The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Vol. 6, No.12 (December 1926)

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Vol. 6, No.12 (December 1926)
Issue Date: Vol. 6, No.12 (December 1926)
Year: 1926
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extracted text: Governor Forbes in Manila Hon. W. CAMERON FORBES Roosevelt’s New Book on the Philippines The “Grievances” Punctured Translation an4 Summary of Public Works Bill Court Squabble Over Six-MillionPeso Tuason Estate: A Medieval “Mayorazgo” Reviews by Leading Authorities of Commodity, Real Estate and Exchange Markets, Shipping Editorials More Notes on Liberia: Firestone’s Rubber Land Value to Farming of Philippine Soil Surveys Current Comment of Interest to Business Men and Students of Philippine Affairs SMOKE Everywhere Now ten centavos a package. IRRIGATION UNITS Novo Kerosene or Gasoline Engine with Cameron S. V. Pump Earnshaws Docks & Honolulu Iron Works P. O. Box 282 MANILA, P. I. Phone 2-23-92 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 1 The Standard of Excellence SDCDNY IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 2 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 EXPERT TAILORING For Discriminating People Guaranteed Fit Prompt Service I Fine American i and European | fabrics exclusively J imported for us. BRIAS ROXAS, Inc. (TAILORING DEPARTMENT) : 63-67 Escolta Manila, P. I Hamilton Brown Shoes Kangaroo Shoes make you feel good. They make your feet’ look good. And they are 17'< stronger than their next competitor. What more do you want in a shoe! Make yourself a Xmas Present of a pair of Kangaroo Shoes and a box of Holeproof Hosiery. They both wear longer. HAMILTON BROWN Shoe Store and Haberdashery 55 Escolta Manila, P. I. | Do you own a ! Hot Water Heater? I This Tank Water I Heater will pro vide plenty of hot water for kitchen and bath. Its cost is low. The consumption very moderate. Manila Gas Corporation MAIN OFFICE: Calle Otis, Paco Tel. 289 Announcing HANAN SHOES A limited assortment of these standard American shoes now in stock. HIKE SHOE PALACE 140-146 ESCOLTA MANILA, P. I. DISPLAY ROOM: No. 7 Calle David Tel. 443 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE /"'■ eAmerican Chamber of Commerce Journal PUBLISHED MONTHLY ass 'msw 4 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 FOR sweetheart or wife let your Christmas Gift be something which will be hers distinctively and something which will last a lifetime Her initials, skillfully combined into an artistic monogram and engraved on steel for stamping her stationery, will be just the thing Our artists are specialists in the creation of modish and beautiful designs McCullough Printing Company 424 Rizal Ave. Phone 800 Luzon Stevedoring Co., Inc. Lightering, Marine Contractors Towboats, Launches, Waterboats Shipbuilders and Provisions SIMMIE & GRILK Phone 302 Port Area THINK IT OVER This Offering in Transportation Packards - Hudson Sup. Sixes - Willys-Knights I Dodges - Maxwells - Essex - Baggage Trucks I OUR CONTRACTS Manila Hotel Co.—Elks Club—Manila (English) Club—University Club Casino Espanol—Deutscher Club—Post Exchanges—with working understand ing at many minor hotels and clubs The Only Reason “Service” N. & B. Stables Company We have a representative meeting all foreign boats 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 California Street, San Francisco, Cal.) Prices and Samples Mailed on Request YNCHAUSTI Y CIA. 945 M. DE LA INDUSTRIA MANILA, P. I. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Vol. VI, No. 12 DECEMBER, 1926 GOVERNOR FORBES IN MANILA Well, well! And here at last is ex-Governor W. Cameron Forbes, visiting old haunts and friends in the Philippines in quite an unofficial capacity and cheering everybody; his visit, just a stage in his leisurely journey around the world with his nieces from Boston, doing the islands a great deal of good. It brings people out of their holes, as it were, where they have been figuratively hiding. At an evening reception in his honor on a rainy night, for example, some nine hundred turned out. And then at the chamber of commerce lunch eon, Monday, December 6, there is another large and representative gathering of old res idents and actual taxpayers; and that same evening at the University Club the spirit of old-time Manila is gayly abroad, just as it ought to be. Mr. Forbes seems pleased; the community certainly is pleased, for he is not only a former governor general with a first rate record of administration of the islands behind him, but he is the only governor general who ever returned to Manila even for a single day in an unofficial capacity. His attitude, too, evinces the fact that the brief little visit with us is prompted by a genuine interest in the islands and in ourselves—in all of us. Delighted to see Filipino friends as well as Amer ican and pleased to observe many of the former doing well, he is no less pleased to see the latter, his own countrymen, doing as well as may be expected under the circumstances—many actually doing very well indeed, and a degree of prosperity notice able in good motorcars, good homes and the like. Mr. Forbes has, of course, been trying deftly to say nothing in the impromptu pleasantries of his responses to greetings. The attitude befits the occasion and is far more relevant there than with Mr. Forbes. It really irks him somewhat, he has no relish for the hair-shirt of exact diplomacy; and so, at the University Club the newspapers report he was moved to “challenge anyone in the Philippine Islands to point to one selfish act of Governor General Leonard Wood.” Of course none can cite any such act, as appears elsewhere in this issue of the Journal in an analysis of the recent set of alleged grievances from a postsession and unofficial meeting of legislative members. Mr. Forbes, however, doesn’t quarrel with men’s impatience for independence. In his remarks at the chamber of commerce lunch eon he surmised that a quarter-century free from politics would have been a good influence, but he has noticed that the Filipino’s aspiration to conduct their own affairs has not died out. “I hope,” he said, “it never will. The ambition to run things for themselves is natural, and I should not have cared to have spent my time on a people prepared to resign themselves com pletely to government from without.” The Journal trusts that this feeling of Mr. Forbes’ goes far enough to embrace the move ment for setting over the Philippines the Con stitution of the United States, so that territorial affairs may be completely and altogether safely in the hands of the people of the territory. He will then not be surprised to find nine hundred Americans greeting him (from the colony of 5000 or 6000), but surprised if there are not several times that number. He doesn’t like the name of Katherine Mayo’s book, Isles of Fear. He told the chamber of commerce that the incidents related in the book were no doubt true, that all know the conditions described do widely exist, but nevertheless the islands are not isles of fear, for the people are happy, contented and prosperous—going ahead at a very creditable rate, according to a statistical barometer he has set up to gauge progress in the islands. (May it be said within a modest parenthesis that if General Wood’s standard is the norm of confidence, the name of the Mayo book is not after all a misnomer? “A stable government is one where capital seeks invest ment at normal rates of interest.” If that condition now prevails in the Philippines, few know of it; and the only thing that would keep capital out of a country where twelve per cent interest per year is not only the legal rate but the common one, is fear.) Mr. Forbes really said more in his luncheon talk than perhaps many hearers caught. He began in the Philippine government as a cabinet secretary in 1902; later he became vice governor; he was our governor general from November 11, 1909, to September 1, 1913; and he came back to the islands in May and left in September, 1921, as a member of the Wood-Forbes Com mission. The earlier portion of his public service here was during the period of govern ment under the Philippine Commission, of which, as secretary of the department of com merce and police, he was a member. It has been computed that more recently, under the Jones Act and the legislature, the actual cost to the taxpayers of each law enacted has at times surpassed the entire cost of the old com mission for an entire year. Mr. Forbes told, too, of being, under Governor General Luke E. Wright, chairman of the commission’s head hunting committee, which made liberal official decapitations and reduced the cost of govern ment administration a round million a year. How would a head-hunting committee do now? In 1903, no record being available for 1902, the civil payroll was 1*9,492,076; and the entire outlay of the government that year, when 2,777 Americans and 2,697 Filipinos were on the roster, was 1*12,200,907, of which f*2,198,566, or 16.8 per cent, went into public works. Last year, 1925, with 506 Americans and 16,339 Filipinos on the roster, the civil service payroll was 1*22,620,910. The whole outlay of the government last year was 1*82,770,967, of which only 1*11,267,951, or 13.6 per cent, went into public works. If the year 1920 is picked up, one in which the government was supposed to have been most profligate,—though the over seas trade, import and export, was 1*601,124,276 against 1*537,220,077 last year,—it is found that there were 582 Americans and 13,143 Filipinos in the civil service, who drew a total of 1*16,669,318 from the treasury; and that from a revenue of 1*75,023,377 the sum of 1*12,565,030, or 16.8 per cent, was taken for public works. The present year goes over, but in 1927 the government expects to take 1*56,108,600 in taxes, and have a total revenue of 1*73,153,100, of which it is setting aside for public works 1*10,300,000, which is about 14 per cent. A head-hunting committee might have its work cut out for it on pretty broad measure. When, under Mr. Forbes, the committee used its hatchet so well, there was no sales tax, much less one of 1-1/2 per cent, and cumulative, as at present. But Mr. Forbes says there is progress. So there is, but it is little enough and not always in the right direction. Tenantry increases on the farms; homesteading is slow and there is division and redivision of inherited small patches to which the peasantry has some sort of title. There is a book on the Far East, The Obvious Orien t, by Albert Bushnell Hart. It was written in 1911 and dedicated to Mr. Forbes, “instructor of his former teacher,” as Dr. Hart puts it. “You cannot,” he says on page 285, “stay in the Philip pines a week without realizing that the insular gov ernment is, in reality, a big benevolent mission, the bishop of which is the governor general, which dif fers from the usual mission chiefly in its power to make everybody in the country put a little some thing into the contribution box.” Another book, The Philippines in 1913, tells more particularly of his biggest work, road building; and this goes on from year to year into a greater and greater mon ument which he can see, when he comes back oc casionally, and enjoy, while observing its unmeas ured benefits to the country. Ewald E. Selph spoke of this at the Rotary Club. Never before has there been produced, at so low a price, a car so serviceable, so trustworthy and so economical of operation and maintenance as the Ford Touring Car. Millions of owners say so. Buy your Ford today! Easy Terms of Payment can be ar ranged to suit your convenience. Manila Trading & Supply Company MANILA ILOILO CEBU BACOLOD LEGASPI PULUPANDAN Touring Car complete with Starter and Balloon Tires Pl,225.00 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 6 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 ROOSEVELT’S NEW PHILIPPINE BOOK RAPS ARMY BUREAUCRACY THEPHILIPPINES: A Treasure and a Prob lem: By Nicholas Roosevelt (To be had from the Philippine Edu cation Co., Inc., 1’7.70 the copy).—In this book of 315 pages including as valuable appendices the Jones Act of 1916 giving the Philippines certain prescribed or ganic law, and the letter of Secretary of War Newton D. Baker em bracing his notion of what precautions to take in administering the law, Roosevelt has treated the Philippines from an angle somewhat novel and compared them in various ways with the Dutch East Indies. He was out here just about a year ago, gathering his material, and included the East Indies in his itinerary. In his letters telling about the book he has expressed doubt that Americans in the Philippines will like it. But they will, quite generally, of course. For instance, these passages: “Our occupation of the Philippines is one of the great stabilizing factors in the Far East. The presence of the United States in the Phil ippines makes certain that America’s influence will be felt in determining the affairs of China. The Open Door has been one of the few foreign policies to which we have clung regardless of domestic partisanship. Our ability to keep the door open—a procedure, be it remembered, that has never been popular among foreign Powers long firmly entrenched in China’s mar kets,—rests on our prestige, which in the final analysis rests on force. This force is depend ent on our naval base in the Philippines. “So long as we are a powerful force in the Pacific, with large interests at stake and our hold over the Philippines undiminished, the Chinese and other Orientals are ready enough to court us. If we ever show that we are no longer prepared to take the responsibilities of a first-class power in Eastern Asia, their respect for us will forthwith diminish. “Aside from deterring business activities, this uncertainty as to our future relations with the Islands has a pernicious effect on the Filipino legislature. So long as the policy of the United States is not definitely stated, there is hope in agitating for independence. Inasmuch as many of the Filipino politicians feel that the more economic ties there are between the two peoples the less likelihood there is of independence being granted, they are naturally unwilling to vote for anything that may encourage American business in the Islands. Once the question of independence has been settled by a clear-cut declaration of policy incentive to hinder business will largely disappear.” One likes this, and Roosevelt’s not censuring Filipinos for faults that do not lie at their door, and his not expecting of politicians in Manila that they display a character different from politicians in Washington. In fact, one finds himself liking the book pretty well all the way through, just as he expected he would and the author feared he wouldn’t. This misgiving reveals one of Roosevelt’s gravest errors, though not really a grave one: he erred somewhat in estimating the caliber of Americans in the Phil ippines, but in this, among visiting writers and others who remain but a short period in the Philippines, he is by no means alone. Because many Americans in the islands have come to feel the Philippine question as really serious and to discuss it seriously, does not argue that they assume toward the views of other men on the same subject the attitude of bigots; but quite the contrary, they desire the question so freely discussed that echoes loud enough to reach the ear of Washington may be distinctly heard. A rational way to bring a book of this type to the public’s attention is to list the chapter headings: East and West, The Price of Freedom, The Duties of a Rich Uncle, Democracy vs. Despotism, Non-Christian Peoples, The Dogs of War, Treasure Islands of the Pacific, Business Hurdles, The Skeleton of a Future Republic, The Little Red Schoolhouse in the Tropics, Dollars vs. Diplomas, Racial Reconstruction, The Trials of the Tropics, Proconsular Efficiency, Bearing a Thankless Burden. It requires no more than these jottings to make plain that Roosevelt has not rid himself of all the fulsome illusions so sedulously cultivated by the War Department about the Philippines being a colony, etc., etc., just bland Pharisaical rot with the ulterior political purpose to deceive. It may be confidently anticipated that Roosevelt, now that he has begun studying the Philippines, will soon penetrate this solemn mien and help unmask it. The book hints to the present reviewer that its author is on that road, and that he is persistent and analytical in his mental excursions. Roosevelt’s comparisons of Philippine and Javan school notions and practices is well worth going over. The reason he believes the Phil ippine problem difficult is that he isn’t himself a border man and the islands are eminently a border problem. To make the Philippine jungle into cultivated fields, unless it be leased out and sold off as bonanza concessions, is a rough border task for the Filipino and the Amer ican to undertake together; and where they have had a chance to undertake it together they have succeeded; but while the government is busy with so many schools in town, so many pretty concrete buildings and the like secondary activities, it can’t assign the men and set aside the money to survey the border or even to coordi nate the private surveys and put them through the land courts. The islands need the Consti tution, under which the Federal government looks after the Federal lands, and under which men migrate to the border and establish for themselves sufficient border law to protect their fields, their herds, their families and their chat tels. To minimize the casualties, the border ought first to be surveyed. If this has grown to be a difficult problem for Americans, then they have forgotten their border cunning since lizzies replaced Old Liz and the buggy on the highways. The thread of The White Man’s Burden runs through the book consistently, Kipling’s familiar stanzas crowning the chapters; but the author happily remarks this maudlin sentiment,—so debasing of American effort here, so hypocri tical and so stultifying,—without subscribing to it or in any material degree letting it stain his pages. He brings wholesome, well-served meat to the banquet board of current comment on Philippine affairs. He dedicates to General Wood, “American statesman and Philippine patriot,” and thinks that in the process of time new relationships with the Philippines will be established by Washington, “based more on the experience of other nations in administering territories overseas than on our traditional conceit that the republican form of government fits all needs.” Meantime “we must give our representatives in the Islands sufficient authority to bear their responsibilities effectively.” He says “the day is past when the civilian govern ment in those Islands should be under Army bureaucrats in Washington” and advocates “a Board or a Department of Overseas Affairs” for the several outlying territories. Unfortu nately he has somewhere and somehow gained the quite erroneous impression that “there are more Army officers experienced in Philippine problems than civilians.” So he tolerates the existing arrangement for advisers and staff members for the governor general, but says such assignments are unfair to the officers de tailed to them, and that a corps of civilians, “a broad-minded staff of experts” from civilian life should be maintained in Washington. Through passage of the Kiess bill he would have the same type of men detailed to Malacanang instead of Army officers. Well, if we must go on as a colonial power instead of a motherly and fatherly nation prop erly fostering territories, then there can be no honest quarrel with this. As has been said, most Americans in the Philippines are bound to like Roosevelt’s book a great deal, and agree with a lot of it, too.—W. R. Timely Books on the Philippines Make Capital Xmas Gifts “The Philippines: A Treasure and a Problem” By Nicholas Roosevelt: P7.70 Nel “The Social Cancer,” Charles Derbyshire’s Classic English Translation of Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere: P5.00 Net The Season’s Best Seller “The Khaki Cabinet and Old Manila” By Walter Robb P4.00 Net PHILIPPINE EDUCATION CO., Incorporated 101 Escolta Manila IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 7 Grievances Alleged But Nowhere Substantiated ♦ ❖ ❖ An Analysis of the Legislature’s Hasty Allegations By WALTER ROBB On November 17, members of the Legislature in an unofficial meeting addressed by the senate president promulgated apparently grave charges against the governor general, the members seeming to feel irritation from the executive order of November 9 abolishing the board of control. The Journal goes over the charges analytically, not to defend the governor general, who requires no defense, but to illustrate the contrary viewpoints of his office and of the legislature and indicate what may be the facts. Paragraph by paragraph the charges are stated first, with comment in parentheses: He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. (This is the exact language of the first grievance expressed in the Declaration of Independence. Speculating on what the legislature may have had in mind, veto last year of the divorce law is recalled. This was perhaps the most drastic use of his veto power the governor general ever <exercised, and it left the islands with an archaic divorce law. But the governor general, evidently, hardly believes in divorce at all. He did not believe the divorce law should be liberalized, he therefore vetoed the measure for, as he believed, the country’s moral welfare. This is certainly partly in his keeping, as it would be partly in the keeping of a Filipino governor general; and by standing upon his prerogatives, the governor general has not weakened the office which one day a Filipino may occupy—and be grateful for the precedent set him. The legislature had not been unan imous, the bill was not repassed. Then there have been acts vetoed, acts to rush the treasury when alleged insurmountable calamities have occurred in the provinces by abatement or postponement of the land taxes. The taxes were paid, as it was known they could be without undue hardship. It would have been shirking duty, not obedience of it, for the governor general to have been party to the pretended mercy which was really a bid for popularity.) He has used certain public funds to grant additional compensation to public officials in clear violation of the law. (The governor general nor the legislature, nor any public official, may use any public funds for any purpose with out the countersignature of the insular auditor, named by the President and confirmed by the Senate of the United States; and the auditor approves nothing except what he believes upon his oath of office to be legal; and the auditor may be prevented, perhaps, from approval of payments he, but not the courts, believes legal; so this is nothing but verbiage.) He has assumed the right to allot funds voted for public works in a manner not authorized by law. (The comment just preceding applies.) He has arrogated unto himself the right of exercising the powers granted by law to the emergency board after abolishing said board on the ground that its powers involved an un lawful delegation of legislative authority. (Again the courts.were easily available, and any member of the board could have brought action and evoked a court ruling.) He has unduly interfered in the administration of justice. (He is not recalled as interfering at all save to speed decision. He perhaps has not interfered enough: the Journal learns upon excellent authority that the administration of justice is little improved if any, and the WoodForbes report revealed how wretched it was at the inception of the present administration five years ago. The supreme court commonly does not regard cases as tried at all in the court of first instance, and tries them itself (from the record), considering for the most part that the judges have taken the evidence more as com missioners would and hardly at all as judges would, and in the same manner reached their conclusions, which are often dubiously accepted as recommendations.) He has refused to obtain the advice of the senate in making appointments where such advice is required by the organic act. (He has attempted to follow in this matter the well established and most excellent rule of independ ence of executive choice of appointees, only limited by the privilege of the senate to reject nominees, but not extended to where the senate, not the chief executive, would really be making the selections.) He has refused to submit to the senate ap pointments for vacancies occurring during the recess of the legislature in contravention of the organic act. (This cannot have been universally true, or true save in exceptional cases where perhaps the police authority of the executive office and regard for the public welfare were the paramount consideration; for after every session of the legislature, action of the senate has been published on the vacation appointments, as occurred after the recent session.) He has continued in office nominees who have been rejected by the senate. (The comment just preceding applies: without a specific instance cited, the Teviewer may only surmise what the legislature may have had in mind. It has been arbitrary about Mindanao appointments because its policy has been to question that of the chief executive in Moroland.) He has usurped legislative powers by imposing conditions upon legislative measures approved by him. (The passing of most bills being usually delayed in the legislature until the very closing hours of sessions, so that the bills reach the governor general—for action within the pre scribed 30 days—after adjournment and when he can not send them back for changes that would conform them to his judgment, the gov ernor general has been compelled to veto meas ures which by more responsible procedure would have perhaps become law. This defect in procedure has been repeatedly