, 400 HP. One Scotch Marine Boiler, 400 HP. 50-100 ko. Ice cans; mew. (Knock ed down) 4 Galvanized steel brine tanks; 2500 ko. capacity each; ammonia fittings. Steam pipe and fittings up to 10”. Tube bender for sterling boiler tubes. Tube cleaner, Lagonda, water driven, for 4” tubes; with extra parts, new1. Steam and Oil separator. Steam Traps. Marine Engines: (1 Union, 50 HP., distilate) (1 Quayle, 25-35 HP, crude oil) Meters, Electric, 100 to 110 volts, 5 to 50 amp. Transformers, 5 to 20 KW, 2200 to 110, 220 and 440 v. For Prices etc. Apply BRYAN, LANDON CO. Cebu or Iloilo IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION TIIE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL JULY, 1926 Celebrating the Nation’s 150th Anniversary ******* Gathering o’ the Clan: Toasting the President Monday, July 5 in Manila; a fair gray day, little rain, but kindly clouds with the sun peeking through frequently as if to view the spectacle. Nine o’clock, and the holiday crowd of thirty thousand lining the parade route from Goiti to the Luneta; and there, in the reviewing stand, our com mittee and our gentry and our veterans and our officials, civilian and military, in feckless white. Hushed moments, anticipa tion. Then ........ down old Bagumbayan come the bands, the troops, the mounted officers, the cavalry, the infantry, marines, blue jackets, veterans, veteranos, boy scouts, campfire girls, phalanxes of cadets and marshalled schools of children—on comes the whole cavalcade and every unit marches splendidly past the reviewing stand “eyes right!” and step a-spring and lively. It is a very gay and patriotic pageant. The Army makes up a lot of it. The Navy lends its touch. The veteran and civic bodies broaden it into something truly des criptive of the community. Beyond the stand ranks break and the marching thou sands assemble for the speaking. Mayor Miguel Romualdez speaks, so docs Major General Wm. Weigel. Stanley Williams reads impressively the Declaration; the solemn periods fall eloquently upon every one’s attention. Clyde A. DeWitt delivers the oration, interpretive of America. He does it capably. Dr. eorge W. Wright reads the poem by the Grand Army veteran, Pro fessor Ebenezer Cook. Thomas, of the days of ’61, is there too. Now the formal program is over. Th? morning has passed. Athletics take up the afternoon. Youth has marched to please the elders; now it romps to please itself— to win or compete for prizes and do as the Greeks were wont to do. The country shares the heritage of the western world. America brought it that. America brought it a lot of things. Peace, foi' example; and to know how to give and take. There were the veterans marching, and there too the veteranos. Aguinaldo in the grandstand, with Weigel and the rest; and down with the serried ranks of rayodillo-miformed men from Laguna, marches Juan Cailles. The veteranos number no less than eight thousand: they come quietly into Manila, and as quietly disperse to the provinces after being the guests for a few hours’ holiday and com radeship of the veterans who fought them in the guerilla campaigns of insurrection times. Before they leave, however, they assemble at the Stadium for a meeting all their own. Aguinaldo is there, and Felipe Agoncillo. Cailles presides. The girls’ band from Maragondon plays; the soloist gets many encores and must play a knndiman on the saxophone before they finally let her retire. Girls of the native Red Cross are there, given the best seats and treated like queens. There are speeches; no native meeting would be complete without them. They are hot, expressing the impatience of the vete ranos with the current heckling of Amer ica. They denounce such tactics as hy pocrisy, short-sighted and selfish politics. We might be on the platform, but we don’t go there to sit among the dignitaries; we wind our way up into the galleries and sit with the humblest of the listeners—the men who bore the rifles and dug the trenches and wielded the bolos. “Good!” they shout. “Good, Good!” as speaker after speaker dwells upon the harsher times of old, the better times of today and the folly of try ing to budge America from a position she is reluctant to give up. We ask for interpretations. “He says that of old we fought the Americans, but those days are over and today we are all comrades and ought to remain friends. It is good, we ought.” Aguinaldo beams, he is happy among his veteranos. American veterans present him the colors, American and Philippine, borne in the parade. The meeting honors Amer ica’s executives, Coolidge and Wood. Then the people disperse, to a hundred hamlets and towns skirting Manila bay. The girls of Maragondon mount a truck and go play ing all the way home. Indeed it is a holi day. About this hour Americans gather at the Chamber of Commerce for their own tribute to the day. They are received by the Directors and their ladies. They are addressed, upon their follies and their vir tues, by General Weigel, who has as many patriotic sermons in his barrel as a Wes leyan minister has on the life of St. Paul. They sing, America. They hear Bishop Gouverneur Frank Mosher on the theme of “The American Community.” The eagle doesn’t scream, nor does it droop its fea thers; President Heath as master of cere monies intimates in fact that it has grown tired of drooping its feathers. He says that more than fifty per cent of the Cham ber’s membershic is made up of veterans of the empire days, and the membership of the directorate too; and those who didn’t serve as soldiers, which was really just youthful adventure, served their country honorably in organizing civil government; and what all did has been worthwhile, the government need not forget that service was rendered. The veterans got service bars “for pa triotism, fortitude and loyalty.” Captain Heath, wearing his for the first time, be lieves more patriotism, fortitude and loyalty has been required under the civil adminis tration of the territory won in the cam paigns than was required in the campaigns themselves. In this way the eagle plumes its feathers: it is weary of political dust on its crest. Bishop Mosher makes an in spiring and dignified address. The cup is ipassed, all drink, as the sun is setting in gold and russett and purple and lustrous shade over Mariveles, to the President of the United States of America and the Gov ernor General of the Philippine Islands. They sing again, The Star Spangled Ban ner. They munch beans, quaff friendly cups with one another and disperse, pre sently, to their homes. The nation has been remembered, by its nationals. E pluribus unmn. THE FORD FORDON SEDAN It is Very Easy to Own a Ford Under the New Weekly Payment Plan Write us for full particulars MANILA MANILA TRADING & SUPPLY COMPANY ILOILO CEBU BACOLOD LEGASPI IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 192G Yesterday and Today in Manila’s Motor World Martin Egan Owned a Ford: Romulo Owns Packard Stepping back sixteen years into the motor past of Manila and picking up a dis carded copy, at the Hixon auction, of the “Manila Motor Car Directory” by Percy Warner Tinan, one finds that in 1910, when the directory was issued, there were but 308 motor cars registered in Manila, most of them by government bureaus and by dealers. Two Buicks were registered, both by the dealer, 'E. M. Bachrach, though it seems that ten had come into the market. Sixty makes of cars were in use, half of them represented by a single car. Richard Brasiers stood at the top, 61 cars. The agents were the Estrella Auto Palace, who also had the Renault, Delahaye, Regal and Hupmobile agencies. Tinan sold the Win ton Six, for P6.000, and boasted the only self-starting car in the field. “Cranking belongs to hand organs,” he advertised. There were seven Wintons in Manila. Bachrach sold Fords and Rapid trucks as well as Buick cars. One Rapid truck was busily competing with the carabao cart and finding the going hard; but Fords had already won their preeminence: Martin Egan, editor of the Manila Times, owned and drove one, and fifty other Manilans were in the same proud class. Times change. Local newspaper circles envy the editor of the Tribune, Carlos P. Romulo, his handsome Packard. In 1910 there was but one Packard in Manila; it was owned by Governor -General W. Cameron Forbes, who also had six Stanleys and one Brasier. Forbes’ battery of cars topped the present Malacanang list by two. Governor Gen eral Leonard Wood gets along with five cars only, one Haynes, one Pierce-Arrow, one Packard and two Hudsons. Tinan published a proud list of 301.cars, of sixty different makes, “in operation on August 15, 1910.” Aside from the dealers themselves, few names appear among car owners of that year that are well known today. Men who own half a dozen cars now owned none then. Former Justice F. C. Fisher is an exception; he was abreast of the times and owned a Reo—“the mighty Reo, four cylinder, 30 horsepower: 50 miles an hour. The peer of any P7.0000 car in power, endurance and appearance. Com plete with top and windshield (accessories then!) P3,200.” Here is how Justice Fisher's car looked: Henry Ford had of course gotten well into his stride in the manufacture of cars for the people, but the multiple-production American car that was to conquer the world market was in the making; whereas hardly a foreign car is now seen in the islands, then there were many, and cars of the most popular makes now on the market were then scarcely seen at all. Eduardo Gu tierrez Repide owned the only Studebaker in town, a car of eight horsepower. Dr. H. D. Kneedler had a Brush, of 12 horse power; Maurice F. Lowenstein an E. M. F., of 30 horsepower; and Colonel J. G. Harbord (now Major General) a Maxwell, of 14 horsepower. The Flanders “20” was advertised as THE Runabout. It looked like the illus tration and had four cylinders and a 100inch wheelbase. It could be bought with a “surrey” seat if desired. E. C. McCul lough & Company were the agents, and told the world that “a little Flanders recently completed a trip from Quebec to Mexico City without a hitch, just to show that a runabout is not necessarily a runabout,” whatever cryptic significance this may have had to the covetous public. This public in the Philippines was await ing the day when America needed more vegetal fats and tropical hard fiber, would offer a better market to the islands and would, above all else, apply her mechanical skill, and genius for getting this skill and capital together, for the making of motor cars cheap. For who could then afford them? The garages announced cars for hire at eight and ten pesos the hour! At torney Charles A. McDonough, secretary treasurer of the Philippine Motor Car Company, had Wintons at eight pesos the hour. The American multiple-production car came, in the course of time, and the, for eign cars retired from the field just when it was commencing to be worthwhile. There are 20,000 and more motor vehicles licensed in the Philippines today; and more, combining the utmost luxury and utility, are to be had by the purse with a few extra pesos in it each month. Perhaps the girls of the vaudeville stage set the fashion to native women in the Philippines in driving their own cars. They bought, got the knack of the thing and their licen ses, and introduced another phase into the July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 7 colorful social atmosphere of this most cosmopolitan and strangest of all American cities. The American woman had, of course, been driving; the Gallarza-Loriga visit has stimulated the desire to drive among Spanish girls. Four hundred women are licensed to drive automobiles in the Philippines. More women own and drive their own cars in Manila than equal the total number of cars in the city sixteen years ago, when the famous guidebook was published. Five women operate cars as public utili ties : they compete at the stands for patron age, along with the men. The bureau of public works reports that women are suc cessful drivers; they have fewer accidents than men halve, whether this is due to quicker perception or to gallantry that gives them the right-of-way could never be determined and need not be discussed. Josefa Servillas, a Visayana in Suri gao, was the first Filipino girl licen sed to operate a car as a public utility. She drives a Ford truck converted in to a passenger coach. She obtained her student’s license in 1922, later passed the required exami nation with a mark of 80 per cent and has never had an ac cident in her daily driving over trying roads ever since. It is too well known to require repetition that the Philippines sur pass all the rest of the far east, including Australia and tossing in Alaska as good measure, as a market for American auto mobiles. There are more than 22,000 licensed drivers in the islands, and, as stated, more than 20,000 licensed motor vehicles. The license and registration col lections up to June 26 at the bureau of public works were P811,175.36, as against P798.438.62 for the full 12 months last year. There is every sign that sales will keep well up during the remainder of the year and that 1925 marked the opening of a new epoch in the trade. The college girl has begun to luxuriate in a car of her own. Among the more than 300 women licensed to drive in Ma nila, many are coeds; and the Philippine Women’s College is in the lead, having fourteen students and faculty members with their own cars and their own pri vilege to display them on the boulevards. Mrs. Conrado Benitez and Miss Ramona Tirona each have their own car, and drive them. This comment will, of course, pass into history just as Tinan’s guidebook did. We pick up the historical paragraph from the guidebook for the sake of continuity: “The first automobile was imported into the Philippines in 1901 by Estrella del Norte and sold to Dr. Miciano, who still owns it. The car was a little 3*/•> horse power, single cylinder, wire-wheel Richard Brasier. From this small beginning nine years ago (writing in 1910) the auto mobile business has grown to the recent importation by this same firm of the hand some six cylinder 60 horsepower, ten pas senger Brasier limousine, originally built for an Indian rajah and valued at P15.000. The first Renault arrived in 1904 and was sold to Sr. Benito Legarda. The date of the first American car in the islands, ..a Locomobile steamer, does not appear clear. The first importer to launch American cars was E. M. Bachrach, with the Ford in 1907, followed in 1909 with the Buick. Percy Warner Tinan sold the first high priced American cars in 1908, viz.: four Wintons to the Philippine Motor Car Co., followed in 1909 by Thomas Flyers, sold to Wm. Van Buskirk. The year 1910 saw a sudden impetus to the business.” With all the stir in the motor market, naturally business is rising to its oppor tunities. The Manila Trading and Supply Company, Ford and Lincoln agents, is erect ing another building adjscent to and larger than its present one on the port area. The Pacific Commercial Company relinquishes the Buick agency it has held for so many years and is preparing to handle no less than four General Motors cars, the Chev rolet, the Oakland, the Pontiac and “GMC” trucks. The arrangements were effected by the company’s president, Mr. H. L. Pond, on his visit to the United States. Poth the company’s present show rooms and its shops are being enlarged to accomodate its expanding patronage and provide the serv ice required. Hilton Carson has gone with his wide experience and knowledge of the automobile business of the islands to the management of the Philippines Motors Corporation, which has the Auburn and Studebaker agencies. The shops and showrooms remain on Ongpin. Mr. Carson retains his owner ship of the Auto Trucking company but places it under other management so as to devote his whole time to his new post. Other changes and improvements were imminent at time of closing the forms for July. Com ment must go over to a later date. THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 Manila Hemp: Abaca—The Green Gold Plant &&&&&& By H. H. Boyle and Walter Robb Taxes derived from the abaca industry by the insular government range perhaps between eight and thirteen million pesos a year. The merchants’ -sales tax alone is around P4,000,000 a year, with a like sum added to purchases of imports in the abaca Since early in the 18th century when the first shipment of Manila hemp, abaca, was made to European markets, the fiber of this invaluable plant has been and at pres ent is the principal product of the Philip pines. It is true that other products have, for a time, displaced abaca in point of ex port value for a year or two. Notwith standing this fact, abaca is the principal means of livelihood for at least half the population of the archipelago; and is, re grettable as the fact may be, one of the principal sources of government revenue. It is a well known fact that this product is the most accurate barometer of Philip pine business. When hemp enjoys a good market all other business in the islands is certain of prosperity. Rice brings high prices, corn too; the domestic sale of to bacco manufactures increases and the im port trade sails on sure waters. But let abaca fiber meet with reverses in the markets of the world. When this oc curs the Philippines commercially are in the dumps. A slump in sugar, even though prolonged, has nowhere near the effect on general business that a slump in abaca has. The plant from which abaca is obtained is a species of Musa botanic-ally known as Musa textilis. In the Philippines the plant and fiber alike are known as abaca; in the markets of the world the fiber is Manila hemp. It is indigenous to the Philippines only; this being true, the fiber is a natural commercial monopoly of the islands. About half the total annual production is con sumed in the United States. Up to the present, abaca is the premier cordage fiber of the world. When properly extracted from the plant the fiber is about fifty per cent superior in tensile strength to any other vegetable fiber known or used in the manufacture of cordage. The elas ticity of abaca is also superior to any struc tural fiber known. Efforts have been made by various enti ties and individuals to have the govern ment lend assistance to this vital industry. The fiber grading act which went into ef fect in 1915 was a step forward. The new fiber board taking over administration of the grading act July 1 may help consider ably to improve the industry; but it will require time for this board to obtain the wherewithal to tackle the tremendous work that is to be accomplished. The government has been exceedingly generous to the sugar industry. More than fifty million pesos of public taxes have been invested, chiefly in one province and on one island, to promote this industry to the point where it might compete with other sugar regions of the- world producing in the ag gregate some fifteen million tons of this staple product. Not one. centavo has been invested in the abaca industry. The fiber grading act in effect since 1915 has been self supporting and has even provided nearly P500,000 for the general funds of the government, free of all expense of col lection. Abaca has never enjoyed any such assistance as sugar, coconuts and tobacco have received from the government. Yet it is the principal agricultural product of the islands and is in such condition in most of the provinces that unless prompt and efficient assistance is rendered it is likely to be damaged permanently. There are districts formerly yielding the rarest qual ity of fiber that have been ruined by para sitic pests since these were discovered in the plantations in 1918. Population of Philippine Hemp Producing Provinces Province (Census of 1918) Population Area in Sq. Miles Per Sq. Mile Bales of Hemp in Last 6 Yrs. Albay ........................ 259,704 975 268 1,119,413 Leyte ......................... 597,950 3,005 199 1,706,926 Ambos Camarines. 270,814 2,851 95 567,672 Sorsogon .................. 178,243 729 245 688,262 Samar ........................ 379,575 5,234 72 599,613 North Mindanao— 714,958 Misamis ................... 198,943 1,030 193 Bukidnon ................. 48,544 3,871 13 Agusan ..................... 44,740 4,294 10 Surigao..................... 122,154 2,889 42 Lanao ......................... 91,459 2,439 37 South Mindanao— 1,022,551 Davao ....................... 108,222 7,486 14 Cotabato .................. 171,978 9,620 18 Zamboanga ........... 147,333 6,383 23 Jolo (Sulu) ............. 172,776 1,082 160 58,410 Cebu .......................... 855,065 1,867 458 52,704 Mindoro ................... 71,931 3,926 18 65,426 Negros— 65,913 Occidental .............. 396,636 3,125 127 Oriental ................... 215,750 1,779 121 Various— 200,793 Cavite, etc. Total .................................. 