invited to legis lative attention. The governor general, in the interest of good citizenship, has vetoed franchises restricting political freedom; and neither the one case or the other may be construed as a usurpation of legislative authority.) He has set at naught both the legal authority and the responsibility of the Filipino heads of departments. (There is a remedy at court for any encroachments such as this allegation asserts; but as a well known fact, the organic act itself vests supreme executive power in the governor general and makes it plain that he shall exercise it. The legislature has, it is true, proceeded upon the so-called theory of depart mental responsibility to the legislature, instead of to the chief executive, but this is neither the law nor for the public interest. There have been acts to this effect, but they have never been, as they might have been, tested before the courts for validity.) He has substituted his constitutional advisers for (sic) a group of military attaches without legal standing in the government and not re sponsible to the people. (The officers to whom this refers are on detached duty by order of the secretary of war and serving at the office of the governor general. Criticism of the arrangement is not confined to the legislature, but if there is anything illegal about it the courts may say so—and could have from the beginning.) He has reversed the policy of filipinizing (he service of the government by appointing Americans even when Filipinos of proven ability were available. (If this were examined under the service roster, it would not hold water. Filipinizing the government service for the deliberate purpose of doing so, has created wanton distinctions repugnant to harmony in the community and efficiency in the govern ment; but it goes right on.) He has obstructed the carrying out of national economic policies duly adopted by the legislature, merely because they are in conflict with his personal views. (This must refer to the national companies, some of them exploiting very valuable portions of United States public domain. They have a combined capital from the public taxes of the islands approximating P54,000,000, and of a goodly portion there is small prospect of return. The governor general believes the public interest would be served by the govern ment’s retirement from the business field; and this is quite as much an executive matter as it is legislative. The money tied up in the compa nies must be replaced: the manner of doing this has been to sell public bonds in the United States, with the credit of the United States behind them. This is a reckless method of saddling the people with debt; the second largest political party in the islands condemns it; the other, having devised and profited by it, natural ly sees reasons for continuing it.) He has rendered merely perfunctory the power of the legislature to pass the annual appropriation law by reviving items in the law of the preceding year, after vetoing corresponding items of the current appropriation act, in flagrant violation of the organic act. (Again, the fiscal provisions of the organic act may not be violated, because the insular auditor, under his oath, attends to their strict enforcement. If there has existed serious difference of opinion as to construing the law, test cases in the courts might have cleared up all doubts. The governor general may not be brought to court, but his agents may: mandamus and quo warranto hold, for example, in the case of the insular treasurer.) He has made appointments to positions and authorized payment of salaries therefor after having vetoed the appropriation for such salaries. (The comment just preceding applies.) He has, in the administration of affairs in Mindanao, brought about a condition which has given rise to discord and dissension between certain groups of Christian and Mohammedan Filipinos. (Dissension of this sort may have occurred; it has in the past, it certainly will in the future; but no one deliberately brings it about, and the governor general, whatever his success may have been, has, of course, intended to prevent and abate it.) He has by his policies created strained relations between the resident Americans and Filipinos. (Sharp difference of views on many vital public matters between the legislature and the chief executive does, of course, affect the community and become reflected in men’s attitudes, without one side being to blame more than the other; or, if a preponderance of blame may be laid, it will not be against the chief executive.) He has endeavored, on the pretext of getting the government out of business, to dispose of all companies capitalized by the government worth many millions of the people’s money to powerful American interests. (That these com panies have been failures is hardly debatable. That they have absorbed many millions of public revenue,—which in effect has been re placed by increments to the public debt, and therefore through the permanent increase of taxation,—is admitted. That the government should salvage from the wreckage what it may, as in the recent sale of the Cebu Portland Cement Company approved by the board of control just before it was abolished, and should get out by the means of inducing considerable capital from abroad to come in, is a position at least easily defensible in any public official, and one in which the governor general, far from being alone, has many leading Filipinos with him, including, of course, many members of the legislature.) He has sanctioned the campaign of insidious propaganda in the United States against the Filipino people and their aspirations. (The complete rejoinder is the governor general’s authorized interview given Mr. Edward Price Bell of the Chicago Daily News, available in World Chancelleries, published by the News.) He has endeavored to close the Philippine National Bank, so necessary to the economic development of the country. (Steps taken by the governor general rehabilitated the bank, after it had lost its entire capital and more besides; under him a Filipino manager was permanently appointed, and the bank goes on.) THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 He had (sic) adopted the practice of inter vening in, and controlling directly, to its minutest details, the affairs of the Philippine government, both insular and local, in violation of the prin ciple of self-government. (He has repeatedly recommended to the legislature measures for more provincial and municipal autonomy.) He has insistently sought the amendment of our land laws, approved by the Congress of the United States, which amendment would open up the resources of our country to predatory interests. (The land laws cover the public domain of the United States in this territory; by delegation of the strict authority of Congress, the Philippine government has been given temporary custody of these lands, but not ownership. When congress, in the civil govern ment act of 1902, limited to 1024 hectares the tract any agricultural company could acquire from these lands, Taft tried in vain to get the restriction raised and predicted that if this were not done the restriction would inhibit desirable development of agriculture in the Philippines. His predictions have been so abundantly fulfilled that nothing is more im portant than to effect a change, but no change has been suggested that would discriminate against either Americans or Filipinos. Observe the hemp situation at this very time, hemp to be had only at prices above parity with steel, and therefore steel replacing hemp among many customers. It has been observed that when customers turn from hemp to steel, they rarely or never change back again. Observe the enrich ment of other nearby regions from rubber, and the transplantation of hemp to Sumatra: the modem movement is taking hold elsewhere and leaving the Philippines in the backwash of progress.) The grievances list ends with complaint against the abolition of the board of control, an act which will tend to wrench government back into balance and make the functions of More Teeth Put Into Islands’ Usury Law ♦ Building and Loan Companies Kept To Fourteen Per Cent Amendments to act 2655, the usury law, approved by the legislature during its final session November 9, make section two of the original act read as follows: “No person or corporation shall directly or indirectly receive in money or other property, real or personal, a higher rate of interest or greater sum of value, including commissions, for the loan or renewal thereof, or forbearance of money, goods, or credits, where such loan or renewal or forbearance is secured in whole or in part by a mortgage upon real estate the title to which is duly registered, or by any document conveying such real estate or an interest therein, than twelve per centum per annum. Mutual building and loan societies incorporated under act 1459, known as the Corporation Act, may, however, charge in addition a premium the percentage of which shall be fixed from time to time by their boards of directors but shall in no case exceed two per centum per annum, com puted in annual payments from the date when the loan was made until the day when the obli gation is totally extinguished.” Licensed pawnbrokers and their agents are limited to an interest charge (including all other charges) of lx /i per cent a month “when the sum lent is less than 1*100; two per cent per month when the sum lent is 1’100 or more, but not exceeding 1*500, and 14 per cent per annum when it is more than the amount last mentioned.” Division “of the pawn offered by a person into two or more fractions in order to collect greater interest than that permitted” is declared unlawful, as are insurance premiums “for safekeeping and conservation of the article pawned.” Compound interest is prohibited by amend ment of section five of the original usury act, “except by agreement, or, in default thereof, whenever the debt is judicially claimed, in the legislature and its officials what the law prescribes. This grievance, partisan like the rest, need not be dealt with at all, since at time of writing, November 23, the plan is to have the executive order passed upon by the courts, a procedure which the chief executive is admitted by the legislative leaders to desire. One and all of the grievances fall of their own weight. The public, however, has an abiding grievance, which is that endless discussion has been kept Hemp, Coconuts and Dividends at Padada, Davao <§><§><§> Christensen of California Manages Two Growing Plantations As a usual thing the American who has been successful in the prov inces of the Philippines is an ex-soldier, the man who came out to the islands with one of the volunteer regiments, or with the first regular troops. There are, how ever, exceptions. One was O. V. Wood, who developed Malita, a lead ing plantation in Davao. Another is Edward E. Christensen, the subject of this sketch. Wood and Christensen both came to the islands as school teachers, in 1901. Wood was stationed in Davao and took up his plantation quite early. Both, too, were from California, but Christensen was stationed in Calivo, Capiz, Panay, from 1901 to 1903; and then he went into the forestry service for a year, and then back to California for ten years, four of which he spent teaching school. which last case it shall draw six per cent per annum interest;” and “no person or corporation shall require interest to be paid in advance for a period of more than one year.” Section six of the original law is now to be read: “Any person or corporation who, for any such loan or renewal thereof or forbearance, shall have paid or delivered a higher or greater sum or value than is hereinbefore allowed to be taken or received, may recover the whole in terest, commissions and premiums paid or deliv ered in excess, with costs and attorney’s fees in such sum as may be allowed by the court in an action against the person or corporation who took or received it, if such action is brought within two years after such payment or delivery: Provided, however, that the creditor shall not be obliged to return the interest and commis sions for a period of not more than one year collected by him in advance when the debtor shall have paid the obligation before it is due, provided such interest and commissions do not exceed the rates fixed in this act.” Agreements contrary to the act are void, except upon clerical error plainly not intended to defraud or to evade the law, and “nothing shall be construed to prevent the purchase by an innocent purchaser of negotiable mercantile paper, usurious or otherwise, for valuable con sideration before maturity, when there has been no intent on the part of said purchaser to evade the provisions of this act and said purchase was not a part of the original usurious transaction. In any case, however, the maker of said note shall have the right to recover from said original holder the whole interest paid by him thereon and, in case of litigation, also the costs and such attorney’s fees as may be allowed by the court.” The amendments to the usury law take effect upon approval, December 1, according to the published list of bills approved. going between two protagonists who may not resolve it, the one claiming to be aggrieved never taking the easy route of the courts to obtain settlement of the points at issue; so that the little constitution the islands have, which it is desirable to have clear and definite, has but been made more indefinite and obscure by ex parte obiter dicta preoccupying the press, and even club gossip, but really availing nothing— because they have settled nothing. After all, the young man who teaches school does know human nature, or come to know it, if he is good at his job, and knowing human nature is a large part of success on a Philippine plantation. Christensen returned to the islands and went to Davao as manager for the Mindanao Estates Company in 1913. The plantation was then run down and unprofitable. He has built it up. The area is 832 hectares. Of this area, 80 hectares are growing 80,000 hills of Manila hemp which makes an average yield per month of 120 piculs; and this year the average firice has been 1*31 the picul, with prospects that the closing sales will put the average somewhat higher, possibly 1*31.50. Here is 1*44,640 from a field of 80 hectares, or less than 1/10 of the plantation. The land is held under lease from the govern ment by the first public lands act, and so pays an annual rental but no land tax. The lease is for 25 years with the privilege of renewal for another like period. Some 200 hectares are planted to 22,000 coconut palms, 115 to the hectare, and 7,700 of these palms are bearing. The yield of copra is 250 piculs per month, and this year the gross sales price has hovered around 1*11.50 per picul. A third of all the coconuts planted, then, are bringing the planta tion owners 1*34,500 a year, on the basis of this year’s prices, which may be taken as pretty close to the average. The two-thirds of the plantation still to be planted may be planted from the profits the planted areas now yield. Christensen believes the Mindanao Estates coconut groves are the best in the islands, which would mean the best in the world. Each palm in the single grove now in full bearing yields 4/10 of a picul of dried copra a year; the average yield per palm in the younger groves is more than 1/3 picul a year. His own place, or that of the Christensen Plantation Company, is adjacent to that of the Mindanao Estates Com pany. Both are at Padada, Sta. Cruz, Davao, midway between Malita and the town of Davao, which is the main port on the gulf and an entry port of the Philippines. The Christensen plan tation comprises 963 hectares, of which 20 hec tares are in hemp and 250 in coconuts. More coconut planting will be undertaken on both estates, and hemp kept about where it is, for though it be quick-growing and a good money crop, copra is adjudged to be more certain of steady profits. Mote than one gulf-coast planter is beginning to feel that coconuts are at least not inferior to hemp as profit makers, while the labor required is less. On the Mindanao Estates and Christensen plantations, Cebuanos, or men from Cebu, are employed almost exclusively. They are paid by the day and found, so that the average min imum wage works out about 1*1.10 and the highest, for field foremen, about 1*2.00. Hemp is stripped with the Universal hemp machine which is manufactured in Manila. The husking of coconuts preparatory to drying the meat into copra is the only labor let to contract. This wage labor is found quite satisfactory; it has been the direct stimulus to very extensive home steading by Cebuanos in the Padada district. The men come to Padada with the prospect of being hired on the plantations. This occurs. When they have saved jome money and looked up locations, they take up homesteads and bring on their families; and more recently they bring December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 9 their families with them. Men, who actually file claims, gather around them several kasamas who fall into their debt but open fields on the homesteads and work these fields on the shares. Among four or five men, perhaps one becomes a prospective freeholder; the rest are his peons and he alone has advanced to a better state. He must, however, dispense fairly decent treatment to the men, because the plantations are nearby and they could find work there if they left him. In this way some 6,000 hectares extending seven or eight miles down the coast south of Ppdada have been homesteaded by men whose inducement to come to the gulf coast was the work on the plantations. At some points the homesteaded country reaches four or five miles into the interior. The usual tract taken for a homestead is 24 hectares, but division will occur so that the final tract retained by a family will perhaps be no more than eight hectares—all a family can cultivate. Eight hectares will sustain 800 coconut palms with enough space left for garden and fruit plots around the house. These palms will produce 250 piculs of copra a year, which may be valued at 1*10 the picul and given a gross value of 1’2,500, from which nothing need be deducted for expense of prepa ration, since all the work may easily be done by the homesteader and his family when they would otherwise be idle. Such an income is surely ten times the annual family income of native inhabitants of Cebu; and such is the incidental public advantage of private initiative in Philippine agricultural in dustries. Except the plantations hire Cebua U. S. Rubber Demands Give 600,000 Steady Work All Fields Responding Far More Than The Philippines These are snappy times in the rubber world. The market has been jumpy, a symptom of nerves that always affects the pneumatic tire manufacturers. Before so many of these became heavily interested in rubber planting, when rubber could be beared down to bargain-counter levels they were highly elated, for their one concern was to buy rubber cheap. But now they are big planters of rubber; the cable news today, December 3, from New York is that “a forty-million credit guaranty by a group of leading tire and automobile manufacturers has been arranged through Wall Street bankers to stabilize the price of crude rubber. It is understood that the manufacturers involved will pool their purchases through a central organization, probably the General Rubber Company, the importing subsidiary of the United States Rubber Company.” The United States Rubber Company is itself a big grower of rubber in the East Indies. “It is believed,” the cable goes on to say, “the plan will eliminate the violent fluctuations of rubber and maintain prices at such a level that the additional ten per cent restriction on production under the British Stevenson act will not be necessary on February 1. In order to prevent restrictions in British controlled production it is believed the price must be stabilized around 42 cents a pound, compared with the current price of 36 cents.” Incidentally, here is something being done in the rubber trade that seems to have no parallel in the fiber trade; and it never came about in the rubber trade until big consumers became big producers. Now it is officially given out that growers can make money when rubber sells for 30 cents, much less 36 cents; but a manufacturer who has paid 42, 45 and even 50 cents for crude rubber will be at a disad vantage if his competitors buy at 36 cents or less. Hence the snappy work, no doubt, in stabilization through a buying entity serving all the big consumers alike. Nor is this detrimental to the buying public, Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith with their Fords, and Mrs. Smythe-Jones with her Pierce-Arrow limousine, when and if it is kept within the bounds of reasonable reserves, prompt bond interest and attractive dividends. (To apply nos and take them to Davao, they have no means of getting there; and except they work for some time for cash wages on the plantations, they have no means of staying in Davao and becoming freeholders. At Padada the two plantations under Christensen’s management comprise 1815 hectares, chiefly still to be planted up, and yet they have already induced homestead filings on three times their gross area. Principal stockholders in the Mindanao Es tates Company are Paul Gulick, lumberman of Baguio and Laguna; M. L. Miller, manager of the Cebu office of the International Banking Corporation; David Walstrom, paying teller in the same bank at Cebu; Major H. F. Cameron, U.S.A., now stationed in Philadelphia, and P. C. Round, formerly judge of the land court in Sto. Domingo and now engaged in private law practice there. Both Round and Cameron have been in the islands and know Mindanao. Christensen himself is the principal stock holder in the Christensen Plantation Company. Federico Aznar, manager under Christensen’s supervision of the Mindanao Estates plantation, and Manuel Aznar, in the same capacity on the Christensen plantation, are other stockholders. Gates L. Spalding, a Kansan, formerly teaching in the islands, who has gone back to his native state, is another stockholder. The authorized capital is 1’100,000 and 1’53,000 has been paid in. Dividends were paid the eighth year after the plantation was opened, in 1925. They have been earned and will be paid for 1926, and Christensen believes this practice will continue without interruption. the analogy to fiber, particularly to Manila hemp: If the. market could be stabilized at 1’35 the picul for grade F hemp, assuring all growers substantial profits, expansion of demand would be pretty certain, the JOURNAL is told. When rope sells at 24 cents the pound, this is just under steel cable; and to sell rope in safe competition with steel, grade F hemp should be at 1’33 to 1’37 the picul. At such levels, growers and their customers, the cordage manu facturers, might go ahead with the assurance of reasonable profits. But the manufacturers are not as yet important growers: our fiber industry is where the rubber industry was five or ten years ago, and therefore on pretty pre carious pins). As to our rubber, we plant it just now in little nondescript patches indicating more enthusiasm than forethought and experience, of which we have n’t much as yet, quite naturally. We have frightened Mr. Firestone away from our jungle frontiers with belching legislative shotguns. He has sought refuge in Liberia and will participate with his millions in awaken ing that country from its agricultural lethargy. What our neighbors and Brazil, Mexico and the South are doing while we doze appears from the following, from the Straits Times of November 17: “During the past two days three items of news in relation to rubber have appeared in the public press which are of very considerable interest. The first we would refer to is the disclosure by the Financial News of a very extensive deal in Brazilian rubber estates in which the names of men closely interested in Malayan plantations are mentioned as being the leading promoters. The disclosure refers to the proposed purchase from a South American company of nearly half-a-million acres of rubber estates and it is stated to be the intention of the new owners, when the property is acquired, of applying to the Government for a monopoly to manufacture rubber in the city of Para. ‘Rubber estates’ is an elastic term and the large area mentioned as to be included in the deal presumably does not necessarily mean that the whole area is actually planted in Hevea, yet if the land is acquired by British capital and controlled by British enterprise no part of the huge area will be allowed to remain long uncul tivated. The second item discloses the official figures indicating rubber production in the Dutch East Indies for 1926 as 197,000 as against 194,034 tons in 1925. “It was confidently expected that this year’s figures would show an increase over last year, and it is equally confidently expected that 1927 will show an increase in still greater proportion over 1926. “The third item discloses that in the United States, despite many set backs, a number of well-known, and in some instances famous, research chemists are giving renewed attention to the guayule shrub, now being grown exten sively in New Mexico, Texas and South Califor nia, now that certain major obstacles have been overcome in the stabilisation and improve ment in the rubber extracted from this product. Speaking at the Philadelphia convention of the American Chemical Society, Mr. G. H. Car nahan, president of the Continental Rubber Company, after estimating that America’s annual consumption of raw rubber entails the continuous employment of 600,000 plantation workers, said with the improved methods now put forward, the same amount of guayule rubber could be produced in the United States by wellpaid farmers and mechanics with a human effort equal to 40,000 men continuously employed throughout the year. In thus addressing the chemists and rubber technologists present, Mr. Carnahan was no doubt shrewdly holding out glowing future possibilities with a view of spurring them on to new impetus, rather than because of a personal belief that the guayule proposition was a sound one. But his remarks are significant of the times. “Wherever we survey the problem of rubber output, we find that production is likely to advance in the next few years very considerably. We in Malaya must, therefore, be prepared to meet this advance by winning a greater output over a given acreage so that in the near future our quality may be better and our quantity may be greater while our costs of producing do not increase in comparative ratio. “As a whole our present methods and general principles are correct agriculturally, and in the matter of preparation of sheet and crepe, ex-' perience will soon remove many of the present defects arising from mold spots and other causes of which Mincing Lane has been recently com plaining: How then can we reach quickest the desired object of increased area production without a consequent serious increase in costs? Some time ago, sugar growers were faced with a somewhat similar state of affairs. The Ger mans by a policy of selection succeeded in im proving the sugar content of beets from three to eighteen per cent, and the Dutch East Indies growers similarly improved the yield of cane sugar from thirty piculs to 130 piculs. If this had not been done, the sugar growing industry would have been in grave difficulties. Ceylon planters, to judge from conferences recently held, are rapidly coming to the conclusion that a selective policy is essential and therefore much greater attention must be paid to high yielding trees and bud-grafting therefrom. “At a recent meeting held at Kandy, Mr. Stockdale, the director of agriculture, spoke most favourably of the probability of increasing the yield of rubber and profit by bud-grafting, and assured Ceylon planters of the cooperation of his department in the initial stages of selective breeding. He held that it would be necessary to train conductors and others. He assured his hearers that budding was not a difficult operation and could be learnt in three days and it was thereafter only a question of practice. We consider Ceylon fortunate in thus possessing an official so willing to give a lead and in so direct a way to planters. It must be presumed that he had the full support of his government, otherwise he would not have offered cooperation, for cooperation between a government depart ment and civilian enterprise invariably means to some extent the use of government funds, and the deduction is that he would not have indirectly pledged state finances unless he had been authorised to do so. We now await a lead in this matttr from the governments of Malaya. We trust we are not being unduly optimistic.” 