4,332,017 3,421 117 6,824,333 The average yearly production of the provinces for which it is possible to obtain the population records was 1,102,924 bales, which excludes the 200,793 bales produced in various provinces, Cavite, Laguna, Tayabas, etc., not specified in the baling reports and therefore not possible to trace in the census. Fiber Board at Work Commencing July 1 the Fiber Standardization Board and its subsidiary, the Philippine Fiber Inspection Service, superseded, under the law, the fiber division of the bureau of agriculture in the administration of the fiber grading act. Offices of the board and the inspection service are on the second floor of the Pacific Building. On June 30 the fiber division at the bureau of agri culture closed shop permanently. Under the new act the govern ment has more adequately provided for fiber inspection. There is likely to be ample revenue and competent personnel. Fiber offered for export will be inspected and graded by the fiber inspection service of which W. G. Stevenson has been ap pointed manager. Dr. Stanton Youngberg, acting director of agri culture, is chairman and executive officer of the Fiber Standardiza tion Board. Fiber producers are represented on the board by Ma riano Garchitorena and S. F. Gaches; exporters by H. T. Fox and L. L. Spellman, respectively managers of Smith, Bell and Company and Macleod and Company; dealers by Juan Camahort, of E. Diaz y Cia.; manufacturers by Captain H. L. Heath, president of the American Chamber of Commerce and representative of a group of Pacific coast cordage mills as well as the Manila Cordage Com pany, manufacturing cordage in Manila. July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL districts. “All the traffic will bear” seems to be the government dictum. The full rate, 1% per cent, is universally applied to sales of abaca, whereas the highest rate on sugar is 1 per cent and half of this, the planters’ share, does not even pay the 1 per cent. Though the result of litigation may force payment from the planters, they will still be greatly favored to the prejudice of abaca planters. The government will have no more than 1 per cent from sugar, while it takes no less than 6 per cent from abaca. Why not, for an industry so important to the public revenues as well as general business, establish some safeguards? It is more than time that this be done. It might be done. An abaca institute ad equately manned with competent scientific personnel is needed and has been needed for many years. Dr. Penoyer L. Sherman is engaged as a chemist in chemical re search at the bureau of science for the Cordage Institute of America. He is doing an excellent work, but it doesn’t cover the required field. By turning back to the in dustry a small fraction of the revenue it provides, there could be established an in stitute with plant pathologists, botanists, chemists and horticulturists who would all be constantly on the alert to eradicate diseases, improve varieties, better cultiva tion and generally promote the industry. In this the example of other agricultural countries could be followed with assurance of success. Instead of producing 1,200,000 bales a year of abaca, the Philippines might well produce four million bales and profitably compete with Yucatan and Africa, each marketing fibers inferior to our abaca. Abaca may be mechanically stripped. This much is proved and the practice should be rapidly extended to all fiber districts. Abaca may also be kept free of diseases to a great degree at least simply by cultiva tion. This also is proved and might be demonstrated by stations at Silang, where disease has, in seven years, wiped out the choicest fiber in the islands. What has been done in Davao can be done in the Bicol region as well as Leyte and Samar and northern Mindanao. In Davao abaca is not grown wild. It is planted, cultivated for eight to twelve years, then rooted out and the fields re plowed and planted again. It is where cultivation is neglected and abaca grows wild, the fiber extracted by tenants on shares, that the varieties and the quality of fiber decline. Two of the most successful Davao plant ers were taken to Silang last year to in spect the ruined abaca fields there. “This could have been prevented by cultivation,” they said. The moribund practice of utter neglect of abaca fields over so wide an area of our producing regions must in some way be broken up. Davao tenants too work on the share basis, but with greater advantage to themselves as well as the landlords. They are associated and have regulations for their mutual protection. They sell the fiber at weekly auctions, getting the highest prices, often by exporters’ agents. Adul teration of parcels is prohibited. For a first offense the fine is P50, for a second the penalty is confiscation and for a third deportation. The tenants are Japanese, who have devised these rigid rules of business. It is perfectly safe to do business with them, hence the abaca industry of Davao is ad vancing not only by the energy and abil ity Americans devote to it, but by the enterprise of the farmers themselves. Captain Stanford Reporting on Dewey Drydock ** ** ** ** ** «« «« Seven Sites Within the Bay Are Proposed The naval drydock Dewey brought across the Pacific in 1906 and moored at Olongapo naval station since that time will be even tually “removed to a point within Manila bay,” when decision has been made in Washington upon the technical report on the problem now being prepared by Captain Homer Reed Stanford, C. E. C., U. S. N., who arrived in Manila on the navy trans port Chaumont July 2 and has set about his duties. Captain Stanford is living at the Army and Navy club, where he may usually be seen during the morning up to 11 o’clock. Where the drydock Dewey shall be per manently anchored is a matter of much importance to the shipping community. The capacity of the largest privately owned docking and slipway works in the islands is understood to be around 1500 or 2000 tons. For vessels of greater tonnage no privately owned facilities are available, and under such conditions the navy will under take overhauling and repairing commercial ships during periods when the dock is not required for navy work. These periods seem to aggregate about six months each year. For the removal of the dock from Olongapo, a step definitely determined upon in 1922, there is a fund of $400,000. The question of funds gives the navy far less concern than the feasibility of a site at which the dock may be placed. The Man Who Makes the Buttons For Manhattan Shirts & & & & & & Headington, J. L., An Ohio Product Manila has its distinctive type of business man. It is the type that cut school and college in 1898, volunteered for America’s first overseas expedition ary force, shoul dered a Springfield, learned the manual of arms, subsisted on execrable rations and fought guerilla campaigns in the East and West Indies in revenge for the Maine and for the sake of adventure. It is the type that ranked it self on conquered Spanish plazas—the old Plaza Real, now Plaza McKinley, for ex ample—and pledged to do in civil life, in the civil service of a civil government, all that it had done with the rifle in the field. Victory and hard campaigning and ex perience had prepared the young adventqrous volunteers for soberer duties. Of this type is John Labon Headington, a son of Ohio and the manager of the Phil ippine Button Corporation since its success ful reorganization in 1922 by New York capital that directed the rebuilding and reequipment of the plant so that the out put is greatly increased and it has become one of the important manufactories of Ma nila. It makes pearl buttons for the Uni ted States market. All is done with Phil ippine marine products and Filipino labor, which is taught to be skilled labor. A sub Seven different sites have been variously suggested. They are Mariveles, Corregidor, north of Cavite station, south of it, Sangley point, the middle of the bay, or within the harbor. The shoreline of the bay approximates 100 miles; it is 30 miles to Mariveles, which is about half the dis tance to Olongapo. Shops, workmen and workmen’s quarters are vital desiderata; but most vital of all is a sufficient depth of water, which cannot be less than 65 feet and really should be 70 feet. Such depths are not found along the bay shore, nor at Cavite or Sangley point, nor within the harbor, where the fairway has a depth of about 35 feet only. With ample funds a site and channel could be dredged to the required depth, and with additional ample funds might be kept at the required depth. It may be seen how extensive and comprehensive Captain Standford’s report must be, and how knotty a problem the armament treaties put up to the depart ment in Washington. Under the treaties the dock may be removed to “a point within Manila bay” because this will be no new construction; and it must be removed be cause away out there at Olongapo, a station no longer kept up, it is not rendering the service it is capable of at a station suf ficiently equipped and manned. stantial volume of new wealth is thus ad ded to the islands’ mobilized resources every year. Headington has made his own place in Manila’s business circles. He was born in Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio, in 1879. He had been graduated from the Mount Vernon High School, had attended Kenyon Military Academy, and was, at nineteen, attending Kenyon College when McKinley called for volunteers in 1898. Heading ton’s outfit went first to Porto Rico, and he later, in 1899, came to the Philippines with the United States Signal Corps. In 1900 he participated with the American forces in the international expedition to Peking and the suppression of the Boxer rebellion in China. He returned with his outfit to Manila when the unpleasantness in China had terminated, and at the expiration of his enlistment became a disbursing clerk in the Philippine civil government under Civil Governor Wm. Howard Taft. In 1904 he was assigned to the bureau of audits as an examiner. He remained there until 1915, rising meanwhile from examiner to a dis trict auditor in the Bicol region, to chief of a division in the Manila office, and served as acting assistant auditor for over two years. When he left the government service he was a special agent. He had now devoted 17 years of his youth and early manhood to his country. Embarking upon his career in business life, he became associated with the Shanghai 10 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 Life Insurance Company and spent three years as resident secretary for the com pany in Siam and Burma, having charge of payment of claims, the making of loans, handling of litigation—the usual and im portant executive duties of the resident secretaries. The European War was on. When America got into it, Headington naturally tried to go. He wasn’t successful in this, his youth was a good way behind him, but he gained connection with the defense forces of the nation, for he was given the rank of captain in the quartermaster re serve corps. Headington is a Past Com mander, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Commander of Stotsenberg Post No. 2, Uni ted States War Veterans, of which Carmi Aiderman Thompson, sent to the Philip pines to make an intensive survey in be half of President Coolidge, is the national head. America’s Forfeiture of Far Eastern Lands **** ' It*** Might Have Territory From Formosa to Fiji If, seeking the grotesque in statecraft, one sits down to thumbing the old records of America in eastern Asia—and what remark able records they are!—one finds that im perialism and altruism, as the terms are nowadays applied to the Philippines ques tion, are of no recent birth: they are old, they antedate steam upon the Pacific by more than a decade. Avowing altruism, imperialism has in general been practiced; that is to say, altruism, however sternly espoused, has not been altogether capable of arresting the natural and necessary ex pansion of the United States in the far east. It has, however, succeeded in bringing about national sacrifices in the far east of colossal magnitudeIt is hardly arresting to the attention to recall that in 1898 Commodore George De wey left Hongkong before 4 p. m. April 25, as the British government, having determin ed upon neutrality in the struggle between Spain and America, requested he should. Everybody knows this. Dressed Up But it is arresting to the But Nowhere attention to recall that To Go! when he left Hongkong he had absolutely no place to go but to Manila; and there, to make a place for his fleet, it would be neces sary first to destroy the Spanish fleet, for we had not a naval rendezvous in the whole far east! Our far eastern fleet measured 18,000 tons; England’s, Germany’s and Japan’s each three times that. We had commercial interests in Manila; our with drawal from far eastern waters, in time of war, would have been the signal for these interests to be attacked and annihilated. The providence, so-called, of the situation lias been romanticised upon and still finds bombastic utterance upon formal and in formal occasions. Yet the hand of provid ence was not at the helm. Compulsion drove Dewey to Manila. It was either that or show the white feather on the high seas. This was due to the fact that for fifty years we had been forfeiting territory in the far east, until we had none: Honolulu would have been Dewey’s first available ren dezvous, the first station at which he might legally bunker his ships. The explanation is that our state depart ment had, as it still does, consistently re fused to view political policy and commer cial policy in the far east as a single unit. It therefore falls out that America owes far more to the vision and enterprise of half a dozen distinguished naval officers When Headington returned to Manila from India and Siam he became treasurer of the Manila Trading and Supply Com pany, one of the wealthier American cor porations of the islands, and when the San Juan Heights Company organized to pioneer in selling suburban homes to Manila’s mid dle class, Headington was chosen treasurer of that company and retired from the Ma nila Trading and Supply Company. He is a certified public accountant. Baseball and boxing benefit from his patronage as a fan. He is an Elk, a Shriner, member of the University Club and the Golf Club, and of the Chamber of Commerce, where he represents the active membership of the Philippine Button Corporation and is an Alternate Director. He enjoys a wide and influential acquaintance in the islands and has always received the cooperation of bus iness people and government officials, who appreciate his character and frank methods of business. than to forty congresses and sixteen pres idents. We reproduce with this comment a copy of the first treaty America ever made in the fair east. It was with the sultan of Sulu and was effected by Commodore Charles Wilkes, commanding the first United . States naval exploring expeAn Early . dition, sent out during the Demacratic administration of President Move Van Buren. It will be seen that this treaty was for the purpose of fostering commerce. It was agreed, too, that at least three ships of ours would call yearly in Sulu; there were well defined obligations upon our part as we'l as upon the sultan’s. This was in 1842. In 1840, Wilkes had effected a survey of the Fiji islands, which became a British colony in 1874. They are on the route be tween Australia and Panama. They ex tend from 15 degrees to 20 degrees south latitude, lie along the 180 meridian, the international date line, comprise 250 islands, 80 of which are inhabited, have an area of 7,435 square miles and are "the most im portant archipelago in Polynesia—” that is, in the Pacific islands from the American coast north and south of the equator as far as the 180 meridian. Wilkes reported faith fully upon the advisability of securing them; they were thrown at our head in the middle fifties of the last century, and at England’s as well. We dodged, England didn’t. Kipling reminds us that— "Never was isle so little, never was sea so lone, But over the scud and the palm trees an English flag was flown.” It is not a little surprising to learn how like the English the American flag has been in this respect, but the enterprise of our sailors has been less appreciated in Wash ington than the enterprise of British sailors has always been appreciated in Downing St reet... It is so much better, of course, for our parlor societies to believe that the Fiiians, swept into the stream of modern events whether they would or no, are better off under another nation than under ours. It only happens that it isn’t, true: altruism is a notorious misnomer. Fiji might have been our southern outpost in the Asiatic Pa cific. It isn’t. Move forward twelve years. Perry goes to Japan, he effects a treaty with her. Ap parently it is not so advantageous as the one Caleb Cushing and Dr. Peter Parker have effected with China in 1844, but it is based upon the fundamental truth that our commercial and political interests are one; and so it gets, in time, much farther . than the Cushing Unity of Political treaty. Visiting And Commercial Yedo, Perry makes Interests rendezvous in a har bor of the largest of the Lew Chew islands, which he proposes to hold for the United States—by force if need be. He finds himself so well received in Japan that belligerency is not required; the Lew Chew harbor could be held. It isn’t. Washington declines the responsibi lity. Perry chafes, but is impotent. Move forward 17 years. Events have progressed in China as well as Japan. China has never conformed to her treaty agreements, made one after another; our navy has been at various times employed; Taiwan, Formosa, is the wild habitat ot' savages and renegade Chinese, warring upon one another and upon all who touch the miserable coasts—often driven there by storms; so that every man of one of our ships has been wantonly and brutally murderec-. Our flag goes up at Takau, stays there for one year. Commodore Armstrong is on the job. Coal is required for the new steamship line across the Pacific, and For mosa has coal superior to that brought out in the clippers. Six thousand tons a year are contracted for, at $7 a ton, and only 300 tons secured, ere China, by a gesture curious enough in a friendly nation, stops delivery. China has committed excesses enough, and Formosa is naught but a no-man’s land in the midst of treacherous seas and pillaged by treacherous men. Portugal has had it, Spain has had it, Holland has had it, and since 1682, it has been nominally under China, which gives it no attention and will not be responsible for repeated violations of international law. Yet we do not hold Formosa, in one year our flag comes down —by order of Washington. When some shipwrecked Japanese are murdered, Japan overruns Formosa in 1874 and keeps the island until China salves the hurt with a half million taels. In 1895 Japan comes again, and her Japanese sovereignty is permanently Procedure established. It is much betDifferent ter’ *s f°r Formosa to be under other rule than ours? "A more debased population could scarcely be conceived. The aborigines, Sheng-fan, or wild savages, deserved the appellation in some respects, for they lived by the chase and had little knowledge even of husbandry; while the Chinese themselves, uneducated laborers, acknowledged no right except that of might.” It is possible, nevertheless, for some per sons’to contend that God gave Formosa to such people. Would it be sacrilegious to remark that if He did, the devil has trium phed, for Japan has certainly taken For mosa away from them; and what part of it they shall finally retain they will retain by changing their ways. The Financial and Economic Annual of Japan, for 1925, lists the following Formo san minerals now yielding millions of wc-alth to the world yearly: gold, silver, coal, copper, petroleum. The Formosan sugar crop in 1924 was 452,210 metric tons, exceeding any sugar crop ever grown in the Philippines. Even the jute crop was nearly 4,000 tons. The revenue from tax ation was Yen 87,008,171. The expenditure for education was Yen 2,818,512. The ex penditure for communications was Yen 13,426,224, only slightly in excess of the value cf the tea crop alone. America was, of course, the chief purchaser of the tea! July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 11 632 APPENDIX. XIIL I, Mohamed, Sultan of Sooloo. for the purpose of encouraging trade with the people of the United States of America, do promise hereby and bind myself that I will afford full protection to all vessels of the United States, and their eommanders and crews, visiting any of the islands of my dominions, and they shall be allowed to trade on the terms of the most favoured nation, and receive such provisions* and necessaries as they may be in want of. 2o'v. In case of shipwreck or accident to any vessel. I will afford them all the assistance in my power, and protect the persons and properly of those wrecked, and afford them all the.assistance in my power for its preservation and safe-keeping, and for the return of tho officers and crews of said vessels to the Spanish settlements, or wherever they may w h to proceed. 3dly. That any one of my subjects who shall do any injury or harm to the commanders or crews belonging to Amorican vessels, shall receive such punishment as his crime merits. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, in presence of the datus and chiefs at Suurig. island of Sooloo. • February 5th, 1842. Commanding Exploring Expedition. William L. Hudson, I^te commanding U. S. Ship Peacock. R. R. Waldron, Purser, II, S. Exploring Expedition. Formosa extends from 20-56 to 25-15 north latitude and from 120 to 122 east longitude. It is 225 miles long and from 60 to 80 miles broad, has a coast line of 731 miles and an area of 13.429 square miles —“being thus nearly the same size as Kiusliiu, the mort southern of the four chief islands forming the Japanese empire pro per.” The annual export of Oolong and Pouchong teas exceeds five million kilo grams. The population is about 3,500,000. The value of the overseas trade in 1924 was Yen 384,700,000. As comparisons are odious, they are omitted, but the reader is left to his own intelligent devices. In our eagerness to reach Formosa we overlooked Borneo. We might have estab lished in North Borneo under the Wilkes treaty of 1842. Consul Moses, at Brunei, actually obtained a conMoses Gets cession in 1867, four years North Borneo Prior J® th® British, but he could not secure it be cause he had no support from Washington. It was nothing for America to occupy the lands of civilized Indians, for the very legi timate purpose of making farms out of bunting grounds; but it would, it seemed, be dreadful to make tropical Borneo habit able and productive. The job was left to the British, as usual, and they have at last begun on it in earnest. “In 1872 the Labuan Trading Company was established in Sandakan, the fine har bor on the northern coast which was sub sequently the capital of the North Borneo Company’s territory. In 1878, through the instrumentality of Mr. (afterward Sir) Alfred Dent, the Sultan of Sulu was in duced to transfer to a syndicate, formed by Baron Overbeck and Mr. Dent, his possessions in North Borneo, of which, as has been seen, he had been from time immemorial the overlord. Early in 1881 the, British North Borneo Provisional As sociation, Ltd., was formed to take over the concession which had been obtained from the sultan of Sulu, and in November of that year a petition was addressed to Queen Victoria praying for a royal charter. It was granted, and subsequently, the Bri tish North Borneo Company, which was formed in May 1882, took over, in spite of some diplomatic protests on the part of the Dutch, and Spanish governments.” In the darkest jungle of North Borneo,— which, by the way, is a territory of 31,000 square miles, immensely rich, and within sight of America’s southern Philippine boundary, there are peoples so primitive that they will not ford a stream, even if no more than ankle deep. (The type, too, is not abPhilippines). By some oc' '' reasoning, such The Jungle and Rs Primitives sent from the ___ ...___ cult process of romantic _____ ______ peoples are supposed, in altruism, to have heaven-bestowed inalienable rights to run wild and nude—into the very gates of eter nity, and the jungle is to be preserved for them. Unfortunately for the ideals of picturesque savagery that lurk in the back of all our brains, the British, for example, don’t see things in this light. Without profiting from North Borneo in any way whatsoever, America still has the deil’s own time about the place. For it be longs in fact to the realm of the sultan of Sulu, who is our subject—whether the Con stitution permits it or not. The rest of his territory is United States territory. What of North Borneo? A pretty question is presented, one to drive an altruist quite mad: for there is no altruism about it, and his deeding over lands and people alike was a thoroughly cold-blooded act. “Whereas, wo have seen fit to grant to our trusty and well beloved friends,” Sri Paduka Maulana Al Sultan Mahomet Jamal Al Alam Bin Al Marhon Sri Paduka Al Sul tan Mahomet Pathion Sultan of Sulu and its dependencies informs “all nations of the earth whom these matters may concern, certain portions of the dominions owned by _ us comprising all the The Making of lands on the north and A Rajah east coast of Borneo, etc., etc....we do here by nominate and appoint the said Baron de Overbeck supreme and independent ruler of the above named territories, with the title of Datu Bandahara and Rajah of San dakan.” He goes on to bestow absolute power, more than Rome ever assumed, over subject and soil, and to make his rights inheritable and perpetual (upon the com pany’s agreeing), “this 22nd day of Jan■ uary, A. D., 1878, at the palace of the sul tan, at Lipuk, in the island of Sulu.” The sultan was under duress. The Span ish campaigns for Christendom had despoil ed his realm in the Philippines with steam ships atid heavy cannon. It is recorded that not a house was left whole anywhere on Jolo. As the country had thus been ruined, fields and homes alike, the royal revenues were sorely depleted. To recoup the Islamic bourse, therefore, the sultan made the deal with the British. The price is 85,000 Mex. annually, and the sultan goes each year to Sandakan to collect it. He is royally received, accorded a salute of 21 guns, the sovereign’s salute, and lodged in a palace. He is reported fond of gaming; his subsidy is said always to remain in Sandakan, a forfeit to a royal (Continued on page /.?) 12 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 EDITORIAL OFFICES American Chamber of Commerce 14 CALLE PINPIN P. O. ox 1638 Telephone 1156 CAUSE AND EFFECT There is always a cause of things. There is a cause for the growing alarm over the material increase in the Chinese merchant trading population of the Philippines. This cause is, we think, primarily to be discovered among the Chinese themselves. With them, too, lies the remedy. They have not, all of them, been guiltless of encouraging politicians accusing Americans Where of exploitation here, yet they are themselves the grand Blame exploiters. Their wealth, which is enormous, has been Rests accumulated in just that way—and in hardly any other way, for they are not producers except in the sense that a portion, the larger portion, perhaps, of the capital they accumulate from their activities in the commerce of the Philippines is reinverted into business here. It is partly loaned to farmers, which helps to the extent that this is true. But this is by no means compensation to the country. The people know this, the Chinese cannot be unaware of it. Chinese hands touch every one of our agricultural products, to extract a trader’s profit. But do they touch them to the ad vantage of the products? Never. They make not the slightest effort to improve these products, yet their country abounds in agricultural lore. Have Chinese ever attempted, for example, to introduce the tea industry here?—or the silk industry? Will they ever make such attempts? Not until the islands are theirs once more, we may all be very sure. They enjoy a monopoly of the rice trade, but have they ever devoted a single peso to the better ment of the rice industry? No, nor will they; or if they do, then some of the legitimate criticisms of them—there are many criti cisms that are not legitimate—will be removed. They could very easily endow a rice institute,’ such as Japan has. They won’t. They could actually establish a Philippine silk industry. They won’t. They could bring about reforms in copra preparation. They won’t. They could cooperate in bettering the hemp industry. They won’t. They could establish the tea industry, rehabilitate the coffee industry. They won’t. That is, the Chinese we have here won’t. There are other sorts of Chinese, but the law excludes some of them, and others, who might be brought over, won’t be brought over because the myopic vision of their countryman here doesn’t encompass such a movement. The Chinese don’t make themselves as useful as they might here, by any means. While they don’t there will remain legitimate objections to their increasing numbers. Isn’t this true? Isn’t it obvious to everyone? Most certainly. THE GOVERNMENT’S BEAU GESTES The cement company will be sold. It won’t be sold. The directors will act. They won’t act. The board of control author izes sale. The board doesn’t authorize sale. The legislature will interfere. It won’t interfere. Column after column of news to this ambiguous effect takes front page space in the daily press, while far better comics are relegated either to the back or inside pages. Turn to them, then. When and if the cement company shall be really sold, the Journal will run a story. GOOD BUSINESS PROSPECTS The Journal is asked to give some of the reasons for the gen eral expectation of good business in the Philippines during the next two or three years. It does so. The reasons include— About $5,000,000 a year spent on public works, the extension of roads, building of piers, improvement of harbors and erection of buildings. In addition, the gasoline tax, some $1,125,000 or more, spent exclusively upon public roads—as large Public Im- a portion as is legally possible in the undeveloped provements regions of the islands to encourage homesteading and the opening of new plantations. Untangling of fiber-grading affairs by the new fiber standardization board; extension of the use of mechanical strippers and cleaning machines and some prac tical advance of various branches of this most important industry. Further capital investments in the sugar industry; further eco nomies in sugar production, the increase of production per hectare per month and more extended adaptation of tractor power to the field operations. Railway extensions: wherever this occurs no doubt the returns from agriculture double. The extension of irrigation systems and expenditure of $4,000,000 more for this purpose. Installation of numerous waterworks plants at import ant provincial points: such projects as are reviewed in this issue of the Journal. A change of educational policy and establishment of high schools giving farm courses: the heeding of men like Senator Rodriguez of Cebu, who denounces lavishing millions on schools and withholding a few thousands from urgently needed harbor works. The growing confidence that American sovereignty will remain over the islands: the consequent assurance of a good market at all times for all surplus crops and products, in turn promising good prices for rice, which is further insured by the tariff. The growing use of farm machinery and rural mechanical conveniences: irrigation pumps, lighting systems, threshers, plows, grain hullers and small-unit cane mills. Further immigration into Mindanao. Home building of Machinery everywhere throughout the islands. The passing of the desiccated coconut industry beyond the experimental stage; the extension of coconut groves and increase of cattle herds. New banks. Possibly an automobile financing agency". More interest, far more, in the United States in the material progress of the islands. Dawning possibility of the abolition of the sales tax for the further stimulation of trade and production. Increase of population; extension of American and other interests in Davao. These are some of the reasons for good business in the is lands. To expect good business, however, does not entail upon the citizen the duty of whining about the heels of the government: the only possible excuse for this would be to bite those heels, good and deep. The obligation of duty is the other way about—the government owes it to the citizen. Yet our press fawns, keeps its social numbers, picks flimsy out of bureau baskets and de bauches its news and editorial columns with vulgar pattings of official shoulders. Its attitude resembles that of a debutante on her first truant excursion into the palm garden—expectant and trustful, where a thorough awareness to the real situation would give less subsequent cause for blushes. But even the press may improve, with time; and if it does the government certainly will. This too will be good for business. OPENING BIDS FOR PUBLIC SUPPLIES Bids for supplies for the government are often opened, we believe, in Manila and in Washington at the same hour, by the clock. It only requires utilization of th? cable for an emissary in Manila to inform a principal in Washington of what bids are here, in order to cut under them and get the business. It would be fairer to open the bids at the same tim?, whatever the hour, and obviate the snitching of confidential information. July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 13 (Continued from paye 11) good time wherein he has received many royal courtesies, but no royal flushes. He, too, would like to remain in Sanda kan, and there’s the rub. He is our sultan, Sandakan’s sovereign. The situation is complicated in extreme. A few years ago he quite overstayed his leave, so to speak, in Sandakan, and it was necessary to send a ship and induce him to return to Jolo. But what has been the actual status of North Borneo since 1922 is the real ques tion. The sultan claims that the original agreement, of which duplicate copies were made in the Sulu language, was dated, and that it was for only fifty years. Hence, being made in 1872, it expired in 1922. Therefore, have we vicariously acquired North Borneo?—though certainly uninten tionally, as we once refused to have it and permitted Moses’ trading company, estab lished at Kimanis, to fall before the bluster of more avid interests. Now the sultan lost his copy of the agreement, the lontar and the tarsila re cords were burned in the war with Spain in the later 70’s. The other copy is locked securely up in the vaults of the company’s * London offices! The sulLondon Vault tan frets, is anxious and Holds Borneo restless: we have the Secret trouble of calming and controlling him, but no thanks for doing it; Space doesn’t admit of going on to any detailed mention of our relinquished con cession in Shanghai, or our possession at various times of various of the Caroline isles in Micronesia. We did, with the Philippines, acquire some potential coaling Acquiring a Larger Chinese Merchant Population &&&&&&&•& Births and Immigration Add Many Celestials When one attempts to look into the Phil ippine immigration question the first thing that confronts him is the anomalous record in the census. The census of 1903 gives the persons of the yellow race in the Phil ippines at that time as 42,097, of which at least 40,000 may be taken to have been Chinese. The Japanese population at that time was insignificant. Persons of the yel low race resident in Manila at that time were reported to be 21,838, of whom 733 were women and girls and 21,105 were boys and men. The census of 1918 gives the Chinese in the Philippines as 43,802, and those resident in Manila as 17,856. But figures of the bureau of health show that by birth alone, leaving immigration aside for the moment, the Chinese population in creases nearly ten per cent in seven years. It would surely increase 20 per cent in fif teen years, the interim from 1903 to 1918, and the latter census would perhaps be more accurate if it showed the Chinese in the Philippines at that time to have been 50,000. Probably, too, there was no decrease in the number of Chinese resident in Manila between 1903 and 1918, although, according to the census, there was an apparent de crease of about 2,000. Another thing a study of immigration into the Philippines readily reveals, is that the gentlemen’s agreement by which the Japanese are governed works out more ad Year Arrived Debarred Departed. Deported Net Increase 1919................... 12,936 241 8.620 125 3,950 1920 ................... 14,875 562 10,536 335 3,442 1921................... 13,989 849 15,954 164 (3,560) 1922 ................... 13,954 776 13,598 162 ( 582) 1923................... 15,307 677 11,882 153 2,595 1924 ................... 13,376 580 12,497 97 202 1925 ................... 14,467 212 12,207 39 2,189 Totals................ 99,084 3,897 85,294 1,075 8,818 stations and naval bases, but we constantly romanticise and speak of giving them up. Our real troubles, real difficulties, real ad verse trade balances, arise, of course, from not holding on; but the people, at election time, respond to poetic ideals more quickly than to prosaic facts—it is always easier to be bombastic than to be downright hon est—and so we go on talking of withdrawal from the Philippines. Meanwhile we are quite indifferent to ward our recognized treaty boundaries. Two foreign flags fly within the Philip pines, both at eminently strategical points. The Dutch flag is over Las Palmas island, where, for a nation that might become un friendly, to establish a base would be all but fatal to the defense of Davao gulf, where we obtain our best Manila hemp and a goodly portion of our copra. The Dutch flag is a friendly flag, yet it has no place over our domain. The British flag, too, is friendly. However, by what right does it fly over the Turtle islands, off Sandakan? It does, though the British Foreign Office knows, and frankly admits, the Turtle is lands are ours, being within the treaty boundaries of the Philippines. No objec tion could possibly be made were we to hoist our own flag and request that the other be taken down. But we don’t seem to bother, we just let such things go. A little matter of assertion of sovereignty, what is that for America to do? And final ly, would it be altruistic? If it were not that it might not be popular in campaigns. Perry conceived a dispersed America in the far east, not mere trading posts and naval stations. He had the logic of history behind him in this. Portugal was the first vantageously for the islands than the im migration law which limits Chinese immi gration to the merchant, trading and pro fessional classes and presumes rigidly to exclude farmers and workmen. The Jap anese who are coming to the Philippines are, for the most part, going into Mindanao and putting new lands into production; but this class of Chinese cannot come into the islands now, even if they would. It may not be argued from this that they would come, even if the law permitted; though it may be assumed that they might be induced to come under contract. In ducements were offered at various times under Spain—who sometimes wanted the Chinese and sometimes wished to drive them away—but the traders and merchants, with a sprinkling of craftsmen, always came whether precisely welcome or not, and the farmers never did. Conditions haven’t changed under the United States, save that the bar is up for the productive element. Much Chinese capital, amassed in the Philippines, is em ployed in production of wealth, but scarcely any Chinese brawn. In the case of the Japanese, the country is acquiring farmers and workmen as well as merchants and traders. The following figures are upon Chinese immigration into the Philippines from 1919, the year following the last census, to 1925. of the westerns out to the east, and clung to the trading post notion—posts and treaties, an idea that, somewhat mutated by time, Washington seems to favor. But as soon as Portugal lost control of the seas, she was through in the far east. The Bri tish settlements, on the contrary, have weathered many threatening days. It is Britain herself that is dispersed in the east: there is a leaven to savor the loaf, though the mead itself be foreign. The deportations were no doubt the con sequence of violations of sumptuary laws, such as the opium law. The figures are from the bureau of cus toms. Summarized, they show that during the period from 1919 to 1925 inclusive 99,084 Chinese knocked at our doors, 3,897 were denied admittance under the immigra tion act, 95,187 were admitted as legally entitled to entry into the country, while 85,294 other Chinese voluntarily left the islands and 1,075 were evicted for cause. The greater number among those leaving voluntarily were minors born in the is lands, returning to China to be educated under the care of their mothers or other relatives, this being the custom. Also, most of the Chinese coming into the islands are youths who have completed their school ing in China and are rejoining their kins men here. But Chinese have taken to educating their children in the Philippines too, for which they voluntarily pay an ad ditional small percentage upon the sales tax; they are, more than formerly, bring ing their families to the Philippines, and are coming to be more and more a com munity apart. Births and deaths in the Chinese com munity of Manila from 1919 to 1925 were as follows, according to the health reports: Year Deaths Births Net Increase 1919 361 369 8 1920 377 511 134 1921 317 570 253 1922 318 529 211 1923 331 561 230 1924 344 639 295 1925 325 639 314 Totals 2,373 3,817 1,445 A lesser numbei- of births of pure Chinese stock must be added for Chinese resident in the provinces; more of them being married to or living with Filipino women, so that 3,000 may cover the birth increase in the Chinese community throughout the Philip pines since the census of 1918 was taken. One is compelled to resort to these assump tions because the statistics in the bureau of health have not been compiled; it would be a fortnight’s work to compile them. Fastening therefore upon 3,000 as the approximate increase by birth of the Chinese population of the islands since 1918, the actual increase including that by immigra tion is found to be 11,818. While this gives the islands a Chinese population of approximately 55,000, lay estimates are that it is no less than 70,000 or 80,000. There is said to be clandestine entry into the islands by way of Sulu and Mindanao. Wherever a new settlement is established, the Chinese goes to trade. He may be rob bed and killed, and his little general store burned. This doesn’t matter, to the com munity; another Chinese takes his place and a record goes down in the consular of fice. Customary laws largely prevail among the Chinese; a great deal of their business is transacted without the exchange either of money or checks. As everyone knows, there are two dis tinct communities# the Cantonese and the Amoyese, numerically as one to three in the order mentioned. The Cantonese are dubbed Macaos by Filipinos, who call the 14 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 Amoyese Inxiks. The Amoyese may be naught but a porter when he arrives: he becomes a peddler, then he has a small store and a fixed abode, and from then on, according to his connections, character and ability, it is anything from a shop on Ro sario to importing, exporting and operating steamships from an establishment on Juan Luna or somewhere in San Nicolas. Or he may go to the provinces, retaining his Manila connections. The Cantonese are tailors, laundrymen and keepers of restaurants and grocer shops. The craftsmen are from Amoy. It is the Amoyese who dominate the lumber industry and who enter most extensively into manufacturing. The bureau of health still classifies Jap anese with “other foreigners,” so they can not be