10 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 EDITORIAL OFFICES American Chamber of Commerce 14 CALLE PINPIN P. O. Box 1638 Telephone 1156 A HOLIDAY SOLILOQUY The return of ex-Govemor General W. Cameron Forbes to the islands in a wholly unofficial capacity for a brief sojourn among us, who are more than pleased to renew the old friendship and recall the days when he was doing a deal of constnictive work here, evokes reflections upon the habit of going away which our governors general have. Forbes is the only one who ever came back to Manila, even for a day, except upon official assign ment. The practice of governing and going makes of our governors general proconsuls, not governors of new territories, nor men permanently taking a hand in the engrossing game of the western border; for though the Pacific is somewhat wider than the Mississippi, it is crossed from the United States by sailing steadily into the westerly sun, and the Philippines are essentially the nation’s western territory with the usual western-border problems to resolve. What strength, in solving these problems, might not the com munity enjoy from the residence here of men with a Malacanang career behind them. We like the attitude of General Wood: “We won’t go home till it’s over.’’ This is a splendid rendezvous to make with fate. It builds most stately mansions for the soul. Deletion of the last three words, to leave it simply and definitely “We won’t go home,” would build a com munity. Taft set the pace toward home. It is true that he followed the beckon of high ambition; that he ascended the mountain, as it were, and beheld the world laid at his feet; and it is true that he yielded, that he went to the War Department, to the Whitehouse, to the Chief-Justiceship. Give him a cap and gown, giveiiim a wig if you will, and a bronze or alabaster bust, some day, in the nation’s loftiest corridors. But will you suppose that beneath that august gown the ties of his earlier associations here on the border never tug at his lieart? Will you believe that conscience never tells him, “My son, you should be there, not here upon the easy cushions of honor?” We may be very sure that he often remembers with remorse. He left us when the theories he had expounded were still untried by time, when the institutions he had created almost out of hand for our adminis tration were still just well-intentioned experiments. Ours was thereafter to be the burden—ours alone, not his and ours together. At this yuletide, the twenty-ninth since American sovereignty sup planted that of Spain, planters in Mindanao call to him, “We are here!” And miners in Benguet, Masbate and Surigao call to him, “We are here!” Men everywhere, in the ports and in the provinces, gray-haired, no longer young, with families growing up about them, cry out to him, “We are here!” They are all here, at the mercy of opposition they should not be compelled to encounter, which his genius and influence would remove from their path. But where is he? Back East, back home, subsisting bountifully upon the lush of the made-wealth of the Ohio valley—his heritage from pioneer ancestry; and he is there, too, in his Chief-Justiceship in Wash ington, where this comment lets him rest and wishes him a very merry Christmas. THE PRESIDENT AND THE PHILIPPINES In his message to Congress President Coolidge restates his Philippine policy, includes in it endorsement of the principle behind the Kiess bills, and adds a Whitehouse opinion, vigorously asserted, that always, “either under the present or a more independent form of government,” the United States will hold herself responsible for defense of the islands. In the Pres ident’s view, then, the Philippines will always remain a part 'of the United States’ system, if not of the United States. Best of all, if Congress will act at all, is the President’s openly expressed desire to take the Philippines out of the War Department and place their Federal supervision in the hands of civilians. The President wishes to set government upon the Jones Act, too. “We shall measure their progress in no small part by their accept ance of the terms of the organic law under which the islands are governed and their faithful observance of its provisions.” Therefore, if Congress were to clarify the constitutional background of our laws and administra tive organization (temporarily substituting permanent government) by nullifying the local laws that have heretofore made the organic act itself a nullity in many respects, the President will approve. All of which is something—in fact a great deal. But the President goes much farther. He wishes the Federal and the territorial interests here both recognized and harmonized. To keep the Federal excise revenue from Philippine cigars sold in the United States as a fund for expenditure by the governor general and officials responsible to Washington is one step in this direction. A greater one appears in the following: “For their eco nomic advantage, for the employment of their people and as a contribution to our powers of defense which could not be carried on without rubber, I believe this industry should be encouraged. * * * I do not think we should undertake to give power for large holdings of lands in the islands against the opposition of the people of any locality.” This would seem to give Mr. Bacon his innings, if he wants them, as no doubt he does. The President, in short, puts the whole Philippine situation and the general American policy in the Far East strictly up to Congress in a few terse para graphs; and he indicates at every point what action he might approve. He says that later he may submit recommendations based upon the Thomp son special survey. His message is heartening; the pullers-out and the stayers-in now have a chance to fight it out on these lines if it takes all winter. The one drawback is that it may take longer. However, among the native papers here La Vanguardia seems to lead in rational judgment of the message. First of all it judgesit as a message, and then takes it as a warning against a bellicose legislative policy and attitude of belligerence toward the governor general. In this La Vanguardia expresses opinion that seems rapidly extending throughout the islands; or rather, one might better say, that has always prevailed in the provinces and has at last invaded Manila. People are really anxious to carry on, to harvest more crops, get more land, earn more money, buy more goods, applaud public economy, approve abatement of graft, turn thunibs down on governmental business activities and live in mutually beneficial and neighborly amity with their American neighbors. It makes us all a good Christmas. THE TARDY LOCKING OF BARN DOORS On November 9 the governor general (whose rapid recovery of health in the hills of Baguio is noted with pleasure) prepared his order abolishing the board of control and taking over its functions. He promulgated the order next day. Since that time the question has begun its progress toward the supreme court. The order is based upon opinions of the Judge Advo cate General and the Attorney General, and we shall soon know what the court thinks about it; after which, some day, the clinching decision will be made by the Supreme Court of the United States. But the question gets to the courts in a very narrow way. The activities of the board of control are in relation to the national companies. Save the bank, these companies function as subsidiaries, we believe, of the National Development Com pany. We quote the Jones Act: “No money shall be paid out of the treas ury except in pursuance of appropriation by law. No bill which may be enacted into law shall embrace more than one subject, and that subject shall be expressed in the title of the bill.” We now quote the title of the development company bill: “An Act to Create the National Development Company.” By what stretch of imagination may this be construed as expressing the subject in the title of the bill? Is the unsuspicious taxpayer made aware that before the bill concludes he will be cleaned for 1*50,000,000?—for in the body of the bill, this sum is appropriated to the company! We proceed, now, to quote some of the powers conferred: “(It) shall have the general powers mentioned in the Corporation Law and such other powers as may be necessary to enable it to promote and maintain a sufficient general production by an efficient coordination of the productive forces of the country, or otherwise, and to secure a stable market for the Philippine products; * * * to pur chase, hold, alienate (etc., etc.) the shares of capital stock of, or any bonds, securities or other evidences of indebtedness created by any other corporation or corporations, copartnership or copartnerships, of this or any other country.” These gems of statesmanship are not quoted from the Bolshevist constitution nor the platform of the Third Internationale, nor even the first or the second. They are quoted from Act 2849 of our statutes, the Development Company act. Like paragraphs appear in the coal act, and in others that together have taken from the treasury upward of P54,000,000, or nearly the expected tax revenue for 1927! Now the insular auditor has been very diligent in preventing various pilferings of the treas ury which, compared to these gigantic hauls, have the value of grimy curry combs at a homestead auction. This is laudable in him. But will he and his eminent predecessors in office kindly explain how these fifty-four sleek mares came to be unhaltered and trotted out under their very noses? And why now it is proposed to lock the barn door with the fragile hasp which merely questions the manner of electing men to go right on with these costly absurdities? Are we in Russia, or are we in a United States terri tory? Take the coal company, for example. The whole of Zamboanga has been reserved to it, as to coal deposits. As to petroleum, the National Petroleum Company is in the offing. These are not very happy Christmas thoughts, but when the executive order restoring power to the governor general is sustained, then prompt and courageous action may rub out of the statutes all this rubbish which should never, have been written into them. It is far more than a day’s job, for anyone; the insular auditor can despatch it quicker than anyone else. December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 11 AFTER FIVE O'CLOCK Former Governor General W. Cameron Forbes of Boston arrived in Manila December 4 accompanied by two of his nieces with the purpose of remaining in the islands and traveling through the provinces for several weeks, on their journey around the world. Governor Forbes is being most cordially welcomed by everyone. Governor General Leonard Wood under took the drive to Baguio three weeks ago, when he had walked half a kilometer in the Malacanang gardens without undue fatigue. He continued rapidly regaining health and vigor in Baguio, where he acted upon most of the considerable volume of legislation pending. Monday morn ing, December 6, he returned to Manila in order to dispatch the business of the annual meeting of the National Coal Company involv ing the preliminary test of his order, No. 37, of November 9 abolishing the board of control. Major Wm. H. Anderson, well known business man and Democrat of Manila and New York, returned to Manila with Mrs. Ander son December 4 and gave a press statement in his usual facetious vein, this time suggesting a sort of trial divorce of the Philippines from the United States for a year during which the American tariff would apply against the islands. Many friends greeted Major and Mrs. Anderson at the pier. Judge John W. Haussermann of the Benguet Consolidated Mining Company de livered the memorial address at the Elks’ club Sunday, December 5. Judge Haussermann plans only a brief stay in Manila this trip; he will leave the city for his home in New Richmond, Ohio, some time in January. Meantime his company has voted another dividend of ten cents, or par value of shares, making dividends of seven times par share value for the year, and is also spending liberally on the venture of tapping new ore at deeper levels in its mine on Antimoc creek, Baguio. Hon. C. T. Wang, ex-premier of China, has been visiting Manila for a fortnight and speaking as the guest of honor at many gather ings, where he voiced an optimistic view of the present situation in China and indicated the unmeasured importance of the Chinese market when new and responsible general and local governments shall have been established and the integrity of China as a nation fully recog nized. Hon. George A. Malcolm, associate justice of the supreme court, has been the recipient of banquets and receptions since his recent return to Manila from his world trip. Being the author of Philippine Constitutional Law with its dedication to an independent Philippines, he has felt free to warn, in response to toasts, the existing legislative leadership against an impatient policy toward Washington adminis trations, lest autonomy be lost. He has restated, in other words, what he said October 8, 1923, in a public lecture at the chamber of commerce. A synopsis of this lecture was published in the Manila Daily Bulletin October 9, 1923. Lieutenant William Neill, P. C., died Sunday, November 28, at St. Paul’s and his funeral was held Saturday, December 3, from Eagle’s Hall, the constabulary band heading the funeral procession to Cementerio del Norte, where the body was interred. George Simmie, head of the Luzon Brokerage and Manila Terminal companies, arrived in Manila November 28 for a business visit and renewal of old-time friendships. He is a genuine old-timer and a prominent member of the Philip pines colony in California. Donald G. McVean, leading attorney of Cebu and brother of Dr. W. A. McVean, well remembered here, returned to Manila late in November from a visit of six months in the United ■ States, where he spent the summer on the McVean farm in Kentucky, where his sister, also well remembered here, is living. Mrs. McVean and daughter are in Cincinatti and will return to the islands later. , W. C. A. Palmer, manager of the Philippine Rail way, in Panay and Cebu, returned to the islands late in November with Mrs. Palmer from a vacation visit to the United States. The Palmers have retumed.to station in Cebu, where Palmer has been president.of the chamber of commerce. A. S. Heyward, well known machinery and sugar man, is back in the islands after an ex tended visit in the United States and Hawaii. He is vice president and general manager of the Catton-Neill Engineering and Machinery Company, now of the Earnshaw Docks and Honolulu Iron Works. Admiral William H. G. Bullard, retired, who was president during the organization period of the Radio Corporation of the Philip pines, has come down from Peking with Mrs. Bullard to pay the islands a short visit and return to China via Java and the Malay States. Recently amended law will assist the extension of radio business in the islands, it is believed, and the company Admiral Bullard organized holds the franchise. Former Governor Henry J. Allen of Kansas was in Manila during the three days late in November when the ss Ryndam, the university afloat, lay in port and its body of some 550 undergraduates and faculty members were seeing Manila. (The faculty and students enjoyed, among other courtesies shown them, an address by Rear Admiral Sumner E. W. Kittelle, U. S. N., commanding the 16th U. S. Naval District. They were entertained by the University, and Dr. James E. Lough, acting president of the Ryndam school, visited Baguio as the guest of John R. Wilson, secretary of the chamber of commerce, and breakfasted with Governor General Wood while the governor general talked with him upon American affairs in the orient). Governor Allen as well as the others was delightfully impressed with the Philippines through motor trips in and about Manila. He thinks the American people will slowly but eventually come to a realization of the importance of the islands to the United States, and that when they do their action will be generally satisfactory. Governor Wood’s little message of greeting said “while wonderful progress has been made all along the line, much remains to be.done.” J. J. Rafferty, who came to the islands 25 years ago with W. Morgan Shuster, had a long career in the customs service followed by several years as collector of internal revenue, when he inaugurated the sales tax, made collections never before attempted, etc., etc., and then organized the bureau of commerce and industry, is back in the islands for a visit with friends and to look into business interests in Cebu. Not long ago Colonel Rafferty was in Scotland, where he was a guest of ex-Governor General and Mrs. Francis Burton Harrison on their country estate. His Grace Archbishop Michael J. O’Doher ty, in response to the bull of the Pope dated June last year, crowned with impressive public cer emonies on the New Luneta in the afternoon of Sunday, November 28, the Virgin of Antipolo, Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage, the act inaugurating the novena at the Cathedral in honor of the saint so prominent in the islands history for centuries. The sanctuary of the image is at Antipolo, it has been 22 years since it was brought to Manila, and the occasion attracted to the city thousands of visitors from the provinces throughout the islands. Jewels for the crown to the value of P60.000 or more were given by the devout, and former gifts, such as the sword given General Ramon Blanco in honor of his victory over the Lanao Moros at Marahui forty years ago, were displayed in the window of La Estrella del Norte, where the crown was made. Captain G. T. Rice, U. S. A., who made an aeroplane expedition into the fastnesses of Mindoro recently, is now leading an exploring party into the interior of Mindanao, where vast areas lie unexplored. Only seven per cent of the area of Mindanao is even claimed, the rest is all United States public domain, and the total area of the island is about 36,000 square miles, so that the public domain alone comprises 33,480 square miles. The unexplored area is about 200,000 hectares, or half a million acres. Captain Rice’s report should be of .great value to the United States. Anthony (Tony) M. Timke, popular cafe man in Manila for 26 years, died of pneumonia at St. Paul’s November 21. He had friends everywhere and was well known for his sponta neous charity. Luis de Oteyza, Spanish journalist, was a November visitor to Manila and the recipient of many courteous gestures from various elements of the community that indicate remaining ties between Spain and her one-time oriental colony. G. F. Fulton, a director in Lever Brothers, who have extensive interests in coconut oil manufacturing in the Philippines, was a one-day visitor to Manila in November. He and Mrs. Fulton were on the ss Taiping, G. S. Yuill and Company, and when interviewed by the press he had no favorable prophecies to make about the copra market—affected, he said, by too many factors for one to be at all certain about it. N. E. Mullen and his associates have opened their new bank, the People’s Bank and Trust Company, in their new building on David and Dasmarinas, where they gave a very popular bank-opening luncheon November 8. Vernon Thompson is opening an office in Manila for Haskins and Sells, well known ac countants and auditors. J. J. Forbes, the firm partner who had charge of the auditing work for the Wood-Forbes commission during its investigation of the Philippine government five years ago, has come to Manila again to be here while the new branch is getting underway. W. A. La Mountain (Monty) came back to Manila November 18 from his trip to Philadel phia to see the Dempsey-Tunney fight and back his favorite, Dempsey, at the ringside,. Monty sees nearly all the big fights and has proved himself a good loser. Arsenio Luz, carnival manager, is shaping his plans for next February’s big insular show with the purpose of making it more attractive than ever before, in all departments. That the carnival season is an excellent time to visit Manila is again invited to the attention of readers outside the islands. Provincial residents know, of course, of all the advantages of cool weather and convenient shopping the season offers them. Judge Adolph Wislezenus, court of first instance, Cebu, died at his home in Cebu No vember 12 after an illness of four weeks from cerebral hemorrhage from which his right side became paralyzed. He was 64 years old, and would have retired from the bench under the age limit within a year. Roosevelt found him in St. Louis when he was a young judge of the municipal court there and had gained an enviable reputation for fairness and understanding. He named him to the Philippine court in 1902, and since 1904° his entire period of service has been in Cebu. The bar of that city and province respected him for the same qualities of character that had recommended his appointment. He was, besides, an indefatigable worker; and though Cebu has a population of a million, and the city alone some 60,000 to 70,000, there was a long period when this American was Cebu’s only judge, during all which time he kept abreast of his docket. The body was interred at Cebu. Judge Wislezenus is survived by his wife, Mrs. Claire Wislezenus, of Cebu; two daughters, Mrs. J. W. Eccleston of Los Angeles and Mrs. John B. Wilson of Iloilo, and by a brother who is a consulting attorney in St. Louis. Ellis Teal has bought the Caswell property on the port area for expansion of the plant, warehouse and shops of the Teal Motor Com pany, which recently acquired the Buick agency for the Philippines. A P100.000 building will be erected. M. E. Bourne of the Manila Trading and Supply Company, Ford Philippine agents, has returned to Manila with Mrs. Bourne and their daughter after an extended stay in the United States. The company’s fine new port area building has just been completed. Julius Reese, Bourne’s partner in the company, left Manila November 18 to join Mrs. Reese in New York, where they will remain about a year. General Emilio Aguinaldo was a guest of honor at the Armistice Day banquet of the American Legion at the Manila Hotel, where he and Rear Admiral Sumner E. W. Kittelle spoke in indorsement of General Wood’s admin istration and Philippine policy. 