traced so easily as the Chinese. The figures on movement of Japanese to and from the Philippines are from the bureau of customs: Year Entering Leaving 1919 1,645 1,579 1920 952 1,222 Is Our Insolvency Law Constitutional? & 2% & & Question Raised in Current Litigation The question of the constitutionality of the Philippine insolvency act has been raised ir. the case pending in the court of first instance of Manila concerning the involuntaiy insolvency of Mariano Velasco and Company. The insolvency act dates from 1909, when the legislature was made up of the Philippine Assembly and Philippine Commission. It is therefore one of the acts continued in force by the Jones Act of 1916, the present organic act of the territory. This of course does not establish the vali dity of the act questioned: it merely gives it the force of law, or continues its force as law, until competent authority deter mines its validity. Naturally this validitj; may be questioned, in the same manner as that of other acts subsequent or prior to the organic act. It is argued that the local insolvency act is not valid because the government of the Philippines is and has been from its in ception one of enumerated powers; it is a government established over a territory by 1921 874 1,137 1922 584 1,564 1923 799 1,115 1924 932 968 1925 2,225 1,081 Totals 8,011 8,666 These figures show that since 1918 the Japanese population has decreased 655, but births, were the records available, would more than offset this. Without doubt there has been some actual increase, though nothing in comparison with the increase among the Chinese. Figures about the American community n ay be added. In 1918 they numbered 5,771. Since that time 28,217 have come to the islands and 27,169 have gone away, making an increase from migration of 1,048. In Manila the excess of births over deaths has been 600. The figures for the provinces are not compiled. Numerically the American community has increased by possibly 1,700, but it is unquestionably of a more transient character than the earlier community whose advent dates the period of the empire. Congress under these enumerated powers, which do not, it is contended, include the power or function of enacting insolvency statutes. That particular power rests in Congress and may not be susceptible of delegation to an agency of that body. The national or Federal insolvency act dates from 1898. It seems that the local act is not on all fours with the Federal act. It is not a mere local reiteration of the Fede ral act, but conflicts with it in certain par ticulars. The question arises, which shall prevail? Which is law; which an illegal fiat? The Philippine act may also be, in a very real sense, a regulation of trade between the Philippines and the United States. This is something which Congress restrains the local government from undertaking and re serves specifically to itself. Section 10 of the Jones Act says: “That while this act provides that the Philippine government shall have the authority to en<ct a tariff law the trade regulations be tween the islands and the United States shall continue to be governed cxclusivelv by laws of the Congress of ;he United States.” The local insolvency act might not be valid as to many creditors. If creditors resided in the United States they might not be bound by the discharge of a debtor grant ed by a court in the Philippines under the local act; and if the act is invalid in res pect to certain creditors there is precedent for declaring it invalid altogether. The Federal income tax law of 1894 was declared xoid because some of its provisions were unconstitutional, although others were va lid. The courts have the question to de termine as to whether the legislature could possibly have had the intention of enacting a law that in many of its aspects would affect citizens of the Philippines adversely —one that might relieve a debtor of his obligations to them while it would not ab solve him from debts to other creditors. Two of the enumerated powers of the Congress of the United States are contained in paragraphs 3 and 1 of Section 8. Article 1, of the Constitution: “3. Commerce. To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian tribes; “4. Naturalization, etc. To establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and uniform laws on the subject of bankruptcies, throughout the United States.” Where everybody goes, and the doors never close CTom’s Dixie Kitchen FINDLATER DRY GIN THE BIGGEST SELLER AT LEADING MANILA CLUBS AND HOTELS Sole Distributors:— FILMA MERCANTILE COMPANY, Inc. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 192C THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 15 It may he mentioned that bankruptcies were a subject of immediate and paramount interest when the Constitution was being written. Everything relating to banking, inter-state commerce and allied matters was disorganized and chaotic. The power to enact a universal bankruptcy law was not casually bestowed upon Congress, but was by very deliberate intent. Numerous decisions of the Federal sup reme court proclaim the Philippines a part of the United States. The power of Con gress to legislate for the islands is the same as that to legislate for Porto Rico, though exercised in a somewhat different way. Con gress has delegated certain powers of legis lation to the Philippine government, its creature, and under the Jones Act has even given the local legislature general legisla tive authority. But dees this include power to legislate in respect to bankruptcy or in solvency, a power that under the Constitu tion itself is specifically rested in Congress? Under the powers it has, the legislature may pass many acts conflicting with acts of Congress. May it, however, with the important volume of trade existing between many States and the territory, pass a valid insolvency act? ‘‘The insolvency law of the Philippine Islands,” states a brief we are reviewing, “gives debtors a discharge from their obligations, with certain exceptions; the bankruptcy law of the United States gives debtors a discharge from their obliga tions, but under different conditions: and it cannot be gains aid that both of these laws are derived from the same source of legislative power.” The two acts can hardly occupy the same plane. One directly derives from Congress, the other indirectly; and the second con flicts with the first. Both affect the in terests of Americans, on national soil; both affect national commerce and may be con strued as regulations of trade. The picture has its obverse. The Phil ippine government has been held, by the local supreme court, to be one of general legislative powers with specific limitations. Section 8 of the Jones Act: “General legis lative power, except as otherwise herein provided, is hereby granted to the Philip pine Legislature, authorized by this Act.” Arid Section 7 authorizes the legislature to “amend, alter, modify or repeal any law, civd or criminal, continued in force by this act as it may from time to time see fit.” Still, whether the insolvency act is void, and therefore not law, has never been determin ed and it now appears that the Supreme Court of the United States will one day have the problem laid before it. Among the States themselves, sovereign, with the people, in all things wherein they have not bestowed authority upon the Fe deral government, insolvency laws remain without force while Federal legislation remains in force. Is the creature position of the Philippine government paramount in this respect to that of State? That is the nut to be cracked by some mighty legal hammer. NEW SHEET METAL COMPANY A new American enterprise of no little importance to the islands has recently opened for business and is rapidly install ing everything essential in the most mod ern equipment necessary for first rate manufacturing. It is the Philippine Sheet Metal Company, A. II. Dahlke being the general manager and the new factory being at 506 Tanduay. The plant will manu facture everything in metal, in the line of containers, from cocoa tins to oil tanks. Enamel will be applied by the baking process, precisely the process utilized in the best known plants of the United States. No expense is being spared in the adapta tion of machinery to jobs, so as to eliminate hand work and bring the output of the fac tory within the convenient reach of the popular purse. These goods will be on the market not only in Manila but throughout the provinces. Arrangements are being made with several leading American mer cantile companies of Manila to handle the distribution of the company’s standard pro ducts. Aside from the company’s manu facturing plant, it is fully equipping an in dustrial job department to handle out side contracts, several of which it has already obtained. The company stamps out auto Giant Oil-Burning Locomotives Speed You Across America The Oriental Limited a sootless, cinderless trip in the finest train between Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria, and Minneapolis, St. Paul and Chicago. No Extra Fare. Through Some of the Finest Scenery in the United States past the lofty peaks of the Great Northern Cascades and Rockies alongside Glacier National Park. Our descriptive literature will help you plan your trip. It’s free. Ask A. G. HENDERSON. AGENT. Chaco Building o R AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. Manila, P. I. Great Northern A Dependable Railway mobile fenders and gives them a baked enamel finish. Its agents will stock its lines of water coolers, metal cabinets and refrigerators, completely of its own manu facture from a well established American brand of metal. NO P. I. LEGISLATION Congress adjourned without passing any of the proposed Philippine bills, and action in Washington awaits the report to be made to the President by Colonel Armi Aider man Thompson of Ohio, who arrived in Manila July 9 aboard the President Grant. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 16 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 Philippine Comment in the American Press &&>&&&&&&&& Editors Impressed by Islands* Resources America is inquiring about her wealth in the Philippines. There is no longer any doubt about it. Casting up national accounts has been popular in the newspapers recently. Many editors, explaining the bier debit items for rubber, sugar, coffee, jute, guttapercha, camphor, silk, etc., are telline- their readers that America incurs these debts annually simply because she hasn’t arranged for pro ducing such crops in the Philipvines—where they could all be grown. In batch of 31 newspaper clippings, news items and edito rials, 21, or 70 per cent, were about the economic side of the Philipnine question; and 10, or 30 per cent, were about politics. This is a distinct reversal of the relative weights of Philippine political and econo mic news and comment in the American press of a few years ago. A story about Aguinaldo, General Wood and the now famous meeting of veteranos at the Palma de Mallorca a few months ago, was the chief political story appealing to American editorial judgment. The old myths about hitching the national wagon to this or that particular native star, about the efficacy of the uplift in the tropics, and that sort of pseudo-sentiment—which would never be depended upon to run a State, but is seemingly relied upon to run a territory greater than nearly any State—are persis tent in the national consciousness and will fade out only with time. They are, how ever, at last in the perspective of the pic ture and no longer in the foreground. “There is much hypocrisy in the talk about preparing the Philippines for self government,” thinks the independent Los Angeles Express. “It is that gives the ‘po liticos’ of the islands the material with which to stir up trouble... The expecta tion that any day the flag may be hauled down creates a condition little better than might follow actual withdrawal... Of course, Congress is without power to alie nate the Philippines. But it would be a blessing to the islands were Congress to say so, to make that fact known to the Filipinos, and then return to the governor general power sufficient to make him able really to govern.” The Kansas City (Kas.) Kansan, in the heart of the middle west, looks at the ques tion precisely as does the editor of the Express of Los Angeles. “If one will read the Constitution it will be seen that the framers of that famous document did not intend that congress should have such po wers (as to withdraw sovereignty from terr-itory over which it has been established and recognized)... At the Virginia cons titutional convention, such an amendment failed of adoption.” The American editor now shows keen interest in even ordinary trade figures from the Philippines. In the clippings spoken of here, liberal space is given to the narrative and figures of the Philippine lumber in dustry; the editors argue from this that success would crown endeavors to develop other industries. What American trade was with the islands in earlier years, and what it is now, seems to be a matter of in tense concern to editors in all parts of the country. The value of exports in 1905, $15,000,000, as compared with last year, $165,000, 000, is put before readers through out the United States with the stamp of the editors’ approval. “It is our own fault if we do not help ourselves by employing the resources of the Philippines,” declares the independent Louisville (Ky.) Herald. “This country con sumes a billion and a half pounds of cof fee a year. The money spent for this beve rage might as well go into American as Brazilian coffers. The fact that twentytwo billions of American dollars are now invested abroad indicates that there might be something available for the development of this industry in one of our own colonies.” He goes on to inform his readers that plantations may be planted up to coffee of a blight-resistant variety in the Philippines, “one of our colonies,” for $25 an acre, and that the trees w’ill bear in four years! One exclaims over the fact this voice is heard in Kentucky. The more remarkable fact, perhaps, is “Quality Work with Quality Iron” THE PHILIPPINE SHEET METAL COMPANY, INC. ANNOUNCES They Are Prepared To Manufacture Everything In TIN and SHEET IRON SPECIALTIES “Ice Cold” Refrige rators Kitchen Cabinets Metal Furniture Auto Fenders Tin Cans Pails Drums and Tanks Riveted Pipe Our Shops are equipped with the most up-to-date Metal Work ing Machinery, and we are able to cope with any Sheet Metal problem. Our staff of skilled Tinsmiths are experienced in the installation and repairs to Roofs, Gutters, Downspouts, etc. For quotations and further particulars: address A. H. DAHLKE, General Manager 506 Tanduay Phone 22837 ’ MANILA, P. I. P. O. Box 2037 that among the 31 clippings only one has the withdrawal tone, whether they are edi torials or news. This comment is five lines and one word long, in the New Orleans States, as follows: “George Bailey of the Houston Post-Dispatch observes that the discovery of large and valuable asphalt beds in the Philippines will add another to the many convincing proofs of the remarkable incapacity of the Filipinos for self govern ment.” The circulation of 16 eastern papers in cluded in the clippings is about 2,355,000; of four middle western papers, 315,000; oi four southern papers, 227,000; of six wes tern coast papers, 730,000. The circulation of six Republican papers included in the clippings is about 1,285,000; of three Inde pendent-Republican papers, 375,000; of 16 Independent papers, 852,000; of one Demo cratic paper, 375,000; of four IndependentDemocratic papers, 760,000. And the list embraces many of the country’s largest and Drying Cabinets Water Boilers Stoves Gutters Ridgeroll Ventilators Skylights Cornices IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July. 192G THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 17 The only States of the United States that larger than the Philippines are— I Texas II California III Montana IV. New Mexico No State is so (richly endowed with natural re sources; none has as great a popu lation, most influential papers: New Orleans Times-Picayune, I-D; New York World, I-D; New York Times, I-D; Boston Trans cript, I-R. The Sacramento Union is independent in politics. Its comment may also be quoted in part: “It is most unfortunate that the Philip pine Islands seem destined to remain a football of politics, as they have been for over twenty years. Political parties, what ever their designation, or whatever their oingin, history and expectancy of years, have uniformly failed to draft a party plat form without some high-sounding para graphs on the Philippines. All parties have been guilty of attempting to treat the Phil ippine question with politics. In this they have been aided by little propagandists who care nothing at all about the Philippine people or what happens to them, but a great deal about gaining a little publicity for themselves and their imagined importance. “The Republican party has attempted to apply more of business principles and less of political nostrum to the Philippines than any other party. But this is probably to be largely credited to accident. The Repub lican party, under McKinley, Roosevelt and Taft, became responsible for Philippine policy. Government administrations, ac countable to the party, have tried to trans late this policy into constructive, safe and beneficial action in the interest of the people of both the Philippines and the United States. The critics of our Philippine policy have been almost wholly free of any res ponsibility in the matter, which has pleased them greatly. Critics don’t like responsibi lity. “But what the Philippines have needed less than all else is political adventurers and tinkerers with political doctrines. They have needed most of all a relationship with the United States which would put the welfare of the Filipinos first and vindi cation of political theories last.” KAHN GIVES AMBULANCE Leopold Kahn of the Estrella del Norte and the Estrella Auto Palace has presented the government hospital at Baguio with an ambulance in gratitude for the treatment the hospital gave his son during an illness in the mountain resort. Heretofore the hospital had no way of attending emer gency cases. •pair ^Uarn DELICIOUSLY REFRESHING Sold at American Chamber Bar BATTERIES ALEMITE Lubricating Systems M & H Piston Rings STAYBESTOS Brake Lining WONDERMIST Polish WILKINSON Axle Shafts DUTCH BRAND Tape, Cement, etc. These are a few of the truly high grade articles which we have for auto mobile owners, and oper ators. A big store in a convenient location makes it a pleasure to buy here. Drive up. Just a minute from Plaza Goiti. ACME MOTOR CO., INC. In front of the Quiapo Church Tel. 355 P. O. Box 1853 Manila LV RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OE COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1‘>2G Iloilo Waterworks System At Last Underway Southern Port Will Have Service By 1928 Much as the Minikin may appreciate the erection one after another of great public buildings, such for example as the library building on Bagumbayan that will house the legislature in its halls and the library in its cellars, still he may do well to bear in mind that there remain in the provinces the most important towns, capitals and sea ports, without even the convenience of a modern water system. This is significant in the matter of public health, and relief of the appalling situation of three provin cial capitals and ports, Iloilo, Laoag and Bacolod, is at last on the public works pro gram of the insular government. The building of the Iloilo waterworks system is underway, the pipe, costing about Pl,250,000, has been purchased and bids on the dam and reservoir will be called for in September. The plans for these structures are now being drawn. Iloilo is expected to have the use of the new system by 1928, perhaps the latter part of that year. Several million pesos will be expended on the system. The systems for Bacolod, capital of Occidental Negros, and Laoag, capital of Ilocos Norte, are to fol low. Many Journal readers know the wretched state of sanitation in Iloilo; it is only necessary to say that conditions at Laoag, a city of almost equal population, are no better. They are probably worse. If one wishes even the semblance of house hold sanitation, he must resort to the force pump, the surface well and the septic vault in any of these towns; and each is a prin cipal town, while Iloilo is an important dis tributing point and seaport. Their common facilities in respect to wa ter are the semi-nude curgador and th? painted oil can, with sometimes the addi tion of a push cart. Every shower is a boon, for the rain water that may be caught and stored for a day or two in nondescript kitchen uten sils is preferable in every way to the limpid but polluted streams from which the or dinary supply comes in the manner just described. Prior to filling his cans, the faithful cargador will always bathe... usually upstream. Existence depends upon the faithful boiling of all drinking water. For the more susceptible, normal health is quite out of the question. Every phase of life is affected, from home con tentment to labor turnover. The Iloilo water system will serve other towns in Iloilo besides the city bearing the provincial name: Maasin with 10,000 popu lation, Cabatuan with 16,500, Santa Bar bara with 31,000, Jaro with 26,000, and (later, when the proposed extensions be yond Iloilo have been installed) Arevalo with 5,000 and Oton with 17,000. It will also serve the towns of Pavia, La Paz and IT IS A CAPITAL T YOUR LOGGING PROBLEM can be solved readily by some type of WASHINGTON LOGGING ENGINE The Washington Simplex Yarder shown above leads all Yarders in ease of operation and low cost of upkeep. Washington Iron Works, seattie, u. s. a. Agents for the Philippine Islands The Edward J. Nell Co., Ltd., — Manila. Connell Bros. Co. IMPORTERS WAS H I NG TO N ENGINES___ IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July. 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 19 Mandurriao, the population of which is not available in the 1918 census. The present population of Iloilo would appear to be ap proximately 55,000. It is worthwhile from the practical view point to encourage such projects: they materially extend trade in sanitary and plumbing supplies. During the period from 1918 to 1925 in clusive the United States has sold the Phil ippines sanitary supplies to the value of Pl,723,000, and iron pipes and fittings to the value of P9,777,245. Foreign countries had but seven per cent of the business under the first heading, and only 3'Z> per cent, approximately, of the business under the second heading. In the eight years covered, the sanitary supplies from foreign countries were valued at P117,843 and the duty collected was P19.7G2. (Except for the free trade with the territory the American supplies would have paid a duty of P288,668). In the same period the pipes and fittings from foreign countries were valued at P382.684 and the duty collected was P36.373. (At this rate the duty on the American supplies would have been P928.838. On the two classes of goods, sanitary supplies and pipes and fittings, free trade gave the homeland an advantage of Pl,217,506). Although the Philippines were much more able to buy in 1918 than in 1925, they actually did not buy nearly so much, which indicates that the trade grows with the installation of waterworks in the provinces: Philippine Imports of Iron Pipes and Fittings Manila to New York via Suez and Europe See the Old World on your trip home. Stops of several days in many ports. You can travel through Europe and catch our boat for New York via Southampton, England, at Bremen. “The Most Interesting Trip In The World.” NORDDEUTSCHER LLOYD O. RANFT, Agent. Phone 247 368 Gandara (Corner Gandara and Pinpin.) Year From U. S. Foreign Duty 1925 Pl,194,892 P135.577 19,766 1924 1,209,638 79,980 9,411 1923 742,853 51,463 3,676 1922 605,097 51,300 2,223 1921 1,901,224 18,317 525 1920 1,576,119 26,265 582 1919 1,879,414 10,789 76 1918 668,008 8,993 114 Totals P9,777,245 P382.684 P36.373 For another comparison the weight in kilograms of pipes and fittings from the United States is given, from 1918 to 1925, in order: 2,244,312, 6,362,065, 4,345,667, 5,144,163, 2,274,777, 3,386,248, 4,979,272 and 5,548,412. Philippine Imports of Sanitary Supplies Year From U. S. Foreign Duty 1925 P220,033 P 26,178 P2.909 1924 221,053 14,439 1,926 1923 212,308 2,158 348 1922 170,085 4,577 606 1921 320,618 3,098 451 1920 225,643 1,592 277 1919 173,129 10,753 2,067 1918 180,517 55,048 11,178 Totals Pl,723,386 Pl 17,843 Pl 9,762 Iloilo and Bacolod are in the aristocratic sugar region of the Visayas, where men build palatial homes on their plantations and maintain residences in town for their children in school. Aside from considera tions of health, sanitation and decency and comfort, installation of waterworks at Iloilo and Bacolod should bring import bus iness in plumbing supplies from an average of 1’1,525,145 to well over 1’2,000,000. America’s share is 95.7 per cent. The dam for the Iloilo project will be built 3*-j kilometers above the town of Maasin, and the reservoir between Cabatuan and Santa Barbara. The dam will be 27 kilometers from Iloilo and the water will be conveyed by pipe line from town to town and finally into the city. The reservoir will impound 11,500,000 gallons of water. The watershed embraces 6,150 hectares on the Tigum river, above the mouth of the Salag. THE NEWEST EQUIPMENT IS ON THE NORTH COAST LIMITED SEATTLE TO CHICAGO (DIRECT CONNECTION TO THE EAST AND SOUTH) “NEWEST” means an Observation-Lounge Car surpassing all others heretofore designed. Barber, Valet, Ladies Maid, Bath, Library, Smoking and Card Rooms, Writing Desk, inviting lounge and wide observation platform. “NEWEST” means Pullman sleeping cars different from any you have seen on any other train. Permanent head-boards divide the sec tions for greater privacy. Interior Decorations in soft, new colors. Here is luxury unlimited for sleeping car passengers. All Steel Construction Means Safety. In the Dining Car are those “famously gocd” Northern Pacific meals, served with deft courtesy and skill at low prices. Daily from Seattle to Chicago IN 70 HOURS. No change of cars. For rates and literature write R. J. TOZER GENERAL AGENT 609 Robert Dollar Bldg. Shanghai, China. Northern Pacific Railway “2000 MILES OF STARTLING BEAUTY” IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMFER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 20 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 The most vital of all Philippine questions today is not by any means political. It is purely economic. Possessed of great resour ces in land, a fair climate, and equal op portunity the per capita production from these resources re Great Resources mains about what it Are Still was under the muchNoolw'tpJ discussed Spanish reNeglected gime. With gov ernment in the hands of the Filipinos for the last twelve years, it is a lamentable fact that they have done so little (except on paper) towards developing the country. The question then arises: Is there any way in which Uncle Sam has neglected his opportunities along economic lines? The land, the only resource of the islands, is of course a closed preserve, practically, and made so by those whose sentiments were more highly developed than their brains. But what about those who should make these lands a productive asset instead of a political liability? Have we or they evolved any sane system regarding this particular, or have we sentimentally neglected this in an effort to be benevolent? We may safely answer this in the affir mative, we have been guilty of neglect; for in spite of the mouthings about the dignity of labor, in spite of the voluminous annual reports, in spite of specious excuses, and passing the buck delightfully, we have sad dled them with an academic system of edu cation that has evolved into an air-tight bureaucracy that leads away from, instead of towards, the goal of every Our Failure Filipino—his economic indeWith Public pendence. In a confessedly Education agricultural country the most vital question is not that of the question of sovereignty, or the iridescent bubble of political independence. The paramount issue with the native of the provinces, the twelve millions, is one of comparative prosperity. And the first duty of a real patriot is to provide a decent living for himself and his family, a duty perhaps which is the last thought of both the poli tician and the bureaucrat steeped in bovine complacency and provided with the 57 varie ties of stock excuses. True, some will say that the economic salvation of every country lies in its own hands, or rather in those to which they have delegated it. Before capital can be employ ed a spirit of willingness to engage in agri cultural actitivities is of course necessary. . Of the twelve million who live in the provinces and who form the Filipino peoples, the earning capacity is yet extremely low. The well-dressed people of Manila are no __ » criterion of these millVlanila One Thing lions, for even if the And Provinces opinions of the capital Another are vociferous, there is no reason to believe that these are shared by the hewers of wood and the drawers of water. This is a fact much betrer seen through the provin cial microscope than through the Manila telescope. Prosperity is of course relative although the desire for it is universal. It j connotes the living of normal lives. Without I prosperity amongst the millions it is of little real value to point out fortunes made —perhaps during the war-period, by bor rowing money. Take the sugar industry. Even with the preferential now enjoyed it is a hard matter ccrn in spite of all that’s sung. Labor may be to convince anyone that it is a going conAgents Hawaiian-Philippine Company Operating Sugar Central Silay, Occ. Negros, P. I. Mindoro Sugar Company San Josi, Mindoro, P. I. inefficient; on the other hand, wages paid in Cuba and Hawaii are almost double. It is all, of course, a matter of cost of produc tion in the last analysis, but the incubus of indebtedness under which the sugar indus try is l-.boring is perhaps the greatest han dicap of all. Anyhow, manv of the owners on paper of the haciendas and centrals, are in a quandary as to who is the real owner. With the cost production relatively high and the hectare-yield so low, the need of ade quate and efficient agricultural labor will be found to be the chief root of all the evils of this industry. The tobacco industry is perhaps the poorest rewarded of all agricultural activities in the islands—that is, the actual producer. A trip through the tobacco regions and a glance at the flimsy broken-down houses and the poverty-stricken and dejected air of the producer is enough to impress even > • i . • i the casual visitor that Impractical Aid these farmers have the To Tobacco lowest earning capacity Farmers a1' those engaged in wresting a living from the soil. While the Spanish monopoly in its heyday made many millions and was the first endeavour to make the Philippines economically independent of Mexico, whence the annual silver subsidy was drawn, it did not put much into the pockets of the pro ducers. Its stringent regulations accom plished, however, one thing. They produced excellent tobacco, and Manila cheroots were known all over the seven seas. That many WELCH-FAIRCHILD, Ltd. SUGAR FACTORS AND EXPORTERS MANILA, P. I. Cable Address: WEHALD, Manila Standard Codes New York Agents: Welch, Fairchild & Co , Inc., 135 Front Street San Francisco Agents: Welch & Co., 215 Market Street Every Man his own Doctor—? Perhaps. You may have a facility for taking good care of your health. Your eyes are a different matter. There, specialists must step in and make a decision that is based on scientific knowledge. A careful accurate examination of your eyes is their basis for judgment. Jllioays the best in quality but never higher in price. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OE COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 21 of the regulations were reprehensible goes without saying, but they did produce a su perior product. The present experimental stations do little for the actual producer except hand him the cheapest commodity in the world—free advice. It needs more than advice to rejuvenate an industry or relieve the utter stagnation into which it has fal len. The words of a Dutch expert from Sumatra, who visited the tobacco region a couple of years ago, are perhaps pertinent. “You have here the best soil in the world, line seed, and excellent tobacco climate, but an utter lack of people with agricultural intelligence to grow tobacco. Any good crop produced is a direct dispensation oi l’ivvidence.” The rice industry, from which some five million Filipinos derive a living, is in a little better shape thar tobacco, and this we might say is not due to any government agency, but rather has occurred in spite of it. Better prices for the daily bread of the twelve million has a good deal to do with it. The rice grower not rive IVlulions being engaged in producLivo From ing an export crop, was Rice Industry ignored by the govern ment, which did not un derstand his problems. He was yelped at by politicians who desired him to produce under a fixed price during the war, and passed up as a credit risk by I he Philippine National Bank. A moribund bureau of agriculture, main ly composed of typists, could do nothing for h.m. The producer of our chief food, and also our best money crop, has tut few boosters, but lie has solved some of his problems in his own way. Cheaper’ trans portation is a great factor, the protective tariff helps, and the Chinese dealers, mil lers and distributors have been a godsend to him, for they have partly solved his credit problem. But ther? is no further ex tension of this industry, no new lands being placed under cultivation except in the old rice regions. The economic situation of the actual pro ducer leaves much to be desired. Rice is mainly produced under the share system, the landlords providing the capital and the tenants the labor, the profit being equally divided. The annual earnings of die pro ducing unit, were, in 1914, P113.30, which sum gradually rose until in 1919 it was . 1*280, which amount Families Receive practically equals 1*280 Yearly From that of this year. Rice Farming This represents the the earnings of an average family unit, not a very opulent one. In connection with this we might state that the only agricultural school for the rice region, requires deposits and expenses per year of seme P47 per student—students who work the fields half the time! It can he readily seen that few farmers’ sons can emerge from the depths with the family earnings as low as quoted. This school, founded by men of vision and abil ity, is also joining the procession of inocuous institutions. In the past it was the only bright spot in the system, and that of which visiting educators took tile most no tice. The average yield of palay in the islands is, perhaps, the lowest in the orient. What is the reason for this stagnation in national prosperity? The main reason is academic and not agricultural instruction. With the greater part cf the revenues devoted to pub lic instruction, the government keeps on making- parasites out of potential producers; it drains the rural population into the ur ban districts, and unwisely allots the price of a postage stamp per capita to the vital problem of agricultural instruction. Schools are nor merely buildings full of students. Unless the driving force of the institution is a man of real ability and vi sion the school fails of its purpose. Reduc ed to a sterotyped curriculum, the present . system merely vegePer Capita tates. Good agriculProduction tural teachers cannot Remains Low obtained at present salaries and under a stagnant bureaucracy. If they come, they speedily leave, never to return. Twentyfive years of education has done little or nothing to enable the present generation to produce as much pro rata as did their fore fathers under the Spanish regime. Why this antipathy towards the practical end of agriculture in an agricultural country exists, only God Almighty knows. Educa tion, the cornerstone of American rule, has only resulted in a plethora of theorists in the white-collar positions—and an extensive waiting list. The greatest political fulcrum THE TRADE MARK THAT GUARANTEES QUALITY The Trade-Mark That Has Identified The Choicest c7Hanila Cigars Since 1883 cA Shape for Every Taste and Every One A Source of Perfect Joy Five La Minerva Cigars with World-Wide Reputations Czars Monte Carlo Fancy Tales Excelentes Monarcas Sold Everywhere La Minerva Cigar Factory, Inc. 2219 Azcarraga Tel. 12-69 Makers of the Choicest Cigars Since 1883 is the thousands of teachers on the payroll: there is a great chance here, for certain powers. In spite of the millions spent annually from the treasury, this amount is now aug mented by private subscriptions, by schools to be founded for illiterates outside the educative function of government, and pr:vate schools are increasing yearly. With the idea of discouraging the high schools, instead of limiting these the government has merely raised the- fees, thus making more money available; but in all the school activities the urge is still academic and not agricultural or practical. The following figures given by a Filipino superintendent cf schools are pertinent. He quotes a list of j 092 pupils, most of whom were grad uated. Only 8.3 per cent engaged in agri culture. The saddest part of the report shows that these 1092 pupils came from families 55 per cent of whom were engaged in agriculture. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 22 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 192G THE RICE INDUSTRY By Percy A. Hill of Munoz Nueva Ecija, Director, Rice Producers' Association, Prices for palay at the shipping points have advanced tc 1’4.40, which, we may add, is a very good price for the produ cer this year. As a consequence, the pri ces of rice have pro portionately a d - yanced to P9.60 to P9.90 per sack of 125 pounds according to class. Unless excep tionally adverse weather conditions■ensue rice will advance but very little more dur ing the period to next harvest. Stocks of Indoasian rice are still large; there is a considerable holdover. Throughout the central Luzon plain favorable weather conditions point at pres ent to a good start for the 192G-27 crop. Land preparation is well underway with seed beds planted at an opportune time, The drought of last year enhanced, of course, the price of the cereal, and its long continuation has no effect whatsoever on the new crop—unlike sugar and hemp. Rice, being a seven-months crop, is of course affected by seasonal changes, but not to the same extent as the four export crops, hemp, sugar, coconuts and tobacco. Data supplied by the bureau of agricul ture, while not accurate, relying as the bureau must upon municipal estimates, are about the only thing we have in crop esti mates. The Chinese have their own crop reporting system with a view to price re gulation, and they may be said to have mere knowledge as to this cereal than any one else. The bureau, however, lumps in the years together instead of using the agricultural year known to farmers. A rice crop planted in 192G is harvested in 1927, hence the agricultural year should be 1926-27. Still, the bureau’s estimates are to be preferred to the census joke book, which was made for a certain purpose of its own and during the period we lived in the clouds. While we do not have the bureau of agri culture’s estimates for the 1925-26 crop, an analysis of their figures which we do have certainly leads to no optimism as re gards the gains of the rice producer. As a matter of fact, as local statistics are supplied the bureau on the total area under cultivation, a great part of this area naturally, in other than principal rice pro ducing regions, is for the broadcast varie ties which ripen early and have a very low yield. If the bureau had kept to the trans planted varieties the yield would, of course, be much higher—although still the lowest in the orient in spite of our higher edttcat io n. Below we give the yield per hectare in cavans of palav (rough rice) for the period 1920 to 1925: Year Year 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 Cavans of Palav /lr. Per Hectare 23.92 cavans 24.39 25.52 25.52 23.25 24.51 Average G yrs. 21.51 cavans This is an exceptionally low average yield for our chief Philippine crop. As we have previously published in the Journal, it takes some 20 cavans of the average crop to pay expenses; it can readily be seen that there is very little profit in the average crop above quoted. However, as the volume produced for food crops outside the rice region is to blame for this low average, in the Luzon plain the general average can be estimated to be some 35 cavans per hectare, and in Nueva Ecija over 40 cavans —in some cases running as high as 70 cavans in favorable localities. Among the more intelligent producers there is a movement underway to adopt the thin-hulled varieties in an effort to better the industry. Many of the best yielding varieties have an extremely coarse hull which adds to weight and not to substance. This movement is a hopeful sign, especially as it comes from within the industry and not from any outside source. It spells progress. BOOKKEEPING LAW VOID The Philippine law requiring merchants’ books to be kept in English, Spanish or a dialect has been declared unconstitutional by the United States supreme court and Governor General Wood in common with legislative officials talks of framing a new law that will really be lawful. None speaks of devising a tax that would be practical, in lieu of the sales tax which all believe evaded to the extent of millions a year. The situation remains tangled, the govern ment clinging to its method and the law standing in the way of equitable enforce ment. There are more than 12,000 Chinese merchants in the islands and less than 1,500 Spanish, English and American mer chants. Chinese are estimated to do about 80 per cent of the business of the islands. They were paying at the time the records were revealed to the court 20 per cent of the income tax and 39 per cent of the sales tax, or about 22 per cent of both taxes, other nationalities paying the other 78 per cent. The Chinese however make out a good case for themselves. They cooperate with other nationalities in the united peti tion of chambers of commerce of the is lands to the legislature to abolish the sales tax altogether. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July. 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 23 LUMBER REVIEW FOR MARCH SHIPPING PERSONALS The lumber mar ket remains firm. The amount ex ported for the month was 4,998,536 board feet valued at P710,331 as compared with 3,655,728 board feet valued at P318,456 for the corres ponding month of last year. The amount of lumber exported this month is smaller than that of last month but the money value is much bigger. This shows that a higher grade of lumber was shipped this month. The following table shows the lumber export for May, 1926: Timber and Lumber Export May, 1926 Destination Board Feet Value United States ......... China ....................... Japan ...................... Australia ................ Great Britain ........ 2,655,088 1,044,736 626,248 608,440 64,024 P525.332 85,935 49,806 43,728 5,530 4,998,536 P710.331 Total The demand for Philippine lumber in the markets in the United States and China remained about the same as last month while those of Japan showed a greater ac tivity. Great Britain, on the other hand, imported considerably less this month com pared with last month while Australia manifested the same tendency although not in so very pronounced a manner. The activities for May of the 16 more important mills in the islands are shown by the following table. These figures, com pared with the corresponding figures for the same month last year, bear out once more the prediction made by this office some time during the latter part of last year that the export trade for 1926 would be more active than that of 1925. It can be seen that the output for May of this year is double of the output of May last year: 1926 1925 Activities of 16 May May Mills_________ Board Feet Board Feet Lumber Shipment . 12,952,845 Lumber Inventory . 21,372,143 Mill Production .. . 12,942,207 5,758,281 11,580,412 6,096,179 TOBACCO REVIEW By P. A. Meyer Alhambra Cigar and Cigarette Manufacturing Co. RAW LEAF: Prices for all grades show a marked downward tendency because most fac tories are reluctant to contract old par cels in view of the approaching n e w crops of Cagayan and Isabela, the quality of which is reported to be supe. rior to last year’s. The pronounced continuous dullness of the export business is another factor depress ing local quotations. Shipments abroad during June were as follows: Leaf Tat,area and scraps Australia ........................ 288 China ............................... 21,217 France ............................. 183 Holland ........................... 18,418 Hongkong ....................... 21,387 Japan .............................. 31,533 Spain ............................... 210,120 Straits Settlements........ 3.550 Trieste Transit ............. 235 United States................. 13,512 353,833 CIGARS: Comparative figures for the trade with the United States are as fol lows : June, 1926 ................. 17,148,262 May, 1926 .................. 17,581.906 June, 1926 ................. 18,111,200 FIRESTONE BILL NOT DEAD The bill embodying the proposals made by Harvey Firestone, Jr. when in the is lands a few months ago may yet be con sidered by the legislature. If passed it means the possibility of American capital entering the rubber-growing industry here, as it will amend the land restrictions for this purpose. The Filipino chamber of commerce has endorsed it, the supreme council has toyed with it as if to reject it •finally—and the legislature, with a wet finger in the political air. hasn’t deter mined which way the wind is blowing. GORDON’S DRY GIN The leading Gin all over the world When ordering a “Martini” Cocktail, be sure to call for a “Gordon’s” Martini Cocktail. Should you want the benefit of our 20 years’ experience in Dry- Cleaning Dyeing Laundry, AND MOTH-PROOFING SERVICE ------- a RING UP —— Sanitary Steam Laundry Company, Inc. 918 Arlegui, Tanduay THEY KEEP GOOD COMPANY Whenever you see a car equipped with Goodyears, you recognize a car owner who has real ideas of sound economy. The fact of the matter is, whether you want regular tires or Balloons, clincher or straight side, medium priced or low priced—you can't beat That's why more people ride on Goodyear tires than on any other IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 24 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July. 1926 SHIPPING NOTES SHIPPING REVIEW By H. M. CAVENDER General Agent, Dollar Steamship Line Since our last re port the freight situation in the Philippines has lit tle to offer in the way of news. Ex ports are low and the freight market naturally quiet. Rates remain the same; no changes of unusual import ance having occur red during the month. First class passenger travel held up well during June but an early fall-off in the heavy travel from the Philippines which has prevailed during the past six months is fully expected. This is not unusual, as July and occasionally June sees the break, AMERICAN ORIENTAL MAIL LINE MANILA VIA HONGKONG - SHANGHAI - KOBE - YOKOHAMA Manila PRESIDENT MADISON.......................July 24 PRESIDENT JACKSON.............................Ave 5 president McKinley................................. Ave- >6 PRESIDENT JEFFERSON.............................. Aug. 29 PRESIDENT GRANT.......................................Sept. 10 ONLY TWO-DAY STOP AT HONGKONG TWENTY-THREE DAYS MANILA TO SEATTLE with the beginning of what might be term ed a slump. October is expected to bring in the heavier first-cabin travel season. Filipino emigration during June held up far better than expected; 597 went to Honolulu and 817 to the Pacific coast. By way of comparison it is indeed interesting to watch this movement of Filipinos into the United States. During 1922, 6594 went to Honolulu with only 207 to the coast; in 1923, 6814 went to Honolulu and those to the coast increased to 531; in 1924, 7969 went to Honolulu while those to the coast more than trebled the number of the previous year. During 1925, 7221 left for Honolulu and 2102 for the coast. It is noticed that very little variation occurs in the number to Honolulu, while a rapid steady increase is seen in the statistics covering those going to the United States mainland. During the six month period ending June 30, 2321 sailed for Honolulu which is more than 1000 emigrants under the four pre vious years. During the same six months 3206 went to the United States. This fig ure exceeds the total for 1925 by more than 1000 and gives a splendid illustration of the ever increasing movement of Filipinos to the motherland. In the shape of Manila harbor improve ments, Pier Number Seven was completed July 1 following a construction program of seven years. Manila now has a pier, re puted by those who claim to know, second to none in the world. Pier Seven accommodatesifour of the largest ocean-going pas senger vessels, such as the President type, at a single time. Passenger accommoda tions throughout are the very best and facilities for the expeditious handling of freight compare with the most modern and best known. Construction is under way looking to a fifty-foot apron on both sides of Pier Five. OXYGEN Electrolytic Oxygen 99% pure HYDROGEN Electrolytlo Hydrogen 99% pure ACETYLENE Dissolved Acetylene for all purposes WELDING Fully Equipped Oxy-Acetylene Welding Shops BATTERIES Prest O Lite Batteries OPERATED FOR ACCOUNT OF U. S. SHIPPING BOARD BY ADMIRAL ORIENTAL LINE MANAGING AGENTS PHONE 22441 24 DAVID Philippine Acetylene Co. 281 Calle Cristobal MANILA IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July. 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 When this is completed cargoes will move over this pier as rapidly as the high record set at Pier Seven. Work on the new south breakwater has been started by the Atlantic Gulf and Paci fic Company. This company has contract ed with the bureau of public works to con struct a wall of rock and masonry of about 1150 meters directly out from the ruins of Fort San Antonio de Abad. The contract calls for the delivery of 10,000 tons of material during each month June, July, August and September, then 20,000 tons per month until a total of 200,000 metric tons are in place. It is said that when this contract is compl >ted about half the proposed addition to he present break water will be in place. The balance, in cluding the closing of th? present entrance to the inner harbor, will be completed after the completion of dredging and when further funds are made available. The ultimate completion of the sea wall program will create an inner harbor much safer for both large and small craft dur ing typhoon weather and reduce the present rate at which the harbor silts in as the result of the south being completely open to the weather. From statistics compiled by the Associa ted Steamship Lines, there were exported from the Philippines during the month of May, 1926: To China and Japan ports 22,152 tons with a total of 37 sailings, of which 7,077 tons were carried in American bottoms with 13 sailings; to Pacific coast for local delivery 17,406 tons with a total of 11 sailings, of which 17,387 tons were carried in American bottoms with 10 sail ings; to pacific coast thence overland or in tercoastal 1,285 tons with a total of 10 sail ings, of which 1,281 tons were carried in American bottoms with 8 sailings; to Atlantic coast ports 48,220 tons with a DOLLAR STEAMSHIP LINE SERVES THE WORLD ROUND THE WORLD 24 Calle David Telephone 22441 High-class Passenger and Freight Service The President Liners Offer SAILINGS SPEED—SERVICE-COURTESY—COMFORT SAILINGS EVERY Excellent Food, Comfortable Cabins, Broad Decks, EVERY 14 DAYS eAmerican Orchestra, Dancing, Swimming Pool, 14 DAYS Sports. To SAN FRANCISCO To BOSTON-NEW YORK via SINGAPORE, PENANG, COLOMBO, HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, KOBE, SUEZ, PORT SAID, ALEXANDRIA I i YOKOHAMA and HONOLULU NAPLES, GENOA, MARSEILLES Round—the—World I NEXT SAILING NEXT SAILING PRESIDENT TAFT - - July 14th PRESIDENT HARRISON - - July 23rd PRESIDENT WILSON - - - July 28th PRESIDENT VAN BUREN - - Aug. 6th 1 THROUGH RATES TO EUROPE Stopovers will be granted which permit the making of 1 Railway Tickets to all points in America. interesting side trips at various points. total of 17 sailings, of which 21,748 tons were carried in American bottoms with 7 sailings; to European ports 9,865 tons with a total of 12 sailings of which 137 tons were carried in American bottoms with 2 sailings; to Australian ports 1,486 tons with a total of 4 sailings, none of which was carried in American bottoms; or a grand total of 100,414 tons with 91 sail ings, of which American bottoms carried 47,630 tons with 40 sailings. PERSONALS Captain and Mrs. Robert Dollar are on another jaunt around the world, having sailed from Seattle June 15 on board the President Grant, first of the five passenger liners recently purchased by the Admiral Oriental Line from the United States Ship ping Board. The senior Dollars are ex pected in Manila the end of July or dur ing August. No definite itinerary has yet been announced. The governor-general announced June 23 the appointment of Mr. Vicente Madrigal a member of the Manila harbor board to fill the vacancy made by the resignation of Mr. Mariano Yenko. Mr. Madrigal, the head of one of the largest Filipino local and foreign shipping ventures, is well known to shipping row and should prove a real asset to the important body of which he is now a member. Mr. McHutching, general manager in the far east for Alfred Holt’s shipping inter ests, more commonly known to us as the Blue Funnel, was a visitor in Manila dur ing the week ending June 19. The Manila visit was one in the interest of his company and an annual occasion. CRYSTER IN CHICAGO Many readers of the Journal will remem ber Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Cryster, formerly in Manila, where Mr. Cryster represented the Dearborn Chemical Company. They are now in Chicago and Mr. Cryster is a mem ber of the firm of Cryster and Pask, engine ers, Tribune Tower, 435 North Michigan Avenue. In a letter to the Journal, through which he keeps in touch with the Philip pines, he says his work may involve an oc casional trip to the orient that will, jf course, include the Philippines. | | SUGAR LOANS HIGH—GOOD CROP | Debts of the six sugar centrals financed by the Philippine National Bank now ap proximate P50,000,000 and the acting bank manager has said that of P2,000,000 in terest money this year no more than half is expected, which would be part of the proceeds of the 1925-26 season, a very poor one. There are prospects of a large crop this season. The planters of Negros .prevailed upon the government to permit them to import 5,000 work carabaos from Indochina, which aroused local breeders to protest and resulted in the most thorough airing the work-animal question has ever received. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 26 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 REVIEW OF THE HEMP MARKET By I, L. Spellman Macltod & Compan a The following re port covers the Ma nila fibre market for the month of June with statistics up to and including June 28. U. S. GRADE'S: The 1st of the month found the U. S. market quiet with sellers offering on the basis of JI 10%<t, I 11%(? and F The market for the first half of the month was generally firm with a fair amount of buying. However, the manufacturers con fined their purchases largely to housemarks and special grades. By the 15th sales had been made on the basis of JI 10%C, I 12’/2C and F 13 The market remained from steady to firm throughout the month and closed with sales having been made on the basis of JI IK, I 13C and F 13%c. The demand from the consumers throughout the entire month while limited was steady and a fair amount of hemp changed hands. At the beginning of the month Manila shippers were apparently uninterested and quoting nominal prices as E P30.4, F 28.4, G 22.—, H 15.—, I 26.4, JI 23.—, SI 28.—, S2 26.— and S3 23.—. The first week the market was extremely dull and a number of parcels sold at prices below these quota tions. By the 10th of the month the market was better and a few good parcels wer? sold on the basis of E P32.—, F 31.—, G 23.—, H 16.—, I 28.4, JI 24.—, SI 29.—, S2 27.4 and S3 24.—. From then on until the end of the month the market remained firm with the exporters taking hemp from their regular customers at market prices which gradually improved. The market closed with sales having been made on the basis of E P34.—, F 32.—, G 24.4, H 16.—, I 30.—, JI 26.—, SI 31.—, S2 29.— and S3 25.4, with the usual varia tions in price on the different parcels. The navy asked for bids which were opened but the award was not made im mediately. A week or ten days later all of the bidders were notified that their hemp had been accepted. This took off the mar ket a considerable amount of hemp and INSURANCE Atlas Assurance Co., Ltd. London Fire and Marine Insurance The Continental Insurance Co. New York Fire and Marine Insurance E. E. ELSER Suite 400 to 407 Kneedler Building P. O. Box 598 Cable Address—“EDM1L,” Manila Phones 129 & 22429 accounts for the firmness of the Manila market and in turn affected the prices in the U. S. market. U. K. GRADES: On the 1st o the month sellers were offering on the basis of J2 £38.10, K £30.—, L £31.— and M £27.—. There was practically no business in the U. K. and very little on the continent. Dur ing the first week the market was extremely dull and prices sagged about 10/— a ton 1ut the shipping houses were not anxious to do business at these prices. During the second week of the month the market was slightly firmer and prices got back to J 2 £39.10, K 30.—, L 31.10. By the 25th of the month the market was firm on account of the dealers and speculators buying. Some hemp was sold on the basis of J2 £41.—, K £31.—, L £32.— and M £28.10. From then on until the end of the month the market was steady but with less busi ness and closed with nominal quotations at J2 £40.10, K £31.10, L £32.— and M £28.—. The market in Manila for the lower grades opened with buyers on the basis of .12 P17.50, K 13.25, L 14.— and M 12.25 but the demand was entirely for the better parcels. Toward the middle of the month there was slightly more demand and prices moved up to a basis of J2 P19.—, K 14.—, L 14.6 and M 12.6. From then on to the end of the month the market remained fairly steady with prices fluctuating from 2 to 4 reals depending on the parcel. At the end of the month the market seemed to be fairly steady and sales were reported to have been made on the basis of J2 P19.4, K 15.—, L 16.— and M 13.—. These were no doubt a few parcels suitable for the Jap anese market. FREIGHT RATES: All steamship rates remain unchanged and apparently the steamship lines have stopped quarrelling among themselves over the freight rates to Japan. Their differences of opinion were highly profitable to the hemp shippers while they lasted. STATISTICS: We give the figures for the period extending from June 1 to June 28 inclusive. Stocks in the islands remain practically unchanged from last month. It is interesting to note that Japan has taken almost twice as much hemp during the first six months of this year as she did last year. Stocks— January 1 ..................... Rcpts. to June 28......... Stocks June 28 ............. 1926 Bales 153,181 650,486 204,136 1925 Bales 131,228 598,524 178,389 The Employers’ Liability Assurance Corporation, Ltd. London Fire, Plate Glass, Automo bile and Accident Insurance Orient Insurance Company of Hartford Fire Insurance Shipments To June 28 To— 1926 (Bales) United Kingdom . Continent ............ Atlantic, U. S. . . Pacific, U. S. ... Japan ................. Elsewhere & Local 135,627 78,379 169,711 66,079 109,818 39,917 To June 29 1925 (Bales) 178,362 60,678 143,654 71,176 58,825 38,668 599,531 551,363 Totals 60,000 CHILDREN IN SCHOOL The enrollment in the city public schools approximates 60,000, including 7,403 in the high schools. Teachers employed number nearly 1,400. There are 1,700 pupils on the waiting lists who cannot as yet be en rolled owing to the overcrowding of clas ses, which is not permitted. There are practically enough vacant seats in the various schools to accomodate all the wait ing children, but they are not in the schools for the districts where the children live or those convenient for them to attend. THE WHITE HOUSE GROCERY FANCY AND STAPLE GROCERIES Prompt and Courteous Service The only grocery in Manila with modern slicing machine. 349 ECHAGUE PH0NES 22102 Philippine Guaranty Company, Inc. (Accepted by all the Bureaus of the Insular Government) Executes bonds of all kinds for Customs, Immigration and Internal Revenue. DOCUMENTS SURETYSHIPS For Executors, Administrators, Receivers, Guardians, etc. We also write Fire and Marine Insurance Liberal conditions ocal Investments oans on real estate repayable by monthly or quarterly Instalments at ow Interest Call or write for particulars Room 403, Filipinas Bldg. P. O. Box 128 Manila, P. I. Manager's Tel. 22110 Main Office Tel. 441 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 27 COPRA AND ITS PRODUCTS By R. K. Zercher Copra Milling Corporation May arrivals were 245,000 bags, as reported. J une arrivals were 268,000 bags or 55 per cent more than the June average for the past three years. The June market opened up at P14.25 to P14.375 for resecada copra and ad vanced to P14.75 by June 17, due to a favorable coconut oil market. From that date, due to adverse news on the oil market in the U. S. and a weakening of the London copra market, local copra prices declined rapidly as much as one peso per picul. Laguna-Tayabas copra still holds its level of from P.50 to P.75 above the Manila market. River copra has been plentiful and is offered freely at P13.75 to P14.00 in the closing days. Buying is not heavy. Buyers ideas are P12.50 for buen corriente and P13.75 for resecada, and the tendency is downward. The London market showed some strength up to the middle of the month when L-28/17/6 f.m.m. was quoted, but by the end of the month had declined 12 shillings. Arrivals of copra in Manila continue to be very heavy and a larger quantity is ex pected in July. Closing quotations were: London —L-28/5/0 f.m.m. U. S. A. —5%(‘ West coast Manila —P13.75 resecada COCONUT OIL During the early days of June the mar ket was reported firm although no spot bus iness was reported, of any consequence. A small f.o.b. June tank car sale was made at 1014 cents and a September tank car sale at. 9% cents. Buyers began to hold off and sellers were asking prices prevailing in the opening days. No business was done and the ominous silence was broken just past the middle of the month with news of a flat market with no buyers. Competing oils and fats had weakened and manufacturers were turning to cheaper oils. The market remained in this condi tion up to the close of the month. Information For Investors Expert, confidential reporte made on Philippine projecte ENGINEERING, MINING, AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, LUMBER, ETC. Hydroelectric projecte OTHER COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES BRYAN, LANDON Co. Cebu, P. I. Cable addreee "YP1L,” Cebu Closing quotations were: London —No quotation U. S. A.—9C West coast f.o.b. tank cars Local —P.42 per kilo COPRA CAKE The copra cake market has declined dur ing the month probably due to arrivals in Hamburg which already carried heavy stocks from May. Opening prices were L-7/15/0 c.i.f. Hamburg. Towards the end of the month sales were made at L-17/18/9 but the market immediately declined to L-7/15/0 and closing quotations were four shillings lower. Locally there was considerable buying for export principally by speculators. While the bulk of local sales were made at P50 to P52, sales were made at P54.50 ex warehouse and sellers were asking more. The forward market is reported at L-7/17/0 for October. Due to mishaps of vessels, space for July is likely to be limited. The U. S. market is inactive or not as attractive as the European market. Closing quotations were: Hamburg —L-7/11/0 Local —P52.00 to P54.00 U. S. —No reports. Manila, July 2, 1926.