12 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 Fourteen Million Pesos Approved for Public Works Nearly Three Million for Schools: Main Items Summarized The public works bill approved by the legis lature for 1927 carries a total of 1*14,006,779, with approximately 1*2,500,000 for school build ings in the various provinces and, with this item included, as well as 1*350,000 for school buildings in Manila, a total of 1*5,002,279 “for the con struction, improvement, repair and maintenance of public buildings and other projects not classi fied.” To summarize: Public buildings, 1*450,000; farm schools in organized provinces, 1*254,500; farm schools in special provinces, 1*115,000; normal and high schools, P223.000; University branch, Cebu, 1*30,000. Elementary and Intermediate Schools: Abra, eight, 1*21,000; Albay, eleven, 1’105,000; Antique, nine, 1’41,000; Bataan, six, 1’33,000; Batanes, four, 1’15,500; Batangas, nine, P158.000; Bohol, fourteen, 1’69,000; Bulacan, eleven, 1’56,500; Cagayan, five, 1’44,000; Camarines Norte, four, 1’15,000; Camarines Sur, six, 1’55,000; Capiz, fifteen, 1*92,000; Cavite, fifteen, 1’102,000; Cebu, sixty, 1’224,000; Ilocos Norte, eleven, 1’80,000; Ilocos Sur, twenty-three, 1*125,000; Iloilo, sixteen, 1’180,750; Isabela, five, P25.000; Laguna, nine, 1’59,000; La Union, ten, 1’89,000; Leyte, ten, 1’86,000; Marinduque, six, P62.000; Masbate, eight, 1*54,000; Mindoro, six, 1’33,500; Misamis, four, 1’27,000; Occidental Negros, twelve, 1’81,000; Oriental Negros, eight, 1*82,000; Nueva Ecija, one, 1’5,000; Palawan, nine, 1’32,000; Pampanga, three, 1*65,000; Pangasinan, ten, 1’114,000; Rizal, fifteen, 1’119,000; Romblon, three, P30.000; Samar, six P52.000; Sorsogon, seven, 1’74,000; Surigao, nine, 1’43,000; Tarlac, six, 1’64,000; Tayabas, thirteen, 1* 140, 500; Zambales, two, 1*20,000; grand total 1’2,774,350. City school buildings, 1’350,000; radio sta tions, 1’40,000; general hospital, new ward, P75.000; Butuan hospital, 1’17,500; real estate, Imus, Cavite, 1’27,929; public orphanage, 1*60,000; fireproof records vaults for registerof-deeds offices, P30.000; teachers’ camp build ings, Baguio, 1’100,000; insane asylum, S. Felipe Neri, 1’250,000; negative lepers’ ward, San Lazaro, P20.000; improving grounds, legis lative building, Pl 10,000; new ward, San La zaro, P75.000; total buildings appropriations, 1*5,002,279. The sum voted for roads and bridges is 1*4,436,500, apportioned among the various provinces as follows: Naguilian road, La Union, 1’100,000; Manila North Road—Rizal, Pl0,000; Bulacan, P20.000; Nueva Ecija, 1’25,000; La Union, P25.000; Manila-Tarlac, Pampanga, P25.000; BauanRipsoan y Poro, La Union, 1’20,000; TagudinCervantes, Ilocos Sur, 1’25,000; HerreduraAbra-Kalinga, Abra, P5.000; Herredura de Busay-Abas, Abra, 1’5,000; Cagayan road, Nueva Ecija, P30.000. Manila South Road—Rizal, 1’60,000; Laguna, 1*20,000. Pasay-McKinley road, Rizal, 1’10,000; Ma nila-Cavite, Cavite, 1’35,000; Pamplona-Pasacao, Camarines Sur, 1’10,000; total, 1’325,000. Non-Christian provinces were voted 1’263,000 for roads and bridges to be expended jointly with local funds: Agusan, 1’15,000; Bukidnon, 1’20,000; Cotabato, 1’25,000; Davao, 1’25,000; Lanao, 1’25,000; Apayao, 1’10,000; Benguet, 1*20,000; Ambuclao-Adaway, 1’3,000; Bontoc, 1’20,000; Ifugao, 1’15,000; Kalinga, 1’10,000; Nueva Vizcaya, 1’25,000; Palawan, 1’20,000; Sulu, 1’15,000; Zamboanga, 1’15,000; total, 1’263,000. The department is given 1’20,000 for investi gational work. The Albay-Sorsogon road gets 1’30,000; Antique-Iloilo, 1’15,000; Capiz-Antique, 1’65,000; Ilocos-Norte-Cagayan, 1’90,000; Cagayan valley, 1’170,000; Inter-Negros, 1’115,000; Kabankalan-Bais, 1’50,000; BaybayJabuyog, 1’40,000; Inter-Camarines, 1’80,000; Tayabas-Camarines-Norte, 1’80,000; BataanZambales, 1’80,000; Bongabon-Baler, 1’40,000; Anao-Cuyapo, 1’20,000; Iloilo-Capiz, 1’65,000; Tagudin-Bontoc, 1’80,000; Catbalogan-Taft, P40.000; Lanao-Cofabato, 1’80,000; AgusanSurigao, 1’15,000; Batangas-Cavite, 1’75,000; Davao-Cotabato, 1’30,000; Laguna-Batangas, 1’40,000; Calapan-Pinamalayan, 1’30,000; Misamis-Zamboanga, 1’60,000; Bukidnon-Misamis 1*15,000; Laguna-Rizal. 1’80,000; Tarlac-Pangasinan, 1’50,000; Pangasinan-Zambales, 1*55,000; total, 1’1,620,000. To relieve traffic congestion on Rizal avenue through Malate the city is voted 1*100,000 for extension of Rizal avenue and calle Dakota. The provinces are allotted the following road and bridge funds upon the same terms as the allotments for the special provinces: Abra, 1’24,000; Albay, 1’118,000; Antique, 1*22,000; Bataan, 1*35,000; Batangas, 1’75,000, Bohol, 1’22,000; Bulacan, 1’16,000; Cagayan; 1*15,000; Camarines Norte, 1’15,000; Camarines Sur, 1’80,000; Capiz, 1’54,000; Cavite, P78.000; Cebu, 1*92,000; Ilocos Norte, 1*6,000; Iloilo, 1’95,000; Isabela, 1’60,000; Laguna, 1’68,000; La Union, 1’60,000; Leyte, 1*85,000; Marin duque, P33.000; Masbate, 1*35,000; Mindoro, 1*35,000; Misamis, 1*95,000; Occidental Negros, P67.000; Oriental Negros, 1*79,000; Nueva Ecija, 1’40,000; Pampanga, 1’45,000; Pangasinan, 1*46,000; Rizal, 1’35,000; Romblon, 1*40,000; Samar, 1’90,000; Sorsogon, 1’144,500; Surigao, 1’29,000; Tarlac, P30.000; Tayabas, Pl 15,000; Zambales, 1’30,000; total, 1’2,008,500. The sum voted for construction, investigation and maintenance of irrigation systems aside from the bond funds available under special acts passed earlier is 1’205,000, and 1*1,026,000 is given for artesian wells and water systems, of which 1*713,000 is for the construction of insular, provincial and municipal water and drainage projects when the province or municipality con cerned covers the cost of a third part of the work prior to the release of the insular aid,” and the maximum aid under this provision for any town is P25.000, but when two towns benefit each may receive 1’25,000 by compliance with the terms of the appropriation. Ports in the special provinces are voted Pl 10,000: Agusan, 1*10,000; Cotabato, 1*20,000; Jolo, 1*10,000; Lanao, 1’30,000; Zamboanga, 1*40,000. Other ports are voted Pl,105,000: Tagbilaran, 1’20,000; Aparri (stone jetty in the river), 1*200,000; Aparri port, 1*20,000; Capiz, 1*50,000; Cebu, 1’250,000; Iloilo, 1*130,000; Tacloban, 1*45,000; Dumaguete, 1*100,000; Sorsogon, 1*10,000; Casiguran, 1’25,000; Casiguran, sea wall, 1*15,000; Castilla, 1’6,000; Romblon, 1*20,000; Catbalogan, 1*10,000; Tubigon, 1’27,000; Mabulao, 1’5,000; Lazi, 1*20,000; Leyte, 1’3,000; Batangas, 1’30,000; Alaminos, 1*10,000; San Jose, 1’80,000;San Isidro, 1*10,000; Sangay, 1’10,000; Calape, 1*6,000; Larena, 1’3,000; total, 1’1,105,000. By other bills approved by the governor general Batangas and Laguna storm sufferers get 1*100,000 and 1*200,000 is set aside for repair of damages to roads and bridges. For river and harbor work in Manila the sum voted is 1*200,000, with 1’150,000 more for equipment, 1’90,000 for pier maintenance, etc., breakwater and river walls, and 1*25,000 for streets in the south port area. For port works investigations 1*10,000 is voted, making the total port works appropriations 1’1,690,000. For construction, maintenance and repair of irrigation canals 1*396,000 is voted: Agano, 1’100,000; Caraclan and Quimba Libon, 1’40,000; Pampanga, 1’25,000; Malinao, 1*25,000; Abacan and Potrero, 1*60,000; Sariaya, 1’25,000; Danao, 1*10,000; Valladolid, P20.000; Tolong, 1*4,000; Sabidug, etc., Batanes, 1’13,000; Camalig, 1*5,000; Boac, P5.000; Ibahay, 1*4,000; Amburayan, 1*50,000; Argao, 1*10,000. The bureau of posts receives 1*526,000 for extension of the radio and cable service and for its repair and maintenance, and P500.000 of the total of 1*2,500,000 for the postoffice build ing in Manila is voted. The bureau of commerce and industry is voted P225.000 for the light house service, “construction, maintenance and repair of lights, buoys and beacons.” Acting upon the public works bill the governor general vetoed patronage items and others of doubtful advisability, so that the total actually approved is 1*10,300,000 according to the daily press of December 7. The Journal summary of the bill was translated December 2 and further comment must go over because of time until January. Commerce with the coast, Batavia and China is in the hands of foreigners. The imports exceed 1’3,000,000 annually, one of goods for Mexico and two of goods consumed locally. The most produced locally for sale abroad is 1’1,000,000, from which it may be seen that nearly all the silver (approximating 1*3,000,000 each year) that comes from Acapulco goes into the hands of foreigners, and that we Spaniards work only for the English, the Dutch and the Chinese. —From Zuniga’s Estadismo: 1805. “A Symbol of Sturdiness!” You can tell a Studebaker as it goes by A dependable car at a reasonable price PHILIPPINE MOTORS CORPORATION IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 13 BOOKKEEPING ACT AGAIN PASSED BY LEGISLATURE By the following bill, which has been ap proved by the governor general, the legislature responds to the executive’s recommendations and its own desire and attempts to devise a law respecting bookkeeping in the islands, the original act having been declared void by the Supreme Court of the United States: “Section 1. All corporations, companies, part nerships, or persons required by law to pay internal-revenue taxes shall keep a journal and a ledger, or their equivalents; Provided, how ever, That those whose gross quarterly sales or receipts do not exceed five thousand pesos shall, at their option, be exempt from the require ments of keeping the books above mentioned, but unless they do keep the same, they must keep the internal revenue sales and purchase books and other records prescribed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and any other additional data that the Secretary of Finance or the Col lector of Internal Revenue may require by rules and regulations and which may be necessary for the accurate determination of the amount of taxes due the Government. “Sec. 2. All such corporations, companies, partnerships, or persons, whose books of account are kept in a language other than English, Spanish, or a native dialect, must, before making any entry therein, present their books of account specified in the preceding section, bound, ruled, and folioed, to the Justice of the Peace or Mu nicipal Court of the municipality or city wherein such corporations, companies, partnerships, or persons may be established, and such Judge shall write a note subscribed by him on the first page of each of such books stating the number of pages contained therein and shall affix the seal of his court on each of the sheets thereof. “Sec. 3. All such corporations, companies, partnerships, or persons, who keep their books of account in a language other than English, Spanish or a ‘native dialect, shall pay to the Bureau of Internal Revenue an inspection fee at the rate of one centavo for each and every page, of not more than seven hundred and fifty square centimeters and a proportionate addi tional fee on the excess over seven hundred and fifty square centimeters, of such books of account inspected or examined by said Bureau for purposes of taxation: Provided, however, That the in spection fee herein provided shall be collected only once upon original inspection or examina tion, and shall be payable within ten days after notice and demand therefor by the Collector of Internal Revenue or any of his duly author ized deputies or representatives, and if payment is not made within the period herein prescribed, the amount of the fee shall be increased by fifty per centum, the increment to be a part of the fee: Provided, further, That all corporations, companies, partnerships or persons who keep a translation of such books in English, Spanish or any native dialect shall be exempt from the payment of the inspection fee herein provided. “Sec. 4. Nothing provided in this Act shall be so construed as to modify or annul the pro visions of existing laws empowering the Secre tary of Finance and the Collector of Internal Revenue to make rules and regulations for the keeping of records of account books by persons or entities subject to the payment of taxes. “Sec. 5. All the books of account of such corporations, companies, partnerships, or per sons shall be preserved by them for a period of at least five years from the date of the last entry in each book and shall be subject to examination and inspection at any time by the internal revenue officers: Provided, further, That all corporations, companies, partnerships or per sons, who retire from business shall, within fifteen days from the date of such retirement or within such period of time as may be allowed by the Collector of Internal Revenue in special cases, submit their books of account to the Collector of Internal Revenue or any of his deputies for examination, after which they shall be returned. “Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of the Secre tary of Finance to make such rules and regula tions as may be necessary for the proper enforce ment ofthis Act. “Sec. 7. Any violation of the provisions of this act, except as hereinbelow provided, shall be penalized by a fine not exceeding one thousand pesos or by imprisonment not exceeding six More Notes on Liberia: Firestone’s Rubber Land <§><§►<§> Rule of Handful of Oligarchs Waning: New Times Call New Men Some time ago, when Firestone money, to the tune of many millions, was about to do what it since has done, set about growing rubber com mercially in Liberia, the Journal ran its own independent story on that quaint black republic on the West African coast. This month it picks up portions of an article on Liberia by Dr. John W. Vandercook, who invaded Liberia in behalf of anthropology. He is therefore not a business man nor even a political scientist, but a scientist, for which reason his conclusion that redemption of Liberia and the better wel fare of Liberians will only come about through extension of her agriculture, bears double weight. As an experiment in altruism Liberia has been an unmitigated failure: even to preserve her nominal integrity altruism had quite to be swept aside and a very practical arrangement effected by England and the United States. In the Philippines, too, altruism per se has failed quite as completely and dismally; but what men have selfishly and successfully done for themselves—mill building, plantation pro jects, handicraft exploitation—has invariably been of the utmost benefit to others, natives employed in these enterprises and others for the one end of making profit for their employers out of what they do. Dr. Vandercook, in World’s Work: “A group of Southerners, headed by Judge Bushrod Washington, brother of the first Pres ident, founded the American Colonization Society—an organization pledged to the task of finding suitable territory in Africa, providing for a colony there, and peopling it from the ranks of the Negro freedmen of the United States. The society was first practical, then philanthropic. The problem had to be faced, but there was, after all, no reason why it should n’t prove beneficial to the Negroes as well as to the whites. Henry Clay, an original member, described the proposed deportees as ‘by far the most corrupt, abandoned, and depraved class * * * * of all descriptions of our population’ and in the next breath spoke piously of the delectable missionary effect a colony recruited from such stock would have in ‘heathen’ Africa. In January, 1822, after years of disaster and delay, the first shipload of emigrants, 86 in number, landed on a tiny island off Cape Montserrado, the site of the present Liberian capital, Monrovia. They and those who followed in subsequent years, had a wretchedly bad time of it, but they stuck. In 1847, the American XMAS GIFTS ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES BICYCLES - VELOCIPEDES RADIO SETS AND SUPPLIES THOMPSON ELECTRICAL CO. 310 ESTERO CEGADO MANILA PHONE 107 months, or both, in the discretion of the Court. Failure to pay the required inspection fee within the time prescribed in this Act shall subject the offender to the payment of a fine not less than the amount of fee plus surcharge due nor more than double said amount. “Sec. 8. This Act shall take effect on Jan uary first, nineteen hundred and twenty-seven.” Colonization Society, which had been paying the bills thus far, deserted and left the untrained, half-educated, wholly bankrupt colonists to look out for themselves. Liberia, without preparation of any kind, became an independent republic, and to her eternal credit she is now, after seventy-nine years of national existence, still independent—but, unfortunately, a republic only in name. “The population of Liberia, including the aborigines of the interior, is reckoned at about 1,600,000. Of this total only 40,000—the descendants of the American colonials, and natives who have adopted Western civilization —are concerned in the national life of their country. But only a small minority even of this number have any voice in politics, though theoretically Liberia is a representative democ racy based upon a written constitution almost identical with ours. "A small group of educated, skillful, and wholly unrepresentative oligarchs run Liberia, collect and spend her revenue, and express, most unfairly, the national character. “Education in Liberia has always been a great problem. Mission societies from the first established so many schools that the idea that the government would not have to bother about such things became generally accepted. A generation grew up unfairly divided between a small number of pious young deacons and deaconesses deeply versed in the Acts of the Apostles and profoundly ignorant of the use of d spade, and a great group of simple, hard-working folk unequipped with sufficient ‘book-learning’ to question or share any act of government. Fortunately that state of things is passing. The educational department of the Liberian Government, established about fifteen years ago, now has 53 public grammar schools with 55 teachers and an enrollment of 1,989, against 67 mission schools with 111 teachers and 3,199 pupils. The teaching, elementary in both, is, however, admittedly worse in the government institutions, and very little vocational training is offered anywhere, though the need for some thing of the sort is constantly urged. There are also six ‘colleges’ that carry grade school pupils a little further along. These are partly subsidized by the state and for the rest supported from private American sources. Roughly, one child in every eight thousand is receiving an education in Liberia—but that ratio proves little, for it is based, unreasonably, upon total IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 14 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 population, including the overwhelming mass of the aborigines. “The educated minority have used their learning to rid themselves of an uneasiness which afflicts politicians the world over—the possibility of a change in “Fired” For administration. The adTalking Politics ministration in Liberia changes with the rarity of a solar eclipse, for the simple reason that there’s only one political party—the true Whigs—the ‘Eternally Ins.’ "Last winter the weed of dissension flourished in the very heart of the Whig organization and was plucked out in characteristically Monrovian style. President King left the capital for a voyage down the coast to recover failing health. While he was away the Chairman of the Whig party, Abayomi Karnga, also Postmaster-General, and Secretary of War Cooper, another officer in the party, let it be known that they did not favor King to represent the party for a third time in the elections this year. Mr. King had not announced that he had any intention of running again, and the two gentlemen felt in no way bound to stifle their opinions. In their capacity as officers in the party it was their duty, as a matter of fact, to decide who would best represent the Whigs. “The next thing Monrovia knew President King had returned, virulently healthy, and in one day dismissed both the Postmaster-General and the Secretary of War. And next day he called a meeting of the Whigs and dismissed both men from their positions in the party! When one realizes that the Liberian political system is, theoretically, the exact parallel of ours one can do justice to similes—Coolidge dissolving the National Republican Convention because Borah says something unkind. “Liberia, unwilling always to get down to hard work and force the fertile soil to yield its riches, has from the first lived on borrowed money—a business in which she has been ex traordinarily unlucky and extraordinarily honest. “In the beginning,-the American Colonization Society doled out supplies with no thought of repayment. Later, missionaries, anxious to buy converts at any price, did much of the providing. The habit of idleness was introduced by white men, be it said in extenuation of the Liberians. By 1870, Liberian finances were in a deplorable condition and a loan of $500,000 from private sources in London was arranged—and Liberia got unmercifully stung. Between the deliberate thievery of the President who arranged the loan (who was later driven to his death by his angry people) and the finan ciers who wrote the terms, Liberia°got practically nothing but an enormous debt which she met honorably and regularly. Again, in 1906, being in hard straits once more, she borrowed another $500,000, also from private bankers in London —and once more Liberia was victimized, this time with the assistance of a British rubber company which raised and wasted nearly $200,000 on government credit. For the second time Liberia conscientiously met her obligations, though naturally without great enthusiasm. “But in 1909, with two heavy debts weighing upon her, domestic debts piling up in terrifying fashion, and bankruptcy impending, it again became necessary to do something quickly. With the assistance of an American commission a combined American, English, French, and German loan was negotiated for the sum of $1,700,000. This absorbed the previous loans and as security Liberia agreed to have her customs administered by an American ReceiverGeneral and three assistant receivers,one English, one French, and one German. This some what perilous combination continued in effect until 1918, when the last of the European assist ants departed on other business. Since then the Receiver-Generalship has been in the hands of an American appointed by the United States Government and paid by Liberia. The work has been done effectively and with the full cooperation of the Liberian authorities, so at present, in spite of a wayward tendency to import much and export little, Liberian finances show a gleam of light. The $5,000,000 loan discussed from 1918 to 1922, when the United States contemplated advancing that sum to Liberia, never came off, to the great delight of all thoughtful Liberians, though it is contin ually mentioned in the American press as an established fact—one which American com mercial propagandists with interests in Liberia would apparently like to have the investing public in the United States believe. “The import and export figures for the last five years are interesting. Imports Exports 1921 ................... $1,231,701.77 $ 819,594.78 1922 .................... $1,501,515.52 $1,045,382.78 1923 ................... $1,361,700.32 $1,166,735.49 1924 ................... $1,433,184.69 $1,416,896.41 *1925.................... $1,570,069.84 *$1,268,915.12 Total........... $7,098,172.14 $5,717,524.58 *For the first nine months only. “In plain words, in the last five years, less three months, for which there is record, the Liberian people have spent approximately a million dollars more than they have earned, after duly allowing for such 'invisible exports’ as labor, which receives its hire abroad and spends it at home. Statistics are not available to show exactly what proportion of this sum went for high hats—but, allegorically, all of it did. "Liberia’s great source of revenue is, of course, her customs receipts on imports and exports, all of which is assigned. This class of revenue of 1923 amounted to $392,508; for 1924, $391,328; and in 1925 the total reached the record figure of $501,317. All of this goes toward the loan, toward paying the expenses of the Frontier Force, and financing the American receivership. “Internal and unassigned revenue in 1922-23 totalled $171,485, and in the same year the expenses of government reached the figure $202,080. This is the cusSupported By tomary difference—on which “Hut Taxes” in time will have to be met with increased internal in dustrial activity, with the corollary, increased taxable values. At present the most important source of internal revenue is the natives—who see a Liberian only at tax-collecting time, who are the rightful owners of Liberia, and get abso lutely nothing from the state. Their contribu tion, in the form of “hut tax,’’ in 1923-24 came to $165,902, as against $4,687 collected on Americo-Liberian real estate, for instance. Innumerable suggestions are being made by Monrovian politicians as to how the natives can be forced to supply greater and greater revenue, but, so far as I know, no one has stressed the financial responsibility the Americo-Liberians have toward their own show. “What, exactly, is wrong? Sunday in Mon rovia provides the explanation. Even national holidays, which occur with incredible frequency, are revealing. On such days white residents sleep late. There is nothing for them to do. If a business man goes to his office and attempts to catch up on some back work he must keep his shutters tight barred or the church-goers passing outside will set up such a hullabaloo of shrill fury, insult, and condemnation that he will have to flee to escape being murdered. They are simply criticising the sin of working on the Holy Sabbath. White-baiting and Puritanism are Liberia’s national games. Nor can the unfortunate Europeans play tennis, their solitary amusement, for tennis playing disturbs the devout in the churches and is there fore a crime. But few stay abed past the hour of Monrovia’s Sunday morning parade. No one cares to miss that spectacle. “A dozen discordant bells announce the round-up of as many discordant faiths. Soon the dwellings of the Monrovians let forth their tenants into the pounding sunlight of the equa torial morning. Prim mulatto women mince beside their men in the shade of vast black cotton umbrellas. Black preachers in blacker woolen frock coats stalk to tin chapels, their heads sheltered by tall hats and umbrellas that save them from the rays of a sun no white man has ever found fatal. Some ride the few blocks FUNG TAI CHINESE CURIO STORE 72 Real, Walled City Manila, P. I. ALL KINDS OF HAND MADE Felit Laces, Glass Linen Works, Silk Embroideries, Porcelain Wares, Lacquer Wares, Brass Wares, also Dealers in Chinese Rugs and Leather Suit-cases Tel. 47-22 P. O. Box 1511 BONANZA FARMING Mangoes, Cattle and Cotton ON LUZON One hour from Manila by Motor Wishing to extend our activities, we are offering additional stock for sale at par. Look us up: We bear investigation and welcome it. Our land is under Torrens title; we have abundant labor at less than one peso (fifty cents) per day. We have 1500 budded mangoes now bearing and 1500 more two years old. Cattle, Indian grades, 100 and rapidly increasing. Cotton seedlings ready to cover hundreds of hectares. In our judgment, liberal returns to investors are certain. Pililla-Tanay Agricultural Co., Inc. Room 307, Roxas Bldg. Manila, P. I. between house and church sprawled ridiculously in grass hammocks supported on the heads of four native servants. All the aristocrats wear the heaviest, most dismal black. Yellow spats, kid gloves stuck proudly in breast pockets, and stifling cutaways adorn the men. The women don long-skirted gowns of black material so air-tight that the observer perspires at the very sight of them. These are Liberia’s high society—the pompous politicians who foregather on state occasions on the porches of the great comfortable executive mansion, which was built by an American Negro carpenter for his own use. They rule the state and despise the natives with a withering contempt. “They are perfectly well pleased. Many of the men, one is informed, print after their name the degrees LL. D., Litt. D., Ph. D., M. A., and what-not, conferred by one of the little mission ’colleges’ that carries its few pupils hardly through the high-school grades. Liberia is a nation without a single bookstore or a library. But what of it? The letters go well with high hats. All help to the conviction that all’s right with this world! Strip them of these fardels and there will be little left—and they will realize it. They are staging a bluff not to blind outsiders, but to blind themselves. “But to-day, I think, Liberia stands on the verge of an awakening. She has many men, in public life and out of it, of high intelligence, sound ability, and fine patriotism. The educated native-born Africans are adding an increasingly important quota of prominent men to the world of Liberian affairs. The men born in the forest are as a rule free from the superiorities and vapid nonsense of the mission-bred and Americaspoiled oligarchs who have had things their own way so long. America now and then sends skilled Negroes not afraid of work to make their homes in Liberia. A party of these two groups « is organizing to smash the claptrap and corrup IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 15 tion. No criticisrri which I have voiced in this somewhat outspoken article but may be heard a dozen times a day in Monrovia where men and women of the better class, many of whom are already in the government, foregather. There are illimitable possibilities in the land—great native strength waits tapping with intelligence. Medieval “Mayorazgo” Precipitates Legal Battle < <§> <§> <§> Six-Million Tuason-Estate Case Hinges on Entailment Factions of the Tuason family, one of Manila’s richest, are in a court scramble over the Tuason estate that is engaging the talents on either side of some of our biggest big-wigs of the law; and well it may, since the estate, entailed in 1794, includes real estate now valued at nearly 1*6,000,000: JSanta Mesa Diliman, 1*3,550,646; Mariquina, 1’1,507,140; lots and buildings on calle Rosario, 1*542,382, or a combined assessed value of 1*5,600,168. The supreme court has already decided that the parcel of heirs of minor children of the founder who sue for division of the estate shall have a fifth of it, but both they and the defendants, heirs in the direct eldest-son , liqp, petition for rehearing, ex-justice Fred C. Fisher saying, by way of introduction to his brief, as big as a book, for the defendants: “A more interesting case than this one is rarely presented for decision. It takes us back to a vanished age. It deals with a pernicious legal institution which was the outgrowth of the feudalism and absolute monarchy of the Middle Ages; and it involves the construction of the century-old statute by which the Spanish people destroyed it. “The desire of the nobles to perpetuate their possessions in their own families gave rise, in the European law of the middle ages, to the device of limiting the power of alienation of land, to insure its transmission to succeeding genera tions of the same family indefinitely. In time vast areas were thus fettered. In England, the problem was solved by the nullification of the statute de donis by the judge-made device of fictitious proceedings—fines and recoveries— by which the entail could be barred. “In Spain the innumerable devices by which land could be entailed multiplied so rapidly that by the end of the eighteenth century fee simple titles were a rarity. The most frequently used entail was the mayorazgo, by which, in its usual form, the title descended from eldest son to eldest son indefinitely, to the exclusion of all other heirs. “The Napoleonic invasion of Spain and the War of Independence aroused the country from its lethargy. When Fernando VII was restored to his throne he was required, unwillingly, to swear to support the Constitution which the Spanish Liberals had adopted in 1812, and to recognize the existence of the Spanish Parlia ment. One of the first legislative acts of that body, when it met in 1820, was the passage of the Statute of Disentailment, by which mayorazgos and all other entails were destroyed and their creation thereafter prohibited. When the French armed intervention restored to Fernando VII his despotic power as an absolute monarch, he annulled the Statute of Disentailment by Royal Decree. It was not until after his death that it was re-enacted in Spain; and it was not extended to the Colonies until 1863, to take effect there in March, 1864.” Upon the brief submitted by the defendants’ attorneys and prepared by ex-justice Fisher, from which the Journal has been privileged to quote, the supreme court has reopened the case and returned it to the lower court for further proceedings. Now it seems that in the 18th century one Antonio Tuason of Binondo, now a district but then a suburb of Manila, was a loyal and Chris tian Chinese mestizo, and that when it was feared in Manila that the war with England would involve the colony in its own defense, Tuason raised a regiment of Chinese mestizos and in return was made a noble, awarded an escutcheon and given a landed estate—for, of course, no noble may hold his head proudly The Negro has not proved his inability to govern himself—only the high hatters have. And they are not Liberia. Some day hats and broad cloth, in fact and in significance, will be dumped into the bay and a cargo of white drill and overalls will be imported. Then a nation will be born.” enough unless he have a landed estate well clothed with peasantry. Having this estate, Don Antonio quite naturally wished to perpe tuate it in his family and abort the economic law of “three generations from shirt-sleeves to shirt-sleeves,” so when he grew old and some what rheumatic he nobly decreed as follows: “I, Don Antonio Tuason, a resident of this Pueblo of Binondo, beyond the walls of the City of Manila, in the Philippine Islands, Lieu tenant Colonel of Infantry of the Royal Armies of H. M. the King, and Colonel attached to the Regiment of Militia of the Prince Royal; being in good health according to my understanding and in the full use of my senses and mental faculties, desiring on the one hand to recompense the good services rendered to mw person and my house by my eldest living son Don Vicente Dolores Tuason, Captain of the Royal Armies, and Lieutenant Colonel of the above-mentioned Regiment and desiring on the other hand to insure in part the permanence of my estate, without diminishing the legitimes of my other children, so that they may fully enjoy them, and taking into consideration the evanescence of the great family fortunes which have existed in these islands on account of their not having been entailed, I have determined to establish an entail or mayorazgo of the third part and the remnant of the fifth part of all my property, as I have stated in my last will and testament and in my codicils, arid with this object in view, making use of the right that has been by law conferred upon me, I execute this deed with the following clauses and conditions subject in everything to whatever the Royal Audiencia may deter mine and H. M. may decide, to all of which I now and forever assent. “Firstly. Having taken stock and inventory of all the property of which I am now possessed, in cash, real estate, jewelry and other things, I found myself to be the possessor of an estate of the value of One Hundred and Thirty-five Thousand Pesos, which after having deducted the third and the fifth, left me a remainder of Seventy-two Thousand Pesos, which I divided amongst my eight children, there corresponding to each one of them the sum of Nine Thousand Pesos, which sum was actually delivered to each and every one of them, as it is shown by documents which I have in my possession; and the third and the remnant of the fifth, I hereby devote to the aforesaid entail, and if by acci dents of time the total value of my property should increase or diminish, so also shall the said capital of this entail, which never must be allowed to exceed the total value of the said third and remnant of the fifth. “That the possessor of this entail or mayo razgo or betterment must take an oath before the Court of Justice of the territory, to observe and perform all the clauses and conditions contained in the present document, and if he should fail to observe and perform any of them, either totally or in part, he shall lose his right to the mayorazgo, which shall pass to the next successor. “.That he must keep in his possession the original parchment Royal Patent of Nobility of my house, and in case that it should be lost, he must immediately request a certified copy of the same, from the Royal Audiencia, the Noble City, or the Court of Justice of Tondo in whose offices it has been recorded and so likewise he must do with the certificate of the coat of arms and insignia of my house, which have been registered in the said Noble City. “He must uphold all the other rights and privileges conferred upon my house by the aforesaid Royal Letters Patent and redress all wrongs in violation thereof which may be committed or attempted against my legitimate descendants, bearing in mind that one of my objects, in the establishment of this mayorazgo, is to uphold and defend the honors that H. M. has deigned to confer upon me, as a proof of the esteem in which I hold those gracious honors and the deep gratitude I feel on account of them. “It shall be his duty to bear, as his first sur name, my family name of Tuason, and so shall he sign his name in all judicial and extra-judicial matters; he shall also display my coat of arms upon all his crests and buildings and he who shall fail to do any of these things, shall forefeit his right of succession to the mayorazgo, and I hereby declare him excluded therefrom. “It shall be his duty to set apart one-fifth of the net revenue derived from the entail each year, and that one-fifth part shall be divided into eight parts, giving one to each of my eight children, and them failing, to my grandchildren, but upon the understanding that if one or more of my children should die without succession, the part belonging to them shall be distributed among my grandchildren and other descendants of mine according to their needs and as prudence may dictate to him, so that, when the time arrives that none of my children or grandchil dren are alive, it shall then be always understood that said fifth part shall be applied to all those of my descendants who are poor, the apportion ment to be made by him prudently according to their needs and therefore the possessor of the entail is hereby charged to discharge this duty with conscientious scruple. “That the holder of this mayorazgo, having legitimate sisters who may desire to marry or to enter into some convent, shall assign to the for mer an appropriate marriage portion, and shall defray, for those who may desire to become nuns, all the expenses that may be necessary up to the moment that they take the veil, it being well understood, nevertheless, that all these expenses shall be taken out of the profits and never out of the capital. “It shall be his duty to preserve all the en tailed properties in good condition and to try Myers Buck Co., Inc. Surveying and Mapping PRIVATE MINERAL AND PUBLIC LAND 230 Kneedler Bldg. Tel. 1610 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 16 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 to increase them as much as possible, and their increase shall also be incorporated into the mayorazgo as capital. “Bearing in mind that the entailed houses and other real property belonging to this mayorazgo may be in danger of fire, on account of their proximity to houses built of nipa, bamboo, and other combustible materials, I order the possessor of the mayorazgo to keep always in good con dition the fire engine from Europe, which I now have at my home, and which I bought for that purpose, at the cost of 1’110.00. Under no excuse whatsoever, even in the case of a public calamity, must that engine be taken out of my home, except for the purpose to which I destined it; and should it ever deteriorate or become useless, he must immediately substitute it with another of the same quality, the cost of which must be taken out of the earnings of the mayo razgo; so that if through his guilty negligence any of the properties of the mayorazgo should be destroyed by fire, as a penalty for his non performance of this condition, he shall be de prived of the mayorazgo and this shall pass to the next in succession, but his successor shall be obliged to rebuild the property destroyed, and the cost of this work shall be taken out of the entire earnings of this mayorazgo, if it be neces sary, but never out of the capital, so that he shall first apply the earnings of the mayorazgo to whatever expenses may be necessary for the reconstruction of that property, rather than to his own personal wants. “He shall also provide another fire engine at the expense of this mayorazgo, to the value of 1’200.00, more or less, according to its size, and it shall always be kept in good condition by the holder of this mayorazgo, with the object of rendering assistance to the public with it; and in case of fire the said engine shall be handled by the servants of the possessor, or by any other well known and expert persons; but if by reason of this my desire to help the public in its need bickerings and controversies should arise, or if the strange persons who are to handle the said engine should not handle it with all the care that such a delicate and expensive engine requires, or should it become a cause of worry and unpleasantness for the possessor of the same, then this clause shall not stand and have the effect that I intended it to have, but I earnestly caution the holder of the mayorazgo to observe as faithfully as possible this my pious request, and so attract the blessings of heaven, for it is my earnest desire that the public shall never lack an engine so necessary as that fire engine, the cost, repair and replacement of which must be taken out of the earnings of the mayorazgo. I also enjoin the possessor of the mayorazgo to be pious and generous in his expenditures for Divine Worship, the Service of the King, and the Public Welfare (without vanity) so that the Lord may bless all his undertakings. “That the possessor of the mayorazgo must necessarily be a layman, and never a member of any religious order under vow of chastity; and should he enter any religious order while holding the mayorazgo, it shall ipso facto pass to his children. “That he must be a Roman Catholic Chris tian and free from the stigma of treason against H. M. and the country, or that of any other infamous crime, and should he be guilty of any of these crimes wtiile holding the mayorazgo, it is my desire that he shall be considered as having been excluded from the same one hour exactly before the time he committed the said crime, and the mayorazgo shall pass to the next in the order of succession which I establish in this document, and in the same way let the mayorazgo be understood as having been lost to him who should dare to mortgage it or in any other way impose or levy upon it any charge that may endanger its existence, and let every thing that he may do against the said mayo razgo be considered to be null and void. “As soon as the establishment of this mayo razgo shall be approved, I shall give and deliver to him the value of the said third and fifth, deducting the amount that I may consider it necessary to expend upon the' charges on the fifth, and should this amount deducted be found insufficient for it, the amount that may be lacking shall be taken from the mayorazgo. but should it be found to be in excess of this requirement, the surplus shall be returned to the funds of the mayorazgo. “The properties upon which I establish this entail are: My private residence, with every thing that is contained within its fence, as well as the dependencies that are built close to the said house and fence on the right hand looking towards the church of this pueblo of Binondo, which are a shed, with a tile roof, having display tables; a stone house and the lot of land that reaches up to the estero towards Calle Nueva of this pueblo, all of it surrounded by a stone wall; the image of Our Lady of Soterrana of Nieva, dressed in a cloth of beaten gold, and contained within its golden tabernacle which is at this date at my private residence; and the organ which is also in the reception room of my said residence. The value of my residence is declared in my inventory taken the twelfth of October, Seventeen Hundred and Seventy-nine, adding to it the sum of 1*2,200.00 for the improve ments made on it, and which have not yet been completed; and the value of the other properties shall be their purchase price according to their documents of sale, all of which property is abso lutely free from any encumbrance; and if any amount should be lacking to complete the full value of the third and remnant of the fifth, it shall be delivered to the holder of the mayo razgo, in cash, to be invested in real estate, especially in lands, which shall also become capital of the mayorazgo; and if before the Royal approval of the mayorazgo I should find some houses appropriate for this purpose, I shall buy them for this object and I shall declare them to belong to the mavorazgo. “It shall be the unavoidable annual duty of the holder of this mayorazgo, to order a novena of Our Lady of Soterrana (of my special devo tion) to be made at the Parochial Church of this pueblo of Binondo, setting up the corresponding candles in Her altar, and on the last day of that novena to have a public procession of that image through the streets of this pueblo, as I have been accustomed to. do up to now, with all possible ceremony, and for this purpose I now have in my hands the sum of 1*2,000.00 be longing to this pious object (the establishment of which has been set forth in my aforesaid last will and testament), the earnings of which sum at the rate of five per centum per annum, which are One Hundred Pesos, have been destined to the preservation and maintenance of this act of devotion; he shall also fulfill another pious trust in favor of the souls in Purgatory, to the same amount of two thousand pesos, left by my deceased wife, in my possession, the interest whereof, which is one hundred pesos, must be delivered to the parish priest of this pueblo to say a Collectory of masses in the same church during the aforesaid novenary of our Lady, giving six reales as alms to each one of these priests for every mass, and if there be any surplus money after the aforesaid novenary it is my will that it be totally spent for masses in behalf of the souls of Purgatory, and in order that from now henceforth the needs of both these pious intentions be duly attended to, as being one of the objects which I have had in mind in estab lishing this mayorazgo, it is my will that the aforesaid sum of four thousand pesos belonging to the two above mentioned pious foundations be also entailed in the said mayorazgo. It is also my will that the jewelry of gold, silver and diamonds belonging to the said image and des tined exclusively to Her cult, which I have actually in my possession at this date, and which are described in a separate inventory, be also kept in his possession by the holder of the mayorazgo. “It is my will that all the property hereby entailed and all that which may be added to it shall not be sold or alienated, in whole or. in part, or charged or encumbered or mortgaged with censos, or any other kind of encumbrance or charge; and if the contrary is done it shall be void and he who shall have done it or attempted to do it shall immediately lose the possession of the mayorazgo, and it shall pass to the next in succession, who shall make demand for the an nulment of the alienation within thirty days; and if he shall fail to do so, he shall also lose the mayorazgo, and it shall pass to the following possessor; and the same rule shall apply as to all the possessors, and this clause shall be observed although ignorance of it be alleged. “To the enjoyment and possession of the mayorazgo I hereby call in the first place my aforesaid son, Don Vicente Dolores Tuason, on account of the great service he has rendered me, particularly in my old age, for which reason I consider him to have been bettered upon valuable consideration, and therefore he shall enjoy the possession of the same, upon the terms set forth, for all the days of his life, and after his death his eldest son, if he be alive, shall succeed him, and in default of his eldest son, he shall be succeeded by the eldest son or grandson of this said eldest son, and so on, following the direct line of descent; and failing any direct lineal descendant of his eldest son, let the posses sion pass to the eldest living son of the aforesaid Don Vicente, and should there be no son left alive, then to the eldest grandson of his eldest son; and should the male line of my first born be completely extinguished I desire that the mayo razgo shall pass unto the eldest son of my de ceased son, Don Santos Tuason, and observing in the succession this same order of procedure, the descendants of my other sons shall in their turn be called to the possession of the mayo razgo in the successive order of the dates of their birth. While there may remain a single male descendant of any of my male children -no • female descendants of mine shall enter into the possession of the mayorazgo; for it is my will that the said possession shall pass from male to male in strict agnation. But should there be absolutely no male descendant of the male line, let the descendants of the female line enter into possession, observing the same order that has been prescribed for the male line, and always giving preference to the male rather than to the female; it being understood that in this order of succession the possession shall be given to that one of my descendants most nearly related to the last lineal descendant of my son Don Vicente who may have held the mayorazgo; and in this aforesaid appointment females shall be qualified to possess the mayorazgo; but the males shall be always preferred to the female even though the latter may be an elder sister; and failing entirely all descendants of the female line of my sons, let the possession pass'to the descend ants of my daughters in the order of their birth, starting with those of my eldest daughter, Dona Eustaquia, and the order of this succession shall be the same as that already prescribed for the male line. “And should the line of my descendants of all kinds be absolutely and completely extin guished, then the mayorazgo shall be applied to the maintenance of the Regiment of the Militia of Mestizos Sangleyes, called of the Prince Royal or any other body of soldiers of the same nationality which may be bearing arms in the service of our King; but if at that time there should be in existence any Monastery for de scendants of that nationality, then from that time I deed in favor of it one-half of the afore said mayorazgo; and should there not be at that time either of those two things, let the whole mayorazgo revert to the Royal Erarium. And with these clauses, conditions, and charges I hereby make, constitute and establish this mayorazgo, constituting its lawful possessor the owner (senor) thereof upon the terms set forth; and it is my desire that it have all legal effect that other mayorazgos have and that it should be so considered after obtaining the Royal Consent, and not before, because in establishing its clauses and conditions it has been my only aim to make them known to the Royal Audiencia and to H. M. so that in view of the same they may alter or modify them according to their will, with the understanding that I, as a faithful vassal and obedient subject, hereby accept the establishment of the mayorazgo under any terms and conditions that may meet with the approval of H. M., in this pueblo of Binondo this 25th of February, 1794. Antonio Tuason.” In August, 1794, Don Antonio Tuason turned up his venerable toes. He died as all men must: he who desired that nobility and a 100-peso fire engine should never leave his house nor tlje direct descending line of his eldest son, male line December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 17 preferred: he who displayed such admirable appreciation of the cumulative gratuity of the unearned