___ __________ r;u hermanos isi escolta For More Than 27 Years Discrim inating men have found that we do the best tail oring and have the largest selection of good suitings. New York-Paris-Manila 12 Escolta Phone 706 REVIEW OF THE EXCHANGE MARKET By Stanley Williams Manager, International Banking Corporation. U. S. dollar tt which was quoted at 17< to 1%% pre mium on May 29 was unchanged until June 5 when the rate was called 1%% premium all round and the mar ket was steady at this level until a day or two before the close, when there were again possible sellers at 1% premium. The mar ket closed on the 30th at a nominal 114 % premium with probable sellers at 1% for round lots. The insular auditor’s reports received to date show purchases of New York exchange from the insular treasurer as follows: Week ending June 5.. . .$200,000.00 ” ” ” 12.... $650,000.00 ” ” ” 19. .. .$375,000.00 Sterling tt was quoted at 2/0 3/8 on May 29 and remained unchanged throughout the month of June with l/16th better of fered for forward deliveries. Sterling 3 m/s credit bills were quoted at 2/1-1/16 with 3 m/s d/p bills at 2/1-3/16 throughout the month. The New York London cross rate closed at 486-9/16 on May 29 and remained steady throughout the month of June, fluctuating between a low of 486-7/16 on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd and a high of 486% on the 14tH, 15th, 25th, 26th, 28th, 29th and 30th. London bar silver closed at 30-1/16 spot and forward on the 31st and this rate was the low for the month of June on the 1st, 3rd, and 4th. The high rate for the month was 30-9/16 spot 30% forward on the 17th and the market closed at 30-3/16 spot and forward on June 30. New York silver closed at 65 on May 29 and the low for the month of June was the same rate on June 1. Touching a high of 66% on June 17th, the market closed at 65‘/j on June 30. Telegraphic transfers on other points were quoted nominally at the close as fol lows : Paris 16.40 Madrid 165% Singapore 115 Japan 95% Hongkong 112 % Shanghai 68% India 135 Java 122 QUARTER MILLION APARTMENT HOUSE The Kneedler Realty Company has ac quired the property at 825 M. H. Del Pilar for P80.000. The lot comprises 3,490 square meters. This property was formerly a portion of the Francisco Gutierrez estate. The Spanish mansion house is being demol ished, and a 24-apartment house costing P250.000 is to take its place. The lot ex tends to Dewey' Boulevard, where additio nal meterage is being acquired from the city. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 28 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 JUNE SUGAR REVIEW By George H. Fairchild N. V. MARKET. There was little change in the spot market for last month. The first fortnight was char acterized by a dull, depressed market, with small sales of Cubas at prices ranging from 2-11/320 to 2%C. The market steadied slightly at the be ginning of the latter half of the month, prices for Cubas reaching 2-7/160, equiva lent to 4.210 landed terms, this being the highest sale price for spot recorded in June. During the last week prices for Cubas declined again to 2-5/160. Latest advices, however, showed a favorable turn of the market due to a steadier demand with fair sales of Cubas at 2%0. New York is of the opinion that forced sales due to deterioration of stocks and the apparently large visible supplies have shaken the confidence of buyers who be came hesitant, fearing that prices had not reached the bottom. There is much en couragement in the reports that foreign countries in Europe and the orient have been buying considerable quantities of Cu bas at current prices. These foreign pur chases should reduce the visible supplies which, according to statistical data, have been abnormally large. From the following statistical data, it is evident that the present depression of su gar prices .was due to overstocking the world over: World’s Production Year Willett & Gray 1922 ............................. 17,622,000 1923 ............................. 18,153,000 1924 ............................. 20,116,000 1925 ............................. 23,649,000 1926 (Est.) ................. 24,833,000 Average .......... 20,874,600 It is to be noted, however, that the stocks in the so-called statistical countries, where reliable data were available, were less than 20% of the world’s stocks. Whether or not the data reported from other countries were reliable, is an open question upon which depends the future course of prices. As in the previous month, futures on the New York exchange followed the trend of the spot market. Quotations are as folHigh Low Latest July ......... 2.45 2.38 2.41 September ..'. 2.58 2.51 2.53 December ..... 2.72 2.66 2.71 March ........ . 2.74 2.71 2.74 Sales of Philippine centrifugals, near arrivals and afloats, were made at prices ranging from 4.1 K to 4.30(f landed terms. The market for refined reported quiet and dull. Latest advices received, however, in dicated some improvement in the refined market. The report of a favorable fruit crop in the U. S. might have had favorable effect upon the refined market. LOCAL MARKET. For the first three weeks of the month, the Iloilo market for centrifugals was reported quiet, with small parcels changing hands on the basis of P10.50 per picul. During the last week, local exporters purchased considerable par cels of centrifugals at P10.625 per picul. According to information recently re leased by the Philippine Sugar Associa tion, with the exception of two centrals, Manapla and Victorias, which are still grinding, the milling season is over with a total outturn of approximately 380,000 metric tons, or about 24% less than the previous crop. Details of this production by centrals as compared with previous crops are as follows: Central Asturias ......................................................... Bacolod-Murcia ............................................. Bais ............................................................... Bearin ............................................................ Binalbagan .................................................... Calamba ......................................................... Carmen (Calatagan) ................................... Del Carmen ... ........................................... El Real .......................................................... Hawaiian-Philippine .................................... Isabela............................................................. La Cariota...................................................... Ma-ao ............................................................. Manapla (latest est.) ................................... Mindoro .......................................................... Pilar ............................................................... San Carlos...................................................... San Fernando ................................................ San Isidro ...........'......................................... Talisay-Silay ................................................. Victorias (latest est.) ................................... Others ............................................................. Totals ................................ . . ............... Weather conditions have been favorable to the young cane during the month with occasional rains falling at intervals. Should this continue until harvest time, a substan tial crop is expected. Advices from Negros reported the ap pearance of a small swarm of locusts at World’s Stocks Sept. 1—Lamborn 5,075,000 4,456,000 5,269,000 7,162,000 8,574,000 6,107,000 Stocks “Statistical Countries” —Licht & W. & G. 1,232,000 1,195,000 937,000 1,562,000 2,772,000 1,540,000 La Castellana, evidently coming from Cebu. The prevailing weather is favorable for locust outbreaks from endemic areas, and the necessary steps should be taken by the government and private agencies to prepare themselves to meet the impend ing menace. With proper preparation and material no serious damage is anticipated even though the invasion should be ex tensive. It is rumored that there may be two more favorable prospects for the erection of centrifugals mills. The muscovado planters of the province of Batangas are eager to see a central erected at Balayan, and the Elizaldes are said to be behind the project. Another sugar project re ported is that in Ilocos Norte, where con siderable muscovado sugars have been pro duced since the Spanish regime. The sugar planters, of that province are forming an association for the purpose of establishing a centrifugal sugar mill in that district. Shipments of Philippine sugars to various countries from January 1 to June 26, 1926 are as follows: Kinds of Sugar U. S. Pacific_____ U. S. Atlantic China & Japan Total Centrifugal .............................. 45,018 219,425 264,473 Muscovado ................................ • 50,319 50,319 Refined ..................................... 869 869 45,917 219,425 MISCELLANEOUS. Stocks in the U. S., U. K., Cuba and the five principal Euro pean countries at the end of the third week of June were 4,125,000 tons as against 3,220,000 tons for 1925, and 2,630,000 tons for 1924. The latest estimate of the increase in the world’s production of sugar for the 1925-26 crop issued by Willett & Gray, has been 1925-26 1924-25 (Metric 1923-24 Tons) 1922-23 5,970 8,974 3,554 1)86 18,685 31,329 18,702 14,087 15,134 25,010 12,154 8,186 5,570 8,883 6,603 3,035 22,548 29,055 23,640 14,644 25,666 26,093 25,486 11,857 3,873 3,257 3,333 1,942 43,486 49,287 25,250 25,231 3,354 1,898 737 639 22,365 44,528 27,881 18,649 16,210 19,255 11,810 6,027 37,311 50,127 34,261 29,027 20,016 33,272 24,525 16,985 25,300 23,761 14,845 7,533 4,044 5,496 4,654 3,470 1,960 2,214 — — 22,307 29,404 15,868 12,537 26,683 25,730 11,352 18,451 4,946 6,549 3,847 1,265 15,641 34,687 22,732 14,583 18,000 23,743 12,619 9,594 19,953 16,739 12,328 7,572 379,022 499,291 316,181 226,298 reduced to 691,575 tons from a previous estimate of 1,183,350 tons given a month ago. Following a quiet and dull market dur ing the first part of the month, the Java market again showed some activity toward the end of the month, considerable quanti ties of superior sugar for future delivery having changed hands. Latest quotations are as follow: Superiors, f. o. b. June, Gs. 12 (P10.34); July, Gs. 11 (P9.50) ; Aug./ Sept., Gs. 10% (P9.27); Oct./Nov., Gs. 10% (P9.38). Manila, July 3, 1926. INSURANCE . FIRE, MARINE, MOTOR CAR. F. E. ZUELLIG, INC. Cebu Manila Iloilo Myers-BuckCo., Inc. Surveying and Mapping. PRIVATE MINERAL AND PUBLIC LAND 230 Kneedler Bldg. Tel. 161 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 29 Family Laws of the Apayaos: The Place of Woman Social and family laws of the savage Apayao tribe of the Philippine mountains have completely solved the woman problem by considering her two distinct beings, a beast and a spirit. As a mere animal1 she is sold like any other inferior creature or chattel may be, but her spiritual indepen dence she retains even after marriage. The sale of her body is taken charge of by her male relatives. [Lacking these intermedia ries, however, as when she is an orphan without male kin, she frequently sells her self and keeps the price she brings as a part of the inheritance of her future chil dren. There are some 25,000 of the Apayaos, living in the subprovince of Apayao and in neighboring mountain regions. They know no pottery or weaving; they practice dry agriculture and are a warlike people whose weapons are the headaxe, the shield, the bow and arrow and carved war clubs. - They tattoo the body and are highly esthe tic in temperament, according to an ac count by Dr. H. Otley Beyer, head of the department of anthropology of the Univ ersity of the Philippines, who has made a close study of Apayao customs. When Apayao girls reach the marriage age, at 14 or 15 years, they are for sale to the highest bidder and may, fetch as much as P2000. The purchase having been arranged with some ambitious young buck of the tribe, the girl becomes his sole wife and one of his slaves. He values het FUJI SILK Our FUJI SILK Exhibit wontheGOLD MEDAL at the 1926 PHILIP PINE CARNIVAL. This finest silk in the Philippine Islands you can buy from us in a great variety of designs at reasonable prices. DUTY into the Philip pines is 15% less than the American duty— which you save by buy ing from us. For the use of Ladies and Gentlemen Osaka Bazar '“The Japanese Department Store" 332-346 Echagoe Phoie 216 for the promise she gives of developing into a good creature for work -in both house and field. She goes to his home, to preside over its domestic affairs, taking with her the whole of her share of her parents’ estate. This becomes the nucleus ox the estate of her children. What she brought in the marriage market is divided equally among her immediate male rela tives. It is not the price they had for her; it is the price of her body only—of herself as a physical being, in other words, a beast. Her honeymoon is short and passionate. Ic. is truly a honey-moon, lasting precisely cne lunar month. At the end of it her husband cuts off her hair and makes of TYPICAL GROUP Ob’ APAYAOS: A CHIEFTAIN' AT THE 'OMAN AT IIIS RIGHT IS A WIDOW, WEARING ALL HER FINERY AT THE EXTREME RIGHT IS A COM PANION FOR A ................... ity, which must be furnished without cost and which may never be denied to visitors. Thus the Apayao men have a gay time. The number of their comely young companions is limited only by their appetite and their fortune, and these arrant creatures are as welcome in their own homes as in those of other tribesmen. Jealousy is not arous ed, there being no spiritual union between husband and wife, and the wife slaves as hard to provide meals for the husband’s companions of his frequent travels as to provide for the husband himself. But the advantage is not all with the pretty travelers. Here is where the spirit ual part comes into the law. If children are born of their pecadillos, they inherit nothing and the father has no responsibil ity toward them. They have only the hos pitality accorded any stranger. When these women become mothers they naturally lose favor as the men’s companions. Platonic , regard does not go that far, and it looks too queer for a man to be traveling about with a sweet friend of the other sex who must divide her attention between him and one or more children—not easily carried over the mountain trails. Apayao law makes the woman pay for her follies, by which she forfeits her chance to be sold into physical wifehood that keeps her soul inviolate and secures the herit age of her children. True, she may go it a wig for himself—one of three hand some ones with which he makes his own coiffure daily: spending several hours in the process, oiling and combing the mgs before his mirror and weaving them se curely about a brightly fringed turban. He goes in for curls and puffs, he is effemi nate and a very cruel and merciless war rior. That wife is accounted excellent whose hair grows profusely and shortly provides her husband his necessary three thick switches to add to his own long tresses. When he has made himself as handsome as artifice and nature permit, he sets out on a journey, taking with him as traveling companion the prettiest Apayao virgin he can induce to go along At noon and at night the vagrant couple eat and rest in the homes of other Apayao bucks who are away on journeys of the same sort. The slave wives provide all necessary hospital JOURNEY laughing away on a romantic journey with a gay young blade married hardly a month, while the wife goes drudging to the fields where women and children do all but the very heaviest work. But there is a day of retribution, which is the day of the soul’s triumph over the things of the flesh. Not one jot of the Apayao wife’s prop erty is shared with her husband, whose union with her, while it may give him per sonal ease and satisfaction, is for her only something done and endured for the sake of the tribe; more closely, for the sake of the village; and still more closely, for the sake of her children, to whom all that she has finally goes. Tribal and even family ties are not highly regarded among Apa yaos as a people, but mothers there are identical with mothers the world over. JUAN PILI Gentlemen’s Tailor Fllipinaa Building Plaza Moraga Phone 2-69-60 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 30 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 The husband may not touch the least of the Apayao wife’s property to call it his. An American traveler once purchased a hunting knife from an Apayao for ten cent avos, wanting it for a collection. Almost immediately he heard quarreling in the rear of the house, and soon the man, much crest fallen, came back and offered him constant ly mounting sums, even up to five pesos, for the return of the knife. Finally it was learned that the knife was his wife’s, not his, and the chief had fined him five pesos for selling it. The American gave him back the knife; he gave it back to his wife with humble apologies and promises of no further infringement of her prerogatives; and then she herself sold the knife back to the visitor for ten centavos. She had taught her husband his lesson, that was the satisfaction she sought in sticking for the law. Apayao bucks affect in the presence of visitors a great disdain of their wives. All their houses have stoops, where it is plea sant to rest. Here the visitor is taken, and here he talks with his host while the women fetch and carry at the latter’s gruff command. When they approach the visitor they must avert their eyes. They can never utter a word or make the least sign even in reply to questions addressed to them in their own language. But all this is a cloak of formalism for manner’s sake. As a matter of fact, when visitors are not around the Apayao husband takes rather a back seat; he shares the cool and shaded stoop with his wife and as many of her gossip ing neighbors as may wish to drop in to chat with her. The woman of the Apayao tribe dwells in two realms, the menial phy sical one which custom creates for her and the aloof and spiritual one she creates for herself. She accepts the drudgery of the one for the sake of her children, that none of her daughters may be tempted by hard ships to go on jocund road trips, catering in a mad way to the impulses of their bodies but quite ruining their souls. Even Apayao women therefore recognize their dual nature as very high and very low creatures—taken by and large. When their honeymoon is over they stoically strip themselves of every ornament and give these all to their husbands along with the abundant black tresses he shears from their bowed head to make his wigs. The sheared spouse arises, chastened of all vanity, to go her different way spiritually until time ends; and during this long period she values only that which is the soul’s; only Hilton Carson Furniture Moved Contract Hauling Baggage Transferred Dump Trucks for Hire AUTO TRUCKING 1955 Azcarraga CO. Phon* 22345 once or twice, on festal occasions of the tribe, does she ever again resort to orna ment or artifice making her physically at tractive, and these occasions are the com punctions of custom, not of her own desire. One of the most diverting trips to be taken in the Philippines is that which takes the traveler through the mountaintribe reAPAY.aO brave and girl on a lark, the TEXT TELLS OF THIS TRIBAL CUSTOM. gicn of northern Luzon, and starting at Baguio. Winter is the season of the year in which to undertake it. Trails, bridle paths and frequent resthouses minimize discom forts; the roughing is never too much and the noble scenes and curious studies of the people and their customs are true rewards of the journey. TAX POSTPONEMENTS DENIED All petitions from provinces that the period for paying land taxes be extended have been denied by the government. Peti tions had been received from Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Camarines Sur and Occidental Negros. , Meerkamp & Co. IMPORTERS & EXPORTERS BOOK ON TAGALOG “What Should be the National Language of Filipinos” is a borchure on this thesis by Eulogio B. Rodriguez, chief of the Filipiniana division of the Philippine Library and Museum. Philippine Education Com pany publishes the work, which tells of Spanish studies in the dialects and the ad vantages they dervived therefrom. Pigafetta, who came with Magellan, acquired a knowledge of 150 Cebuano words and 426 Moro words. “The missionaries had a natural method of absorbing the languages and dialects. They unreservedly associated with the nationals, attending their fiestas, listening to their dvpliihan, attending their come diahan, taking part in the parasals, bap tismal fetes and birthday parties, and oc casionally daring even the recitation of native poetry.”........ Rodriguez says “It seems to be clear, when one attempts to determine the origin of the races, that the tribe or nation from which the Tagalogs came enjoyed from the beginning, or at the time of establishing itself in the archipelago, a higher degree of culture than the other Philippine peoples which did not have a system of writing or, at all events, had a more rudimentary one, and accepted the Tagalog, abandoning their own.” DR. LOTHAR LISSNER Graduate of German Universities, form erly physician at Municipal Hospital Ber lin, announces the opening of offices at 14 16 Pinpin, Manila, P. 1. TEL. 26*0-23 Phone 2-22-33 "El Hogar Filipino” Building WARNER, BARNES & CO., LTD. Insurance Agents Transacting cA'.l Classes of Insurance It « » (China banking (Enrparatinn fHanUa. J. 3. DOMESTIC AND FOUEIGN BANKING OF EVEKY DESCRIPTION J. P. Heilbronn Co. Paper and Prixter’s Scppi.iks IN. RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July; 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Romantic Episodes in Old Manila Church.and State in the Hands of a Merry Jester—Time By Percy Hill (Copyright by the publisher, Walter Robb: \All rights reserved) IV THE CROSS SINISTER In the latter part of the 18th century Don Alonso Pacheco, an old retired captain of infantry, one of the invdlidos, as the Spaniards call them, had his residence within the walls of old Manila. It was on calle Sama Lucia, the street that takes its name from the day, in the year 1600, on which the redoubtable de Morga some how managed to float ashore on his mat tress after his engagement with the Dutch piivateer commander, Van Voort. That the city was not taken and sacked by the auda cious Dutch pirates was considered a mira culous deliverance. A small pension from the Spanish crown enabled Don Alonso to support his family. To be sure, it was not a large family. They were only four, Don Alonso and his wife, Doha Saturnina, their daughter, a very sprightly creature, Senorita Inez, and an ancient and distant relative, Doha Paula, not by any means too old to indulge some sly mischief-making at Don Alonso’s ex pense if opportunity offered. Doha Satur nina was stern and domineering; where her husband was concerned her arms were always akimbo and her temper ready primed for the match. At the time our story begins she was, of course, no longer young. Her figure was not one to take pride in, and it was rendered the more corpulent by her fondness for rich sweets and wines. According to gossi" however, her reign over her husband had begun rather early. In the small parish back in Spain where they were married, there was a miraculous well, the waters of which, if drunk by one newly married, were supposed to give power to rule over one’s household. It was said that immediately after the nuptial benediction had been pronounced, Don Alonso left his bride at the altar and ran hastily to the well to drink. Dona Satur nina was not so easily outwitted. She had procured a bottle of the water before leaving for the church, and concealed it beneath her wedding veil. She now avail ed herself of it, and drank while Don Alon so ran. One of Don Alonso’s greatest trials was that his stout wife was very devout. Her confessor regularly had from her all the captain’s secrets and small pecadillos as well as her own, and she always appeared greatly horrified when her embarrassed husband complained of the indiscreet bounds of her devotions. Silence of Dona Paula upon such occasions convinced Don Alonso that he had no support from her. As to his daughter Inez, she was just at the age when a lover is the most important thing in life, and nothing else matters. In her position as a sort of general factotum and duenna to Inez, Dona Paula was quite safe from the ire of either party in the frequent wordy quarrels. Whatever may be said of Spanish pride, and much may be said for it, in Spanish households there is a surprising freedom from restraint. Dependents do not feel the haughtiness that may dominate elsewhere, and they need not be obsequious. In the matter of a suitor for his daught er’s hand, Don Alonso had made a tactical error. He had already declared his choice, the son of an old comrade-in-arms living on calle Cabildo; and of course it fell out, as quite naturally it would, that the young man, Don Toribio, was not pleasing to Inez and was unacceptable to her mother. He had, they argued, neither career nor ex pectations. His suit did not prosper, the captain was once more exasperated at the perversity of his family. After violent'y conning the question over, he determined that for once he should stand his ground; the family arrayed against him and things were soon on a war basis. Don Alonso’s acquaintance with siege and onfall, sa:ly and ambush was profund; a limp, a crip pled hand, .a torso amply scarred, memen toes of many a hand-to-hand encounter, were full warrant to the crown in decree ing him a pension; for where Spanish arms had contended in the eastern seas during the last half of the 18th century, there Don Alonso had been, a gallant cavalier at the head of his men. Trophies of conflict adorned the walls of his home, the trabuco, pistols and halberds; on his daily afternoon promenades he car ried his trusty Toledo sword, with its plain ivory hilt and its supple steel blade. But pose and strut and expostulate as he might, his women remained firm against Den To ribio’s marrying Inez. They would not surrender. His choler rose still more when he found their choice to be a young medical student in Santo Tomas University. Like all soldiers, he had an undying hatred for men’ of the quill and parchment, with whom he readily catalogued students of law er medicine; so, when the student was encour aged while Don Toribio was contemned, the failing old captain felt the first twinges of apoplexy. Don Ricardo was the student’s name. He was a boisterous young fellow, of a goed family in distressed circumstances, dependent upon the galleon trade to give them a scanty existence; for their share in the trade was very small and the risks of every voyage were very grave indeed. However, when Don Ricardo should have his diploma from the university there would be patients enough, whether his remedies were good or ill. All would then be well, and he soon rich. He was, moreover, violently in love with Inez and as much set unon having her for wife as he w*s upon having ancient old Santo Tom’s for hi', alma mater. With the on° ambition. Don Alonso was not concerned: the other he was still resolved to thwart by what means he could. In those days the University of Santo Tomas was the principal seat of learning in the islands. It was founded in 1605, long before any institution of its type in America. Its professors, of the regular clergy, were resplendent in green togas trimmed with scarlet. They enjoyed many privileges, while the graduates were the foremost men of the colony—often called, ty the Spaniards of those old times, the Republic, probably from the church’s pre dominant participation in its affairs, de cided by the votes and councils of the friar communities. Hope deferred maketh the heart sick. The course of Don Ricardo’s love not running smooth, his thoughts strayed more to the possession of Inez as wife than to possesssion of a diploma from Santo Tomas; his medical studies suffered from his melan choly; Inez was a lodestar that drew his mind away from the art of Galen and Hip pocrates; she was indeed a ravishing Span ish beauty and could not fail to turn the head of any youth upon whom her beauty beamed with graciousness. But Don Alonso was ever on guard. When Don Ricardo would go in the even ing with his guitar to pour out his soul beneath Inez’ window, it was never a dainty white scarf that beckoned over the casement, but always the angrily bobbing nightcap of the old captain, who would ac cept no parley. However, Inez found ways of communicating with her lover, who was never allowed to grow really disheartened. As to her father, she endeavored in vain to soothe his feelings with his favorite dishes, prepared by her own dainty hands, that beseeched him with caresses when he expressed appreciation. All this had no more effect than the gentle admonitions of the genial friar, the father confessor of the family. So, all else failing, strategem was resolved upon. It was arranged between Dona Saturnina and Don Ricardo at one of their apparent ly casual street meetings, and the first steps were that both mother and daughter assumed a martyr attitude in Don Alonso’s presence, quite upsetting him with their remonstrances. Dona Saturnina prophe sied that the wrath cf Holy Church would fall upon him for his bitterness; the stocky friar, made privy to the scheme, added his warning to weight the argument. The family worshipped at San Agustin Church. Like all good Spanish Catholic families, they rarely missed a morning mass; and anyway, they were always espe cially admonished by the deep tones of the organ and the shrill voices of the liples, plainly to be heard on calle Santa Lucia. After the strategem had been planned, Dona Saturnina made it a point to enter the church first, her usual custom in any case, to dip her finger tips and make the sign of the cross, as do millions of good Christians every day. Habit is of course a part of life itself; upon this invariable habit Don Ricardo had based his strategem. Next morning when the family returned from mass, all pointed to Don Alonso with expressions of dismay and pretended hor ror. On his forehead was the faint outline cf a cross, in black. A mirror revealed the truth of all they said. Plainly wor ried, Don Alonso tried to pass it off as a joke: They all said with one voice it was not, and that' it was a visitation. Next morning, the same thing happened, and the 32 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 following morning, Sunday, as well. Don Alonso consulted his closest friends, who re ferred him to the learned clergy. But the clergy could explain nothing, nor allay his fears. Consensus of opinion among them was that Don Alonso had committed some ter rible sin, and that this was a divine visita tion in consequence of it: the cross sinister only appeared after he had been to mass, outwardly in a state of grace but inwardly bearing rancor in his heart. Truth was that Don Alonso was old. Worry quickly led him to fear. When Dona Saturnina perceived it, she intimated that the black cross might be a warning from heaven itself for him to withdraw his opposition to Don Ricardo. Again her husband’s anger overcame him, but next morning the cross sinister reappeared and the lamentations of the family were re newed. Don Alonso’s neighbors, knowing nothing of the strategem, began making their own conjectures; even his old military cronies began shunning his company; no longer could he visit them, and over a gen erous glass of Valdepenas or Rioja review the old campaigns. It was too much. Don Alonso abandoned his custom of a daily paseo and became low in spirit. At length he capitulated out right: he walked in constant fear and had quite lost his appetite. Don Ricardo, apprised quickly enough of all that happened, now renewed his seranades, and his adored Inez was no longer forbidden to drop a rose or sampaguita blossom from the window and breathe her love in sweet whispers over its grilled case ment. The wedding soon came and all went happily with the young couple; the eyes of the jovial father confessor twinkled as he blessed them. The great bells of San Agustin chimed their merriest, sounding out the glad tidings to all Manila. There was a banquet and a ball at Don Alonso’s house on Santa Lucia. Fandangos and jotas and carinos as were danced with all vivaciousness and grace in honor of the groom in his braided tight garments and the bride in her rustling silks and gorgeous mantilla. Toasts were drunk without num ber; the fiddle, the guitar and the hautboy made the day noisy if not precisely har monious, and long into the tranquil night the revelry lasted. The guests divided into groups: those who had memories and those who had hopes were equally gay, what with the wine and the music and the beaming countenance of the father confessor. The secret of the happy ending was that Don Ricardo in his study of chemistry had learned certain of the properties of nitrate of silver. It was this that Dona Saturnina touched to her fingers, and when she dam pened them in the font and gave her hand to Don Alonso, of course the cross he made on his forehead was outlined in black. It may not have been quite ethical, but Inez loved Don Ricardo no whit less for having the wit to think of it; and it was never gossiped about until Don Alonso had gone to a brave soldier’s just reward in another and less quizzical world, where, if there are windmills, they need not be contended against. Rubber In The Philippine Typhoon Belt. A. II. Muzzall In order to get more data on the con troversy as to whether or not rubber can be grown in the typhoon regions of the Philippines, a party was organized, com posed of several technical men from the bureau of forestry and the Bureau of agriculture, accompanied by me, to go to Sorsogon to study conditions on the plan tation of the Alkazar Rubber Company. The rubber plantation of the Alkazar Rubber Company is situated about 20 kilo meters from Legaspi, on the road to Sor sogon. This plantation was established in 1912 by a German by the name of Frank Hoclzl. The land was cleared of secondary jungle and planted in rubber. Part of the area was interplanted with rice for two years. The seeds were obtained from Sin gapore and planted in seed beds on the property. When the trees were about six months old, they were transplanted in the field at distances varying from four to six meters. After about two years, due to the death of Mr. Hoclzl, the plantation was abandoned and the secondary jungle again took possession. The present owner, Mr. Alkazar, has started to clear up the property and bring the trees into tap pingDue to the continuous rainfall during the month of January while the party was on the property, no records of yields could be made, but over 350 trees were marked and prepared for tapping and a study made of their present condition. It is estimated that there are about 5000 trees now living in an area of approximately 20 hectares. Naturally, these trees vary greatly in size due to the lack of care which they received. None of the trees show a size which is expected of a 12 year old tree. The soil is very patchy. There are places where the growth is very good and the soil is deep. In other places, the soil is very shallow, being un derlaid sometimes with a layer of adobe and sometimes with basalt. Among trees planted on the shallow soil where the tap root was not allowed to develop, we found many windfalls. The fact that these trees were blown over and still living instead of being broken off is evidence that the strong winds are not as much responsible for the damage done, as the poor soil con ditions. The general topography of this country is rolling and good sized trees were noted on tops of knolls where they were exposed to the wind, but had not been blown over because of the well formed tap root. The present owner has begun tapping operations and plans to make plain sheet which will be marketed in Singapore for the present. The crop is already contract ed for at Singapore market prices. There are several other small groves of rubber in this region and a great many people in the locality have started additional plan tations of their own. The Alkazar Rubber Company has sold during the last few months over 80,000 seedlings to various people. The principal drawback to large plan tations in this district is the continual rain fall, which lasts for several weeks at a time. The individual plantation, or a plantation which requires only a few laborers, will not be seriously hindered by this continual rainfall because owners can tap heavier during the periods of good weather and rest the trees during the rainy weather. It would not be practicable to handle a large labor force along these lines. Alsu, due to the variation in the soil, this coun try is better suited to small areas planted and operated by individuals. The persistent propaganda by the enemies of Philippine rubber development alleg.ng the destructiveness of typhoons, should, re ceive a definite setback by the fact that rub ber is growing successfully in the heart of the typhoon belt. It has already been defin itely proved that there are hundreds of thousands of acres outside of the typhoon belt. The probability is, no region in the Philippines should be eliminated from the potential rubber land due to typhoons. That is, plantations operated by individ uals or where a small labor force is re quired. The fact is that the crowns of these trees growing at Sorsogon showed prac tically no damage from wind and that the trees were not broken off. These that were uprooted showed defective root systems, due to the underlying rock, and would undoub tedly be broken off in any of the rubber producing countries. The people in this district should not hesitate to plant up small areas of rubber where the soil is fertile and deep for they will be assured of a good return on their rubber. The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Occupies a distinctive field and puts its advertisers in touch with the best clientele in the islands. This clientele has— 1. Big Buying Power 2. The Buying Habit 3. The Custom of Buying Advertised and Depen dable Goods—the kind of goods worth adver tising. Think about this a little. We shall have more to say upon it. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 33 A Word of Advice From the New York Times ADOLPH S. OCHS Publisher, Neu> York Times Low Rates Cheapen LOW rates are cheapening the newspaper and the value of advertising, says Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of the New York Times. At the high prices (so called) for advertising, the advertiser is obliged to give thought to what he is advertising, and where he is placing the advertising, and whether the expenditure is justified. When the rates are low, he too frequently uses space only to keep his name before the public, to tickle vanity or some similar foreign purpose. He doesn’t put the acid test to very cheap advertising. Will it interest somebody? Is it going to arrest the attention of the readers? Will it compete in interest with what is in the reading columns? He would naturally do that if the rates were high. He would then often say when copy of no news value was prepared for publication, “We can’t af ford it. It won’t pay.’’ But if he had something worth advertising, he would think otherwise, and while benefltting himself, would help the publisher to present matters of in terest to the readers. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 THE COMEBACK The comeback must be the right comeback. Your printed product must be the no come back kind—when the work is done and deli vered there is no comeback except another job and a boost from you. The right comeback is the comeback we try to get from you—the comeback of a customer thoroughly satisfied, of good opinion, of more orders. The job that has no comeback but a come back customer is the kind that builds our business. Hammering away every minute to get the right comeback puts the quality in our work, puts the promptness in our service. It takes work and pep but it’s worth it—it wins your good opinion, and that’s the comeback we want. THE TIMES PRESS Cosmopolitan Building, Manila, P. I. Ynchausti Rope Factory Manufacturers of high grade Manila Ropes Contractors to the U. S. Army and Navy and the Philippine Islands Government (Complete stocks carried by Messrs. Guy T. Slaughter & Co., of 210 Cali fornia Street, San Francisco, Cal.) Prices and Samples Mailed on Request Ynchausti y Cia. 945 M. de la Industria cTWanila, P. I. STATISTICAL REVIEW /.V RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 35 PEINCIFAD IMPORTS. Nationality 1,143,181 1,417,165 4.913 3,778 31,789,587 CARRYING By Freight ............ 18,134.305 By Mail ................ 618,133 30,973.288 97.4 22,571.279 95.2 816.299 2.6 1.099.511 4.8 Total ................... 18.753.438 100.0 31,789.587 100.0 23,670,820 100.0 TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES Oountriea M"}’ ,92° — Value % Value % Value % 36 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1926 BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Phone 72 363 Raon J. P. Scanlan OFFICE SUPPLIES— ANTIQUE FURNITURE Beds, Dressers, Wardrobes, Tables, Chairs, etc. Philippines Cold Stores Wholesale and Retail Dealers in American and Australian Re frigerated Produce STORES AND OFFICES CALLE ECHAGUE, MANILA, P. I. B. A. GREEN REAL ESTATE Improved and Unimproved City, Suburban and Provincial Properties Derham Building Phone 22516 Manila P. O. Box 2103 Morton & Ericksen, Inc. Surveyors AMERICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING MARINE AND CARGO SURVEYORS SWORN MEASURERS Expert valuation, appraisement and reports on real estate Telephone 507 34 Bacolta Cable Address: "BAG" Manila Manila Philippine Islands Macleod & Company. Manila Cebn Vlgan Davao Iloilo Exporters of Hemp and Maguey Agents for International Harvester Co. Agricultural Machinery ROSENBERG’S GARAGE TELEPHONE 209 ULA URBANA” (Sociedad Mutua de Construccidn y Pristamos) PRESTAMOS HIPOTECARIOS 1NVERS1ONES DE CAPITAL Escolta 155, Manila S. W. STRAUS & CO. BONDS for sale by J. A. STIVER P. O. Box 1394 Telephone 653 121 Real, Intramuros, MANILA Forty-four years without a dollar lot* to any invertor. P O Box 1394 telephone 653 J. A. STIVER ATTORNEY-AT-LAW NOTARY PUBLIC CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT INVESTMENTS COLLECTIONS INCOME TAX HANSON & ORTH, Inc. MANILA, P. I. Buyers and Exporters of Hemp and Other Fibers 612-513 Pacific Bldg. Tel. 22418 BRANCHES: New York—London —Merida—Davao 8 HOUR BATTERY SERVICE at Caro Electrical Service Automobile Electrical Work our Specialty'. 110 Padre Faura Phone. 65 and 56944 Sanitary * Convenient * Satisfactory! FIVE EUROPEAN BARBERS LA MARINA BARBER SHOP 117 Plaza Goiti Jose Cortina, Prop. MADRIGAL & CO. 8 Muelle del Banco Nacional, Manila COAL CONTRACTORS COCONUT OIL MANUFACTURERS MILE LOCATED AT CEBU FOR LATEST STYLES IN GENTS' CLOTHING. GO TO MR. MANUEL VALENTIN Formerly Chief Cutter for P. B. Florence & Co. 16 Years Experience on High Class Garments 244 Plaza Sta. Cruz Phone 26130 Manila M. J. B. The Quality Coffee F. E. Zuellig, Inc. Cebn, Manila, Iloilo Ci A I. I.’s IAB AC4E Repairing, Painting. Upholstering, Body Building, Electrical Work, etc. Cars stored at reasonable rates Phone 1912. 54S to 554 Snn Luis, Ermita. i Quality ffi Shirts l 10 YO SHIRT FACTORY P 1044 AIC AORAGA, MANILA. 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