increment of real properties well situate in growing city suburbs. But all went merrily, Charles IV approving for Captain Tuason by royal cedula the complete instrument quoted, without so much as a comma of royal amendment or mutation. Time, too, only hardened the law of the royal grant. Rebel lion, invasion and change of sovereignty made no impression: supposedly democratized as government has become, it still has granted Value to Farming of Philippine Soil Surveys Work Merely Touched by Government, in 1903: Now Languishing By Robert L. Pendleton, College of Agriculture Dr. Pendleton is to be a regular Journal Contributor The study, classifica tion, and mapping of agricultural soils is one of the fundamentals of progress in scientific agri culture. Hence, soil sur veys, which are field studies of the soils as they are, and the sup porting laboratory and field experiments, have become an important part of the activities of agricultural institu tions in the more pro gressive countries of the Occident and the Orient. The United States has surveyed, mapped, and classified a greater area of soils than any other one country. Other countries such as Japan, Russia, and Germany have been very active along this line. The value of soil surveys is large in connection with the studies of crop adaptation to particular soils, of the .drainage characteristics and needs of wet soils, and for the development of the most satisfactory ahd economical methods of culti vation for particular crops and unusual soil conditions. For the most effective use of ferti lizers the knowledge of soils that is provided by soil surveys has been proved to be of much value. And here in the Philippines the annual fertilizer bill for sugar cane fertilizers is over three million pesos. The possible saving from the more effective use of fertilizers would more than cover the cost of detailed soil surveys and the accom panying laboratory and plot experimental work. The importance of such soil surveys was early realized in the Philippines, for in 1903 there was published by the bureau of agriculture, Manila, as Bulletin No. 3, a soil survey of the Batangas area. This was the result of the work of Dorsey, loaned from the U. S. bureau of soils. In addition to this survey and map, in the same publication there appeared a number of notes upon the soils in various parts of the archipelago. There was an attempt to continue this work, but apparently there was a lack of funds, for Dorsey’s successor, Sanchez, was unable to accomplish much, and subsequently gave up the attempt. No results of his work were pub lished. The bureau of public works made certain soil surveys in connection with the consideration of the irrigation projects that have subsequently been constructed. These surveys, however, were made for a particular purpose; moreover, they are not in a form that is readily available to the public. The bureau of science has been endeavoring to do soil survey work, but the lack of funds and available staff have very seriously limited their activity. Thus far they have published no surveys of any region, though in earlier years there appeared reports upon the chemistry and physics of certain Philippine soils. However, the difference should be clearly understood between the collection and study in the laboratory of a few samples, and the inten sive study in the field of soils, and the immediate delineation upon a suitable base map in the field of the discovered differences and similari ties. A soil survey usually means the latter. Torrens title in lieu and because of the kingly decree approving the entailment under the mayorazgo. Our supreme court has indeed ruled, upon someone’s belatedly putting on their thinking cap, that ownership of a fifth of the estate pass to heirs of the minor children (of four of whom the legitimate line has lapsed), but a formidable brief endeavors to show that the court, unani mous, was nevertheless quite in error in its decision penned by Justice Norberto Romualdez, and the brief therefore pleads for a re-hearing, Putting Quality into La Minerva! Cigars This view shows a corner of our Tobacco Sorting Department. Note the flood of light and sanitary condi tions—and Expert Supervision at every step. Every ounce of tobacco used in La Minerva cigars is thoroughly sterilized; once, before the leaves are strip ped and again, after the curing process is complete— shortly before the cigars are actually made. That elim inates the 'weevils and their eggs. Every leaf used whether for filler, binder or wrapper is examined individually and only the choicest leaves are selected for La Minerva cigars. This process takes time and is quite expensive but the very first puff on a Minerva cigar will prove to you that it is really well worth while. Cigars that Delight the Taste And Fill your Heart with Joy! MADE BY La Minerva Cigar Factory, Inc. 2219 AZCARRAGA * TEL. 12-69 Makers of the Choicest Cigars Since 1883 duly setting forth as reasons therefor some mighty plausible and persuasive argument. The King is dead! Long live the King! Long live the king? The slogan is far too modern. In the instant case, as lawyers like to say, Roman emperors as far back as Justinian are invoked and their living spirit speaks in copious Latin terminology. Each side makes out an excellent case, and the court, in its decision, makes out another. The most valuable portion of the estate, Santa Mesa Heights, is built over with homes, Ameri can homes chiefly, but it is generally under stood the leases of these tenants will not be affected by any decision in the estate-ownership question. Naturally, it is followed wherever possible by the study in the laboratory of the important soils discovered in the field study and mapping. It is only where soil samples are taken with reference to the actual field classification and IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 18 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 survey that they are most suitable and valuable for chemical or other determinations in the laboratory. The insular government, as represented by the various bureaus, has not been in a position to further the progress of soil surveys. The initiative of certain private parties is respon sible for the recent progress that has been made in soil survey work in the Philippines. In the summer of 1925, Mr. Geo. H. Fairchild arranged to have a member of the staff of the University of the Philippines college of agriculture carry out a soil and drainage survey of the SilaySaravia district, Occidental Negros. This region is tributary to the central of the HawaiianPhilippine company, and the work was under taken in connection with the urgent need of part of the district for drainage. It was appre ciated that the nature of the soil would have a very important effect upon the type of drainage system it would be advisable to install. This survey covered a gross area of about 24.00Q hectares, and the main groups of soils are shown in colors on a suitable base map. In the same year a reconnaissance soil survey was also made of the regions north of Iloilo, Panay, and about San Jose and Mangarin, Mindoro. During the summer of 1926 the Philippine Sugar Association made it possible for the soil technology division of the college of agriculture to conduct a hasty reconnaissance soil survey of the sugar districts in western Negros, from Kabankalan in the south to Manapla in the north. The main groups of soils were mapped and from the soils stand-point the similarities and differences between the various districts noted. During the progress of this survey a number of representative samples of soils were collected. These are now being studied in the soils laboratory of the college of agriculture, with the hope that even with the limited labora tory facilities available, data of value from the agricultural standpoint may be obtained. In the course of this 1926 reconnaissance, a number of valuable maps were compiled by the Manila Office of the U. S. coast and geodetic survey, through their generous co-operation with the Philippine Sugar Association and the college of agriculture. This work will result in a new map of western Negros, on a scale twice as large as that of the present map, and it will show a large quantity of detail never before published, and with a much greater accuracy than is the case with the present map. This new map will be of great value to the residents of the island, and particularly ter the Philippine Sugar Association and other interests dealing with the region as a whole. As a base map for the delineation of the soils, crops, plant and animal disease distribution, etc., it will be most suitable—most necessary, since there is no map extant which is suitable for the purpose. As yet, no provision has been made for the publication of any of the soil surveys that have been made by the college of agriculture staff ifi cooperation with outside interests. In order to put the information into suitable form and to make it available to the public, it is hoped that some means may be found whereby the heavy expense of 'publishing the soil maps in colors may be met. The use of cross-hatching or other conventional signs in black and white only, is entirely inadequate to show the compli cated distribution of the soils as plotted by the typical soil survey. In conclusion, the value of soils surveys is generally appreciated in the countries which are giving attention to scientific agriculture, and the insular government early commenced work along this line. It was not able to continue, however, and it has remained for commercial interests and the Philippine Sugar Association to cooperate with the =soil technology division of the college of agriculture in conducting the only recent soil surveys of any considerable extent. Additional work along these lines is being continued, though the funds are not yet available for the publication of the maps. WELL-BEING AND HAPPINESS FOR THE AVERAGE FILIPINO FARMER The whole economic structure of the Phil ippines rests, in the last analysis, upon the aver age farmer. The average farmer is a small land holder or a tenant and his economic condition is granted by all with intimate knowledge of the matter to be usually precarious and financially unsound. What are the most important prin ciples which he must observe in order to attain a reasonable degree of economic independence, of self-sufficiency, of success? If Juan and Jose come to you and tell you that, after years of struggling as tenants or small farmers, they today find themselves no better off and perhaps much worse than ten years ago, asking you for definite, simple, practical advice as to what they may do to better their condition, what will you tell them? It is useless to talk of trying to compel middle men or buyers or exporters or land-owners to be more generous and to give the producer a fairer deal. They are surely going to continue buying just as cheap as they possibly can and sell just as high as they can. It is useless to give any advice to Juan and Jose of an idealistic or theo retical character. They must be given advice that is thoroughly practical and entirely feasible WELCH-FAIRCHILD, Ltd. SUGAR FACTORS AND EXPORTERS Agents Hawaiian - Philippine Company Operating Sugar Central Silay, Occ. Negros, P. I. Mindoro Sugar Company San Jos6, Mindoro, P. I. MANILA, P. I. Cable Address: WEHALD, Manila Standard Codes Purest Mineral Water from Deep Hot Springs your club SERVES IT Drink It For Your Health’s Sake “It’s better to be sure than sorry” Check your values before the fire—not after If additional insurance is needed call us PACIFIC COMMERCIAL COMPANY Phone 8-20 Insurance Underwriters 521 Pacific Bldg. under conditions as existing today. It is useless in most cases to advise them to form cooperative marketing associations since it is too difficult to find among them competent administrators who are rigidly honest and unwaveringly just and there is also entirely too much distrust of each other. In spite of all the unfavorable conditions sur rounding them, what are the things that Juan and Jose may still do that will be calculated to free them from the impositions and oppressions which they commonly suffer, and put them on their feet in the way of greater material success? The following are suggested: Avoidance of debt at any sacrifice—rigorous living within income. Cutting out of gambling in all forms. Building up a small emergency cash reserve. When tenantry yields no betterment and becomes intolerable, removal at once to a free homestead. Obtaining of maximum returns for unit of land and labor by use of fertilization, seed selection and better cultivation; animal manures, rotted vegetable matter, and wood ash are available everywhere and their use usually gives good profits. Inviolability of voting power and absolute freedom in use of the vote to elect to public New York Agents: Welch, Fairchild & Co., Inc., 135 Front Street San Francisco Agents: Welch fie Co., 215 Market Street IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE' AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 19 office only men of probity who are known to be loyal to the interests of the common men. Planting of permanent food crops—bananas, perennial beans, camotes, camoteng cahoy. Reservation always—for food and seed—of a sufficient part of every rice and corn crop. Keeping plenty of small animals—chickens, Pigs—Extension Division, College of Agriculture. A Valet All the Way on The Oriental Limited The Finest Train Across America say thousands who havp enjoyed this innovation and. many other travel comforts on the delightful journey between Seattle and Chicago, G9 hours and 55 minutes of unalloyed pleasure through some of the mo9t beautiful scenery in all America. A Wonderful Scenic Ride through the Great Northern Cascades and Rockies, past prosperous farms and the 10,000 lake beauty section of Minnesota, to St. Paul and Minneapolis, thence down the scenic Mississippi Valley to Chicago* Let us send you literature describing this tram and trip, helping you plan your journey. A. G. HENDERSON. AGENT. Chaco Building AMERICAN EXPRESS CO. Manila, P. I. Great Northern A Dependable Railway FOREIGN MERCHANTS’ PART IN INDUSTRIAL REDEMPTION OF SIAM The last three kings of Siam have all shown themselves fully alive to the importance, in fact to the necessity, of foreign trade in the develop ment of their country along the line that it must perforce follow to keep in step with general progress and to obtain recognition as one amongst the prosperous and more stable nations of the earth. Since His Majesty’s august grandfather removed the barrier presented by the old trade monopolies some seventy years ago, all three in turn have consistently encouraged the Euro pean merchant. It may with absolute safety be maintained that without such wise encourage ment Siam would still be a very long way from the position she holds today, for the Siamese, unaided, could never themselves have developed the latent wealth of their country, and the Chinese who a hundred years ago were busy exploiting it would to a certainty have done so in such a manner that no benefit could have accrued to the state, but only trouble and most likely ultimate disruption. The following words, spoken by His Majesty King Rama V (Chulalongkorn) at a commercial banquet in 1907, are worthy of preservation as an example of the royal attitude in this respect: “The pioneers of Siamese commerce have in truth been the merchants of foreign countries, owing to intercourse with whom, as we see to our great satisfaction, the spirit of commerce is now at last awakening in our own people. It is highly beneficial to the commerce of our coun try that the merchants of all nations should meet and trade here, alike to their own advantage and to that of our State. We fully appreciate the great advance of the commerce of Siam and, knowing that there is no more important factor in promoting the material progress and welfare of a country than successful commerce, we have always had deeply at heart the encouragement of trade within our dominions.” European commerce has provided Siam with public wealth which enables her to play a part in the world. Perhaps some day this same commerce may be the means of in creasing also the private wealth of her citizens, at present very small, and consequently the creation of a self-respecting class midway be tween the bureaucracy and the peasantry; the one instrument now wanting to enable the ruler to consolidate and make permanent the pros perous condition to which the august dynasty of Chakkri has conducted her. —From Siam, by Graham. NOTE:—Dean Baker of the college of agricul ture, sending the above to the JOURNAL, says: “This is remarkably significant when it is re membered that through the years Siam was gradually dismembered and robbed of territory by France and England and might have justly feared incursion of foreign capital. Quite to the contrary, foreign capital stabilized and crystal lized her political status and hastened the defi nition of permanent boundaries.”—Ed. EARLIER DAYS: THE MANILA CATHEDRAL The Cathedral of Manila was founded in the year 1571, as the parish church. It was built of bamboo and nipa palm, very humble, as were then all the houses of Manila. In 1578 Pope Gregory XIII made it a cathedral upon petition Of Philip II, and its first bishop, Father Salazar, made some building improvements. His suc cessors were equally careful to make improve ments, but fires and earthquakes at various times wrought destruction. Father Miguel Poblete, archbishop of Manila, laid the cornerstone of the present structure and placed within it the follow ing inscription: “Innocent X governing the Church, Philip IV the Great governing Spain, and Don Saviniano Manrique de Lara, Knight of the Order of Calatrava, governing these islands: for the building of this holy Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady, its patron saint being St. Andrew the Apostle, this stone was placed by Don Miguel de Poblete, archbishop of the Metropolis, April 20, 1654.” The senior deacon, the archbishop’s nephew, Don Jose Millan de Poblete, master of camp but afterward bishop of Nueva Segovia, declared the Cathedral completed August 31, 1671. —From Zuniga’s Estadismo: 1805. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 20 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 EARLIER DAYS: LOS BOSTONESES From the time free commerce was established in Manila (the end of the 18th century), there have come to the city Swiss, Danes, Englishmen, Bostoneses (Americans from New England, chiefly Connecticut and Massachusetts: vide headstones in San Pedro Macati cemetery), French and Armenians. The Armenians are of those established on the Indian coast and are originally of those who carry on the trade of Persia. Many of these foreigners are established in Manila and are very detrimental to commerce. Merchantmen bringing cargoes to the city sell them at very high prices and are never afraid of not finding buyers, for when the time comes for them to sail again they leave what is unsold with their countrymen in Manila, who supply them with money at a round charge: and as the Spaniards must buy, they are eventually required to give what the foreigners ask. Every foreigner living in Manila is an agent for mer chantmen, and a monopolist who lays down the law to the people of the city. —From Zuniga’s Estadismo: 1805. EARLIER DAYS: GALLEON TRADE Trade with Acapulco (Mexico) is the principal commerce of the Philippines. It was begun at the beginning of the conquest and was unlimited until 1604, when it was restricted to a value of 1*250,000 a year; more recently it was fixed at P500.000 for the value of goods sent to Mexico and 1*1,000,000 for the return voyage to Manila. If the galleon is lost one year, the next year the merchants are permitted to send more so as to make up their losses. The trade is prohibited to foreigners and distributed only among Span iards, every man’s part being designated; so that the cargo is made up of 4,000 packages each 1-1,'4 varas long, 2/3 varas wide and one vara high, the value of each being set at 1*125, which is what each of these packages, that we term boletas, must contain. These are allot ted to the Spaniards of Manila according to their respective positions. The poor having nothing to ship, those who cannot trade or do not care to benefit from their boletas, sell them to the rich. —From Zuniga’s Estadismo: 1805. THE YOKOHAMA SPECIE BANK - LTD. (ESTABLISHED 1880) HEAD OFFICE: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN Yen Capital (Paid Up) - - - - 100,000,000.00 Reserve Fund - 89,500,000.00 Undivided Profits - 5,982,168.08 MANILA BRANCH 34 PLAZA CERVANTES, MANILA K. YABUKI Manager PHONE 1759—MANAGER PHONE 1758—GENERAL OFFICE REVIEW OF THE EXCHANGE MARKET By STANLEY WILLIAMS Manager International Banking Corporation. Telegraphic transfers on New York were quoted on October 30 at 3, 8% premium. On Monday, November 8, the rate was raised to 1/2% premium and on Saturday, November 13, to 5, 8% premium. The market remained steady and on Thursday, No vember 18, the rate was again raised to 3/4% premium, followed by a further raise to 7/8% premium on Saturday, November 20. The rate was unchanged at this level during the rest of the month, closing on November 29, the 30th being a holiday. Sterling cables were offered at 2/0-5'8 on October 30 and this market was unchanged until November 12, when the selling rate was lowered to 2,0-9/16. The market was quiet and steady until November 18, when the rate was again lowered to 2/0-1/2, at which level the market was unaltered till the close on No vember 29th. There were buyers at the close at 2/0-5 8. Three months sight credit bills were quoted at 2/1—5 16 on October 30 with 3 m/s d/p bills at 2/1-7/16. These rates were lowered to 2 1-1,4 and 2,1-3/8 on November 12, and to 2 1-3 16 and 2 1-5/6 on November 18, closing at the latter quotations on Noveember 29. The New York London cross rate was 484-3/4 on October 30. The low rate for the month of November was 484-9/16 on November 4 and the high 485-1/8 on the 15th, 16th and 17th. The closing rate on November 30 was 485. London bar silver closed at 24-13 16 spot 24-9 16 forward on October 30. The low level for November was 24-9/16, 24-3/16 on the 3rd and the high for the month was 26, 25-3/4 on the 16th. The closing quotations on the 30th was 25-1 8 spot 24-15/16 forward. New York silver closed at 53-3/8 on October 30, touched a low of 52-7/8 on November 3 and 5, a high of 55-3/4 on the 18th and closed at 54 on November 30. Telegraphic transfers on other points were quoted nominally at the close: Paris, 12.70; Madrid, 154-1/4; Singapore, 114-1 4; Japan, 99-1 '2; Hongkong, 98; Shang hai, 81-1. 2; India, 136; Java, 123. COPRA AND ITS PRODUCTS By E. A. Seidenspinner V icc-Bresident and Manager, Copra Milling COPRA k November arrivals of copra at Manila showed a disappointing total of 307,581 sacks. It had been expected that No vember arrivals would be in excess of October, due to the fact that the gradually weakening market had influenced producers to curtail pro duction in anticipation of a stronger year end market. Failing this reaction, it was expected that the accumulated nuts would have to be turned into copra during last month. HoweVer,’ the very serious typhoon which passed over the Laguna-Tayabas district during the early part of November caused the further suspension of copra manufacture during the period of tapahan reconstruction, so that it was not until the last half of the month that production was well on its way to normalcy again. From a closing price of 1*10.75 for buen corriente during the last days of October, the early November market strengthened to an 1*11.00 high, from which it reacted to 1*10.125 for copra of like quality. The best that can be done today for resecada copra is 1*11.25 to 1*11.50, with buyers display ing but slight interest at the latter figure. The London market while steady in spots has shown a consistently weaker demand and the net de cline has been approximately £1 per ton. We quote our latest cables:— London...............F.M.M.—£25 Cebu................... £25/5 San Francisco. .4-5/8 cents nominal Manila................ Buen Corriente P10.00 to 1*10.25 Resecado 1*11.25 to 1*11.50 COCONUT OIL Another blow was handed bullish operators with the publication of further government statis tics regarding the U. S. cotton crop which is now estimated to be 18,440,000 bales or an increase in the estimate of approximately 1,000,000 bales. Before the publication of these figures, scattered trading was reported at prices ranging from 8 to 8-1/4 cents f.o.b. tank cars west coast, but during the last week of the month prices were reduced rapidly to 7-3/4 cents. Even at this new low level for the year, demand is light and we doubt that better than 7-5/8 cents could be obtained for bulk parcels early 1927 shipment. The London market is reported to have declined in sympathy with the U. S., although we have no recent cables showing what Continental buyers will pay. Closing quotations:— San Francisco: Tank carloads, 7-3/4 cents; bulk parcels, 7-5/8 cents; Manila, 1*0.34 per kilo. COPRA CAKE Slightly better bids from the Continent during the first half of November were not sufficient to compensate for the increased freight rate of 10 shillings per ton which went into effect during the month. Local mills are asking 1*43.00 to 1*45.00 per ton ex-godown, buyers at P40.00 per ton. Even at these prices the Continental market continues to remain a better outlet for Philippine cake than America. Latest quota tions:— Hamburg, £6/15; Manila, 1*40.00 per metric ton ex-godown. Manila, P. I., December 4, 1926. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 21 Two-fisted jobs licked with one finger Jobs that used to strain brawn and muscle are done more quickly and safely now by elec tricity. At a finger’s command this force leaps to action — carrying tons of steel girders like so many paper boxes; drilling through stone as if it were sand. Night and day, electricity is on the job — kept so by the power and light Com panies. This liberating service enters the home too. Strong, reliable, willing, it responds to a snap of the fingers, and relieves woman of household centuries. tasks that have burdened her for LIGHT Manila 134 San Marcelino Electric Company (MERALCO) TEL. 2-19-11 TRANSPORTATION POWER IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 22 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 TOBACCO REVIEW By P. A. Meyer Alhambra Ciyar and Ciyarcllt Raw Leaf: The busi ness in grades for local consumption continues rather dull, while the demand for export to Europe has shown some improvement of late. The 1926 crop of Ca gayan and Isabela is practically bought up. Shipments abroad during November are as follows: Leaf Tobacco and Kilos Belgium and Holland......... 111,448 China......................................... 11,471 Hongkong................................. 33,210 Japan......................................... 146,791 Spain.......................................... 960,480 United States......................... 67,289 Uruguay.................................... 14,700 1,345,389 Cigars: The business with the United States leaves much to be desired. November exports compare very unfavorably with October 1926 and November 1925. Comparative figures are as follows: Cigars exported to the United States November 1926................... 17,506,448 October 1926........................ 23,557,668 November 1925................... 20,059,968 THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY FOR THE YEAR Leaf: Stocks in the hands of the dealers and manufacturers at the beginning of the year 1926 amounted to some 47,000,000 kilos, or about 8,500,000 kilos more than a year ago. Adding to this original stock the 1926 crop and allowing for the usual quantities exported and used in the local manufacture of tobacco products, we arrive at the exorbitant figure of some 60,000,000 kilos as probable carry-over at the end of 1926, or a five years’ supply for the local factories, computed at the industry’s normal output. However, a great part of the visible stocks is made up of export grades, as formerly shipped in big quantities to European Regie Administrations. In consequence thereof good cigar leaf from Ysabela and Cagayan, which provinces produce about 40% of the entire Philippine crop, is not very abundant in the open market and dealers have not much dif ficulty in disposing of reliably classified parcels. On the other hand, some of the remaining to bacco growing provinces may, if the export demand from Europe continues declining, as it has done during the last two years, have to adjust their production policy from quantity to quality, or else trust to providence for short or inferior quality crops in Central and South American producing centers, coupled with an increase in those countries’ exchange rates. Export of leaf tobacco and scraps from the beginning of January, 1926, until the end of October totals some .10,500,000 kilos. Principal destinations in relation to their importance were Spain, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, Holland, United States and China. The United States market is chiefly buyer of tobacco scraps and cigar cuttings, only limited quantities of stripped filler and binder leaf being taken. With the single exception of Czechoslovakia, practically all other countries have either con siderably decreased or altogether discontinued the importation of Philippine leaf tobacco. Prices for the present crop of Philippine leaf from all provinces are below the 1925 quo tations. The quality of the 1926 Isabela crop is considered superior to last year’s. Cigar Export: The United States still continues to be the largest purchaser of Philip pine cigars, although the total exports to that country during 1926 show no increase. Prices offered by the American importers are con siderably below last year’s level, and factories depending upon the U. S. trade exclusively, can hardly make both ends meet. To adjust the cost of production, four of the larger factories found it necessary to reduce the cigarmakers’ wages, which brought about a strike lasting more than two months, The outlook for an improvement in the American business is not at all encouraging, and with additional customs barriers being imposed in other countries where Philippine cigars are exported, does not augur any too well for the local tobacco industry. In addition to the foregoing the importation of American cigarettes into the Philippines is increasing tremendously and has become quite a competition for the native product. EARLIER DAYS: CHEAP FOODSTUFFS Food in Manila is good and market supplies quite cheap. A pound of bread costs 1/2 Teal (a real is 12-1/2 centavos, or 6-1/4 cents gold), a cavan of rice, one peso. For one real seven pounds of beef are sold, though pork is somewhat higher. Fish is cheaper, and fowls are sold so low that a hen costs only a cuartillo. Pigeons and other wild fowls of the many killed in the mountains and fields cost no more. Mutton and turkey costs more because sheep and turkeys don’t do well in this climate. Beef is excellent, excepting that sold in Manila. A contractor has the exclusive right to slaughter beef in Ma nila. He brings cattle from Ilocos, Cagayan and Pangasinan because he can buy in these distant provinces very cheaply. —From Zuniga’s Estadismo: 1805. INTERNATIONAL BANKING limADQN CAPITAL (paid in cash)..........................................U. S. $5,000,000.00 SURPLUS and UNDIVIDED PROFITS - - U. S. $9,000,000.00 Head Office ----- 60 Wall St., New York BRANCHES Barcelona Cebu Kobe Peking Singapore Batavia Dairen London Rangoon San Francisco Tientsin Bombay Calcutta Hankow Harbin Madrid Manila Tokyo Canton Hongkong Osaka Shanghai Yokohama Commercial Banking and Foreign Exchange Current accounts opened, savings and fixed deposits received in pesos and other currencies at favorable rates. Manila Office...............................................Pacific Building S. Williams, Manager IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 23 Comparative Statement of Advertising Carried by Five Leading Manila Dailies for the Month of November, 1926 Language Lines 1. Bullet in—Morning—English 405,454 2. Next paper—Evening—English 311,486 3. Next paper—Evening—Spanish 292,880 4. Next paper—Morning—English 246,372 5. Next paper—Morning—English 188,118 The BULLETIN carried: 31% more than the evening Next paper 38% more than the evening Next paper 64% more than the morning Next paper 116% more than the morning Next paper The BULLETIN carried: 13,496 Lines of Classified as against the Herald’s 3,645 lines, the Tribune’s 2,932 lines and the Times’ 1918 lines or 5,001 lines more than the three other English papers combined. The Bulletin carried more than twice as much classified as the two other morning papers combined. Where most business goes is a good place to go for more business IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 24 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 SHIPPING NOTES SHIPPING REVIEW By II. M. CAVENDER (I. neral A.j.nt, Dollar St.amd.ip Liar During the second part of October reports from U. S. North Atlan tic ports lead us to believe that full cargo and berth rates from that section reachedzthe highest levels since the post war deflation. Grain from Montreal to the Continent reached $0.40 a hundred pounds and coal from Hampton Roads to the United Kingdom $8.75 a ton. The U. S. Shipping Board broke out about fifty ships for grain and cotton following the advance in conference rates to the United Kingdom as reported in our last notes. The South American Conference advanced rates ten per cent for the first half of next year while the conference gov erning rates from Atlantic U. S. ports has in creased its tariff fifteen per cent. Rates obtain ing on cotton from U. S. gulf and Pacific ports to the orient were also increased, effective January 1. This brief resume of conditions in the freight market existent elsewhere certainly does not compare with conditions in the Far East, and the Philippines in particular. A cheap commodity such as coal for a voyage from Hampton Roads to the United Kingdom demands $8.75 per ton while from the Philippines the valuable centri fugal sugar to Pacific and Atlantic U. S. ports, a far greater haul, brings a meager $4.50 and $6.25 per ton respectively. These exceedingly low rates from Philippine ports do not hold for sugar alone but for most commodities. Phil ippine rates to United Kingdom and Con tinent have showed a slight tendency toward stiffening and in actual fact rates in that direc tion on copra, copra cake and hemp have been advanced. How long freight rates from the Philippines can continue at present low levels is problematical but surely something looking to satisfactory remuneration to shipowners must be forthcoming soon if present services are not to be curtailed. During November a total of 866 passengers, all classes, are reported to have departed from the Philippines (first figure represents cabin passengers, second figure steerage): To Hong kong 87—171; Shanghai 32—12; Japan 13—2; Honolulu 0—359; Pacific Coast 40—83; Singa pore 26—0. Filipino emigration during the month to Honolulu fell off considerably and to the Pacific coast the movement was only about half the preceding month. The comparison shows Honolulu, October 542, November 359; Pacific coast, October 160, November 83. The Dollar Steamship Line and the Admiral Oriental Line announce a joint service from Seattle and San Francisco to Manila via oriental ports. The joint service is known as the Horse shoe Service and provides for fortnightly sailings ADMIRAL ORIENTAL LINE MANILA VIA HONGKONG - SHANGHAI - KOBE - YOKOHAMA President McKinley - - President Jefferson - - - President Grant - - - President Madison - - President Jackson - - - Manila Dec. 15 Dec. 27 Jan. 8 Jan. 20 Feb. 1 Seattle Jan. 6 Jan. 18 Jan. 30 Feb. 11 Feb. 24 Only Two-Day Stop at Hongkong Twenty-three days Manila to Seattle ADMIRAL ORIENTAL LINE Phone 22441 24 David MANILA IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 from both Seattle and San Francisco, with nine of the largest President type liners. While no definite schedule has been announced, it is known that the President Jefferson from Seattle, February 1, and the President Lincoln from San Francisco, February 5, will inaugurate the service. It is generally understood from infor mation available that sailings from Manila will be weekly instead of irregular as at present. The Dollar Line also announce that the s. s. President Wilson will be transferred to the round-the-world service, sailing from San Fran cisco, January 29. With this liner operating around the globe, Dollar will have fortnightly express freight and passenger sailings from Manila to Singapore, Suez, Mediterranean ports, Boston and New York. Everywhere in the United States there seems to be a growing movement looking to a privately owned American merchant marine. Newspapers, periodicals and the like carry frequent items on the subject. The shipping board continues its program to dispose of ships to private interests. Among recent sales by the board we find four tankers passing into private hands at these prices, $274,762.50, $489,600, $550,800 and $683,000. From statistics compiled by the Associated Steamship Lines, there were exported from the Philippines during the month of October, 1926: To China and Japan ports 8,654 tons with a total of .35 sailings, of which 6,328 tons were carried in American bottoms with 16 sailings; to Pacific coast for local delivery 17,762 tons with 14 sailings, of which 17,678 tons were carried in American bottoms with 12 sailings; to Pacific coast for transhipment 2,393 tons with 11 sailings, of which 2,145 tons were carried in American bottoms with 9 sailings; to Atlantic coast 24,810 tons with 15 sailings, of which 4,499 tons were carried in American bottoms with 5 sailings; to European ports 18,972 tons with 15 sailings, of which 182 tons were carried in American bottoms with 2 sailings; to Australian ports 554 tons with 4 sailings, of which American bottoms carried none; or a grand total of 73,145 tons with 94 sailings, of which American bottoms carried 30,832 tons with 44 sailings. SHIPPING PERSONALS E. R. Dimond, accompanied by Mrs. Dimond, arrived in Manila by the s. s. President Pierce, November 14, and sailed by the same steamer November 17. Mr. Dimond is vice-president of Williams, Dimond & Co., San Francisco. He explained that his visit to Manila was purely in the capacity of a sightseer. V. M. Smith, assistant director for orient, United States Shipping Board, returned to Manila, November 25, aboard the s. s. President Van Buren from a several weeks’ business trip to China. “Vic” says he is mighty happy to be 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 Zuellig & von Knobelsdorff Agents 90 Rosario, Manila Phone 22324 back in Manila and that Manila is the finest place in the Far East. Leonard Yates arrived in Manila aboard the s. s. President Jackson, November 30, and returned to Hongkong by the same vessel De cember 3. Mr. Yates is the well known oriental manager of the Prince Line in the Far East and has his headquarters at Hongkong. Mr. Yates’ visit to Manila was purely on business in the interest of the Prince Line. J. E. Gardner, Jr., left Manila November 7 and visited southern Philippine ports for three weeks making a hasty investigation into business and shipping conditions. Mr. Gardner is in charge of activities of the American Oriental Mail Line and the American Pioneer Line in the Philippines. DOLLAR STEAMSHIP LINE j SERVES THE WORLD ; 24 Calle David High-class Passenger ROUND THE WORLD Telephone 22441 and Freight Service SAILINGS 1 EVERY 1 14 DAYS 1 The Presiden SPEED SERVICE—CC Excellent Food, Comfoi Broad Decks, Am Dancing, Swii t Liners Offer )URTESY— COMFORT rtable Cabins, [erican Orchestra, Timing, Pool, Sports. SAILINGS EVERY 14 DAYS i 1 To SAN FRANCISCO i via HONGKONG, SHANGHAI, KOBE, To BOSTON-NEW YORK via SINGAPORE, PENANG, COLOMBO, SUEZ, PORT SAID, YOKOHAMA, AND HONOLULU | ALEXANDRIA, NAPLES, GENOA, MARSEILLES ROUND THE WORLD 1 NEXT SAILING NEXT SAILING 1 President Wilson - - - - Dec. 15 Presiden t Polk - ----- Dec. 24 President Lincoln - - - Dec. 29 President Garfield' - - - -o Jan. 7 Through Rates to Europe Stopovers will be granted which permit the making of interesting side Railway Tickets to all points of America. trips at various points. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 26 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 REVIEW OF THE HEMP MARKET By L. L. Spellman Macleod &• Company This report covers the Manila hemp market for the month of No vember with statistics up to and including November 29, 1926. U. S. Grades: The first of the month found buyers in the U. S. indifferent and shippers were offering on the basis of JI 11-5/8 cents, I 14-3/4 cents and F 16-1/2 cents. During the first week there was a fair amount of business and prices moved up to 11-3/4 cents for Jl, 15 cents for I and 17 cents for F. By the middle of the month shippers were asking 15-1/4 cents for I and 17-1/4 cents for F; Jl unchanged. These prices were main tained for the balance of the month with an occasional variation of from 1/8 cent to 1/4 cent for special parcels. The market was fairly steady and a moderate amount of hemp changed hands. The U.K. and Continent took a small amount of the better grades but Japanese buyers were extremely scarce. The market in Manila for the U.S. grades opened dull and nominal prices were F 1*39, G 1*23, H 1*17, I 1*34, Jl 1*26, SI 1*38, S2 1’33 and S3 1*26.50. The exporters showed very little desire to. buy on account of the extreme difficulty they were having in making sales in the U.S. On the other hand the dealers showed no desire to accept lower prices and complained of the difficulty they were having in securing good hemp in the provinces on account of the rains and keen competition. By the middle of the month there was a slightly better feeling and the shipping houses paid from 4 reals to 1*1 above the prices ruling the first of the month. These prices ruled for the balance of the month and the market closed quiet but fairly steady. The shippers were buying from their regular customers on the basis of E 1*41.50, F 1*40, G 1’23 to 1’23.40, H 1’18.40 to 1’19, I 1’35, to 1*35.40, Jl 1’26 to 1’26.40, SI 1’39, S2 1’34 and S3 1’26.40. U. K. Grades: The market in the U.K. and on the Continent was fairly steady on the first of the month with sellers offering on the basis of J2 £45.10, K £42, LI £42, L2 £38, Ml £38 and M2 £34. It developed early in the month that the London dealers were not greatly inter ested in hemp for distant shipment, but there seemed to be considerable demand for the nearby positions. There was a steady upward move ment and by the middle of the month shippers were asking the following prices: J2 £47, K £45, LI £45.00, L2 £41.10, Ml £41.10 and M2 £36.10. Toward the end of the month the market became less active and closed with prices unchanged. There were some sales of hemp afloat at from 10/- to £1 a ton over the market and also the same premium was paid in some instances for housemarks. The Manila market for U.K. grades opened firm with buyers on the basis of J2 1’22.50, K 1’19.50, LI 1’19.50, L2 1’17, Ml 1’17, M2 1’15, DL 1’15, and DM 1’13. Supplies throughout the month have been meager and as a consesequence the demand has been good and a firm market has been maintained. Prices gradually moved up and the market closed firm with buyers on the basis of J2 1’22.50 to 1’23, K 1’21, LI 1’21, L2 1’19 to 1’19.40, Ml 1’19, M2 1’17, DL 1’16 and DM 1*12.40. There was the usual variation of from 2 to 4 reals according to the quality of the fibre. Freight Rates: There was the usual tem porary reduction on hemp to Japan to meet an outside steamer. The actions of the Freight Association in this matter is difficult to under stand and the constant changing of the rate works a great hardship on the regular shipping houses. It is to be-hoped that the lines will arrive at some definite understanding among themselves. The U.K. lines notified the trade on November 12th that the freight rate on hemp from Manila to U.K. and Continental ports would be advanced from 75/- to 90/- per ton effective at once. Owing to forward bookings, this rate will not affect the market until the first of February. Statistics: We give below the figures for the period extending from November 2nd to November 29th: Stocks on January 1.. . . Receipts to November 29. Stocks on November 29.. 1925 Bales 131,228 1,137,802 163,931 Bales 153,181 1,160,354 150,343 Shipmen t s To the— United Kingdom.......... Continent of Europe.. Atlantic U. S................. U. S. via Pacific.......... Japan................................ Elsewhere and Local.. To Nov. 29, To Nov. 30, 1926 Bales 1925 Bales 241,690 319,674 161,461 129,569 308,157 288,623 156,313 141,735 214,965 155,990 80,606 69,508 Total........................ 1,163,192 1,104,999 CURRENT MONEY CIRCULATION The following data on currency circulation in the Philippines are from the office of the insular auditor under date of November 20: Philippine coins, 1*21,202,234.24; treasury certificates, 1’86,676,398; bank notes, P39.910,000; total circulation November 20, P144,788,623; November 13, P145,113,396.22. Gov ernment reserves, November 13, P107,052,869.82; November 20, 1’107,062,333.07, as follows: Gold standard fund, treasury, Manila, P5.991,172.07; New York, 1*14,394,073; treasury certificate fund, Manila, P21,301,281; New York, P65.375.107. For More Than 27 Years Discriminating 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 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. FOR CHRISTMAS PRESENTS Drop in and look over our stock Harley Davidson Motorcycles with or without sidecar Bicycles and Velocipedes Pistols, Rifles, Shotguns and Ammunitions Mirrors and Plate Glass Eveready Flashlights Pictures and Picture Frames Tennis Goods Golf Goods Fountain Pens and Pencils Bathing Suits, Sweaters and Short Hose Thermos Bottles Send for catalogues and price list Sold on the installment plan if desired SQUIRES BINGHAM CO. DISTRIBUTORS Sportsmen’s Headquarters Where all good fellows meet 15 Plaza Goiti, Manila Phone 300 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 27 NOVEMBER SUGAR REVIEW By George H. Fairchild New York: The American sugar market during the first half of the month was steady and firm with only moderate transactions. During the first week small sales of Cubas were made at 2-3/4 cents (4.52 cents 1. t.) and 2-13/16 cents (4.59 cents 1. t.) c. & f., but from the close of the second week through - out the third week the market was easier and small spot sales were effected at a reduction of 1/32 cent equivalent to 4.55 cents 1. t. Toward the end of the third week, upon the announcement that the Pres ident of Cuba had agreed to limit the coming Cuban sugar crop to 4,500,000 tons, the market showed a decided improvement and prices rose immediately to 2-7/8 cents c. & f. for Cubas or*4.65 cents 1. t. duty paid for Philippine centri fugals. Taking advantage of this improvement in the market, holders for Cubas raised their prices to 3.00 cents c. & f. which is equivalent to 4.77 cents 1. t. duty paid for Philippine centri fugals, at which price there were fair sales of Cubas. The market continued its upward trend throughout the last week of the month with moderate trading for Cubas on the basis of 3-1/8 cents c. & f. or 4.90 cents 1. t. duty paid for Philippine centrifugals. At the close, there were sales of Cubas for prompt shipment at 3-1/4 cents c. & f., equivalent to 5.02 cents 1. t. duty paid for Philippine centrifugals. The improvement in the American sugar market during the latter half of the month can be explained by increased consumption in the United States and Europe, which materially reduced the visible supplies; the increased de mand for Cubas in the European, Far Eastern and Australian markets; the reduction in the estimates of production in the principal European beet-producing countries; the proposed curtail ment of Cuban production to 4,500,000 tons, and possibly the belief that the hurricane damage in Cuba will prove to be more extensive than was reported. Visible supplies at the *end of the last week of the month were 1,490,000 tons as compared with 1,725,000 tons at the same period in 1925, and 1,113,000 tons in 1924. For the first time during the year the visible supplies were less than those of the previous year at the same period, the decrease amounting to 235,000 tons. The market for distant deliveries developed strength with quotations on the upward trend. The following are the quotatic futures the New York Exchange for the: month: High L»ow La tes t December.. . . .... 3.20 2.75 3.20 January.......... .... 3.20 2.77 3.20 March............. .... 3.15 2.77 3.15 July................. .... 3.29 2.94 3.29 September... . .... 3.36 3.01 3.36 Considerable sales of Philippine centrifugals, near arrivals and afloats, were made in the New York market during the month, approximately 60,000 tons having been sold at prices ranging from 4.58 cents to 4.90 cents. Quotations for refined have steadily advanced, the latest quotations ranging from 6.05 cents to 6.25 cents as compared with the closing quota tions of the previous month of from 5.90 cents to 6.00 cents. Local Market: During the month, approxi mately 100,000 piculs of centrifugals changed hands in the local market, at prices ranging from 1*11.00 to 1’12.00 per picul. The market for muscovados was quiet, no business was done with the exception of a very limited amount in the last week of the month on the basis of 1’7.50 for No. 1. The sugar districts of Batangas and Laguna have been most severely hit by the typhoon which passed over the southern and central Luzon during the first week of November. The cane suffered slight damage, estimated at 5 per cent; but as the typhoon occurred at the time when the cane is immature, the injury to the leaves and stalks of the cane may materially reduce the ability of the plant to increase its sugar content, so that the ultimate loss may exceed the estimates. The weather in Negros for the month under review has continued favorable with substantial rains but no floods. With the exception of Manapla, all of the centrals on Negros are now milling to capacity, while on Luzon the large centrals have already commenced grinding. Up to date a total of about 40,000 metric tons have been manufac tured. The quality ratio, being the ratio of tons cane per ton sugar, is considerably lower than the average quality ratio of the 1925-1926 crop. The quality ratio for 1926-1927 ranges from 10.06 to 8.56, while the average for 1925-26 was 8.45. The average quality ratios of the previous crops are: 1921- 1922................................. 9.03 1922- 1923................................. 8.14 1923- 1924................................. 8.36 1924- 1925................................. 8.98 1925- 1926................................. 8.45 Since our last review, there has been but one shipment, of 2024 metric tons, of centrifugals to the United States, with New York as its desti nation. Shipping statistics in metric tons from January 1 to November 20, 1926, are as follows: U.S. Class of Sugar Atlantic Centrifugals. . . . 247,048 Muscovados...................... Refined............................... (Destination) U.S. China & Total Pacific Japan M.Tons. 45,056 ......... 292,104 ......... 66,458 66,458 1,713 139 1,852 247,048 46,769 66,597 360,414 Miscellaneous: The latest estimate issued by a New York firm indicates a decrease of 1,000,000 tons in the world’s sugar production in 1926-1927, should the proposed curtailment of the Cuban production to 4,500,000 tons be carried into effect. Advices from Europe state that the latest estimate of the beet crop in Germany was 125,000 tons less than the previous estimate, while that of Russia was reduced by 100,000 tons. There are conflicting reports as to weather conditions in Europe. Influenced by the advance of prices in the New York market, the Javan market was firm and active toward the close of the month at the following quotations, with the equivalents per P. I. picul, f.o.b.: Considerable business has been done for the 1927 crop, and it is reported that sales have already been effected for the 1928 crop. Superiors— December Gs. 13........... . . 1*11.14 per picul January 13-1/4... .. 11.35 “ “ February 13-3/8... . . 11.46 “ “ May “ 21........... . . 11.38 “ “ June “ 19-3/4... . . 10.71 “ “ July, Aug., September “ 19-1/4... . . 10.45 “ “ Head Sugar— Spot “ 12-1/4... . . 10.51 “ “ Wasting Energy No child can do the best possible work at school while fighting eye strain. The useless waste of energy caused by defective vision has caused many a breakdown and failure at school. This is not theory but fact. •Bring your boy or girl to us and learn the truth about the condition of their vision. Always the best in quality but never higher in price Washington Grocery NG TIP 8s COMPANY Exclusive Importers Colonial Brand Best German Export Beer Light Wines and Liquors 207 - 209 ECHAGUE Phones 1065-1717 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 28 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 .REAL ESTATE By P. D. Carman San Juan Heights Addition With November next to the best month so far this year the total is still considerably be hind that for the same eleven months of last year. That Manila is passing through a mark ed depression seems to be obvious and is reflected in probably the most reliable ther mometer of general pro sperity—the real estate market. As Theodore Roosevelt and many others have said: “Real Estate is the basis of all wealth.” On the current wealth of the community depends the volume of real estate transactions. It is inter esting to note that this is supported by the decrease of P29.653.651 in foreign trade, January to November inclusive, 1926, compared with last year, as shown by the Bureau of Customs. Jan. to Oct. inclusive. November Sta. Cruz......................... P2,081,852 1* 152,323 Malate............................. 1,333,401 67,290 Paco.................................. 1,273,554 404,000 Sampaloc......................... 1,185,780 119,738 Ermita............................. 899,664 237,155 Tondo............................. 813,190 236,419 Sta. Ana.......................... 759,338 46,452 San Nicolas.................... 655,275 31,832 The Philippine Guaranty Company, Incorporated (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 ow rates iberal conditions ocal investments oans on real estate repayable by monthly or quarterly instal ments at low interest Call or write for particulars Room 403, Filipinas Bldg. P. O. Box 128 Manila, P. I. M fir’s. Tel. 22110 Main Office Tel. 441 INFORMATION FOR INVESTORS Expert, confidential reports made on Philippine projects ENGINEERING, MINING, AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, LUMBER, ETC. Hydroelectric projects OTHER COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES BRYAN, LANDON CO. Cebu, P. I. Cable address: “YPIL,” Cebu. LUMBER REVIEW FOR SEPTEMBER By FLORENCIO TAMESIS Director, Bureau of Forestry The lumber export for the month covered by this review registered a very noticeable in crease over the lumber export of the preceding month. While the vol ume of September’s ex port amounted only to about 3,500,000 board feet, rhe export for October totalled almost 4,800,000 board feet, and the value of this month’s export is about 1*423,000 in round number as compared with 1*245,000 of last September. Our export trade for this month, however, is about the same as that of the cor responding period last year. In the last month’s review, mention was made of the fact that the shipment to the United States showed a considerable decrease as com pared with the previous month. This drop of the amount of export to America was attributed by some to the .recent unfavorable decision of the Federal Trade Commission against the use Destination China.......................... United States........... Japan.......................... Australia.................... Great Britain........... Netherlands.............. Canada....................... Italy............................ Other B. E. Indies. Total. Binondo........................... Quiapo.............................. Intramuros...................... Sta. Mesa........................ San Miguel.................... Pandacan......................... 613,708 34,000 372,265 79,600 277,221 35,000 194,407 33,480 59,223 38,823 3,600 1*1,480,889 of the trade name “Philippine Mahogany” in the American market. That this assumption is open to question can be seen from the following figures which clearly indicate that our trade with America for October this year is practically the same as our trade during the corresponding month last year. Experienced lumbermen claim that the decision of the Federal Trade Commission will not produce any lasting serious effect on the lumber trade of these Islands with the United States for the reason that this Philippine product is already well known among the wood users of the United States. Our local lumber trade and milling activities for October remained about the same as those of September. Reports from 32 mills show that the mill cut for October was 14,984,402 board feet as compared with 15,436,322 board feet for September, or 14,273,362 board feet for October, 1925. The lumber shipment for Oc tober was 18,249,575 board feet as compared with 16,404,495 board feet for September, or 14,856,792 board feet for October, 1925. And the lumber inventory was 30,500,675 board feet as compared with 30,498,871 board feet for September, or 36,708,358 board feet for October, 1925. The recent baguio will surely affect the local lumber trade and the next review ought to show an increase in the amount of lumber sale for local use. The export for October is shown by the follow ing table: TIMBER AND LUMBER EXPORT 1926 October 1925 Octobei Board Feet Value Board Feet Value 2,203,104 1,809,208 413,824 159,000 114,480 21,624 10,600 10,176 1,071,448 1,668,864 426,544 1,453,896 133,560 I* 86,033 150,372 36,555 94,609 11,410 30,104 3,012 FOR SALE Second Hand Machinery One Alternator, 250 KW; 2200 volts; 60 cycle, 3 phase, direct connected to cross compound Hamilton-Corliss Engine 12-24X36; with generator panel and rheostat. Two 100 KW Alternators; 2200 volts; 60 cycle, 3 phase; belted, 18” pulley; direct connected exciters; with gen erator panels. Two Venn-Severin Crude Oil Engines, 60 H.P. each. One Worthington surface condenser, 400 H.P. One Scotch Marine Boiler, 400 H.P. 50—100-kilo Ice cans; new. (Knocked down.) 4 Galvanized steel brine tanks; 2500 kilo 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, new. Steam and Oil separator. Steam Traps. Marine Engines: (1 Union, 50 H.P., distilate) (1 Quayle, 25-35 H.P., crude oil.) Meters, Electric, Transformers. For Prices, etc.. Apply BRYAN, LANDON CO. Cebu or Iloilo 4,742,016 1*422,574 4,784,416 1*381,991 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 29 THE RICE INDUSTRY By Percy A. Hill of Muilo RAIL COMMODITY MOVEMENTS By M. D. Royer Traffic Manager, Manila Railroad Company Prices since the last quotation have taken a slight advance and palay prices at the buying points fluctuate between 1*3.50 and 1’3.80 per cavan of 44 kilos, with rice at distribution centers from 1’8.75 to 1’9.10 according to class. The present crop is assured as being the best one since 1920 and ap proximating in yield that of 1913, both banner years as regards the production of our greatest crop. News from Indo-Asia is conflicting as regards the coming crop, but it is believed that approx imately the same amount will be available for export, as there is a slight carry-over. In spite of a few locusts, areas re-planted and minor drawbacks we can confidently expect that the present Philippine crop will be in excess of 1’200,000,000 even with the price decrease predicated on the bumper crop. This is a substantial sum added to national wealth and is due in part to the favorable weather conditions over all the growing season. The rice industry in spite of being pointed out as unprogressive has been gradually adopting such things as to the superficial observer are supposed to spell modernity. No longer does the carabao do the major part of the threshing and hauling to market, although to be sure he is our greatest factor in agricultural motive power. Threshing is done by motorized sep arators throughout all the Luzon plain except in rare instances. The old fashioned trilladora, of which there are many wrecks still to be seen, has long given way to the oil burning motor, a cheaper and more efficient power. The rate of 10% of the crop has long been reduced to 7% and 8% and in many cases a cash payment per cavan is the new basis adopted for threshing payments, as it should be. The new fertilizers are beginning to be used and irrigation develop ment is always being attended. Hauling is done by trucks and trailers on all the main arteries of the rice regions, supplemented by the carabao who brings his share from the roadless districts, or outlying barrios to pile it alongside the main roads for the transportation compa nies. Many of these trucks and trailers haul 200 cavans to the load, five trips per each one thousand cavans. The regular price varies, but is less than one cent per cavan per kilo meter, generally about >sths. Making haste slowly and advance by trial and error are proper slants on the evolution of the greatest industry we have in the islands. Take the case of Nueva Ecija, the real granary of the islands. It has increased its production from about 1,300,000 cavans twenty years ago to where it produced last year 7,148,000 cavans on 177,710 hectares of rice lands with an average yield of forty cavans per hectare. The amount of acreage increase this year is estimated to be about 3,500 hectares, so at present the province has 182,000 hectares planted to the cereal. The favorable conditions should, it is conserv atively estimated, make the yield at least 45 cavans per hectare, or an estimated crop for this year of over eight millions of cavans. This means that at present prices this one province produces more than double the value of all tobacco exports and still has a surplus. It has possibilities of extension, a factor that other rice producing provinces do not possess, and this wealth has been wrung from the soil not by theory or political propaganda but simply by hard work; for, sad to say, people cannot live on political nectar and ambrosia, but they can exist on rice, and have something left over for a rainy day. r Decreases in rail ship ments for the month of November have been largely due to interrup tions in transportation caused by the typhoon of November 5, which widely affected the prov inces of Laguna, Ba tangas and Tayabas. The crop damage is dif ficult to estimate, but will probably decrease production in the dis tricts affected for a considerable time. The statistics below, left column, are for the period from October 26 to November 25, both inclusive, and show quantities of pro ducts shipped into Manila by rail: November 175,875 121,632 13,160 178,640 11,172 2,324,000 133,320 Commodity Rice, cavans...................... Sugar, piculs...................... Tobacco, bales................... Copra, piculs...................... Desiccated Coconut, cases Coconuts.............................. Lumber, board feet......... THE October 179,750 11,984 16,940 224,640 11,760 2,846,000 278,000 INSURANCE FIRE, MARINE, MOTOR CAR. F. E. ZUELLIG, INC. Cebu Manila Iloilo 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 good” 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 CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 30 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 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, Seattle, U. S. A. Agents for the Philippine Islands The Edward J. Nell Co., Ltd.,—Manila. WASHINGTON ENGINES DELICIOUSLY REFRESHING SOLD AT AMERICAN CHAMBER BAR STATISTICAL REVIEW AND EXPORTS FROM AND TO ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC PORTS BY NATIONALITY OF CARRYING IMPORTS Nationality of Vessels Atlantic Pacific C»e. Total Atlantic Pacific Total —..............BBeh 4’012*033 4,974:858 6’881 053 8368:440 British Monthly................................................ October, 1925............................. i-s lira 1 225 3 666 157 3 364 129 s 2'323^3 3,693,012 .. -ra lira lira 83 560:826 ira 1.119.127 ‘S ............................................. 54 54 £5 £5 ——................................................ 1 1 ~.................................................... Ste: <031,033 lira <031:033 ........................................... :&4$55 8213 loiiro^s 65’» tw ...................................................Average’ for 1925.: i i i i i i i i : 5:749.419 4:537,805 15,467 lO^OS^ S,,509,’«74 e.’seSJTS l^STO^S IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 31 PRINCIPAL EXPORTS Quantity October, 1926 Coconut Oil.......................................... Cigars (Number)................................. Embroidery........................................... Maguey.................................................. Leaf Tobacco....................................... Desiccated and Shredded Coconut. Hats (Number)................................... Lumber (Cubic Meters)................... Copra Meal.......................................... Knotted Hemp.................................... Pearl Buttons (Gross)....................... Canton (low grade cordage fiber).. All Other Products............................. Total Domestic Products................. United States Products..................... Foreign Products................................. P Value % Quantity October, 1925 Grand Total. PRINCIPAL IMPORTS October, 1926 Value Monthly average for October, 1925 12 months ending October. 1926 Value 2 25 17 22 2 7 1 6 3 8 6 5 2 2 8 6 5 P18,878,228 100 6 3 1 5,038,950 10,174,299 7,305,732 15,297,449 26,372,928 P Value 3 26 15 18 6 6 2 3 3 3 2 Monthly average for 12 months previous to October, 1926 Quantity Value 23 25 16 12 1 1 0 0 2 1 P18,272,089 100 2 6 2 22,552,672 99.6 77,251 0.3 25,431 0.1 P22.655.354 100.0 CARRYING TRADE IMPORTS Cotton Cloth.................... Other Cotton Goods. . . . Iron and Steel, Except Machinery..................... Rice..................................... Wheat Flour..................... Machinery and Parts of. Dairy Products................ Gasoline............................. Silk Goods......................... Automobiles....................... Vegetable Fiber Goods. . Meat Products................. Illuminating Oil............... Fish and Fish Products. Crude Oil........................... Coal..................................... Chemicals, Drugs, Dyes, Etc................................... Fertilizer............................. Vegetables......................... Paper Goods, Except Tobacco and Manufac tures of........... -........... Electrical Machinery.. . . Books and Other Printed Matters.......................... Cars and Carriages Ex cept Autos.................... Automobile Tires............ Fruits and Nuts............... Woolen Goods.................. Leather Goods.................. Shoes and Other FootBreadstuffs, Except Wheat Eggs....... ......................... Perfumery and Other Toilet Goods................. Lubricating Oil................ Cacao Manufactures, Ex cept Candy................... Glass and Glassware.. . . Paints, Pigments, Varnish, Etc................................... Oils not Separately listed. Earthem Stones and Chinaware..................... Automobile Accessories.. Diamond and Other Pre cious Stone Unset. . . . Wood, Bamboo, Reed, India Rubber Goods.. .. Soap..................'................. Matches............................. Cattle and Carabaos... . Explosives.... i................. Sugar and Molasses........ Motion Picture Films. . . All other Imports............ Total. , 369,191 5,062 300,636 360,742 371,555 75,524 92,849 135,440 75,933 16 5 % 12 5 Value 0 P 3,165,542 7 1,192,707 % 16 6 6 Monthly average for October, 1926 October, 1925 12 months ending Nationality of with October, 1926 0 9 7 6 6 9 5 5 7 2 2 6 1 3 6 7 0 9 1 0 0 0 6 7 5 0 6 5 1 0 6 3 0 0 7 0 0 2 5 0 6 0 0 6 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 8 5 3 6 1 4 2 5 251,032 224,989 260,634 107,265 99,374 141,270 133,060 112,352 83,917 137,058 110,333 60,200 84,519 160,461 97,716 7 11 6 3 3 7 7 3 9 2 2 3 2 0 6 0 6 2 0 7 2 5 1 4 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 5 7 6 9 5 9 6 1 1 5 2 0 9 Value %Value%Value % 8 1 7 4 1 2 4 0 6 2 0 0 8 0 9 7 8 0 0 5 8 1 0 0 0 7 6 0 5 8 0 0 6 3 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 335,571 350,609 284,241 218,938 115,309 228,292 183,565 161,393 218,405 160,031 134,112 162,795 134,249 133,082 149,929 127,397 109,975 25,343 0 1 3 9 6 7 8 4 1 1 0 8 7 0 8 7 0 0 7 7 0 7 8 0 7 6 0 0 6 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 6 7 2 3 0 7 2 2 8 PORT STATISTICS TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES Monthly average for October, 1926 October, 1925 12 months previous Ports ________________________________________to October, 1926 Value % Value % Value % Manila.................... ........... P31.379.432 75.0 P27,076,890 74.3 P29.485.898 70.7 Iloilo....................... ........... 1,589,885 4.1 2,142,669 5.9 4,971,030 11.8 Cebu....................... ........... 6,245,749 15.2 5,900,602 16.2 5,451,095 12.9 Zamboanga............ ........... 541,245 1.6 1,260,330 3.4 892,591 2.1 Jolo......................... ........... 183,489 0.7 82,800 0.2 94,324 Davao.................... .......... 866,122 2.4 724,772 1.8 .......... 1,109,300 0.9 195,091 0.5 P41.915.222 100.0 P36,463,291 100.0 P41.814.801 100.0 American... Japanese... Dutch......... German.. . . Norwegian. Philippine.. Spanish.... Swedish.. .. Finnish. ... Italian........ Russian.... Dannish.... Portuguese. By Freight. By Mail... P10,643,842 7,500,525 1,057,746 1,244,217 972,352 315,835 85,739 181,036 215,786 375,378 46.2 P 9,572,607 32.6 4,501,242 4.6 728,856 5.4 762,741 4.2 548,214 1.3 684,748 0.4 555,015 0.7 137,798 0.9 114,669 1.6 166,012 52.6 P 9,646,660 24.8 5,904,504 4.0 1,064,509 4.2 775,388 3.0 567,571 3.8 278,530 3.0 231,233 0.8 182,820 0.6 30,305 0.9 75,377 19,915 ■6,905 485 P22.542.456 91.9 P17,773,902 97.7 P18.734.239 97.6 494,538 2.1 417,300 2.3 455,372 2,4 Total................... P23,036,994 100.0 P18,191,202 100.0 P19,189,611 100.0 Nationality of Vessels American... Japanese.. . Swedish.. . . German.. .. Norwegian. Spanish.... Dutch......... Philippine.. Finnish.... By Freight. By Mail... EXPORTS October, 1926 Monthly average for October, 1925 12 months ending October, 1926 Value % Value % P 8,124,568 42 5,433,109 28 1,130,039 6 1,300,502 6 1,119,353 5 105,029 0 83,466 0 9 P 7,831,352 8 4,573,804 0 1,494,940 1,344,210 9 793,849 9 o 282,547 159,929 6 161,003 5 42,758 Value % 658,431 1,118,439 255,103 200,227 191,794 34 P17.296.066 91.6 P16.684.392 91.3 P21.046.803 93.2 1,582,162 8.4 1,587,697 8.7 1,608,551 6.8 P18.878.228 100.0 P18,272,089 100.0 P22,655.354 100.0 TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES Countries October, 1926 Value Monthly average for October, 1925 12 months previous to October, 1926 Value % Value French East Indies. Germany.................... Australia................... British East Indies. Dutch East Indies.. Netherlands.............. Italy............................ Hongkong.................. Belgium...................... Switzerland................ Japanese-China........ Norway...................... Denmark.................... Other Countries. . . . Total.......... 62 6 6 3 9 8 9 2 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 2 2 9 1 2 8 8 3 7 6 0 0 0 P41,915,222 100 65 4 5 3 5 2 3 8 5 2 6 1 1 7 9 3 6 0 0 0 0 3 67 5 6 3 7 3 3 1 0 0 0 P36.463.291 100.0 P41.814.801100 1 2 32 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL December, 1926 I BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY “LA URBANA” (Sociedad Mutua de Construcci6n y Pristamos) Prestamos Hipotecarios Inversiones de Capital 155 Escolta Manila, P. I. B. A. GREEN REAL ESTATE Improved and Unimproved City, Suburban and Provincial Properties Expert valuation, appraisement and reports on real estate Telephone 507 34 Escolta Cable Address: “BAG” Manila Manila, P. I. Philippine Islands PHILIPPINES COLD STORES Wholesale and Retail Dealers in American and Australian Refrigerated Produce STORES AND OFFICES Calle Echague Manila, P. I. Derham Building Phone 22516 Manila P. O. Box 2103 MORTON & ERICKSEN,INC. Surveyors AMERICAN BUREAU OF SHIPPING Marine and Cargo Surveyors . Sworn Measurers MACLEOD & COMPANY Manila Cebu Vigan Davao Iloilo Exporters of Hemp and Maguey Agents for INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER CO. Agricultural Machinery Rosenberg’s Garage TELEPHONE 209 « ®. rfj CHINA BANKING CORPORATION MANILA, P. I. Domestic and Foreign Banking of Every Description INSU.RANCE FIRE MARINE MOTOR CAR F. E. ZUELLIG, Inc. Cebu Manila Iloilo P. O. Box 1394 Telephone 22070 J. A. STIVER Attorney-At-Law Notary Public Certified Public Accountant Investments Collections Income Tax 121 Real, Intramuros Manila, P. I. HANSON & ORTH, Inc. Manila, P. Buyers and Exporters of Hemp and Other Fibers 612-613 Pacific Bldg. Tel. 2-24-18 BRANCHES: New York—London—Merida—Davao Phone “El Hogar Filipino” 2 - 22 -33 Building WARNER, BARNES & CO., LTD. Insurance Agents Transacting All Classes of Insurance SANITARY - CONVENIENT - SATISFACTORY! Five European Barbers Special attention given the ladles LA MARINA BARBER SHOP 117 Plaza Goiti Jose Cortina. Prop MADRIGAL & CO. 8 Muelle del Banco Nacional Manila, P. I. Coal Contractors and Coconut Oil Manufacturers MILL 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 Pza. Sta. Cruz, Manila Phone 26130 M. J. B. The Quality Coffee F. E. Zuellig, Inc. Cebu Manila Iloilo S. W. STRAUS & CO. BONDS for sale by J . A. STIVER P. O. Box 1394 Telephone 2-20-70 121 Real, Intramuros, Manila Forty-four years without a dollar loss to any investor Quality ffi Shirts k TOYO SHIRT FACTORY I I044AZCAR RAGA. MANILA. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL NIGHT SPECIAL TRAINS Operation of the regular Weekly Night Trains has been resumed Friday, December 3rd, to return Sunday night of each week until further notice. NORTH BOUND TRAIN SOUTH BOUND TRAIN Leaves Tutuban Station, Friday at 11:00 P. M. Leaves Damortis Station, Sunday at 10:29 P. M. Arrives Damortis Station, Saturday at 5:41 A. M. Arrives Tutuban Station, Monday at 5:10 A. M. All Baguio Night Trains include spacious, modern sleeping and Buffet cars with bathrooms and all conveniences of de Luxe travel. These trains will also carry ordinary First and Third class coaches and baggage car. CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR NIGIIT TRAINS On account of the Holidays, the northbound train for Christmas week will leave Manila on Thursday, December 23rd, instead of December 24th, and for the New Year trip, the northbound train will leave Manila on Wednesday, December 29th, instead of December 31st, to return on Sunday, January 2nd. Dining Service on the Baguio Night Special Trains is operated by the MANILA HOTEL COMPANY. RATES Manila to Baguio, one way ...... 10 days, Manila to Baguio, Round Trip ..... 60 days, Manila to Baguio, Round Trip - Manila to Damortis, one way - - - - - 10 days, Manila to Damortis, Round Trip - 60 days, Manila to Damortis, Round Trip - 60 days. Manila to Bauang Sur, Round Trip .... Sleeper berth, each way ....... 3rd Class P 8.55 11.84 12.94 5.55 8.88 9.13 10.37 Express rates on automobile from Manila to Damortis when owner is holder of one or One automobile Two automobiles to one One automobile, Manila owner holding two or more first class tickets to Damortis and return within 60 days more 1st class tickets: P51.94 95.22 Transportation between Damortis and Baguio is a direct connection by the Benguet Auto Line constituting a regular and comfortable service at established rates and is provided for in all through tickets sold by the Manila Railroad Company. For North bound trip Sleeping Car reservation should be made and tickets purchased at Tutuban Station, or American Express Company, Inc., Plaza Moraga, and for South Bound trip at Benguet Auto Line Office, Baguio. Write for copy of new Folder containing complete Time Tablesand information concerning important points reached by Railroad. CENTRAL STATION AND OFFICES MANILA RAILROAD COMPANY Telephone 4-98-61 943 Azcarraga I i 11 i The Season’s Greetings to Our Many Friends and Clients. Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, Limited Masonic Temple, 4th Floor Telephone 858 Importers and Exporters !."• TO -.EERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL I Gifts for Every Hr One and Shop [ft Early Let us solve the problem of your Christmas giving Wonderful coffee sets in the new Japanese lacquer ware, nut dishes, tea sets, porcelainware, kimonos, Haori coats, Japanese silks and a large assortment of holiday goods. Headquarters for Toys Santa Claus can fill his pack from our stocks. A thousand and one gifts to delight boys and girls. ; Bring the youngsters to see our holiday display. OSAKA BAZAR 332 ECHAGUE MANILA, P. I. TELEPHONE 216 Christmas is near!... It is time now to begin selecting your gifts When you check your list of Christmas gifts, you’ll agree with us that a selection from our extraordinary large Jewelry stock will make the ideal present for performance and ap preciation. Let your Jeweler be your Gift Counselor La Estrella del Norte LEVY HERMANOS, Inc. 46-50 Escolta Iloilo Manila Cebu IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL