The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Media

Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal
Description: Manila : The Chamber, 1921-1976
52 v.
Issue Date: Volume XVII (No. 2) February 1937
Publisher: The American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands (Member Chamber of Commerce of the United States)
Year: 1937
Language: English
Subject: Philippines -- Commerce -- Periodicals.; Philippines -- Economic conditions -- Periodicals.
Rights
Place of publication: Manila
extracted text: What is Money? The Philippines’ Case at Washington London Foreign Exchange Quotations “Right” Baldwin? Man the Knowable MINING REVIEW Corporate Crookedness The New Engineer in the Philippines Gold Production: Month by Month and Year by Year Gold Export: -Year by Year Potential Wars Strengthen Metal Market Abra Mine Properties Average Metal Price for January 1937 January 1937 Gold Production OTHER FEATURES AND THE USUAL EXPERT MINING AND COMMERCIAL REVIEWS your motor and CHAH6fjOoM 1 ATETHY risk-needless repairs? Drive in here for ” ~ the motor oil that has proven itself the mas ter of any motor heat or speed. VEEDOL is 100f < Pennsylvania at its finest . . . the motor oil that help ed Admiral Byrd on all his long-distance flights and expeditions. Drive in today for a free crankcase clean-up and refill with Veedol. Tide Water Associated Oil Co. Associated Div. MANILA PHILIPPINES More Than More Than ©AS Proves Its Popularity Our Records Show That: 40,000 GAS Ranges and Hot Plates Do Manila’s Cooking 6,500 GAS Water Heaters provide Hot Wat er for Bathing, Shaving and Laundering 1,000 GAS Refrig erators provide efficient refrigera tion at lowest cost. LAS the most popular, most ideal, most efficient fuel. MANILA GAS CORPORATION Display Room................ 136-138 T. Pinpin More Than IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 1 (Bfmspirin/i SAFE AND EFFECTIVE IF YOU LOST YOUR MEMORY YOU’D BE UTTERLY HELPLESS If You Lost Your Business Records YOUR BUSINESS WOULD BE RUINED SAFEGUARD YOUR RECORDS, THE LOSS OF WHICH YOUR BUSINESS COULD NEVER SURVIVE I ARE POSITIVELY FIREPROOF AND BURGLAR PROOF! THEY CANNOT BE DESTROYED—FIRE CANNOT DESTROY THE CONTENTS. PHONE OR WRITE OUR OFFICE EQUIPMENT DEPARTMENT FOR DETAILS, PRICES, AND FULL INFORMATION NOW! DON’T WAIT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE! HEACOCK’S THE STORE OF QUALITY Formula: 0.5 Gm. Aspirin + 0.05 Gm. Caflcine per tablet Send the JOURNAL to friends in U.S, Cost Only t*4 00 a Year American Chamber of Commerce Journal P. O. Box 1638 Manila IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 W&e j?okotjama Specie ^anfc = utb. = (Established 1880) HEAD OFFICE: YOKOHAMA, JAPAN Yen Capital (Paid Up).......................... 100,000,000.00 Reserve Funds.............................................................................................. 130,900,000.00 Undivided Profits............................................................................................ 10,446,651.83 Here’s how to get Manila's! MANILA BRANCH 34 Plaza Cervantes, Manila S. Dazai, Manager Telephone 2-37-59 Manager Telephone 2-37-68 Remittance 8c Deposit Dept. Telephone 2-37-55 Cashier 8c Accountant Telephone 2-35-28 Import Dept. Telephone 2-37-58 Export 8c Current Deposit Account Dept. Live Electrically for a Few Centavos a Day • ELECTRICITY is not expensive. We may live electrically for a few centavos a day and enjoy all the comfort, the safety, the convenience and pleasure that complete electric service gives. Look through your home. Check up on your lighting, your cooking equip ment, your electric outlets for the time saving small appliances—find out what you need and how little it costs to get them. See your dealer for electrical appliances—call a contractor to figure wiring costs. Manila Electric Company 134 San Marcelino Telephone 2-19-11 Philippine Tobacco Agent: Genuine Manila Long Filler Cigars in cellophane are obtain able in your city or nearby! List of Distrib u tors furnished upon re quest to— C. A. Bond 15 Williams Street, New York City Collector of Internal Revenue Manila, P. I. MA NILAS made under sanitary conditions will satisfy your taste! (Health Bulletin No. 28) Rules and Regulations for the Sanitary Control of the Factories of Tobacco Products. “Section IS. Insanitary Acts.—No person engaged in the handling, preparation, processing, manufacture, or packing of tobacco product or supervising such employment, shall perform, cause, permit, or suffer to be permitted, any insanitary act during such employment, nor shall any such person touch or contaminate any tobacco products with filthy hands or permit the same to be brought into contact with the tongue or lips, or use saliva, impure water, or other unwholesome substances as a moist ening agent;....". RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 3 Luzon Stevedoring Co., Inc. Lightering, Marine Contractors Towboats, Launches, Waterboats Shipbuilders and Provisions SIMMIE & GRILK Phone 2-16-61 Port Area WARNER, BARNES & COMPANY, LTD. LONDON — NEW YORK — MANILA ILOILO — CEBU — BACOLOD IMPORTERS & EXPORTERS SHIPPING DEPT. INSURANCE DEPT. Agents For: Nippon Yusen Kaisha Cunard-White Star, Ltd. Bibby Line Transacting Fire Marine Automobile Workmen's Compensation and Miscellaneous GENERAL MANAGERS OF COMMONWEALTH INSURANCE COMPANY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVES OF IMPERIAL AIRWAYS, LTD. MACHINERY DEPARTMENT Agents For: Sugar Machinery, Diesel Engines, Condensing Plants, Mining Machinery and Steels, Shipbuilders and Engineers. AGRICULTURAL DEPT. IMPORT DEPT. All Classes of Sperry Flour Fertilizer Sugar Bags Coble Address: "Warner" Standard Codes Manila Office: Perez-Samanillo Building, Manila IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 = BOSCH — SALES AND SERVICE for the Philippines ROBERT BOSCH A-G STUTTGART UNITED-AMERICAN BOSCH CORP., SPRINGFIELD C. A. V. BOSCH LTD., ACTON, LONDON General Agents: C. ILLIES & CO. 550-554 San Luis, Ermita Manila Established in the Far East 1859 Do your friends a favor! Direct them to The Manila Hotel the leading hotel in the Orient where they will have CHARTERED BANK OF ,naVd cVisntaral‘ Capital...........................................................................................£3,000,000 Reserve Fund............................................................................. 3,000,000 Reserve Liability of Proprietors......................................... 3,000,000 MANILA BRANCH established 1872 SUB-BRANCHES AT CEBU, ILOILO AND ZAMBOANGA Every description of banking business transacted. Branches in every important town throughout India, China, Japan, Java, Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States, French Indo China, Siam, and Borneo; also in New York. The Bank’s London Office undertakes Executor and Trustee business, and claims recovery of British Income-Tax overpaid, on terms which may be ascertained on application. Head Office: 38 Bishopsgate, London, E. C. C. E. STEWART, Manager, Manili LUXURIOUS COMFORT at MODERATE RATES Provides every Western con venience combined with every Oriental luxury American Plan Only H. C. (“ANDY”) ANDERSON Managing Director THE HING CF I I FI A Sole Agents THE MANILA WINE MERCHANTS, LTD. Largest Wholesale and Retail Liquor Dealers in the Philippine Islands Head Office Retail Branch Office 174 Juan Luna 37-39 Alhambra Tela. 4-90-57 or 4-90-58 Tel- 2-17-61 7 RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Single Copies: 35 centavos Entered as Second Class Matter May 25, 1921 at the Post Office at Manila. P. I. WALTER ROBB Editor and Manager Hon. Ricardo Nepomuceno How Judge Nepomuceno Works as Securities & Exchange Commissioner Our cover is honored this month with a portrait of the man charged with one of the groatest responsibilities in the whole public service of the Philippine Commonwealth—Hon. Ricar do Nepomuceno, the Commissioner of the Securities & Ex change Commission. You meet him in his now offices in the oidtimc American Hardware building on calle Echaguc. You find him accessible; you find him firm but reasonable; you had better guess that he is incorruptible or it will be bad for your digestion. His business is to serve the mining industry, prin cipally, of the Philippines without either discouraging it or giving it too free a rein. More precisely, he sees that com panies shall respect the Mining Act, the Corporation Act, the Blue Sky Law, and the Securities & Exchange Act. True, he has a staff and there arc departments at the Com mission; committees have been organized and matters go from hand to hand, finally coming up to the Commissioner. That is Judgment Seat. President Quezon deserves the public’s commendation for having found such a man as Judge Nepo muceno to fill it; for fill it he doos, in most praiseworthy manner. It is the Journal's belief that Judge Nepomuceno will find many things to be cleaned up both among mining corporations, not all of them new, and among the exchanges and the brokers. So feeling, the Journal wishes to broadcast Judge Nepomuceno’s demonstrated interest in his job. He is sleepless at it, tireless at if. Don’t imagine that just because the 4 o’clock whistle has blown and government offices have emptied that it is too late to see Judge Nepomuceno that day—the chances are he will be at his desk two hours longer at least. By the way, here is a little trick your broker might pull that you don’t have to stand for. You have bought a stock and de posited the margin your broker requires. The stock begins rising. Say you bought at 28; in a day or two you decide to sell, the market being 33, but you find that your broker sold you out at 31-1/2—he says he feared the market would break, that he called your office and tried to get you but you were out. Well, you don’t have to take this thick stuff, it’s a sharp practice and the Commissioner won’t stand for it; get the 33 you wanted. If you don’t, who knows but that the broker sold you out to himself? This of course is just a little example of how the Commission serves the public, even its humblest members. There are some credit questions for the Commission to get around to—just now the chief preoccupation is the avalanche of new companies seeking permits to issue their securities. But this credit business—it even worries High Commissioner J. Weldon Jones. There are sales under Delayed Delivery stamp, setting a week aside for certificates to reach Manila from the provinces. That way your broker only uses your money a week, and meantime your trading need not be ham pered—you have your confirmation and can use it. But who thought up this little one, Delivery at End of Month? It could duplicate credit. You buy early in the month, your confirmation is given you, but the certificate will be along at the end of the month. Your broker has your money, he can trade with it; and you have your negotiable confirmation, you can trade with it. That one isn’t so good, on the face of things—it looks for all the world like undue inflation of credit and something that could readily get all tangled up. So there is plenty for Judge Nepomuceno to do, plenty for him to look into. For there never was a gold boom quite like ours, plumped right into the midst of settled agrarian com munities—tempting the lambs with fire their innocence hopes (Please turn to page 10) Improved 85 HORSEPOWER for Maximum Performance New 60 HORSEPOWER for Maximum Economy an Entirely New Idea in MOTORING ECONOMY the n \t q for NEW T KV-TV-L/ V “ 0 1937 Manila Trading & Supply Company Port Area, Manila — “After We Sell We Serve” — Telephone 2-37-71 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 6 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 The Philippines' Case at Washington An interpretation of pertinent factors from what is believed will be Cordell Hull's viewpoint as Roosevelt's state secretary By Walter Robb Much press discussion has transpired in Manila of late, relative to the future status of the Philippines as an independ ent nation. Apologists on one side led by President Manuel Luis Quezon spurn the political neutralization of the Philip pines under international agreement, a step made feasible by the Tydings-McDuffie act creating the ten-year Common wealth and providing independence in 1946. This side thinks the better security lies in leaving America naval bases in the Islands after 1946 an effecting a good trade treaty with her. On the other side, apologists cling to the neutrality proposal. Perhaps there is too much show of heat on both sides. At any rate, President Quezon has posted off to Washington to talk up his side; he will find President Roosevelt a big navy man, though it is not so certain that Roosevelt cottons to the strategy of naval bases on foreign territory—that is to say, on the shores of a foreign country—or that he cares to prolong indefinitely America’s political interest in the Far East as naval stations here would do. Roosevelt may think England’s political interest in this part of the world more permanent and practical than America’s and that the game is one to play at Downing Street rather than in Washington. But we think President Quezon has a decisive card that remains to be played. If he can get naval-stations arrangements made, why not Philippine independence at a much earlier date than 1946—why not have it come within Quezon’s own administration? Quezon probably angles for Cordell Hull, as secretary of state, a statesman strong in Wilson’s selfdetermination doctrine. At the same time, Major General “Field Marshal” Do.uglas MacArthur is Quezon’s mentor in matters relating to the political security of the Islands now and in the future; the problem is to reconcile MacArthur’s narrow view of the situation with Hull’s broad one: the soldier thinks of what is best for the Philippines, the country that gave him his golden baton, but the statesman thinks beyond this to what is best for the United States not merely in her relations with the Philippines but with Holland (because of the .Dutch East Indies), Britain, Qhina, Japan and possibly even Russia. Quezon, thinking of the trade, proposes that his office be granted the manipulation of a flexible tariff schedule. In this and other proposals there lurks more dollar diplomacy than is tolerable to Hull’s scholastic detachment, no doubt; and we believe Quezon tossed it forth as a trial balloon and would be entirely disconsolate should it bo punctured and deflated. For Quezon probably feels that good exports from the Philip pines, fibers and copra particularly, mean a great deal to the United States in her trade with the Islands and are not asso ciated in the minds of manufacturers requiring them with the volume of American manufactures sold here. America, while under Cordell Hull’s state policy at least, would probably rather see five centavos a day added to daily wages in China or fifteen to wages in the Philippines than higher Philippine duties against foreign goods with American goods coming in duty free. Thus Mr. Hull is more likely to study totals than percent ages; and he is likely to want to know how much the totals, gross sales, can be practically increased from year to year and whether they might not decline unless wages rise, whatever the height of the tariff. In short, his view of the Philippine trade is certain not to be unilateral: he will wish to know its real weight in America’s overseas commerce as a whole—he will look ahead to what may be expected of the future rather than back toward what actually prevailed in the past. Hull has no chip on his shoulder fcr any country; he wants the nations to return to the generally harmonious relationships that pre vailed among them, and in their mutual commerce, before Postdam decided to turn parades into battles, and naval reviews into Jutlands, and for this attitude he will one day have the Nobel prize. Hull is no warm friend of artificial commerce; it takes a good deal, perhaps more than the Philippines care to put on the ball, to make him swing at such ideas. The Philippines have not reached a crisis in their economics such as Denmark faced when the American Northwest was settled and new grain supplies from western Canada, western United States, and Argentina began supplying England, Den mark’s customer for this staple up to that time. On thecontrary, the Philippines have their oldtime tropical products to sell and a good demand for them in the United States because they have a valid claim to a part of America’s sugar market and nothing comes up to threaten their copra and fibers there. If we consider sugar, as America grows more of it her de mand also rises; at the same time, the Philippine population in creases rapidly, creating demand for more rice and more land on which to grow it. Under any conceivable conditions, Philip pine sugar will always enter the American market on terms at least as advantageous as Cuba enjoys there—terms keeping Javan sugar practically out of the market. Philippine sugar will continue rolling into San Francisco and New York in definitely, and the switch in the field from cane to rice will be gradual. As America will always want a lot of good Manila rope, she will continue buying the hemp for it here because she can procure it nowhere else. She will also continue buying the bulk of her copra and coconut oil here, because here is tfie world’s major supply of that product; and if possibly she ceases to accept the oil and insists on buying the copra only, the net loss to capital and labor will be comparatively small—and probably all made up by wider manufacture of soap here for the domestic and Far Eastern trade. That America tends to buy as many tropical supplies here as she well can is evidenced in how quickly Congress stopped leaks in the oil excise-tax legislation, and the differential this (Please turn to page 10) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 7 Mrs. Wallis Warfield Simpson “Right” Baldwin? “By ancient customs and usages of the realm" the archbishop of Canterbury was scheduled to crown King Edward with this “visible emblem of royalty." So transcendent in the universal affairs of men is the romance of the late Edward VIII of Britain and Mrs. Simp son that it outstrips all other reading and admits of any number of postscripts. The one we would add is a dry one, however, on the constitutional point involved. This little matter cost Charles I his royal head, having meanwhile precipitated England’s civil war. When England’s American colonies began taking on a dignity and resourcefulness of their own, it drew down upon George III the wrath of Jefferson in the Decla ration; though it was George who was innocent, though guilty enough in other things unrelated to the colonics, and it was the cabinet and the privy council who were guilty. Franklin representing Pennsylvania tried more than a decade to reach the king of England; if memory serves he began with George II, and George III came into the picture later. Frank lin had a practical plan of autonomous colonies, with direct appeal to the king: he could no more get this by the British cabinet than he could fly his famous kite to the moon, and finally he had to dodge out of England quickly and by French The Duke of Windsor A man he'd rather be called than King. leave to avoid being tried for treason, or something worse, before the privy council. (He took along with him to Dover a thermometer, and amused him self dabbling it in the sea and noting its reckonings as he sailed on toward safety and his beloved Philadelphia, and so discovered the current that modifies the climate of western Europe and affords Baldwin pleasant places of sojourn when worn with the cares of state. America was then ahead of Europe in science, and Franklin woke the French up to it later, when he lived in Paris and repre sented the colonies during their rebellion, which the French helped materially to crown with success). No, sir—no confabs with the king for a suave printer from Philadelphia. No, sir, again—no bending to the king in 1936 when he wishes to marry in his own way, a way displeasing to Mr. Bald win, as well as Mrs. Baldwin, and hence displeasing to the British cabinet. A similar fracas over the constitution was avoided under Queen Victoria, Strachey and others show us, by the early demise of her consort Albert. Albert had great concern for the country, as Edward had, (Please I urn to page 10) THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Conrado Benitez: Philippines Trade Envoy to America Sketched by James Weber Linn University of Chicago In the spring of 1909 a young man came into my dean's cubby-hole in Ellis Hall, inquiring for Dean Boynton, who seemed to be temporarily mislaid. The young man was brunette, with a strong face and the pleasantest smile I had ever seen, except Walter Steffen’s perhaps, and his teeth whiter even than Steffen’s. I had been away the previous year, on a sort of earned leave, and had never seen this young man before. He told me his name was Conrado Benitez; that he had been sent to Chicago two or three years before when he was sixteen, as a “special student’’; that he had graduated from the University High School, was now ending his sophomore year at Chicago, and was particularly interested in economics, “education,” debating, and swimming. "We Filipinos, sir,” he said, favoring me with the aforesaid smile, “can all swim and argue.” I made the change he wanted in his course, signed P.H.B. on the card, left a duplicateon DeanBoynton’sdcsk, and thought how true the aphorism was that "the brighter they are the farther they come.” Conrado Benitez was obviously bright; he had come a very long way, from Manila. I wondered how far he would go. He became captain of the water-polo team, treasurer of the Senior Class of Ee-olev-en, took a debating scholarship and hon orable mentions for scholarship in both the Junior and Senior Colleges (never mind what they were; that was a quarter of a century before the New Plan). In August, 1911, three months after he received his Ph.B., he was awarded the Master’s degree also, in education. A week later, we said good-bye (we had become friends by that time, and Conrado was always polite as well as affectionate with his friends) and he went back to Manila, where he had been appointed to the faculty of the Government Normal School. His appointment interested the islands, mildly; for he was the first Filipino to be judged worthy of thus sharing the “white man’s burden” of teaching young ideas how to shoot. His progress at first was slow. In fact, it took him four long years to become dean of the College of Liberal Arts in the University of Manila. He might have reached that plane sooner, but for the fact that he had also become interested in a movement to establish a news paper in English, owned and edited by Filipinos. So at 25, when he became dean, he also became editor-in-chief and chief editorial writer of the Manila Herald. Already, by the way, he had been dubbed “the Americanist,” because he could not forget how much he had delighted in the University of Chicago, in American ideas of education, and in his conviction that America stood for freedom of thought and action. After the War, in 1919, he re-visited the States for the first time, as a member of the first official Filipino “mission.” He came frankly to lobby for the eventual independence of the Islands; was The Benitez Family Poses at their Laguna home. Conrado, Mrs. Benitez, their daughter Helen, and two sons, Frederic and Thomas put in charge of the “contact bureau” in Washing ton, and stayed in the United States half a year. I renewed my own old contact with him that year, for when he came to the University to look us over he flew like a homing pigeon to the deans’ cubby-holes. I knew that even then he was a distinguished person, but I was not afraid of him. “Benny,” said I, “do you still swim and argue?” “Not much swimming nowadays,” he said, with the same old fascinating grin, though his eyes were sadder, “but my job in this country is to argue!” In fact, while remaining an educational ad ministrator and a newspaper editor, he had also found time to study law, and had been admitted to the bar; He found the three professions, how ever, too strenuous to practice simultaneously, so in 1921 he gave up his newspaper work, (the Herald had become a daily) and in conjunction with a partner who had also been educated in the United States, and who has since been ap pointed to the Supreme Court of the Philippines, he practiced steadily, valiantly in defense of the constitutional interests of the Philippines. By the time he was thirty, Benitez was generally regarded as about the most "promising” fellow in the Islands. But he kept out of politics. He had been made Dean of the new College of Business Ad ministration of the University of the Philippines; he was writing school textbooks in Philippine history and in economics, he was bringing up his wife (who is now Dean of Philippine Women’s University) and his three children, and he was as one might say generally “extending his sphere of influence.” In 1934 however the bell rang. He was practically forced to become a' delegate to the new, epochmaking Philippine Constitutional convention. He was prompt ly placed on the Committee of seven to draft the document—the only “Americanist” of the lot. The constitution was drafted. Three of the seven, headed by Benitez, “struck.” He wanted ampler provisions to insure academic freedom, non-sectarian control of the public schools, more Government participation in the furtherance of higher education; in short, he wanted more education, and more freedom, constitutionally guaranteed, in the Islands. After a hot debate in the Committee, asmalLer “Committee on Style” was formed—a way of whipping the devil around the stump. Benitez controlled that “Committee on Style.” It revised the Constitution, putting in what the “younger generation” demanded. Benitez had swum through ,to distinction, and argued through to a sort of Jeffersonian serviceability to his country. This year, after having been incidentally, as one might say, elected Grand Master of the Masonic Order in the Philippines, he was made a member of the. Philippine delegation to the Institute of Pafcific Relations, meeting in California in August. After that was over he hurried on to Chicago. He was on his way round the world, for to admire and for to see, but particularly to study governments. His old class, the Chicago class of 1911 (please do not confuse with the Harvard class of 1911, recently made so famous for faineance) grabbed him, and he stuck around for ten days, eating and drinking and gabbing. But I was interested in the tone, jn what I may call the elevation and hard common-sense, "Of his “afterdinner speeches,” of which I heard a couple. He asked no favors, gave no quarter to ignorance, talked like a statesman—which is what he has become. The same old smile, the same old deference (“I think of you as Teddy, sir, but I have not the irreverence to use the name”) but the maturity of a man who thinks in terms of national interests, and international understanding. Somehow he made me feel a little as Jane Addams used to—that I was likable, but, well—young. I think the millionaires and the publicists and the practical hardheads of 1911 felt a bit the same way. But how they delighted in him, and hew he delighted in them! “I have, felt,” lie said once, “always that the University of Chicago was solidly, splendidly educational. But I have felt always too that it was a house of friendship. I don’t know whether I give more sincere thanks for the education or the friendliness of it. But yes—more for the friendliness.” Conrado Benitez has gone far. There are those who think he will go farther, that indeed he cannot escape going much farther still. —from University of Chicago Magazine, De cember, 1936. February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 9 What Is Money? By Henry Uy Cho-Yee Courtesy o, Nation'/ Business The word money comes from Latin “Moneta” which was a surname of Juno. The Romans gave the name “Mo neta” to their silver coins because they were coined in the temple of Juno Moneta in 69 B.C. The term money is used, both in matters of business and in economic theories, in such very different ways that it is impossible to cover them all with a simple definition. Money is, however, generally understood to be the stand ard by which the value of commodities is measured, and is the article which is uni versally recognized as medium for their purchase and sale. The principal characteristic of money is that it is received without reliance upon the per sonal credit of the person offering it and that it is accepted without reference to an assay of its quality. There is standard money (gold or silver) as well as representa tive money (fiat money). Standard coins, bars of bul lion which can at once be converted into standard coins, token coins, paper currencies in the form 'of convertible banknotes and inconvertible banknotes, are all included under “money”, although they represent essential differences. In modern societies, one of the most important forms of money is “bank money”, or the money of the money market, which for the most part consists of neither coin nor notes. The whole of the banking system of the United Kingdom, for example, really rests upon the reserve kept by the Bank of England, and every bank receives deposits of “money”, and makes advances of “money” with the use of a very small proportion of the coins or bank-notes. In primitive societies, exchanges first took place by means of barter, but the difficulties of simple barter were obviously very great. A coincidence of mutual wants at the same time and place was the first condition of any exchange, and it was plain that a common medium of exchange would obviate one of the principal difficulties of direct barter. If there was some one thing which every one was willing to take, it followed that anything else could be bought or sold against this particular commodity. Accordingly, the first function of “money” was to provide (1) a medium .of exchange, and its first forms consisted of things which were generally desired in simple states of society such as skins, cattle, shells, corn, pieces of cloth, mats, salt, tea, tobacco and many other commodities have, at different times and places, been used as “money” in the sense of a common medium of exchange. The commodityfchosen, however, would be of little advantage unless it could be used both in large an J small quantities; this condition led to another primary function of “money”— viz. (2) as a measure of value. Not only was it necessary that things could be exchanged against a common substance, but the rates of exchange must be measured. Finally, as society advanced, a basis for (3) deferred pay ments, and also a method of (4) storing "values" without de terioration, became of. im portance. In order that these four primary functions may be fulfilled, the substance chosen for money must have certain properties of which the prin cipal are portability or great value io small bulk, durabil ity, sameness of quality, stab ility of value, and cogniza bility. It was soon discovered that these qualities were pos sessed in the highest degree by gold and silver. Other metals have been used at different times and places even for standard money, but all of them have failed in one or more of these particulars. For example, iron is liable to rust; lead is too soft, having a relative hardness of 1.5 as compared with 3.0 for gold, silver, or copper; tin is too brittle; and, in proportion to its exchange value, copper is too heavy, having a den sity, in grammes per cubic centimetre, of 8.93 as com pared with 19.3 for gold, 10.5 lor silver, 7.86 for iron, and 0.001429 for oxygen. Gold has a melting point in degrees Centigrade of 1063 as com pared with 960.5 for silver, 1083 for copper, 1530 for iron, 231.8 for tin, and 327.5 for lead. It may be stated here that our word “salary” comes from the Latin word “salarium” originally meant salt money, or the money given to the Roman soldiers for salt when salt was a part of their pay. The English symbol d. standing for penny or pence comes from “Denarius” which was at one time the standard coin of Rome. Before B.C. 210, a denarius (which meant “ten asses”) consisted of ten asses, but in the time of Augustus (B.C. 63—A.D. 14) it consisted of 16. Standard money is the form of money with which all others are kept at a parity. The precious metals, gold and silver, are the standard or primary moneys in the world today. Primary, typical, standard money is the unit in which the value of money of a country is expressed, no matter what its form may be; the standard is a certain weight and fineness of a particular metal. Coins of this standard are called full or real money by some writers who deny the title of money to everything else. Take a twenty dollar gold piece, mar the Goddess of Liberty, pound out the United States of America and batter the eagle, and after you get it pounded, it is still worth twenty dollars, although in this form it is no longer legal tender, but the value remains unchanged—twenty dollars. Take a United States silver dollar which contain 0.7734375 troy ounce of fine silver. It is a legal tender token coin. Pound it into a cube and it will then be worth approximately 35.03 cents, U. S. currency, based on the present price of silver in the New York market of approximately 45-1/4 cents per troy ounce 0.999 fine which (at the approximate New YorkLondon cross-rate of U.S.84.9051 per £1) is-equivalent to the London silver price of 20-1/2 pence per troy ounce 0.925 fine, as of London, January 21, 1937. (.Continued on page 13) IO THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 The American Chamber of Commerce OF THE Philippine Islands (Member Chamber of Commerce of the United States) ALTERNATE DIRECTORS i L. K. Cottermu E. M. Bichracb L. D. Lockwood H. Dean Hdlu SECRETARY: C. G. Clifford EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: P. A. Meyer, Otirtm G S. Salmoo RELIEF COMMITTEE: C. G. Clifford, MANUFACTURING COMMITTEE: K. B. Day, Ciar'nwa F. H. Hale D. P. O'Brien H. P. Strickler LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE: Q S. Stlrnoo, C.G: Clifford FINANCE COMMITTEE: Verne E. Miller. Otirmm E. J. Deymek FOREIGN TRADE COMMITTEE: H. B. Pond, Ci.rr«a» N. H. Duckworth PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE: P. A. Meyer, Ci^irm C. S. Salmoo Roy C. Bennett BANKING COMMITTEE: E. J. Lcjeonc, a«:«« E. E. Wing J. R. Lloyd RECEPTION & ENTERTAINMENT COMMITTEE: E. Schradicck, Ckarrwaa H. J. Beldco INVESTMENT COMMITTEE: P. A. Meyer, UtiriM C. S. Salmon I. C. Rockwell S. F. Caches SHIPPING COMMITTEE: H. M. CaTender, Cb.irmtn E. M. Grimm Chester F. Sharp Hon. Ricardo Nepomuceno {Continued from page 5) will not singe off their wool. The Commissioner hails from Marinduque. He is a Tagalo; you would suppose the folk of Marinduque to be either Bikols or Bisayans, but they arc Tagalos and may have migrated from Batangas—they speak with the rising inflexion of Batanguenos. (In Marinduque, Mineral Resources is developing a lead-zinc property under the skillful guidance of Victor Lednicky) Commissioner Nepomuceno is a little past forty. He is married. Mrs. Nepomuceno is also from Marinduque, and they have five children, all attending the public schools, three girls aftd two boys. The Commissioner graduated in law at the University of the Philippines. He tends to be laconic, which may be a natural trait heightened by his long experience at the Supreme Court as a law clerk. During seven years at the court he was Associate Justice Thomas A. Street’s pri vate secretary; better training, in the Philippines, no aspiring student of the law could have than seven years’ association with the late Justice Street—who was wont to remark the sound character and ability of Nepomuceno. Leaving the court, the young barrister repaired to politics and between 1922 and 1931 without a break was elected and reelected Marinduque’s representative in the lower house of the old Philippine legislature. Then he lost, but in 1934 came back as a member of the constitutional Convention and took a leading part in the counsels and debates that led to the drafting of the Constitution of the Commonwealth—to be carried on after 1946 as that of the independent Philippines. President Quezon first appointed Commissioner Nepomu ceno a judge of first instance, in Nucva Ecija—it being a cardinal rule of Quezon’s never to name a judge to his home province. This position was held less than six months, when Quezon, announcing to a large press conference one Friday afternoon, “I have decided who the Commissioner will be, but won’t tell you now because the appointment isn’t signed and I don’t want a lot of disappointed friends down on me— all I will say is that when you know who he is you will approve his selection—” the next day, or possibly the next Monday morning, came through with the name, Ricardo Nepomuceno. The Commissioner’s former colleagues in the law-making branch of the government share the unstinted confidence President Quezon has in him as a law administrator. The Philippines’ Case . . . {Continued from page (?) legislation gives the Islands. Let the wisemen of politics east and west meet as they may, and arrange as they will, a stout American demand for Philip pine surplus products must remain the basic factor in the Islands’ economics and those who take most advantage of this fact will prosper best. President Quezon, whose particular delight is to speak with his tongue in his cheek, probably knows as well as any man that even during the British period in the Islands after the decline of American maritime facilities in the Civil War period and the opening of the Suez canal hardly a decade later, America was really buying large quan tities of Philippine products—just as she has since, just as she will until chemists, should it ever be possible, obviate her necessity for them. Only, during the British period, the trade was round about instead of being direct; cargoes were loaded at Manila for London and Liverpool whose real and final destination was New York or Baltimore, Boston or Phila delphia. Earlier, American ships hauled the cargoes themselves and had the major part of the business. As to American imports, ■just let Juan de la Cruz have a peso to spend instead of fifty centavos or a peseta, and generally you will see him buying something of an American brand. The Philippines have suffi cient sound trade to offer A/nerica to keep her interest in this market as alert as her general indifference to overseas com merce for manufactures permits. But this interest will grow, rather than diminish, under any set of circumstances fate determines. “ Right ” Baldwin? {Continued from page 7) and he had strong notions of how to implement this concern and make it effective. He more and more insisted upon his wife’s prerogatives; instead of taking every suggestion from the cabinet, he had suggestions of his own for that august power to take from him, therefore from the crown. But he died, so there was no final rumpus; Victoria was left disconsolate to the alternate hammering righteousness of Gladstone and the velvet diplomacy of Disraeli, and no monarch ever in Lon don knew better than she where to find the dotted line and fill it out with the royal signature. Albert had already looked to the empire, and staged a great empire fair; thereafter Britain had Albert Hall, until fire con sumed it a few weeks ago, and Queen-Mother Mary went and visited the ruins to distract her mind from worries provoked by a forward son forty-two years old—a young and liberal king in step with his times but out of harmony with that nebulous entity too delicate even to boast a shadow, the tough and tender British constitution. There is little more to this British constitution save that what is done is right; but of course what is done must be done by the cabinet or under its aegis: sometimes it likes Canter bury to do it, and His Grace obliges; as io Edward’s case, it was no question that he was king and even would be king should he marry Mrs. Simpson, or perhapa her maid, and February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 11 would be no more king, and no less, after the coronation; but an ancient sanction was invoked, behind which the cabinet could take shelter, the sanction of the wedding at Canterbury, which the bishop there was got to say could not be solemnized if Mrs. Simpson were the other party at the altar. This dubiety turned out to be the British constitution; in other words, the will of the British cabinet, Mr. Baldwin’s si-senor men. The extremist action the British cabinet has taken in pre servation of what is known in history as British liberty, since it forfeited the American colonies, and stocked Canada, just then won from the French, with refugee monarchists, at great expense to the exchequer, rather than yield the crown a thim bleful of real authority over the empire. As much was said at the time, often, in the fiery debates, and of course, as much came to-pass. Cromwell—but who is he who follows Baldwin, who does not deprecate that commoner Cromwell?—had not ridden and had not fought in vain. It is merely an aside that the Church of England was founded by Henry VIII to sanc tion royal divorce—it gave it to him from Catherine of Aragon because all her babies from Henry died in infancy and Henry felt there was a hex on the house. That was the British constitution then, and the church’s part in it, but state and church have other views of the proprieties nowadays: Cathe rine was from Spain and England wanted no tie-up with Philip; and besides, the plunder from the church in England, where feudalism had built up its vast and pleasant estates, was rich. What then persists in the British constitution, what is persistent in it? Just this: the crown and the monarch whose head it is on are symbols, nothing more, of traditions the British like to maintain for old times’ sake, and grandeur of present times they take just pride in. During the whole period introductory of Edward’s abdication, the cabinet consorted with the p^ess to the end that Edward should not reach the people through their newspapers and reviews: he could no more do this than Charles I could have a fair trial. And it was all quite right, as well as right in the political sense. The British cabinet is Britain’s government. Edward had a case of his own, but as king he could not enforce it after the cabinet took a stand against it: for Baldwin to have wavered then would have implied that the cabinet yielded in authority to the crojjln, something the cabinet never does and never dare do. Some blame British liberals for not aligning themselves with Edward and forcing the government to seek sanction in a general election. These critics not only do not know how religious Britains are, even sanctimoniously religious, but they do not see that no liberal victory could be based sub stantially on an understanding raising the royal authority above that of the cabinet and the Commons which would mean a change of the constitution. Crowns go on from monarch to monarch, Edward had but to doff his for George to make it his own—by cabinet choice, bear in mind—but cabinets go only so long as the people endorse them: they eminently, though sometimes lugubriously, represent the will of Britain. So Baldwin was right, except it may be questioned seriously whether he should have ever raised the issue. That seems to have crowned his bumbling as a premier. If the British people think it has cost them too much, out he will go in an early election. Meantime, all there is to it is that the British crown has received another lesson as to its real place in British law. FOR PROTECTION AGAINST COMMERCIAL AND PERSONAL LOSSES we provide COMPLETE INSURANCE SERVICE at competitive rates and liberal conditions FIRE—EARTHQUAKE—MARINE—AUTOMOBILE PERSONAL ACCIDENT—EMPLOYEES LIABILITY BAGGAGE—PLATE GLASS—ETC., ETC. CALEDONIAN INSURANCE COMPANY LEGAL AND GENERAL ASSURANCE SOCIETY, LTD. NORWICH UNION FIRE INSURANCE SOCIETY, LTD. Over a Century of world wide experience with reputations and financial security second to none. GENERAL AGENTS GUTTRIDGE & CHAMBERS, INC. Tel. 2-23-48 108 Calle Nueva DIXOKOLA The new refreshing, stimulating beverage you and your friends will enjoy—made by ISUAN, INC. Tel, 5-73-06 • WE DELIVER Contrary Let’s be contrary. Let’s put our back against the wall and face the political wise men of the world, as we make this daring statement: There is a good chance that the frightful World War which the experts claim is inevitable may not happen after all. To make a remark like that is indeed, as the graphic phrase of the day has it, going "out on a limb.” For all the high-brows and the broad brows and—may we coin one?—all the scare brows of the international scene disagree on only one item of the sure-as-fate death grapple, and that is just when it will start. And yet there are definite, dramatic and powerful factors at work to prevent this certain world horror. Some of these agencies are subtle, some even under-cover and difficult to pin down; still, with a little peering and pulling, they can be hauled out into the light of day. In the first place, this coming World War is a war for which every one is prepared, and—to reverse the logic—a war for which all contestants are ready is a war that doesn’t happen. That is because no nation will attack another unless it believes it possesses an advantage over the op ponent. Which means it thinks itself better prepared. Note this: the psychology of an attacking nation is the same as that of an individual bully. (Please turn to page 41) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 12 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Man The Knowable be measured Science Discovers Thought Wavt Following a better critic, I caption thus the discussion of part: “It seems that the violence of the emotional moods Alexis Carrel’s Man the Unknown. This research scientist’s diminishes when wealth increases, when education is generalizliterary venture into the field of human progress as a whole ed, when diet becomes more elaborate. At the same time, has startled the scientific and intellectual world. The obvious affective functions are observed to separate from intellicriticism is, that a biologist cannot judge human ity; but an unprejudiced reader is forced to admit that Carrel has judged rather well. Not pedantically, but in scholarly fashion and with literary tastefulness, Carrel presents his view of today’s human being. As he sets forth, he “has studied the hidden mechanisms which, in the depth of the tissues and in the immensity of the brain, arc the substratum of organic and mental phenomena. . . is indebted to the techniques of modern civilization for the possibility of witnessing such a gigantic spectacle.” His criticism is, no student of modern problems apprehends man as a whole. “The slow progress of the knowledge of the human being as compared ■with the splendid ascension of physics, astronomy, chemistry and mechanics” he attributes to the narrowness of mortal view and to the freakishness of scientific discovery. “Modern civilization finds itself in a difficult position be cause it does not suit us,” says Carrel. “It has been erected without any knowledge of our real nature. It was born from the whims of scientific discoveries, from the appetites of men, their illusions, their theories, and their desires.” For example, “although physicians, educators, and hy gienists most generously lavish their efforts for the benefit of mankind, they do not attain their goal. For they deal with schemata containing only a part of roality. The same may be said of all those who substitute their desires, their dreams, or their doctrines for the concrete human being. These theorists build up civilizations which, although designed by them for man, fit only an incom plete or monstrous image of man. The systems of government, entirely constructed in the minds of doctrinaires, are valueless. The principles of the French Revolution, the visions of Marx and Lenin, apply only to abstract men. It must be clearly realized that the laws of human relations are still unknown. Sociology and economics are conjectural sciences.” So Carrel attempts, within the confines of one volume, to describe the real human being in sofar as scientific knowledge is available. As experiment gnaws its way into the physiologically unknown, Carrel concludes that “all our activities cannot be expressed in chemical terms.” In the chapter, Menial Activities, Carrel upsets some traditional views. “Dualism has weighed heavily upon the entire history of our knowledge of man,” he states. “Neither the soul nor the body can be investigated separately. We observe merely a complex being, whose activities have been arbitrarily divided into physiological and mental. What is thought, that strange being, which lives in the depths of our selves without consuming a measurable quantity of chemical energy? Is it related to the known forms of energy? Could it be a constituent of our universe, ignored by the physicists, but infinitely more important than light? Is it produced by the cerebral cells, like insulin by the pancreas and bile by the liver?” “The existence of telepathic phenomena, as well as other metapsychic phenomena, is not accepted by most biologists and physicians. The attitude of these scientists should not be blamed. For these phenomena are exceptional and elusive. They cannot be reproduced at will. Besides, they are hidden in the enormous mass of the superstitions, lies, and illusions accumulated for centuries. It is, nevertheless, a fact that they are a normal, although rare, activity of the human being.” In discussion of the emotions, Carrel has this to say, in gence, and to exaggerate unduly certain of their aspects. The forms of life, of education, or of food brought by modern civilization perhaps tend to give us the qualities of cattle, or to develop our emotional impulses inharmoniously.” “Envy, hate, fear, when these sentiments are habitual, arc capable of starting organic changes and genuine diseases. The instability of modern life, the ceaseless agitation, and the lack of se curity create states of consciousness which bring about nervous and organic disorders. The diseases of the mind are a serious menace. They are more dangerous than tuberculosis, cancer, heart and kid ney diseases, and even typhus, pl ague and cholera.” Pessimism stands forth in one bold paragraph: “The distribution of mental activities varies greatly in the different social groups. Most ci vilized men manifest only an elementary form of con sciousness. They produce, they consume, they satisfy their physiological appetites. They also take pleasure in watch ing, among great crowds, athletic spectacles, in seeing child ish and vulgar moving pictures, in being rapidly transported without effort, or in looking'at swiftly moving objects. They have no moral, esthetic or religious sense. They arc extremely numerous. They have engendered a vast herd of children whose intelligence remains rudimentary.” He summarizes: “The sciences of inert matter have led us into a country that is not ours. We have blindly accepted all their gifts. The individual has become narrow, specialized, immoral, unintelligent, incapable of managing himself and his own institutions. But at the same time the biolog ical sciences have revealed to us the most precious of all secrets—the laws of the development of our body and of our consciousness. Thi^ knowledge has brought to humanity the means of renovating itself. As long as the hereditary qualities of the race remain present, the strength and the audacity of his forefathers can be resurrected in modern man by his own will. “We will be faced by a single obstacle, our inertia. The economic crisis came before the complete destruction of our ancestral qualities. The spon taneous crash of technological civilization may help to release the impulses required for the destruc tion of our present habits and the creation of new modes of life. The spirit and the techniques of science are our most precious possessions.” The suggested remaking of man has many phases. Carrel would begin with a key profession the world over—medicine. It could “enlarge its field, embrace the relation of the body with the material and mental world. . . guide the development of all our organic, mental, and sociological activities.” A high council of science would be established. “It should per petuate itself automatically, in such manner as to radiate ever young ideas. Democratic rulers, as well as dictators, could re ceive from this course of scientific truth the information that they need in order to develop a civilization really suitable to man.” By their singling out children endowed with high potentia lities, and remodelling education, a non-hereditary aristocracy of intellect would be set up. Eugenics would be used to con serve the best qualities of a generation. Social classes would be synonymous with biological classes. Finally, “Culture without comfort, beauty without luxury, machines without enslaving factories, scitnce without the worship of matter, would restore to man his intelligence, his moral sense, his virility, and lead him to the summit of his development.”—E. S. February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 13 What Is Money? (Continued from page D) Before the silver dillar coin was disfigured and pounded out. of shape into a cube, it was a legal tender good for one dollar gold because it con tained the promise of the United States govern ment to keep it on a parity with gold. For the pure metallic silver content, in the American silver d >llar to be worth its full monetary or face value, it. will be necessary to have a market price for silver of U.S.S1.2929 per fine ounce. Gold and silver are commodities. They are the products of labor; they are the things ex changed for something else. The coining of the precious metals is a device to facilitate exchanges. Gold and silver are coined because every man cannot, take a chemist outfit with him; he cannot carry a crucible and retort, scales and acids, and so the governments coin them, simply to certify how much gold or silver there is in the gold or silver piece. The coining of thirty-five (35) cents worth of silver, for example, does not make it worth a dollar; the coin (then, a “token coin”) is given the value of a dollar not because it is legal tender but because of the promise of the government to keep it on an equality with the gold dollar. Gold and silver get their value from labor. The dollar in gold, for example, represents, on the average, the labor that it took to dig and mint it, together with all time and expense of the man who looked for it without finding it. The dollar in gold, on the average, will or should buy the product of the same amount of labor in any other direction of industrial activity. Currency meant originally the capacity of being current, or, as Samuel Johnson (1709-1783) defines it, “the power of passing from hand to hand”. It was applied to the thing that was so current, and. generally, to whatever, by being current among any nation or class of persons, served as the money with which they bought commodities or pay their debts. In modem times, it denotes money itself, as fixed by law. There is metallic currency in vogue, as well as fiduciary (banknotes) currency. A depreciated currency means metal or paper currency circulating for less than its face value. During the Civil War in the United States, the paper dollar sank in 1864 to 38 cents; it did not reach par (100 cents) till 1879. A depreciated currency may be created by a government calling notes or any other form of money a legal stand ard, and issuing a greater quantity of it than the real transactions of the country and the property passing from hand to hand require. Token money consists of subsidiary coins the intrinsic value of which is below the face value. In the Middle Ages, silver was very scarce, and prices were extremely low. In a petition of the date of 1330 in England, it was pointed out that “beer is one penny for three gallons”, and that a penny was the Smallest coin, and t he petitioners prayed that smaller coins might be struck to pay for little purchases and “for works of charity”. The smallest coins cannot be made of the precious metals of full value and according ly baser material must be used. Fiat money means irredeemable paper money made legal tender by law. The word “fiat” is Latin meaning “let there be”, or “let it be done”, and the fiat money advocates believe that the government has but to say, ‘let it be money”, to invest, paper with value. The typical fiat advocates in the United States were the “Greenbackers”, those voters who wished to retain the paper money issued in the Civil War (A.D. 18G1-1865), and to increase its amount greatly. They saw in paper money an unlimited source of income to the government. They proposed the payment of the national debt, the support of the government without taxes, and the loan of unlimited money without interest to citizens. All might live in luxury if the ex tremely fiat, money theorists could realize their dream. Money cannot, be the creature of law, although law may, at times, be the creature of money. We cannot create money by law any more than we can create rice, corn or mangoes by law. When the volume of currency is inflated, it is at the expense of the creditor class; when it is contracted, or currency deflated, it is at the expense of the debtor class. Every paper dollar issued for circulation should be able to hold up its hand and swear “I know that my Redeemer liveth”. We cannot bring prosperity by merely cheapening money. If the prosperity of a country depends upon the volume of its currency, then the successful counterfeiter is a public benefactor. Bimetallism is the name given to a monetary system in which both gold and silver are on precisely the same footing as regards mintage and legal tender.’ A bimetallic standard there fore denotes that a country has both gold and silver conjointly. In 1792, the United States government, based on the investigation and recommendation of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, made gold and siver the standards, and they went on and issued American dollars 15 to 1 which was the approximate value-ratio of silver and gold prevailing in the commercial market at that time. But where you have two metals and endeavour to make a joint standard, or double standard, it is very hard to keep them even. They vary, and, as the old saying goes, “when two men ride a horse, one must ride behind”. ESTABLISHED 1812 --------- :-------------------------------------------------------Capital (Paid) - U. S. $ 77,500,000.00 Surplus--------- ” 42,500,000.00 Undivided Profits ” 11,991,339-92 (As of Sept. 30, 1936) ----------- ; <#? - ---------COMPLETE BANKING SERVICES MANILA OFFICE National City Bank Building TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL The principal difficulty in the adoption of both metals as a joint standard is that the joint stand ard or double standard would be in reality a fluctuating single standard because, considering the variations in supply and demand of the two metals, variations must constantly occur in the relative market values of gold and silver con sidered as bullion. Thus, in England in 1717, according to the ratio adopted by the advice of Sir Isaac Newton, gold was compared with silver, overvalued about 1-1/2 per cent, that is to say, gold was so much more valuable as currency than as metal. Consequently, the full weight silver coins were withdrawn, and gold became the principal currency. In 1816 Great Britain demonetized silver and adopted the gold standard. In France, on the other hand, at- the time of the great Revolution (A.D. 1789-1799), silver was slightly overvalued, and thus became the principal currency, the gold being to a large extent driven from circulation. In the United States, in 1806, when Thomas Jefferson was President, the coinage of silver was stopped, as there was too much silver in the dollars and people, instead of passing them around, put them aside and sold them to the silversmiths or exported them for profit. In 1853 the United States gold standard was in fact adopted and silver in that year was demonetized. Other things remaining the same, an increase in the quantity of money will raise general prices. This theory is confirmed by the effects of the great discoveries of gold in Australia and Cafornia about 1850. Similarly, in the 16th cen tury, when silver was the standard money, the discovery of the silver mines of Potosi (Bolivia, South America), caused a great rise in prices. Conversely, a decrease in the quantity of money, or a contraction of the currency, will operate to lower general prices. The quantity of standard money, other things remaining the same, therefore determines the general level of prices, but the quantity of token money, or subsidiary coins, issued, is determined (Please turn to page 36) IN RESPONDING 14 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 LETTERS Notes on a Trip to Saigon-Angkor, Bangkok and Singapore (Continued from December, 1936) Prasat Kravan. Brick temple, Siva. Siemreap River makes a light turn in center of Angkor Group. It is now thought that Angkor Thom is built on an older site. 3:00 to 6:00 P. M. Zoo. Village. Water wheel, grinding corn. 10 Km. to Phnom Krom Mt. See Tonle Sap (Lake). Angkor Wat and Koulen Hills. Then to West Lake, 8 Km. artificial, with water and bathing. It balances Mebon Lake, which is dry. Shooting December, January, February, March best time. .405 rifle. From KompongThom 150 Km., Siemreap, 40 Km. Gen eral license covers tiger, gaur, deer, buffalo. Three-day trip, $150.00 all expenses, car, food and guide. Success guaranteed. Night shooting any time, $35.00 deer guaranteed, perhaps tiger and gaur. Guide will furnish gun, car, etc., for night shooting. Trip to Bangkok Leave hotel at Siemreap 5:00 A.MStop at 7:00 A.M. Sisophon Hotel, Aranya 8:15. Train leaves at 9:30. Tip chauf feur $1.00 per day. Money may be changed. Mountains to North. Rice, mills, windmills and treadmills. Sia mese ball game. Lunch carried from hotel. Arrive Bangkok 5:00 P.M. Clean trip, but a longday. Tin roofs in Siam. Oriental Hotel on River, excellent. Bang kok a modem city. Exchange. Two Tical, $1.00 gold. French R.R. stops at Sisophon for military reasons. Bangkok, Siam Originally, Cambodia and Malaya were part of Siam, but France and England movedin. Bangkok 150 years old. Siam ruled by three Regents for nine-year old King. Good rail system, wood burning. No roads. Teak wood in North. Rice, rubber and tin in South. City located in bend of river as protection against Burmese. Universal military service. 8:30 to 11:30 A. M. Wat Po reclining Buddha, 49 m. long. White walls, sharply gabled roofs. Yellow tile and glass mosaic. Very colorful. All Siamese become priests for a short time. Wat Rajabopilr. Pearl inlay on teak doors. Dwarf trees. Pasteur Institute. Cobra, King Cobra and Banded Kraik. Venom extracted and horse serum made an antidote. Giant Swing. Wat Sulal. Bronze Buddha. Fine mu rals. Government schools in all temple grounds. P. M. Golf at Royal Bangkok Sports Club. Dance at the Tien Lao. Siam Hotel Cabaret. 9:30 to 12:30 A. M. Palace and see white elephant and monkey. Legislative Building. Royal Pa lace and Emerald Buddha temple. Very grand. Small temple, bells on eaves. Lantern Bazaar. 7:30 to 10:30 A M. Launch from Hotel up River to Klongs and water market. Wat Aroon, temple .of dawn. Tomb of first King who was Chinese. Plates con fiscated for decorations. 4:00 P. M. Train to Penang. Hua Hin seaside resort 225 Km. South. Good train, Diesel engine. Arrive Padang Besan, Fed. Malay States. Here good roads start. From Prai, ferry to Penang. E. & O. Hotel. Wembley Park. Chinese theatres and Balinese Dancers. Penang. Port for Northern Malaya. Drive to Waterfall Park. Race and golf course. Fine residence. Town very co lorful. Chinese, Malay, Indians. Snake temple. Khoo Kongsi house, very fine stone and wood carving. 8:00 P. M. Train to Singapore. Pass Ipoh, richest tin mine in world. Change at Kuala. Lumpur, capital of Malay States. Looks like Baguio, hill resorts, commercial center. Chair car to Singapore. Rubber, oil palms, pineapples and durian. Rubber needs even climate, 100" rain per year. Trees bear at 5 years. Sap is latex, coa gulated chemically and smoked. Baled and exported. Chinese have shops, In dians work plantations and Malays sit. Singapore. Arrive 6:00 P.M. over Johore Causeway. Raffles Hotel. Island settlement started 1819 by Sir Stamford Raffles to compete with Dutch. Very impressive city. Clean, cool, wide streets. Free port, Japanese getting trade. Opium govt, monopoly, however Chinese are using more beer and cigarettes. Great shipping center. Coolie labor 40£ a day. Straits dollar between peso and dollar gold. Batik is heavy cotton waxed and dyed, then soaked in oil. Japanese control fishing. Good polo. Raffles Museum excellent. Fine gold course. New World Amusement-Park. Chinese taxi dancers. Good riding by reservoir. Arab Street for Sarongs. Military-Naval-Air Situation. Large Naval Base between Island and Johore. Monitor and floating dry dock oil tanks close together. Mine laying cruiser. Four Regts. Artillery at Changi and Other Harbor Defenses. Two batallions infantry at Tanglin Barracks, one battalion up country. All Federated States have volunteers. Army HQ at Ft. Canning—, same set up as Philippine Department. Large air base next Navy Base, both land and sea planes. Four-day trip to Manila via Dutch Freighter Pl00. each. Good accommo dations. Arrive Sept. 5. Manila-Saigon........ 850 miles, ship 3 days Stop-over, Vi day. Saigon-Aranya 450 miles, motor 4 days. Includes 2 days at Angkor. Aranya-Bangkok. . .. 200 miles,rail 1 day. Stop-over, 1^ days. Bangkok-Singapore. 1220 miles, rail or ship 2 days. Singapore-Manila... 1230 miles, ship 4 days. The above may be made for 1*500.00 per person plus extras. The above notes cover extra days as follows: Saigon 1 Bangkok 1-1/2 Penang 1 Singapore 6 Hotels are roughly 10 Piastres, Ticals or Dollars per day for room and meals. Cars two or three Piastres, Ticals or Dollars per hour. February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 15 Thoughts Current Traveling in Europe last year, I had some unusual opportu nities to learn about the grave changes in the fate of nations made by the rival philosophies of Communism and Fascism, and to reflect upon these. I saw Fascism at work in Italy, and I met friends who had been intimately in touch with affairs respectively in Russia and in Germany. The testimony was unanimous, and the evidence supporting this was indisputable, that the character of great peoples was altering and that fate, ever dependent upon character, was altering with it. Mus solini, Hitler, and Stalin were guiding their nations to new and strange ideals and aims. Those aims and those iaeals I abhorred, but I could not be indifferent to many phases of the spirit engendered by the austere and determined purpose which offered no bribe or bounty but demanded that men and women do something held up to them as duty, cost what it might in suffering, poverty, and death. The aims to be reached seemed to me sinister, the very negation of that froedom which develops young men and women intellectually and morally. But horc, at least, the people were not told (hat material comfort was their right, that whether they sought work or not a comfortable living must be provided for them; and, more than all, they were learning to know that life held a purpose for them ampler and less selfish lhan their own individual salvation. When I came home, how different was the scene! Here'was the country dedicated by our fathers to the ideal of a common wealth wherein the purpose of government was that opportunity should be open to all; where the age-long barriers between class and class should be no longer insurmountable; where men must work for their reward, and when work was done thal reward should not be withhold; where self-respect carried with it the respect of the community; where it was a common obligation, not to be shifted to town or county or state, for a man to help his own, up to the very limit of his capacity. Here in America it is doubtless true that the aftermath of war and the natural forces of 1920-1930 have helped to weaken the American spirit, but it appalled me to see the artificial political forces of the Roosevelt regime devoted to breaking down and making soft the whole structure of life among us, not only in its physical but in its mental and spiritual aspects. It seemed to me that all the forces of democracy dedicated from the foundation of the Republic to hardening the selfreliance and personal responsibility of every citizen were now being utilized to belittle and undermine the very qualities of individualism which made this country strong and through which its future lay. It seemed to me that a premium was being put upon class warfare rather than upon cooperation. In short, I had the acute sensation (hat instead of returning to the Land of Promise, which I had always considered the United States to be, I was returning to a land where erratic and ill-considered experiment was being substituted for any thing like rational progress, to a land where for the first time the qualities which had made the country great were being abandoned and even held up to contempt as compared with new qualities, qualities whose validity had never been proved in any group, not even those centring in Moscow’, Berlin or Rome. I am not saying that wc arc on the road either to Fascism or to Communism. I do say that we are abandoning the spiritual heritage of America, and as I think of these things I am tempt ed to bitterness. But I keep clearly in mind that the deeds and policies of the last four years are not all evil. I remember the gallantry and confidence with which the President took the helm at the height of the storm. I remember the deter mination with which through the Hundred Days he steered the ship. But I think, too, of the New Deal. The New Deal is mis named. It is, in truth, a New Game, the objectives of which are vaguely defined and the rules wholly indeterminate. • By Ernest M. Hopkins What its exponents purport to ask from us is something quite different from what they are likely to demand, if future practice is to be judged by past performance. Ever on their lips is the preservation of American institutions. They profess themselves desirous merely of modifying them. But it is simply a matter of record that the Administration has ignored most of the philosophic concepts on which our govern ment was founded. It has been bitterly critical of any res traint upon measures which would in effect be the permanent abandonment of Americanism. The great question before our people is whether the nation shall still hold to the tried and proved principles of our history or whether it shall abandon them for new theories and practices of government the merits of which are wholly problematical. It is not necessary to impugn the motives of the leaders who are dominating the government at the present time to question their wisdom. There is little point in arguing about their sincerity, although I, for one, do not doubt it. What is all-important is that there shall be presented to the American people a true diagnosis of the ills which affect them, and that they shall be given an understanding of the extent to which these ills are organic, or, on the other hand, incident to the supposedly curative treatment which is being administered to them. II The national Administration is entitled to credit for im provement of national conditions only as that improvement has been greater undor its management of affairs than it would have been if that management had not been under taken. Materially, we are better off than we were four years ago. That I grant. I do not grant that this improvement is greater than it would have been without the ministration of infinite government bureaus. But, absolutely regardless of this, it still remains a fact that the gain has been secured at a costly price. It has been purchased by the sacrifice of moral and spiritual values, for it has engendered a well-nigh universal spirit of covetousness. One of the most sapient aphorisms of which I know is that it takes a tragic amount of time on the part of the wise to correct the mistakes of the merely good. The misfortunes of the present day may easily become catastrophes if the process is continued of dissipating our inheritance of courage, initia tive, fortitude, and aspiration. Under the impulses of these qualities a struggling people organized the government and overcame great difficulties to set up the principle that every man is entitled to an equal opportunity. To argue that this ideal has not been fully attained is not to demonstrate that it has not been more fully attained in America than anywhere else in the woild. When, before the New Deal came to America, has it been assumed that no distinction should be drawn between men of varying capacities who strive to make use of America’s opportunities? With the record behind us of accomplish ment greater in magnitude than the world has ever known in the same brief span of years, we are asked to believe our slowly evolving form of government a failure and to credit the ab surdity that the welfare of the population at large is some thing other than the sum total of the welfare of the individuals which compose it. I suppose that it is always an inevitable instinct of the reformer to disregard experience in order that he may be free for complete experimentation, but this is an unsafe claim to grant in political affairs. A story told by Graham Wallas in his Dartmouth lectures some years ago bears definitely upon the matter of accepting new hypotheses of life formulated from the data of half-truths. He said that in the middle of the last century, when Baron Justus von Liebig was one {Please turn to page 44) 16 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Authorized Capital.................................$50,000,000 Issued and fully paid........................... $20,000,000 Reserve Funds: Sterling...........................................£ 6,500,000 Silver...............................................$10,000,000 Reserve Liability of Proprietors..........$20,000,000 BOARD OF DIRECTORS AND HEAD OFFICE IN HONGKONG V. M. GRAYBURN, Chief Manager, Hongkong LONDON OFFICE—9 Gracechurch Street, E. C. 3 MANILA AGENCY ESTABLISHED 1873 AGENCY IN ILOILO Agents at Cebu, Messrs. Ker & Co. The bank buys and sells and receives for collection Bills of Ex change, issues drafts on its branches and correspondents in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Continent of Europe, Aus tralia and Africa and transacts banking business of every description. Current accounts opened in Philippine currency. Fixed deposits received in Philippine Currency, British or U. S. Currency at rates which may be had on application. Philippine Trust Company thru its correspondent banks, executes orders for the purchase or sale of stocks and bonds on the New York Stock Exchange and other exchanges in the United States. It also sells drafts and cable or radio transfers for the payment of money anywhere in the United States, the principal cities of Europe, China and Japan. Fidelity and Surety Company of the Philippine Islands executes and covers BONDS INSURANCE Court, Customs, Firearms, etc. Fire, Marine, etc. Plaza Goiti and Escolta When To Stop Advertising When every man has become so thoroughly a creature of habit that he will certainly buy this year the same products he bought last. When younger, and fresher and spankier concerns in your line cease starting up and using the newspapers in telling the people how much better they can do for them than you can. When nobody else thinks “it pays to adver tise.” When population ceases to multiply and the generations that crowd on after you, and never heard of you, come on. When you have convinced everybody whose life will touch yours, that you have better goods and lower prices than they can ever get any where outside of your store. When you perceive it to be the rule that men who never do and never did advertise are out stripping their neighbors in the same line of business. When men stop making fortunes right in your sight, solely through the discreet use of this mighty agent. When you can forget the words of the shrewd est and most successful men concerning the main cause of their prosperity. When you would rather have your own way and fail than take advice and win. When you want to go out of business with a stock on hand. When you want to get rid of the trouble of waiting on customers. LET US HELP YOU WITH YOUR ADVERTISING PROBLEMS Manila Daily Bulletin ADVERTISING SERVICE DEPARTMENT IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Hon. R. Nepomuceno Commissioner. Securities and Exchange Commission ■------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Comprehensive Philippine Mining News Up to Date ORE TESTING • Complete equipment is available in the Marsman laboratories for every kind of ore test ing. Experienced metallurgical engineers personally supervise such test work, and from it make flow sheets and design mills. • Ore testing; mill design and construction; mine and mill operation; anti sound manage ment are important features of the complete service which Marsman and Company offers the mining industry of the Philippines. • No better examples of the efficiency of this service can be presented than United Paracale and San Mauricio, the two latest gold producers in the Philippines to become divi dend-pax ers. The entire work of exploration, prospecting, development, and mill planning and construction for both of these companies was done by Marsman and Company in a remarkably short time and with remarkable success. • Further information upon request MARSMAN COMPANY, INC. MINE MANAGERS AND OPERATORS Examining and Consulting Mining Engineers Insular Life Building Manila Philippine BlancheBaguio, Mountain Provm. Paracale, Camarillos Xori Surigao, Mindanao <> European Office London, England KoppeL EVERYTHING FOR YOUR RAILROAD Rails, Switches, Curves and Ties Fishplates, Bolts and Spikes KOPPEL ALL-AROUND DUMP CARS Granby Type Cars. Gable Bottom Cars Your Enquiries Are Solicited KOPPEL (PHILIPPINES) INC. 75 DASMARINAS MANILA ILOILO IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 17 CROSSLEY DIESEL ENGINES CROSSLEY HORIZONTAL LOWJSPEED ENGINES sold since 1911 are still giving satisfactory service after 24 YEARS OF UNINTERRUPTED SERVICE IN THE PHILIPPINES Best suited for Ice Plants, Oil Mills and other Plants requiring 24 hours service Sole Agents: SMITH, BELL & CO., LTD. Cebu — MANILA — Iloilo TRY NOW CCCCNAS TAEACALELA PHONE 2-25-77 | General Securities & Investment Co. | 1 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 18 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 ANNOUNCING THE OPENING OF Completely Equipped, Modern CUSTOM ASSAY LABORATORY in Surigao, Surigao Assays for: Gold, Silver, Copper, Chromite, Manganese, Iron, Lead, Zinc, etc. 24-HOUR SERVICE PREMIERE MINERAL EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION A. Borromeo St., Surigao, Surigao Dr. E. Osmena, President P. O. Box 26 Sole Agents for the Philippines P. O. Box 282 Tel. 2-32-13 The Earnshaws Docks & Honolulu Iron Works 60-118 Second Street, Port Area Manila, P. I. Branch Office Bacolod, Occ. Negros IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 19 The New Engineer in the Philippines • By Earle W. Bedford The unprecedented influx of mining engineers to the Phil ippines as a contributing fa-tor to the general extension of mining interest in development of new areas of mineral poten tiality again denotes, and commands, the resourcefulness characterizing the successful engineer. He is here confronted with problems presenting considerations of such differing nature than those having been common to his previous ex perience, or as may have developed during his training, that only those able to adjust themselves to conformity with the new environment are assured of any degree of early success. He is to eventually, if not forthwith, find him self identified with a chaotic, and conflicting, sit uation of mining claim title which has apparently not been clarified—probably due to a great lack of desire among certain claim locators to have the legality of their locations determined at court, particularly when there is an existing element in toleration of the prevailing recourse to bolos, or the more opulently hired rifle and shotgun guards. In any event a fine opportunity for a venture some spirit, one not too easily discouraged in the exercising of almost super-human tact when be set with adversity rarely experienced elsewhere. The conditions above indicated need not be ela borated inasmuch as each engineer will experience these, and other, perplexities early in his Philippines career, and lie is hereby forwarned that whatever his solution, right or wrong, he will be liable to criticism from some quarter. Initial ventures into the several mining districts in the provinces will startlingly convince the newly arrived engineer of the extreme contrasts between almost every condition allied with mining enterprise here as compared with the conditions, practice and procedure, known to him in his previous exper iences. Noteworthy in this respect is—for igneous structures of such comparatively recent age—the rather complex geologic features expressed throughout the archipelago. Superficial tropical influence, predominantly the clayey residual products of weathering; the prevailing mantle of jungle vegetation; as also the massive flanks of upheaved, and negligibly eroded, sedimentary schists, limestones, shales, and alluvials serve to expansively obscure igneous formations favorable to the harboring of ore structures. An open mind, one not too prone to correlate our geology with that of Western North America, even though there are many comparable features, will be an invaluable trait, and obviously one compatible with an early ability to examine toward more accurate con clusions. It is one of the early tribulations suffered by an engineer that he may be delegated to examine a property comprising fifty, or more, claims upon which the only work in progress is the intense cultivation of rice paddies. I should point out that in this relation there is indicated for him an extraordinary aptitude toward applying a geologic training to the problems in hand, as also an ability to satisfactorily report the conditions subject to observation. If, however, he is to investigate a property having some degree of merit he will, as stated, find many of the formation features obscured, and more often than not, very little development—even trenching—will have been done upon exposures of ore. Not every engineer encounters the situations merely implied in the foregoing. There arc many properties here meriting their keen interest and incentive; also there is ample finance for legitimate mining enterprise. Capable engineering, sound financing, and a willingness among corporate bodies to actually undertake development of favorable prospects intelligently, can not but react to an ever-broadening of Philippine mining; provided, of course, some of the tactics now in vogue do not obtain to the end of driving speculative capital from the finan cial support of new ventures. Among engineers arriving to connect with operative posi tions—either at established mines or prospective develop ments—there is indicated a great degree of patience in training available labor for the work in hand. In the older established mining districts, employees in both mining and milling work have been trained to satisfactory stages of effi ciency. There is no accurate record of the tceth-gnashing, the vituperation, exhortation, or other forms of emotional expression hav ing been vented in the achievement, but never theless there is a record of well-trained labor in, and about, the established mines, and patience, combined with a study of the limitations of the inexperienced employee, has been largely respon sible. It is incumbent upon any engineer, for his own sake and the interests of his employers, to make the effort as soon as consistently possible to procure a license in conformity with the Common wealth’s requirements. Obviously his standing is enhanced, and his work has the sanction of the several bureaus con cerned with mining, and mining corporations. Should an engineer be eligible for a license he must ulti mately procure it here, and it is unfortunate that companies employing engineers do not all make it a point to acquaint their men with these requirements prior to their leaving the homeland. Under the requirements the several parties vouch ing for an engineer’s integrity and ability should be acquainted with the applicant for at least six months. Much time could be saved if prospective technical employees were provided with all necessary blank forms for their license applications prior to their departure for the Philippines. Health, and a constitution strong enough to withstand the ever-lurking depredations of dysentery, ptomaine, fevers, ulcers, insect infections, rheumatism and other results of ex posure, are a necessary requirement for any engineer here—especially those delegated to remote localities. Parasitic infections affect ing the skin, as also the intestinal tract, aie a source of perhaps more misery than is generally appreciated. One must be con tinuously guarding against these maladies hich, in the midst of jungle filth, are the forerunners of ulcers and other infections often leading to blood poisoning—even gangrene—all to the individual’s remote chance of availing himself of medical assistance i n time to save his life. Water at all times, and places, must be boiled. Native cooks and personal boys often look upon this procedure as “another crazy Ameri cano idea”, therefore it behooves one to personally know the water is boiled. Never drink from a stream —regardless of the crystalline-clear appearance of the water. Jungle people are not versed in the laws of sanitation, and for some reason seem to have de veloped immunization, to a degree at least, from the several sources of intestinal infection to which you and I would succumb. They, in this respect, are often carriers without experiencing any ill effects. (Please turn to page 30) 20 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 The Philippine Mining Racket With further apologies to those companies and associations that really possess payable mines or potentially payable prospects and are honestly operating or developing the same By R. Y. Hanlon Another phase of the mining racket which shuns the light of publicity is what may be termed the “Director Racket.’’ In order to carry this off with proper technique and aplomb, a prominent man of rectitude and standing in the community, is selected and induced by plausible arguments to act as pre sident of the company. This is the “front”, or window dressing. The less practical knowledge of mining possessed by the president, the better for the schemes of the directors, their henchmen, parientes, touts and promoters, all the parasites which flourish and grow fat around these racketeering pro motions. A set of trick by-laws are prepared, so written as to give the president no powers which might hamper the future “Wallingfordesque” actions of the directorate. A permit having been secured to sell stock, or invite subscriptions to the shares, units or what have you, of the company, and funds started pouring into the treasury, the looting process may be begun. The slogan now becomes “every man for himself and the Devi) take the hindmost”. Thousands of pesos monthly can be milked on padded payrolls. Instances are known where no laborers or work-men are on the property, or ever have been, yet large payrolls are made up passed by the unsuspecting president, and the funds therefrom divided among the directors and their henchmen. Fake supply bills are another fertile source of revenue. These may be worked very smoothly when the company auditor happens to be one of the inside men. Frequent junkets and “inspection” trips to the property, which seldom go beyond the boundary of some directors home town, afford excellent opportunity for withdrawing fat sums under the heading of expenses. One of the best executed big steals encountered to date, and put across with the o. k. of an honest but misinformed pre sident, was the purchase from company funds, for company account, of a group of adjoining worthless claims, staked and held by dummies of the directors, The deal had no legal flaws and the loot was divided among the “boys” according to the best racketeering procedure. Another fertile source of steady income on a smaller scale is the fee payment for attending directors meetings. These fees range from 10 pesos per meeting to 50 pesos, depending upon the cupidity of the directors. An instance is reported of 100 pesos per meeting. This is probably tops for this sort of thing. If not, it should be. Directors meetings are called upon the least provocation. They usually accompany a luncheon, at the expense of the company naturally. Fees are collected irregardless of the duration of the meeting. It is a lirectorate quite barren of ideas which cannot arrange from 3 to 5 such meetings weekly. The fee yield should at least be sufficient to cover modest Living expenses. The “squeeze” on supplies purchased is of course not neg lected. This may be anything from 10 to 25 percent, depend ing upon the rapacity of the gang. A “station wagon”—automobile with pick-up body-makes an excellent adjunct. This can be borrowed for week-end {Please turn to page 4$) The Right Type of Filter for the Type of Plant Process Either Type Can Be a FEinc Filter In cyanide plants, FEinc Continuous Vacuum Filters with “String Discharge” are demonstrating the ad vantages of this type of discharge in those type of plants. In handling concentrates, FEinc Continuous Vacuum Filters with Scraper Discharge are likewise showing the merits of the Scraper Discharge in the process of those type of plants. Two 14-ft. by 16-ft. FEinc Continuous Vacuum Filters with “String Discharge” are now on order for installa tion a‘t the Mindanao Mother Lode Mines in Surigao. For detailed specifications and prices, write to Engineering Eqmpmeirf rad Supply Conupanjj Engineers—Contractors—Machinery— Mechanical Supplies Thirteenth Street—Port Area MANILA IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 21 Corporate Crookedness By Juan F. Hilario Our mining industry gives great promise in the near future. It has produced in 1936 ap proximately 1’43,000,000 in gold. And it is estimated that the production this year will reach 1’55,000,000. At the present rate of growth, the mining industry will certainly su persede the sugar industry as the premier Philippine industry by 1940. But there is today a breakdown of the legal provisions governing corporations engaged in the mining industry, thus enabling crooked corpora tion officials to commit corporate offenses with out punishment. It looks as if the legal provi sions referred to can be violated through trickery and subterfuge, and the unfortunate circum stance attending this mess is the fact that this “powerful” government appears to be helpless to save and rescue the gullible investing public from the clutches of the corporate malefactors. Dirty work The corporate form of organisation is a ready means by which dishonest ^individuals may defraud the investing public. There are many forms of crookedness practised in this country. Some of them are punishable and some of them are legal. Notices appearing in the local press about corporations seeking permission from the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell their stock certificates to the public are interesting. In some of them, promotion fees are fixed at 10 per cent of the proceeds of the sales. In my opinion, the sum is rather exorbitant. In others, salaries of managers and other officers of the corporations are fixed at rates which these men can never hope to receive in the government or in private companies other than mining companies. It must be taken into account that mining ven tures involve all possible degrees of hazard. Why, then, levy on the stockholders such ex orbitant salaries? Of course, the Securities and Exchange Commission is not empowered to stop this corporate extravagance. Time and again, the local press has shown that the mining industry appears to be con centrated in a few hands. It thus appears that the provision of our general corporation laws stating that “it shall be unlawful for any cor poration organised for the purpose of engaging in agriculture or in mining to be in anywise interested in any other corporation organised for the purpose of engaging in agriculture or in mining; it shall be unlawful for any person own ing stock in more than one cor poration organised for the pur pose of engaging in agriculture or in mining to own more than fifteen per centum of the capital stock then outstanding and en titled to vote of each of such corporations; it shall be unlawful for any corporation to own in excess of fifteen per centum of the capital stock then outstanding and entitled to vote of any corporation or ganised for the purpose of engaging in agri culture or in mining,” has been grossly violated. Government action It seems to me that corpora tions violating the provisions of paragraph 5, Section 13 of our Corporation Law should be dis solved by action of the govern ment. Our Secretary of Justice is the foremost corporation lawyer in the Philippines, and perhaps action of the government should be initiated by him. From a close study of the mining corporations, I have come to the conviction that in some of them, the common run of stockholders has been and is being exploited. Of course, exploitation differs from simple fraud in that it is more subtle, more difficult to trace and expose, and ordinarily gives no grounds for legal action to obtain redress. Exploitation is the twilight between legitimate business shrewdness and unquestionable fraud. One of the simplest and most common of methods is through payment of exorbitant salaries. Thus we find that dividends paid are unusually low as judged from the proportion between capitalisation and production. Another common method of exploitation is through misuse by officers or directors of in formation which comes to them on the “inside” but which is unknown to the thousands of stock holders. IIow to defraud Here is one legal method of making piles of money to the detriment of the stockholders in general. A person closely related to an important official controlling a certain mining company held some 800,000 shares some four months ago. The stock of the company was selling high. These 800,000 shares were unloaded on the market by lots of 50,000. The outcome was that the stock tobogganned, thus the stock holders lost many thousands of pesos. Promoters, mine managers and operators, and officials of mining companies reap a rich harvest in salaries, bonuses, and dividends. The com mon run of the shareholders pay for their in experience and gullibility. My advice to the investing or speculating public is that they should protect themselves rather than depend on the government agencies for their protection. Advice Here is a good advice from a business teacher: “If investors spent one-tenth of the energy studying finance, that they spend sitting before brokers’ boards reading meaningless figures, hunting for tips, and feverishly absorbing the daily mass of false information that is carefully prepared for them by hungry promoters, the hallucination of par value would not long exist.” The Securities Act is good enough for present purposes. There is lacking a provision, whereby the officers of a given corporation should be com pelled to declare larger dividends instead of withholding large sums of money as reserve or surplus funds. The employment of the best available technical, financial, and legal experts does not necessarily favor the interests of the general run of shareholders. On the face of it, it rep(Please turn to page 23) HAIR & PICORNELL ▲ GENERAL BROKERS Members of Manila Stock Exchange 5th Floor S. J. Wilson Bldg., Juan Luna Tel. Address: “Brokerage” P. O. Box 1479 Tels. 2-18-44 & 2-18-45 Correspondents: New York: Honelulu & San Franciico: Chisholm & Chapman Dean Witter & Co. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 22 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Short Wave I spent a most exasperating evening recently with some people who, until that night, I had looked upon as friends. Having recently returned from a prospecting trip in the Upper Marsala Valley of Hindoo China, I was asked round to dine with these friends and meet a few of their acquaint ances who were interested in hearing of my experiences in this little known part of the world. Conversation at dinner was of the type invariably met with at a Manila gathering; commonly known as “small talk”, and so small that no amount of magnifying could render it even noticeable. Anyway it was entirely trivial, and all attempts made by me to bring the conversation round to the Marsala Valley were immediately side tracked or completely ignored. The guests seemed far more interested in discussing the faux pas which So and So had made at last night’s cock tail party or in talking about the film then showing at the Metrocapitate. I have noticed the same thing when return ing to England on leave. Nobody wants to hear about the Philippines (“Somewhere in Havana isn’t it?”), but they inflict on you all their petty troubles, such as how the green grocer failed to call yesterday or that the bathroom water heater is giving trouble again. However I concluded that, once dinner was over, the guests would gather round and ask me to hold forth on my adventures, but not a bit of it; I had fallen into the clutches of a gang of radio fans and, if you don’t know what that implies, you will by the time you reach the end of this dinner party. It appeared that my host had just purchased a new radio and that we were all expected to sit round and applaud its performance. Almost immediately after the set was switched on, the unmistakably sharp crackle of machine gun fire and sounds of distant explosions were heard, whereupon I remark ed intelligently that Madrid must be enduring yet another severe bombardment. One of the guests, showing ill con cealed disgust at my ignorance, informed me that the noise was not Madrid but was caused by an auto-calesa passing down the street! If so much row could be caused by a small auto-calesa, I thought it my duty to warn the party that I could see three carromatas and a bull-cart approaching, but was told that horses and carabaos do not possess ignition systems. I don’t know what they meant but it was obvious that I had said the wrong thing again. Then somebody asked what was the general opinion regard ing a doublet and I replied that I had no idea that they were still worn, suggesting that the speaker had probably meant a singlet. Again I had put my foot in it, as apparently a doublet is some form of aerial cats-cradle designed to extract the short waves of wireless from the ether. This sounds as though I was becoming conversant with the mysteries of radio, but all this information was picked up in the course of the evening. Another very disturbing factor to the beginner is, that you cannot be guided by what you hear. For instance, if you switch on to a voice speaking English with a French accent it is probably Berlin giving their “latest News Bulletin • By Goldilocks in English”, and similarly you must not be surprised to hear that an announcement in Spanish is coming from Rome. Rome also broadcasts in English as do Sydney, Australia, and Bound Brook, New Jersey, but these two latter stations are easily recognisable by their accents. On the other hand, London occasionally sends out a programme in Somerset or Yorkshire dialect of even in Welsh so that you will probably be deceived into boasting to your friends that you have heard Moscow. So you see how complicated short wave listening is becoming. Anything completely unintelligible may be safely logged as any one or a combination of the following:— (a) Nanking speaking Chinese (b) Tokyo speaking Japanese (c) Java speaking Javanese (d) Peking speaking—(You say it—we refuse to be funny) (e) “Scrambled” phone talks (f) Static We could continue on to the end of the alphabet like this, but as the above were only inserted to fill up space we will spare you the rest. When in doubt your best bet is always “Static”. This sounds superior and gives your friends the impression that you do know something about radio after all. “Scrambling” by the way, has nothing to do with eggs, but refers to a method recently introduced whereby telephone conversations are rendered unintelligible to third parties. This has annoyed short wave fans intensely, as, before its introduction, they were able to eavesdrop on the most in timate conversations between distant parts of the world, and then regale their friends with such choice little excerpts regarding what the bearded Frenchman in Saigon said to his little bit of fluff in Paris. Although why the Frenchman should be bearded and what use to him was a lady friend 10,000 miles away in Paris, goodness knows, but all short wave radio fans are most atrocious liars anyway. Fishing stories aren’t in it when you get a bunch of radio fans spinning yarns of what long distance feats they have achieved on the air. The great idea is to boast of the large number of different countries that you have heard and my host on this occasion was in his element twiddling nobs and occasionally extracting some fairly intelligible sounds from the background of roaring and crackling to announce “Paris” or after more painful boilings and splutterings “Holland”. And so it went on for the rest of the evening and even I began to forget about the Upper Marsala Valley. Eventually my host brought his world cruise to a halt by allowing us to listen for fifteen minutes without interruption to the Em pire News Bulletin from London. Attempting to show my appreciation I remarked how clear the reception was, and was told that it was coming to us via Hong Kong, to which I replied that I should have thought it would have been more direct to send the broadcast via Suez. This brought the party a close in an uproar at my expense, but I am determined to get even with these folksand am going out to buy myself a short wave radio right now. GORDON W. MACKAY MEMBERS, MANILA STOCK EXCHANGE C. F. McCORMICK BAGUIO OFFICE BUENO BLDG. A4ackay & ACcCormick CABLE ADDRESS “CIMROC” TELEPHONES SHARE BROKERS 2-15-57 2-15-58 34 ESCOLTA P. O. BOX 2-15-59 2688 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 23 Corporate . . . (Continued from page 21) resents high salaries in diminution of possible dividends. Investors will generally put their money in stocks whose quotation in the market does not fluctuate much. Speculators may follow care fully the manipulat ions of the market prices by the cleverest gang and thus make money. Native handicap Filipino companies oo some really good mining properties. Their lack of ability to boost prices has handicapped them. Others with almost worthless mining properties were able to raise prices to 5 and even 10 times the par value. Filipinos have yet to acquire the technique of a Colonel Sellers or a J. Rufus Wallingford. Investors must beware of mining companies or managing or operating companies which refuse to furnish information to bonafidc ap plicants. Of course, confidential information must be withheld from the public. It is another form of corporate crookedness that the pleasure trips abroad of corporation officers should be paid from corporate funds. To be sure, there is no law to stop this practice. Of course, a trip to find market for the product The Premiere Mineral Explora tion Association The Premiere Mineral Exploration Association has just opened a complete assay laboratory right in the heart of the town of Surigao. The laboratory is said- to be the most completely equipped in Surigao or in the whole of the South ern Islands. J. C. Malina, an Austrian Mining Engineer formerly assayer for Benguet Consoli dated Mining Co., is the one taking charge of the assay laboratory. Mr. R. W. Stramler, former ly general superintendent of the Ukab and Kelly Mines in Baguio for Benguet Consolidated, is now general Superintendent for Premiere in Suri gao. The Board of Directors of the Premiere Mineral Exploration Association are the following: Dr. E. Osmena J. H. Renner H. Gasser A. P. Deen The Premiere Mineral Exploration Association at present owns three properties in Surigao,— the Northern Poctoy group, the Southern Poctoy group, and the Malimono group. Besides doing exploration work the Association is also going into mining consultation and management of other properties and will also go into business selling mining equipment and mine supplies. An organization of this kind is needed in Surigao in order to help develop the mineral resources of the province and also to place present pros pecting and exploration of mining properties in a more scientific basis. There are at present three American mining engineers in the staff headed by Mr. R. W. Stramler. Four more mining engineers are forthcoming from the United States. of the company should be paid for from corporate funds. For a generally keen analytical mind, it is easy to judge from the rate of dividends, the market quotations, and the nationality of the controlling officers, what corporations are guilty of corporate crookedness. The danger of manipulation of prices of stock is more imminent when an organisation controls many mining companies through management or operating agreements or contracts. An or ganisation may become so powerful that it can ignore public interest and law. —National Review. 1 tfOPTHAT i COLD WITH ffl — [511 1'yjkPEXi IB 3** 701,11 Bl por Private Radio Communication Telegraph and/or Telephone RECENT INSTALLATIONS Mu. N. PeXas, c/o Santa Clara Lumber Company Punta Flecha, Zamboanga Mits. J. Reich, Pasay, Rizal Mu. A. de Laxge Pasay, Rizal Mit. R. P. Rocks, Pasay, Rizal Mu. M. R. Kauolciiuck, M. S. “Latitude”, Manila Bay On Display at our Show Rooms SHORT WAVE RADIO TRANSMITTERS AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DELIVERY AND INSTALLATION 40 Watts Telegraph 40 Watts Telephone 260 Watts Telegraph 260 Watts Telephone PHILIPPINE ENGINEERING CORPORATION 109 Plaza Sta. Cruz, Manila Exclusive Distributor of RCA Radio Communication Apparatus and Transmitting Tubes IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Abra Mine Properties Through the courtesy of cx-G over nor Francis Burton Harrison we are able to publish th? accompanying map of the mining district of Abra, capital, Bangucd. There is a great deal of interest in the district, and as we have informed our readers from time to time, much difference of opinion about it. If we can obtain access, for publication, to what the new society of Philippine geolo gists has to say about it, we shall publish it with dispatch for the benefit of readers who may have invested in this region or may be contemplating such invest ments. With the information actually at hand, chiefly from R. Y. Hanlon of R. Y. Hanlon & Co., consulting engineers and geologists, the Abra district is not a very promising mining district. This is supported by Benguet Consolidated’s abandonment of further work on the Abra Mining property. While gold will be on one propeity and not on another nearby, in December Mr. Hanlon re ported entirely negatively on the Cor dillera property north of Abra Mining and the company cancelled its contracts with the Cordillera company, the major ity .of whose directors insisted upon going ahead. Rich stringers are found throughout much of this district, which seems to be very deceiving—at least superficially. There is encouragement in assays from stringers to go on, despite the pessimism of many engineers; we understand that Abra Mining has not abandoned hope in its claims even after Benguet Con solidated’s experience there. It was our conjecture at one time, not altogether abandoned yet, that small mills of 10 to 20 tons’ capacity could operate profitably in this region at many points. But where are they, after all this lapse of time since 1933 and the reports that then sent Abra Mining stock so high? One thing we know from sad personal experience. It is this: there is a great deal of outright racketeering in claims located in this district. There is also a great deal of genuine enthusiasm amounting in the end to the same thing. Aggressive groups of Abra folk throw property after property together; the claims that have been taken up seem all but innumerable. Under these conditions there is likely to be over-capitalization of associations and companies; and if it turns out here and there that small mills can be operat ed, after much expensive exploration and development in hope of finding ore sufficient for larger mills, probably only small returns can be earned on the total capital. So that the more prudent way of venturing in the Abra district would be with limited outlay of funds with the primary intention of operating a pilot mill—in the hope to something better. The district is the most persistent (Please turn to page 43) I APPROXIMATE LOCATIONS or MINERAL 6R0UPS IN THE PROVINCE or ABRA 26 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Potential Wars Strengthen Metal Market (By the United Press') NEW YORK, Feb. 15.—With an actual shortage existing for some metals, prices for major non-ferrous metals continued to advance during the past month, the magazine Metal and Mineral Markets reported today. Copper, lead and zinc were in brisk demand and moved upward throughout the month. Copper made the best gains both on the London and New York markets. Silver was off slightly while tin prices declined 1 to 2 cents. The American copper market was given further bullishness this month when the U. S. government found difficulty in finding bidders to fill the Navy Department’s needs and was forced to go onto the open market. Industrial consumption continues to gain while production is but little above actual demands of the market. Anaconda Copper Mining Co. and other major producers have encountered delays in ic-openmg several important western mines because of heavy snows and bad weather. The trade now believes it may be mid-summer before copper production is speeded up sufficiently to show a satisfactory monthly cany-over. The lead market, while not as bullish as copper, steadily advanceL Considerable buying was reported from Europe, and Japan was understood to have entered the market with substanti al requirements. Lead prices in New York averaged six cents a pound during ttm past month, about 1/2 cent above the December average. The gain foi the month on London was even greater, averaging nearly 2 pence ovei prices of the previous month. Tiu prices sagged during the month as the result of un certainty over the expiring international tin restriction agree ment. After mouths of n'gotiation the restriction has been prolonged for a period of five years and the market should KRUEGER'S FIRST BEER IN KEGLINED CANS AT ALL GROCERS OR DIRECT FROM TRANS-PACIFIC - TRADING. CO. P.O. BOX 497 * MANILA . TEL. 2-42-04 Good for a Miner’s Thirst! recover inasmuch as traders consider the undertone healthy. The new tin agreement is less striagent than the agicement of October 27, 1933, and which expired December 31, last. The standard tonnages, which aggregated 165,650 tons under the old agreement, are now 199,850 tons. The increase was accounted for by the fact Siam, Belgian Congo, and French Indo-China, which were merely “adhering” countries in the old agreement, now appear with fixed standard tonnages. In addition to the higher exports allowed, the new agreement permits accumulation of tin and tin concentrates in produc ing countries up to a total of 25 per cent of the standard tonnages, while in the past such accumulation has been strictly prohibited. Iron and steel prices hive advanced steadily thus far this year as the available supply bee imes dearer in all markets. British puces for pig iron have advanced six shillings and steps have been taken to discourage excessive buying. Japan is reported to be scouting all markets for both steel and iron ore. F >r the first time since 1934, Japan has decided to purchase 20,000 tons of steel from the International Steel Syndicate of Europe, as an emergency measure to cope with the present Japanese shortage of pig iron. World production of pig iron and steel ingots in 1936 approx imated 86,000,000 tons and 118,000,000 tons, respectively, or a gain of 13,000,000 tons in pig iron and 20,000,000 tons in steel as compared to 1935. The 1936 production was 11,000,000 tons in pig iron and 2,000,000 tons in steel smaller than the world production record established in 1929. The general war preparation throughout the world not only has created an iron and steel shortage but thas sharpened the demand for chromite. Chromite prices advanced mor? than $2 a to 1 during the past month, the first substantial rise in this metal for several months. The quicksilver market remained steady with prices un changed from the January level. The silver market has been quiet and puces declined slightly for the month. Many London silver speculators turned from metals to rubber late last month when that commodity offered opportunity for quick profits. Shortage of supply has sent rubber prices skyrocketing, although the market was wavered this month as the result of the Michigan automobile strike. Strike Settlement Boosts Rubber (By the United Press) LONDON, Feb. 15.—Settlement of the American auto mobile strike has restored calm to the London rubber market which began to waver after reaching the highest levels in years. The present chief factor in the international rubber situa tion no longer is the shortage of ready rubber but the serious labor unrest in the American motor industry. If the truce declared in the strike at Detroit becomes per manent, traders expect rubber prices to advance steadily again until such time, probably in June or July, as more adequate shipments reach the London and New York markets from the Far East. The share market has been quieter, and most prices appear to be based on profit calculations which assume an average robber price of around nine pence (18 cents) per pound. London rubber experts fear that the International Rubber Committee’s efforts to remedy th? shortage of spot rubber as quickly as possible will be handicapped not only by the diffi culty of obtaining sufficient labor on the plantations to expand pioduction but also by the acute shortage of shipping facilities. Most investors actively interested in rubber pioduction have welcomed the brief lull in the market, feeling that specu lation was become too rampant for a healthy situation. There have been rumors that the American government has stiongly protested against the alleged un-economically high price of rubber. Informed observers discount the rumors although they cm understand the dissatisfaction of rubber consumers over the sensational advance in prices. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 27 Gold Mines Production: Mjmth by M.ontb and Year by Year MINING COMPANIES JANUARY FEBRUARY 1934 MARCH 1935 1931 1934 1935 1936 1934 1935 1936 Antamok Goldfields.................... . P 75,000 P 195,959 P 266,6661 P 75.000 P 218.092 P 276,461 P 78,000 P 243,463 P 294.260 Baguio Gold................................. 90.285 92.494 89,000 72.409 76,654 81.447 53,203 75.363 96,112 Balatoc.......................................... 770,789 909,852 1,076,661 637,093 910,494 1,065,876 839,798 1,053,834 1,013,041 Benguet Consolidated................. 604,678 639,117 777.759 483,983 597,529 740,879 688,044 614.555 818,011 Benguet Exploration................... 7,169 21.500 24.151 13,512 23,750 23,233 13,848 28,478 19,450 Cal Horr....................................... — 54,889 — 70,657 — 81.785 Demonstration............................. — 51,391 116,444 — 45,252 134,531 — 72,800 133.538 Ipo Gold....................................... — 66,404 50.347 — 46,104 56,333 123,586 44,807 59.778 Itogon........................................... 170,750 195,706 169,785 171.370 175,373 189,827 170.847 185,117 215,747 I. X. L......................................... — 33,716 40,676 — 28,298 59.297 — 37,132 151,149 Masbate Consolidated................ —'■— 51,702 78,224 — 47,927 85,491 — 50.962 138,939 Salacot........................................... — — 45,075 ----- — 42,763 — — 39,000 San Mauricio............................... 77.755 Suyoc Consolidated..................... — 62,555 105,128 — 58,662 92.098 — 63,523 98.910 United Paracale........................... —— — 103,916 — — 159,194 — — 80,822 Totals..................................... .. Pl,718,671 P2.320.396 P2.998.721 Pl,453,367 P2.228.L35 P3,078,087 | Pl.967.326 P2.470.034 P3.318.297 MINING COMPANIES 1934 APRIL 1935 1936 MAY 1934 JUNE 1935 1936 1934 1935 1936 Antamok Goldfields.................... .. P 118,000 P 225,290 P 331.504 P 97,000 P 236,383 P 432,744 P 127,000 P 207,107 P 526,004 Baguio Gold................................ 66,983 60,212 86,618 72.393 69,985 92,185 99,052 69,181 90,120 Balatoc.......................................... 659,514 1.068,136 . 1,024,785 682.034 1,060,594 676,833 954,636 765,547 982,802 1,115,831 Benguet Consolidated................. 692,064 615,515 701,520 742,986 784,446 578,705 728,429 774,200 Benguet Exploration................... 12.544 26,864 17,270 15,642 20.400 13,866 17,360 34,469 17,638 Cal Horr....................................... — 75,326 — 74.536 — 70,690 Demonstration........................... — 92,555 133,091 — 96,639 146,259 — 90,111 108,812 Ipo Gold....................................... 106,804 42.630 49,503 91,953' 38,997 52,622 86.756 40.821 47,224 Itogon........................................... 109,769 189,400 270,885 182,000 205,982 216,162 190,000 204,162 226.335 I. X. L.......................................... — 30,562 83,636 — 33,864 98,451 — 32.600 123.386 Masbate Consolidated................ — 47.731 168,144 — 75,879 145,022 — 46,080 159,076 Salacot........................................... — — 34,000 — — 37,000 — — 37,900 San Mauricio............................... — — 150,019 — — 106,540 — — 100,204 Suyoc Consolidated..................... — 86,225 79,411 — 91,957 95.731 — 75,644 86,086 United Paracale........................... — — 91,763 — — 114,251 — 61,000 115,058 Totals.................................... .. Pl.765.678"*1*2,515.920 1*3,297.475 1*1,884.008 1*2.607.513 1’3,364.451 I 1*1.864,420 P2,572,406 P3,598.558 (Please turn to page 28) Gold Export: Year by Year Articles Countries of Destination 1934 1935 1936 Quantity Value Quantity Value Quantity Value Gold Ore....................... United States — I* 39,314 841,308 (kgs.) P 449,133 4,160,741 (kgs.) P 1,961,051 Gold Bullion................. United States 517,934 (oz.) 11,634,884 659,843 (oz.) 14,911,276 950,094 (oz.) 20,493,158 All Other Silver Coins. China — — — 6,486 — — Spanish Silver Coins... China — — — — — 2,500 Phil. Commemorative Silver Coins.............. United States — — — — _____ 76 Chinese Gold Bullion.. — — — — — 65 (oz.) 3.600 ELLIS EDGAR AND CO. STOCK AND SHARE BROKERS Members: Manila Stock Exchange Announce the opening of their new offices at .123 Juan Luna MANILA Telephone: 2-29-64 P. O. Box 3103 (4 Lines) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 28 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 (Continued from page 27) MIXING COMPANIES 1934 JULY 1935 1936 1934 AUGUST 1935 1936 SEPTEMBER 1934 1935 1936 Antnmok Goldfields.................... .. P S3,863 P 271,797 P 531,535 P 108,710 P 241,253 P 533,572 P 111,288 P 268,726 P 542,312 Baguio Gold................................. 90,723 74,157 97,896 88,964 63,673 89,096 77,644 72,130 86,512 Balatoc.......................................... 764.704 1,125,761 1,050,512 675,548 914,223 989,456 801,390 1,027,426 1,061,472 Benguet Consolidated................. 646,480 826,697 773,742 753,210 804,266 723,449 670,740 848,213 673,535 Benguet Exploration................... 17,000 23,063 26,709 16,488 16,300 26,567 21,996 19,660 23,950 Big Wedge................................... — — 77,764 —— ,-- - 120,727 — — 125,511 Cal Horr....................................... — — 78,842 ------ ------ 97,834 — — 113,371 *Coco Grove................................. 88,119 — — 101,562 Demonstration............................. —— 79,585 112,253 — 71,271 103,287 — 82,266 114,254 East Mindanao........................... — — -----. „— —— — — — 49,940 I. X. L. Argos............................. — — -----. — —— — 62,428 45,226 226,538 Ipo Gold....................................... 93,307 43,746 44,202 62,885 42,483 43,484 • 194,900 178,972 137,637 Itogon........................................... 176,800 209,174 253,132 168,970 78,000 207,423 —— 53,957 21,927 IXL 27,857 100 085 41,653 126,505 81,326 220,047 Masbate Consolidated................ — 65,808 213,861 ___ 79,138 189,821 ___ 37,487 Salacot........................................... — — 33,626 — — 35,423 — — 213,420 San Mauricio............................... — — 161,523 — —— 201,990 Suvoc Consolidated..................... — 77,448 85,672 — 65,000 120,719 ------ 77,000 99,931 United Paracale........................... — 102,628 115,824 — 112,000 121,943 — 80,000 132,652 Totals..................................... .. Pl,873,237 P2.927.721 I‘3,757,208 Pl,874,775 P2.529.260 P3.821.415 Pl,940,350 P2,834,902 P4.017.058 OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER MINING COMPANIES 1934 1935 1936 1934 1935 1936 1934 1935 1936 Antamok Goldfields.................... .. P 110,888 P 309,452 P 537,226 P 140,388 P 285,983 P 478,167 P 170,299 P 309,674 P 509,888 Baguio Gold................................. 74,044 68,634 89,770 67,007 76,375 95,119 74,349 80,990 83,221 Balatoc........................................... 868,570 1,121,049 1,053,220 1,052,834 1,146,062 1,113,174 882,766 1,232,596 1,241,712 Benguet Consolidated................. 635,354 756,103 769,077 629,824 695,484 693,254 860,515 836,921 778,180 Benguet Exploration................... 14,455 17,732 26,984 18,000 27,635 25,932 20,000 23,969 29,164 Big Wedge.................................... — — 103,167 — — 89,039 — — 82,312 Cal Horr....................................... — — 153,372 — — 140,177 — — 149,367 Coco Grove................................... ----- - — 103,797 — — 43,663 Demonstration............................. — 76,510 129,826 — 90,169 118,003 — 85,778 123,589 East Mindanao............................ — — 61,000 — — 54,000 — — 75,000 Ipo Gold....................................... 61,222 50,127 47,499 73,605 53,379 54,863 68,546 60,311 86,144 Itogon........................................... 217,842 201,378 299,119 182,970 199,841 294,519 203,355 200,000 256,223 I. X. L.......................................... 41,192 140,150 44,961 129,194 151,101 I. X. L. Argos............................. — 98,420 35,285 — 30,910 — 42,975 24,069 Masbate Consolidated................ — — 173,326 — 87,208 207,510 — 95,771 242,841 Salacot........................................... — — 31,742 — 28,000 20,240 — 45,325 18,850 San Mauricio............................... — — 224,511 — — 228,379 — 104,000 250,631 Suyoc Consolidated..................... — 95,165 113,108 — 98,000 97,692 — — 102,355 Tambis.......................................... — — — — unavailable United Paracale........................... — 75,591 140,860 — 76,000 128,602 — 80,000 123.728 Total..................................... .. Pl.982,375 P2,911.353 P4,233,039 P2,164,628 P2,909,097 P4,042.437 P2,224,929 P3,198,310 P4.318.375 AVERAGE METAL PRICES FOR JANUARY, 1937 {By United Press) Copper Gain or Loss From December Electrolytic, Domestic, Refinery.......... 12.415 + 1.652 Electrolytic, Export, Refinery.............. 12.112 + 1.277 REAL SMOKERS London, Standard Spot....................... London, Forward................................... 51.497 56.288 + 6.551 + 5.924 Lead—New York................................... 6.000 + 0.446 St. Louis..................................... 5.850 + 0.444 PREFER THEM London, Spot............................. London, Forward....................... 27 .272 27.150 + 1.712 + 1.647 Silver and Sterling Exchange Silver, New York, per oz.................... 44.913 - 0.439 Silver, London, pence per oz.............. 20 .734 - 0 .504 Sterling Exchange, “checks”............... 490.670 Unchanged Zinc—St. Louis, Spot........................... 5.847 + 0.574 HJ ■ H—7 II) London, Spot............................. 21.153 + 3.196 London, Forward....................... 21.281 + 3.136 Manganese Standard Spot, ferro-Manganese, 80%. 880.00 (ton) Chromite—Long ton, C.I.F. TABACALERA Indian, 48 to 50%........................... Turkish, 48 to 50%......................... $19.00 + 2.25 20.00 CIGAR Tin—New York, Straits...................... London, Standard Spot.............. 50.925 229.350 - 0.898 - 2.758 Gold, per oz., U. S. price.... $35.00 Unchanged Quicksilver, per flask............ $90.25 Unchanged TELEPHONE 2-25-77 Antimony................................ 14.130 + 1.212 Cadmium................................. 90.00 Unchanged Platinum, Refined, per oz.. . $50,400 + 2.400 Aluminum, 99 + %................. 19.500 - 0.500 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 29 J. H. Marsman J. H. Marsman, head of the Marsman interests, arrived in New York City on February 18 from London. Mr. Marsman is a member of National Economic Council and it is expected that while he is in the United States he will render assistance at the forth coming trade conference. Santa Ana Vein System The new Santa Ana Vein System now being developed by the San Mauricio Mining Company by means of adit levels, has now been proved at depth by diamond drill holes showing good values and widths. This information was released yester day by officials of Marsman and Com pany, managers of the property. The Santa Ana vein system is one of the three major vein systems at San Mauricio, the others being the San Mauricio and the Santa Monica systems. Other vein features on the San Mauricio property are being developed. Itogon Increasing Daily Tonnage Capacity Machinery and equipment which has arrived from the United States and Europe during the past week for Mars man and Company and which will arrive in the near future will result in a considerable expansion in the capa cities of two of the Marsman-managed plants, B. S. Ohnick, acting head of the company, announced yesterday. The capacity of the Itogon Mining Company, now around 16,000 tons a month, will be raised to 20,000 tons by April, and to 30,000 by May. Itogon will then rank jointly with Benguet Consolidated as the third largest plant in the Islands with a daily tonnage capacity of 1,000 tons. A new Allen Diesel engine and addi tional flotation units and Akins Clas sifiers have just arrived for the San Mauricio Mining Company. This ma chinery is now on its way to Mambulao, where it will be installed promptly. When it is in operation, the capacity of San Mauricio will be doubled, to 300 tons a day. New Smelter at Mambulao All of the machinery, equipment, and steel work for tlie new smelter being built by the Marsman interests at Mambulao has arrived and has just been sent by boat to that port. The erection of the smelter will be started at once, and the entire plant should be ready for operation by the first of May. The principal equipment for the Palidan-Suyoc drain tunnel is now in the Philippines, and is being forwarded to the property. East Mindanao Mining Company Product and Development Covering January, 1937 DEVELOPMENT Mindoro Mine. The tons produced were 221 having an average grade per ton of 1’21.63. Most of this work had to be suspended on about January 12th, the more experienced labor being needed in taking up timbering and doubling up on many of the sets. Due to heavy rains repairs were made necessary in various parts of the mine. Raise 100 F-10: has been interesting but ran into antiqua workings and has been sus pended until the ground dries up. Total 21 feet, advance of 7 feet. The grade averaged around 1*12.00 and was sent to the mill. Some ore will be developed in this section of the mine on the hanging wall side of the main vein which has not been thoroughly explored before. INTEGRAL TYPE UNIT The Allis-Chalmers Gearmotor is a compact, self-contained speed reducer that provides low speed drives without sacrificing the inherent advantages of the separate motor and speed reducer construction such as ease of maintenance, replacement of individual units, adaptability to change —motors, ratios, etc. High overall efficiency and compactness are obtamed by the use of motors with desirable characteristics and a well designed compact gear unit, providing almost any desired slow speed. Standard speeds at the power takc-otT range from 6.08 r.p.m. to 1165 r.p.m. Gearmotors can be furnished with any type of alternating and direct current motor by adapting the construction of the gear end to suit the mechanical design of the motor. THE EARNSHAWS DOCKS & HONOLULU IRON WORKS 60-118 SECOND STREET PORT AREA P. O. BOX 282 MANILA P I BRANCH OFFICE TEL. 2-32-13 ’ ’ ' BACOLOD, OCC. NEGROS 200 D-l Raise: Total feet were 45, feet advanced were 16. This has been spotty. Six feet above the drift an excellent section of ore w;is encountered. Up to the present face the structure has not been so strong. The last sample, however, is again highly encouraging running P54.60 over a width of 52 inches. This block will be thoroughly explored but it is impossible to state at this time how much ore will be found. 220 F-10: Total feet were 45, feet advanced were 22. Fair grade mill ore up to 33 feet was found here when high grade ore was encountered running up to 1*198.00 per ton which will bring the grade up to good mill ore, as these hot spots do, and are characteristic of the enrichment (Please turn to page 32) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 30 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 The New Engineer . . . (Continued from page 19) Leech bites are difficult to avoid. These, as also skin abrasions, arc subject to infection from almost any source of contact, but more often from the ooze of trails which, from ages of travel by man and carabao, are veritable bacteria cul tures of almost any skin and blood infection one can name. The free application, and often, of antiseptics to these lesions will minimize probable difficulty from such sources. Any man having traveled in the jungles is able to show many scars of his experience. It is necessary that certain drugs always be a part of the equipment assembled for any remotely located examination, and from experience I should suggest a special case for such items. Unfortunately the standard first aid kits arc not suitable for the whole train of afflictions besetting jungle travel; therefore the suggestion for an especially made up case which, in addition to the regular filler for a first aid case and a medical book, should be stocked with such items as:— 3 gr. Quinine tablets Potassium permanganate solution Bichloride of Mercury tablets Zonite (large) Dysentery remedies Ichthyol ointment for infections Sulphur and lanoline ointment for itch 50-50 Calomel and Iodoform ointment for ulcers Cafiaspirin tablets Gold Production ... (Continued from page 28) MINING COMPANIES 1934 TOTALS 1935 1936 Antamok Goldfields.............. I* 1,295,436 P 3,013,177 P 5,260,339 Baguio Gold........................... 927,056 879,848 1,077,096 Balatoc.................................... 9,405,363 12,552,833 12,760,406 Benguet Consolidated........... 7,943,427 8,639,667 9,008,052 Benguet Exploration............. 188,014 283,820 274,914 Big Wedge.............................. — 77,764 497,863 Cal Horr................................. ____ ____ 1,183,739 Coco Grove............................. — — 636,292 Demonstration....................... — 934,158 1,473,887 East Mindanao...................... — — 239,940 Ipo Gold................................. 2,139,573 575,039 641,939 Itogon..................................... —— 2,220,349 2,825,669 I. X. L.................................... — 448,767 1,341,249 I. X. L.-Argos....................... **761,779 — 211,315 Masbate Consolidated......... — 827,952 2,022,302 Salacot..................................... — 73,325 413,106 San Mauricio......................... — — 1,733,888 Suyoc Consolidated............... — 955,179 1,172,547 Tambis..................................... — — unavailable United Paracale..................... — 587,219 1,430,613 Totals............................... P23.491.839 * P32.025.047 P44.205.156 *Gold River—P30,880 (1935 only) **Panique Mines Amount Paid as Cash Dividends (Please turn to page 34) ■Antamok Goldfields............................................ Baguio Gold........................................................ Balatoc.................................................................. Benguet Consolidated......................................... Benguet Exploration........................................... Demonstration..................................................... Gold Creek........................................................... Ipo Gold.............................................................. Itogon.................................................................... Marsman & Company....................................... San Mauricio...................................................... Tambis Placer..................................................... United Paracale................................................... 1935 P 1,000,000 None 5,100,000 5,700,000 None None None 38,825 643,864 None None 45,900 None 1936 2,062,500 129,890 5,600,000 8,000,000 50,000 200,000 105,000 116,475 597,168 940,300 320,000 None 275,000 P12.528.589 P18.396.333 January 1937 Gold Production Use your good judgment Choose WHITE HORSE FINE AS A FINE LIQUEUR A blend of finest whiskies, each lendinc a trace of its own bouquet of peat or heath er or pine; long years of slumber in vaulted darkness while these many flavors and fra grances wetc a touch on mingled and married together; the tongue as smooth as slow music and soft as the falling of dew; a glorious glow that spreads and suffuses and heartens with never a vestige of fire! All that’s in a name when the name is White Horse. All that’s in your glass WHITE HORSE Whisky HANSON, ORTH AND STEVENSON, INC. Sole Agents January 1936 January 1937 Value Value Antamok Goldfields.............. . . P 266,666 P 456,552 Baguio Gold Mining............. 89,000 78,622 Balatoc Mining..................... 1,076,661 1,142,513 Benguet Consolidated......... 777,759 822,262 Benguet Exploration........... 24,151 27,936 Big Wedge............................. 68,223 105,768 Cal Hor.................................. Coco Grove........................... 54,889 Demonstration..................... 16,444 131,123 East Mindanao.................... Gold Crock........................... 62,000 Ipo Gold............................... 50,347 51,093 Itogon Mining..................... 169,785 264,700 I.X.L. Argos Syndicate.... 27,844 I.X.L. Mining...................... 40,676 155,108 262,734 Masbate Consolidated........ 78,224 Northern Mining................. 335 Salacot Mining..................... 45,075 20,249 San Mauricio....................... 241,434 Suyoc Consolidated............. 105,128 98,850 Unreported Tambis Gold Dredging.... United Paracale................... 103,916 119,726 Total reported.............. . . . 1*2,998,721 1*4,137,072 Total December 1936......... 1*4,300,594 Total Output 1936.............. 44,402,654 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 31 GARDNER-DENVER MINE CAR LOADER Loader operating in narrow drift For Quick, Economical Handling of Broken Rock HOW IT WORKS............. With its dipper lowered and a standard mine car coupled to it, the loader is crowded into the broken rock by one of two compressed air motors. When the dipper is full, it is lifted backward over the loader by the second motor and the rock is discharged into the car. As the dipper empties, the loader moves backward a short distance and the operation is repeated* HERE ARE ITS ADVANTAGES . . . • Equalizes your drilling and loading cycles—insures more rapid heading advance—reduces your operating costs • Loader is operated by compressed air—requires no more air than an ordinary drill—-fits in with your standaid equipment • Centralizing device automatically brings dipper into proper position for discharging into car • Readily moved between working places • Easy, natural and simple control by operator Write for our Bulletin GD-9 GARDNER-DENVER COMPANY SINCE 1859 QUINCY, ILLINOIS ATLANTIC GULF & PACIFIC COMPANY OF MANILA Manila, P. I. CRRDRER-DERVER IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 2 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 PARACALE-TIGBI SHAREHOLDERS Your President Asks For Your Proxies My purpose is to secure the election of a Board of Directors for your company which, by having the best interests of the shareholders at heart, will guide the affairs of this com pany toward the successful future which I believe awaits it. Under the existing Board of Directors, the following situations exist: 1. No adequate audit has ever been made. 2. No monthly balance sheet has ever been provided, and no attempt has been made to provide one despite repeated requests for such information. 3. Salaries are being paid to directors out of funds invested in this company by its shareholders, before the company is in operation, thus creating an un justified drain on its resources. 4. All attempts made by the undersigned to correct these matters and to conserve the company’s resources for actual development work, have been blocked by an unfavorable majority of the present Board of Directors. For these reasons, and also because of the general situation as described by Mr. R. Y. Hanlon,* it is my conviction that the only satisfactory safeguard for your investment is the ousting of the present Directors and the election of a new group. I ask for your proxies in order to accomplish this purpose, and when it has been acomplished, I intend to submit my resignation as President. Your company is well capitalized, and under good management there is no reason why it should not eventually fulfill our expectations. Proxies should be in the hands of the Secretary of the Company at least 48 hours before the SHAREHOLDERS' MEETING MARCH 1st, 1937 3 p. m. American Chamber of Commerce 180 David, Manila. Walter Robb President The FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH WRITTEN BY THE WELL-KNOWN ENGI NEER, R. Y. HANLON, AS THE COMPANY’S CONSULTING ENGINEER, SPEAKS ELOQUENTLY FOR ITSELF: East Mindanao . . . (Continued from page 29) in this mine. Raise 400 F-l: Total feet were 61, feet advanced were 21. This has been advanced in ore, hoisted and milled. From careful observation of dogholes or small cross cuts driven into the walls for fill it is very evident that exploration of offsets or branch veins which appear to exist and offer further opportunities of increasing the ore reserves will be well worthy of careful observation and de velopment on both hanging and footwall. PRESENT ORE RESERVES These are ample ahead of present mill re quirements, being indicated at 95,000 tons at this time or a supply for over two years. Some of this ore is in the Briggs and Tinupan mines. Preparatory work in the Briggs has been started. A raise will shortly be started in the Tinupan for examining and further sampling the vein. The ore shoot in the Briggs Mine is about 400 feet long and that of the Tinupan about 200 feet long. Both mines offer interesting possibilities for future production. In the Colorado No. 4 vein stoping will be started in the near future. This is a small high grade vein, the ore shoot being 130 feet long. A winze will also be sunk on the vein as soon as the dry season sets in. STOPING OPERATIONS From stopes C, D, and F on the 200' and 300' levels 2,357 tons were produced having an aver age grade of P21.00. A great deal of difficulty has been encountered in handling the fill from the 100 waste cross cuts particularly in the F section on account of surface water leaching through the ground, causing the clay to become a mass of mud and slime. This has been partially overcome by the driving of cross cuts for waste into the walls from stopes. As soon as the ground has dried up this practice will be discontinued and fill obtained from the caving system on the 100 level. DUMPS Production from the 50’ level, 200’ level and Horseshoe dumps amounted to 814 tons with an average grade of P 15.40 per ton. TONNAGE The tonnage mined and from dumps amounted to 3,392 tons, being 24% from dumps, 6.5% from development and 69.5% from Mindoro Mine stopes. The Paracale-Tigbi management have paid no attention to any ad vice I have tried to give, acting through Mr. Robb. I have from time to time passed on confidential information received from engineer friends regarding the mess in Paracale. I have just returned from the property and found things even worse than I was advised. It patently is deliber ate attempt to defraud the public. There is no space in this letter to cover all the ground. I shall do that in a few days in my report. Then I wish Mr. Foster Bain, the new Mines Department Director’s adviser, to make a thorough check upon my report. ORE REDUCTION AND PRODUCTION The mill lias operated satisfactorily through out the month. It was necessary to change the Oliver cloth; also, to shut down one of the diesel engines for a general valve and head over haul. This engine luis been running steadily for six months. At the same time the No. 3 conveyor motor was removed from the tunnel and the drive arranged at one side which keeps it free from spillage, etc. The tonnage milled amounted to 3,399 tons, an average of 109 tons PP'rhe3inill operated 91.6% of the possible time with a total production of P61.765.20. Mill heads a veraged 1’19.76 per ton, mill tails 1’1.59. A good recovery of 91.9% obtained. The gold fineness averaged 731.8. GENERAL The production suffered to a certain extent on account of less tonnage being mined from the F stopes on the west and of the ore body, due mainly to the wet weather making the fill hard (Please turn to page 48) N RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL The Hand of the Potter Up to Date Commercial Reviews nd drunk where,^^' the best foregather^Zd! BLACK & WHITE! (WHISKY) ill KUENZLE & STREIFF, INC. •Vue MANILA />,■.... A Oil..: HIT. Pinpin CIBl ILOILO 44-48 Isaac Peral l ei. No. 2-.W-.4h ZAMBOANGA l ei. No. 2-17-62 Far East—Europe RAPID LUXURY LINERS Via Singapore—Colombo Bombay — Massowah—Suez—Port Said S.S. CONTE VERDE Leaves HONGKONG, MAUCH I I. 1937, for Venice and Trieste NLV. VICTORIA Leaves MANILA. APRIL 6. for Naples and Genoa S.S. CONTE. ROSSO Leaves HONGKONG. APRIL IX. for Venice and Trieste Overland to London, Paris, Berlin. Stopover privileges, prom Egypt the voyage may be continued by five optional routes of the Mediterranean services. Through Tickets to the U. S. and Round the World at Reduced Fares. EXPRESS SERVICE vi» INDIA-EGYPT-ITALY ITALIA LINE LLOYD TRIESTINO Smith, Bell & Co., Ltd., Agents HONGKONG & SHANGHAI BANK BLDG., PHONE 2-31-31 That home and garden which you always dreamed of— San Juan Heights is the best place for it San Juan Heights Co., Inc. 680 Ave. Rizal P. O. Box 961 Tel. 21501 Manila IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 33 London Foreign Exchange Quotations According to the British Coinage Act of 1870, the one Pound sterling coin, or sovereign, is to be of a g-oss weight of 123.27447 grains, 7.98805 grammes, or 0.25682183 ounce troy, ll/12ths (i.e., 0.916-2/3) fine, with a fine weight or pure gold content of 113.00160 grains, 7.32237916 grammes, or 0.23542 ounce troy. The coin has been called the sovereign from the effigy of the monarch (a king or queen regnant) on the obverse or front side of the coin. Great Britain went off the gold bullion standard on Sep tember 21,1931, and, since then, the British legal tender paper currency Pound fyas been inflated and depreciated until now (as of London, January 23, 1937) an ounce of pure gold in the London bar gold market is quoted at L.7-1-10, that is....................................................... ... 1,702.0000 pence as against its gold standard price of L.4-4-11.4545 that is 84.95454 shillings, or............................................................... 1,019.4545 pence or a difference in price, per ounce pure gold, of....................................................... 682.5455 pence This means that the present British legal tender currency Pound has been devalued or depreciated to approximately 59.8974 + % of its former value while on gold standard, that is, it has lost a value of about 40.1026%. On this basis, the cable rates of London banks’ selling foreign currencies, as of London, January 23, 1937, on the principal foreign world financial centres may be explained, as follows: LONDON on NEW YORK; 490 5/16 (that is, U.S. $490.3125 per L.100): The new U. S. standard gold dollar (proclaimed by the President of the United States on January 31, 1934) of 15-5/21 grains 9/10 fine, with a fine weight or pure gold content of 0.028571418+ ounce troy (i.e., $35 per ounce), or 0.8886854 gramme, has a gold standard parity with the British Pound sterling, or sovereign, of.................. (per L.l) U.S. $8.2397 London/New York cross-rate (London banks’ selling U. S. dollars).........................(per L.l) $4.903125 Difference.................................... (per L.l) $3.336575 This means that the British Pound sterling has been devalued, or its legal tender paper cur rency been depreciated to approximately 59.51% of its gold standard value, that is, a devaluation or depreciation of approximately....................... 40.49% while the old U. S. standard dollar was devalued to 59.06 + % of its former gold standard value, that is, a devaluation or a reduction of gold weight and value of approximately..................... 40.94% Devaluation of the old U. S. standard gold dol lar exceeding the depreciation of the Pound by approximately............................................. 0.45% While an ounce troy of fine gold in the London bar gold market is quote 1 at L.7-1-10, and is being bought by the U.S. govern ment at $35, the London/New York cross-rate parity is...........................................................(per L.l) $4.9354 but the rate of London banks’ selling U. S. dollars on January 23, 1937, was. ... (per L.l) $4.903125 showing a difference of............ (per L.l) $0.032275 This difference of $0.032275, equivalent to about 0.65 of 1% on the above (gold bullion) parity rate of $4.9354, should, at least in part, be attributed to the cost of handling and profit charged by the London banks in the selling of U. S. dollars. LONDON on PARIS; 105-11/64 (that is, 105.171875 French Francs per L.l): The French gold Franc of 0.05895 fine gramme (by law of Jun? 25, 1928) has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of $0.066343 per Franc, and has a gold standard parity with the British Pound sterling, or sovereign, of......................... ......................(per L.l) 124.21343 Francs London/Paris cross-rate, Jan. 23, 1937......................................................... 105.171875 Francs Difference....................(per L.l) 19.041555 Francs This means that the French Franc has appreciated to ap proximately 118.09% of its parity or relative value with the British Pound; but as the Pound itself has depreciated to ap proximately 59.90% of its former gold standard value, there fore the French Franc has depreciated to approximately 70.74% of its own gold standard Franc value, as judged or measured by London gold market and the London/Paris cross-rate, above stated (118.09% X 59.90%= 70.74%). LONDON on BOMBAY; 18-9/64 (that is, 18.140625 pence per Rupee): The Indian gold Rupee (consisting of 16 annas= 192 pies) of 0.5492 fine gramme has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of $0.61799 per Rupee, but the Rupee is now on a gold exchange standard with the British Pound sterling at the rate of........................(per Rupee) 18.0000 pence London/Bombay cross-rate, January 23, 1937......................................................... 18.140625 pence Difference............... (per Rupee) 0.140625 penny This difference of 9/64 or 0.140625 penny per Rupee, amounting to but 0.78 of 1% on the parity rate of 18 pence, should be considered as cost of handling (including profit) charged by the London banks in selling Rupees, rather than as an appreciation or premium on the Rupee. If the London banks were to buy in Rupees, they would probably deduct about 9/64 d. from the parity rate of 18 pence so that the London banks’ rate for buying Rupees on Bombay would probably be about 17 55/64, that is, 17.859375 pence per Rupee. The Royal Indian Currency Commission recommended, August 6, 1926, the adoption of the gold standard for India with the immediate stabilization of the Rupee at its then rate of 1 shilling 6 pence (that is, 18 pence, in lieu of then legally fixed ratio of ls./4d. or 16 pence per Rupee), and the creation of a central reserve bank to hold the reserves of the Bank of India, carry all the government’s accounts and have the sole right of issue of notes for 25 years. Establishment of the bank has been indefinitely postponed. The Rupee followed the Pound sterling off the gold standard on September 21, 1931. LONDON on YOKOHAMA (Japan); 14 (that is, 14 pence per yen): The Japanese gold yen of 0.75 fine gramme (of identical weight and fineness as the Mexican gold peso) has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of $0.843943 per yen, and has a gold standard parity with the British Pound of....................................................(per yen) 24.5832 pence London/Yokohama cross-rate, January 23, . 1937............................................................ 14.0000 pence Difference........................(per yen) 10.5832 pence 34 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 This means that the yen (gold standard suspended since December 13, 1931) has depreciated to approximately 56.95% of its former rate of parity with the Pound; but as the Pound itself has depreciated, as above stated, to approximately 59.90% of its former gold standard value, therefore the Japanese yen has depreciated to approximately 34.11% of its former gold standard value, that is, a devaluation or a reduction of value by approximately 65.89%, as judged or measured by the London gold market and the London/Yokohama cross-rate above stated (56.95% X59.90%= 34.11%). LONDON on MILAN (Italy); 93-3/16 (that is, 93.1875 Lire per £1); The Italian gold Lira of 0.07919 fine gramme has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of $0.089108 per Lira, and has a gold standard parity with the British Pound of.............................................. ......(per £1) 92.46467 Lira London/Milan cross-rate, January 23, 1937. 93.1875 Lira Difference.............................. (per £1) 0.72283 Lira This difference of 0.72283 Lira amounts to but 0.78 of 1% of its parity rate with the Pound of 92.46467 Lire and, in a way, it may be interpreted to mean that the Italian Lira has depre ciated to approximately 99.22% of its former relative value with the Pound; but as the Pound itself has depreciated, as above stated, to approximately 59.90% of its former gold standard value, it follows that the Lira has depreciated to approxjmately 59.43% of its former gold standard value (99.22% X 59.90%= 59.43%), as judged or measured by the London gold market and the London/Milan cross-rate above stated. All banks and corporations in Italy were ordered on De cember 8, 1934, to turn over all their foreign credits to the National Exchange Institute, and, along with all private citizens, to declare to the Bank of Italy all foreign or Italian securities held by them even if deposited abroad. The law of 1927 requiring the bank to hold a reserve of 40% was sus pended July 22, 1935. The ratio on August 10, 1935, fell to 36.7%. LONDON on BERLIN (Germany); 12.195 (that is, 12.195 Reichsmarks per £1): The German gold Reichsmark (Rm.) of 0.3584222 fine gramme has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of 80.40335 per Rm., and has a gold standard parity with the British Pound of........................(per £1) 20.42945 Rm. London/Berlin cross-rate, January 23, 1937 12.195 Rm. Difference.........................(per £1) 8.23445 Rm. This means that the German Reichsmark, in terms of the Pound sterling, has appreciated to approximately 167.52% of its parity or relative value with the Pound; but as the Pound has depreciated, as above stated, to approximately 59.90% of its former gold standard value, therefore the present value of the Reichsmark is approximately 100.34% of its gold standard value (167.52%X59.90%= 100.34%). This 0.34% above par cannot, however, be called an appreciation of the Reichsmark but is rather to be considered as a handling charge for the London bankers selling the Reichsmarks. Officially, the Reichsmark is stable at its old gold standard value. In" practice, the Reich has six kinds of marks that cannot be converted into gold, but are (1) “old deposit”, (2) “credit-blocked”, (3) "note-blocked”, (4) “securitics-blockcd,” (5) “registered”, and (6) “blocked”, or “scrip”. LONDON on MADRID (Spain); 70 nominal (that is, 70 Pesetas per £1, nominal): The Spanish monetary unit, the gold peseta of 0.2903225 fine gramme has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of $0.32669 per peseta, and has a gold standard parity with the Pound of........ ............(per £1) 25.22154 Pesetas London/Madrid cross-rate January 23, 1937—nominal, due to Civil War con ditions......... ............................................ 70.00000 Pesetas This means that the Spanish peseta, off the gold standard, has, in terms of the British Pound sterling, depreciated to ap proximately 36.03% of its parity or relative value with the Pound; but as the Pound itself has depreciated, as above stated, to approximately 59.90% of its former gold standard value, it follows that the present value of the peseta, nominally, is about 21.58% (that is, 36.03%X59.90%= 21.58%) of its original gold standard value, that is, a devaluation or depre ciation of approximately 78.42%, making the paper currency peseta worth," nominally, U.S.80.07050 as compared with its gold standard par value of U.S.80.32669. LONDON on ZURICH (Switzerland); 21.41 (that is, 21.41 Francs per £1): The Swiss gold Franc of 0.2903225 fine gramme (of identical weight and fineness as the Spanish gold peseta) has a gold standard parity with the new U. S. dollar of $0.32669 per Swiss Franc, and has a gold standard parity with the British Pound of.................................(per £1) 25.22154 Sw. Francs London/Zurich cross-rate January 23, 1937....................................................... 21.41 Sw. Francs Difference....................(per £1) 3.81154 Sw. Francs This means that the Swiss Franc, now off the gold standard, has, in terms of the British Pound sterling, appreciated to 117.80% of its parity or relative value with the Pound; but as the Pound has depreciated to approximately 59.90% of its former gold standard value, it follows that the Swiss Franc has depreciated to approximately 70.56% (that is, 117.80% X59.90%= 70.56%) of its original gold standard value, that is, a devaluation or depreciation of the Swiss paper currency Franc by about 29.44%, as judged or measured by the London bar gold market and the London/Zurich cross-rate as of London, January 23, 1937. The New Engineer .... (Continued from page 30) A doctor’s prescription involving bismuth, subnitrate, tincture of opium, etc., for intestinal pain due to ptomaine or kindred poisoning. Castor oil in addition to your pet laxative 1 pint brandy 2% antiseptic soap A solution of 1 litre of alcohol containing 1 bichloride of mercury tablet for application to prickly heat, insect bites, and poisonous vegetation rashes. Flit lotion for mosquitos, flies and nic-nics and if you have any space left fill out the case with your usual medicinal re quirements. The case should be waterproof, and could be partitioned to facilitate keeping your drug stock in some degree of order. The occasion when such a case is left behind, or its stock allowed to dwindle, will likely be the time when it is most required. Field equipment of a personal nature should include a cot, blankets, small pillow, a.id positively include a mosquito bar. Numerous changes of apparel are necessary, and these should be kept in a waterproof duffle bag. A bit of experience will guide one in selecting a field outfit most suitable to individual requirements. A bolo is handy and should be a part of every field outfit. A side arm, of heavy calibre if at all, may be of occasional use. Speh are at once a burden and a source of continual attention—especially automatics—due to rust and corrosion of moving parts. In Mindanao, particularly among the wild tribes, and to a great extent elsewhere, a gun is a coveted article. These people will resort to theft, and some of them to ambush with spears, for the possession of a fire arm. There is only a remote chance of stopping a charging carabao with even a heavy-calibre side arm. They, more often, are the more infuriated by the stinging of bullets and smell of powder. It is the better part of valor to appropriate a near-by tree prior to any demonstration of markmanship. These docile appearing animals should not be underestimated, inas much as they are savage when over-heated, or during periods (Please turn to page 43) Difference......................... (per £1) 44.77846 Pesetas February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 35 COPRA AND ITS PRODUCTS By KENNETH B. DAY and LEO SCHNURMACHER Kenneth B. Day The month of January, 1937 witnessed one of the most spectacular advances and declines of copra in many years, and copra reached its highest peak since 1926, only to lose this ad vantage almost immediately. Copra.—Copra arrivals for January were light, running approximately 1/3 below those of the preceding January in both Manila and Cebu, and around 20% below those of Decem ber, 1936. This probability had been dis counted, however, in December and as a matter of fact the arrivals were no less than anticipated some weeks previously. At the end of 1936 copra was selling in Manila Leo Schnurmacher Beginning End of of Month Month Stocks on hand— 'Ions Tons Manila...................... 22,363 21.126 Cebu......................... 17,317 16.983 for P20.50 resecada. Owing to the shortage of supplies and spot demand for oil in the United States, with mills and exporters anxious to take advantage of this condition, the price of copra started up vertically, showing a daily increase until the middle of the month when considerable business was transacted at P24.50. This was equivalent to 10 cent oil in New York, which was above the market, and spot buyers began to withdraw. At the same time the European copra market took an unexpectedly sharp de cline, not only in copra but in other fats and oils, .which in turn brought the American market down with it and the Manila copra market as well. As a consequence, at the end of the month the quoted price in Manila was Pl9.00 with buyers anticipating further decreases in price. Thus the net for the month was a loss of Pl.50 domestic quotations. Although fair stocks hands of speculators at the end of the month, there w'ere also small stocks scattered throughout the Archipelago, most of which were sold during January, which was reflected by the unusually dry quality of the copra received in the Manila market. At the end of the month two or three speculators were holding fair stocks, but most of the small holdings had been liquidated. Copra shipments to the Pacific Coast of the United States were very light ow'ing to the scar city of space due to the shipping strike. Statistics for the month follow: of copra w’ere in the over the opening quotation. In the United States Pacific Coast crushers followed the advance up from a low of 5.25 cents to a high of 5.75 cents, and later dropped their prices equally rapidly to a low of 5 cents at the end of the month with very little buying interest in evidence. The European market advanced from £22 to a high of £24, and then collapsed suddenly to a low of £19/15/—on January 31st. At no time were European prices the equivalent of Coast or Metric Tons Manila.............................................. 243,461 Cebu.....................•.......................... 233,122 Shipments— Metric Tons Pacific Coast................................... 4,998 Gulf Ports....................................... 1,524 Other Countries............................. 104 6.626 Coconut Oil.—The coconut oil market in the United States was, as in December, a spot market. Owing to the strike very little spot oil was avail able and those fortunate enough to hold it were able to obtain substantial premiums for it over bulk parcels for later delivery. On several oc casions spot premiums ranged from 1/2 to 1 cent per pound, which is a most unusual condition. While in November and December most of the spot demand came from edible consumers, in January there was a small amount of spot de mand from soapers with edible consumers fairly taken care of in December and holding back, expecting lower prices later on. The month started with oil quoted at 8-1/4 cents on the Pacific Coast and 8-3/8 cents on the Atlantic Coast. The price zigzagged up with first one Coast advancing and then the other, until by the middle of the month oil was selling for 9-1/4 cents in New York and 9 cent on the Coast. As a matter of fact, it was reported that small spot parcels were sold as high as 10 cents or better in New York, with 9-3/4 cents actuallypaid on the Pacific Coast. These prices, how ever, were for very small lots and only served to stimulate local copra prices without being suffi cient in volume to allow buyers to count on. Shipments were light, as they usually are in January, but tank space, while scarce, was ade quate to take care of shippers’ requirements, par ticularly to the East Coast and the Gulf. Statistics for the month follow: Shipments— Met. Tons Pacific Coast................................... 1,504 Atlantic Coast................................ 3,614 Gulf Ports....................................... 1,018 China and Japan........................... 18 Total..................................... 6,153 Stocks on hand in Manila and Cebu........ Beginning of Month Tons 9,708 End of Month Tons 13.038 PAMBUSCO Not One Road-Hog in Our Fleet of 140 Busses. Can You Say That Honestly of Yourself? Fifteen-Minute Service From Manila to Points North Sanitary Drinking Founts—Electric Fans Toilets in Our Waiting Rooms 'Travel by the Safe, Courteous and Efficient Pambusco System TELEPHONE 4-99-82 IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 36 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Copiia Cake and Meal.—In the early part of January the copra cake market stiffened up perceptibly in Europe, and the II unburg price advanced to a point where cake w is sold at S36.50 e.i.f., which is. roughly, the equivalent of a local price of 1*52.00 f.o.b. At the same time copra meal picked up a little bit in the United States and advanced to $31.00 per short ton, which was, roughly speaking. 1’3.00 per ton better than the cake equivalent. Pacific Coast business, however, was sporadic. Sellers were fairly short of stocks and there was not a great deal of selling interest. Sime local mills desisted from making ship ments to the United States on account of the strike, while other shippers continued taking their chances of having the meal unloaded at Vancouver and shipped down to Los Angeles by rail. It was felt that the European market for cake was unusually high and had conditions been normal. doubtless there would have been considerably more selling pressure to Europe. Statistics for the month follow: Shipments— Tons Pacific Coast................................... 1,110 Europe............................................. 3.119 China and Japan........................... 51 Total..................................... Stocks on hand in— Manila and Cebu. . 4.280 Beginning End of of Month Month Tons Tons 4.120 6.888 Desiccated Coconut.—Local factories were running light in January with one factory en tirely shut down. The cost of nuts was so high and nuts were so scarce that operation was un profitable. On January 1st the price of desic cated coconut in the New York market advanced to 8-3/4 cents per pound with the possibility that a further increase will have to be made in the near future if local prices continue high. Shipments were not greatly affected by the strike because desiccated coconut being a good paying freight, space was found for it at the expense of less remunerative commodities. Shipments for the month totalled 1.502 tons. G N ral.—At the end of the month the situa tion was still uncertain with prices on the down grade for everything except desiccated coconut but with every indication that the decline might easily be checked early in February, particularly in view of the prospects for a short copra crop for the first half of 1937 especially in the Northern districts. Conditions were more normal in the South and the crop looked fairly close to average. Carry-overs from 1936 were unusually low. There was much speculation as to the effect of the end of the strike on the copra market with the general impression that prices might decline temporarily but might easily advance again later in the Spring. This was offset by the undeniably weak statistical position of coconut oil as com pared with other oils and fats, coconut oil being very definitely overpriced. Copra buyers were looking forward to a spe culative market for the first half year with very satisfactory prices and oil millers to an erratic market requiring great caution and a thorough, conservative buying policy, if profits were to be realized. The local demand for coconut oil, which in creased greatly in 1937, was much in evidence in January, not only to supply the local soap manu facturers but also the steady and constantly increasing lard compound and margarine in dustry. This industry can never take a large partion of oil production but is undeniably re flecting a thriving condition. What is. . . (Continued from page 13) bv the general level of prices. When prices are high, more token money or subsidiary coins will be required as a circulating medium than when prices are low. History has repeatedly shown that deprecia tion of silver, caused by monetary disturbance, has injuriously affected the trade of gold cur rency countries with silver currency or silverusing countries, and that, in effect, this depre ciation acted like a protective duty on imports into the silver-currency countries, and a bounty ASHAMED °r FLOORS? No need to be ashamed of your floors when you can renew them so quickly and easily with QuickStep, the modern color coating for linoleum, wood, and cement floors. Any one can have a smooth, lus trous floor with Quick-Step. This new floor coating is waterproof... and as nearly wear-proof as any thing you’ve ever seen or tried. Come in and let us show you how easy it is to use Quick-Step and have nice floors again! General Paint Corporation PHILIPPINES, INC. 12th 13th & Atlanta Sts. Port Area, Manila, P. I. or premium on their exports to the gold currency countries. Since it is generally admitted that the effect of a bounty is to lower prices in foreign countries, and protective duties operate indirectly in the same way, it is maintained that the depreciation or fall of silver has lowered all prices measured in gold. The term “appreciation”, as applied to gold or silver, requires some explanation. If gold, for example, is the standard of value in a country, it may be thought that its own value cannot change, just as a foot measure always remains of the same length, and that a gold dollar of full weight must always remain of the same value. But it is one thing to appoint by law that a certain amount of gold shall be coined into a certain kind of a dollar, and quite another to suppose that these dollars shall always exchange for the same amount of wealth or goods. If, on the whole, a dollar purchases more than it did, from whatever cause, that constitutes an appreciation of gold. An appreciation (or an increase of value and purchasing power) of gold is thus the same thing as a general fall in prices; such a condition prevailed in the United States during the great depression before the suspension of the United States gold dollar standard on April 19, 1933. In spite of the many evils resulting from its in troduction and use. money is the most successful device m in has discovered for distributing the supplies of a journey along its course, and the goods of daily need over a period of time. A hundred loaves of bread in the hands of a single individual, for example, would mold long before they could all be consumed. Money enables men in society to acquire these hundred loaves in a series so that they can be used when most needed; hence, money serves as a storehouse for keeping things for the future when they will have a greater gratifying power. The term "intrinsic value”, strictly speaking, is an expression which is not absolutely logical. The intrinsic value of a coin—the value within itself, or its real or inherent value—is the market value of the metal contained in the coin. Under certain conditions it may occur, however, that, in certain districts and places, the metal con tained in a coin is of no value at all, because it cannot be exchanged for anything. Ship wrecked in a small boat in mid-ocean and dying of starvation and thirst with no immediate prospect of being saved, a man, with all the money he may have in gold, silver, or other pre cious metals or stones in his person, cannot buy or exchange for a single loaf of bread or a bottle of fresh water to save his life, and the gold or silver, etc., will then and there be of no value or worth whatever to him. The stock of money of the United States, classified by kind, as at the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 1935, is as follows: Gold coin and bullion............. $ 9,115,643,492 Silver dollars............................. $ 545,642,265 Subsidiary silver....................... $ 313,423,778 Federal reserve notes............... $ 3,492,853,620 National Bank notes................ S 769,095,645 Other.......................................... $ 877,383,181 Total stock of money in U. S. as at June. 30, 1935............ $15,114,041,981 Percentage of gold to total money......... 60.31 (Please turn to page //) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 37 SHIPPING REVIEW By H. M. CAVENDER General Agent, The Robert Dollar Co. From statistics compiled by the Associated Steamship Lincs, during the month of December there were exported from the Philippines the following: Notwithstanding the strike situation the out bound cargo movement for December amounted to 215,967 revenue tons, exceeding November 1936 and also December 1935. For 1935 the en tire movement was 1,917,025 tons—in 1936 it reached 2,692,095 tons —an increase of 775,070 tons, or 40%. Just how seriously the strike affected the expoits trade cannot be estimated. We know that sugar, lumber, ores and copra movements were interfered with. The sugar industry forwarded 76,899 tons and could not find space for other shipments that they wanted to move. High rates bid by other commodities from other parts of the World robbed the Philippines of tonnage needed and it appears that space will be at a premium for some months in the future. It is definitely known that sugar shipments will be hampered until .April 30th at least. As compared to November all coconut pro ducts show heavy shrinkages. 4,342 tons of desiccated coconut went forward to the United States. The movement of coconut oil amounted to 9,749 tons as against November 21,196 tons. Both November and December shipments went to the United States. The copra movement was 12,175 tons, 10,643 tons less than November. Europe took only 150 tons in November and none in December—the United States being the only buyer. The cake and meal movement, 8,288 tons, was about normal—Europe taking 4,280 tons, the remainder going to the United States. Hemp shipments, 123,751 bales, exceeded November by 2,200 bales. The Japan market took 46,448 bales, Europe 43,331, the United States 26,131, the remainder being well scattered thruout the world. The lumber and log movement amounted to 15 million board feet, Japan taking 11 million feet, Europe 960,000 feet, United States 2,200,000 feet. South Africa was a good customer for 400,000 feet, as was Australia for 118,000 feet. These particular commodities felt the shortage of tonnage acutely—by necessity loaded at out ports they could not attract ton nage. Increased rates to the United States went into effect on December 1st. Japan took her monthly lot of iron ore, 48,448 tons, and also 500 tons of chromite. The United States took only 450 tons. Several round lots of manganese and chromite for United States delivery could not find tonnage and could not move. Notice of increase in rates to take effect July 1st, 1937, were sent out during December. The condition of the charter market affected the United States trade. It appears as though the base ores are facing a very dis couraging situation. Cigar shipments totalled 638 tons (40 cu. ft.) a slight increase over November. A round lot, 1512 tons, of tobacco went to Europe, the total Were Carried >i irith A meri~an Bat Miscellaneous Of Which toms With To Tons Sailings Tons Sailings China and Japan......................................... .................. 80,039 43 Pacific Coast Local Delivery..................... .................. 34,159 13 19,351 3 Pacific Coast Overland............................... .................. 687 4 Pacific Coast Intercoastal........................... .................. 193 1 193 • 1 Atlantic and Gulf......................................... .................. 84,423 20 10.049 2 European Ports............................................. .................. 13,583 17 161 1 All other Ports............................................. .................. 2,883 23 A Grand Total <f 215,967 tons with a total of 87 sailings (average 2,482 tons per vessel) of which 29,754 tons were carried in American bottoms with 5 sailings (average 5,950 tons per vessel). FINDLAY MILLAR TIMBER CO. INCORPORATED IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS Manufacturers & Exporters of Philippine Lumber MILLS AT KOLAMBUGAN AND MILBUK MINDANAO, P. I. YARD, PLANING MILL, SASH & DOOR & FURNITURE FACTORY SANTA MESA, MANILA, P. I. Cable Address: “FINDMILL” P. O. Box 307 Codes Used: Bentley’s & Acme MANILA HEAD OFFICE: 1000 Cordeleria, Manila A. W. ROBERTSON Managing Director UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVES: NEW YORK LOS ANGELES Millars Timber & Trading Co., Ltd. Findlay Millar Timber Co. 280 Broadway 111 West Seventh St. AND AGENCIES ALL OVER THE WORLD IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 38 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 to all districts amounted to 1935 tons—not a very satisfactory showing. Molasses has been very quiet for several months. Only a few shipments in containers are noted. The rope shipments amounted to 585 tons, a substantial increase over November. The ship ments to the United States remain at a very low level. Compared to November increases are noted in embroideries, junk metals, kapok seed and veget able oil products and decreases in furniture, gums, kapok and cutch. During 1936 increased rates went into effect on hemp, logs, sawn lumber, cent, sugar, refined sugar, cigars, desiccated coconut, embroideries, canned foods, furniture, gums, shell craft, tobacco and vegetable oil products, and 1937 bids fair to see further increases. The United States took 119,462 tons, or 55% of the total exports. There were only 5 vessels flying the United States flag to leave the Islands, nil facing a tie-up on arrival. These 5 vessels lifted 29,593 tons for United States delivery, 25% of the total. Passenger traffic for the month of December 1936, compared with November, shows a de crease in first class and intermediate traffic. Third class traffic shows an increase. The following figures show the number of passengers departing from the Philippines during December, 1936: China and Japan..................... Honolulu.................................... Pacific Coast............................. Europe via America................ Straits Settlement and Dutch East Indies........................... Europe and Mediterranean ports beyond Colombo........ Australia.................................... America via Suez..................... 84 158 Total for December, 1936. . 133 Total for November, 1936.. 207 122 135 Total for December, 1935.. 120 101 183 TOBACCO REVIEW By P. A. MEYER Rawleaf: Pur chase of the 1936 crop of rawlcaf in the provinces of Cagayan and Isa bela was practical ly terminated dur ing January. Pri ces paid were con siderably higher than those ruling before the Decem ber 1936 floods. Comparative ship ments abroad were as follows: Rawleaf, Stripped Tobacco and Scrape Kilos Belgium................................................ 371 China................................................... 8.916 France................................................... 104,002 French Indochina.. ........................ 24.700 Guam................................................... 7,422 Holland................................................. 9,026 Hongkong............................................. 16,180 Japan................................................... 41,200 Manchoukuo....................................... 3,540 North Africa...................................... 28,471 United States...................................... 116,318 360,144 December 1936.............................. 2,183,129 January, 1936............ 775,473 Cigars: January shipments to the United States established a new low record. Com parative figures for these shipments follow: Cigars January, 1937................................... 4,946,104 December, 1936.............................. 10,503,060 January, 1936................................... 9,621,440 REAL ESTATE By P. D. CARMAN Addition Hills The upward trend in volume of sales shown in 1936, the best year since 1919, continued in January with a total exceeding that of the same month in any years since 1921 except ing three; 1924, 1928 and 1931. Recent une qualled sales totals have been attained in spite of still low, altho steadily increasing, prices. Even without increase in the number of transac tions, it is obvious that advancing prices will soon materially swell the total value of sales beyond any recorded figures. That the volume of transactions will also steadily increase due to Manila’s increasing population appears to be certain. The Bureau of Health estimates over 69,000 as the increase since the census of 1918. And this in spite of steadily increasing movement of population to the suburbs. If the extraordinary increase in traffic congestion in recent years is any criterion, Manila’s population has probably increased considerably beyond the Bureau’s estimate. 1935 strong-material construction within the city limits was valued at P2,772,940. In 1936 it rose to 1*5,840,230, probably still much lower than may be expected during the next few years in view of the greatly retarded construction over the long period of depression. Sales City of Manila December January 1936 1937 Sta. Cruz................. I* 130,320 I* 92,609 Sampaloc.................. 21,237 96,571 Tondo....................... 119,302 208,133 Binondo.................... 380,500 San Nicolas.............. 49,000 40,236 Ermita...................... 567,446 112,200 Malate...................... 309,676 343,594 Paco.......................... 19,000 19,450 Sta. Ana................... 17,638 161,923 Quiapo...................... 2,446 9,659 San Miguel.............. 118,831 322,354 Intramuros............... 17,000 Pandacan................. 8,740 Sta. Mesa................. 4,800 21,000 Pl,748,936 Pl,444,729 MANILA HEMP By H. P. STRICKLER Manila Cordage Company The strength in the foreign markets at the close of December continued almost to the middle of January. During the second half of January, it became apparent that prices had advanced too much and too rapidiy, and foreign demand gradually eased off until it practically ceased at the end of the month. This condition in the foreign markets coupled with indications of larger production in the Bicol (Please turn to page 41) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 39 LUMBER REVIEW By FLORENCIO TAMESIS Director, Bureau of Forestry ing period last year. Inquiries from German importers are being received with the view' to increasing their orders if satisfactory connections are found. The domestic market was active. Demand of timber and lumber for construction purposes was strong in view of the approach of the dry season. Mill production during November and December increased 11% compared with the figure for the corresponding montlis hist year. Total deliveries was 9% above mill production for the months under review. Prices are on the upward trend. The following statements show the lumber and timber exports, by countries, and the mill pro duction and ’umber inventories for the months of November and December, 1936, as compared with the corresponding months of the previous year. Lumber and Timber Exports during November and December, 1935 and 1936 Quantity CustomsDestination in Declared Board Feet Value Japan........................ *18,877,752 P 365,015 Note: ’This represents mostly solid log scale, that is, 424 board feet to a cubic meter. Total lumber and timber exports for November and Dec ember registered an increase of 20% as comparea with the corresponding period in 1935. Japan con tinued to be the largest consumer of logs. There w’ere exported to this marketduringthe months under review 18,877,752 board feet of timber as compared with 13,545,528 board feet for the same months lastyear, or an increase of 39%. The November exports to Japan registered considerable decline from the previous month owing to typhoons, which made the handling of logs particularly difficult. However, in December log shipments returned to normal. It is believed that a much greater amount of logs could have to advantage been shipped to Japan during November and December as demand in this market was unu sually active because of limited lumber importa tions from the United States as a result of the Pacific Coast strike. Lumber shipments to the United States regis tered a decrease of 8% as compared with the cor responding period in 1935. This decrease was, however, not due to a slackening of demand in that market but the difficulties encountered by local exporters in securing bottoms, as a result of the Pacific Coast strike. Despite the above adverse condition and an increase of SI.00 in freight rate per 1000 board feet to Pacific ports and an increase of SI.50 to Atlantic ports, the United States remained the largest consumer of sawn lumber. There were 3.421,680 board feet of lumber shipped to Cfiina in November and December as compared with 3,120.640 board feet for the same months in 1935, or an increase of 9%. As usual, this market took in both sawn lumber and logs. A particularly large shipment of the latter pro duct was made in December, the total export for this month being 3,353,416 board feet, 96% of which was unsawn timber. Demand in Aus tralia during the months under review wasunusually active. Exports to this market amounted to 569,008 board feet, most of which were sawn lumber, as compared with only 270,936 board feet for November and December of last year, or an increase of 110%. Sample shipments of lauan logs for plywood purposes are being made to this market. A considerable volume of trade in logs is expected if these sample shipments are found satisfactory. Exports to Europe declined 57% from the November and December figure of last year. This was largely due to a slack demand in Great Britain, which is, however, merely seasonal. Germany seems to be showing greater interest on Philippine woods. During the months und review, there were 33,072 board feet shipped to that country as against none for the correspond CADWALLADER-GIBSON LUMBER COMPANY Philippine Mahogany and Hardwoods Represented by: CADWALLADER-GIBSON CO., INC. 3628 E. Olympic Blvd. Los Angeles, California, U. S. A. THE HENRY W. PEABODY & CO. OF LONDON, LTD. 16 Eastcheap London, E.C. 3, England G. A. WATSON 58 Burg Street Cape Town, S. Africa 35 Royal Chambers Johannesburg, S. Africa R. & D. BLAIR, Ltd. 5 Macquarie Place Sydney, Australia S. C. CHOY & CO., INC. 1819 Juan Luna, Manila, P. I. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 40 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 United States........ 4,756,008 343,659 China .................... 3,421,680 66,064 British Africa........ 607,592 40,557 Australia................. 569,008 40,306 Great Britain......... 461,736 36,234 Portuguese Africa. . 104,728 7,728 Germany................. 33,072 4,030 Canada................... 31,800 1.875 Ireland.................... 15,264 1,633 Hawaii.................... 10,176 891 Norway................... 9.752 1,098 Sweden................... 5,088 410 Turkey in Europe. 2,120 295 Singapore............... 848 175 Spain ..................... Hongkong............... New Zealand......... Denmark................ Netherlands............ Total....... 28.906.624 1* 909,970 1935 Quantity CustomsDestination in Declared Board Feet Value Japan...................... 13,545,528 1* 220,559 United States........ 5,180,856 362,738 China...................... 3,120,640 99,381 British Africa......... 626,672 37.036 Australia.................. 270,936 11,262 Great Britain......... 1,184,656 90,587 Portuguese Afr.ca. . Germmv Ireland.................... 21,200 1,532 Hawaii.................... 2,968 553 Norway. 12,296 1,923 Sweden................... Turkey in Europe. . Singapore............... 26,288 4,410 Spain....................... 3,392 276 Hongkong................ 16,960 998 New Zealand......... 19,928 1,539 Denmark................ 12,296 1,447 Netherlands............ 6.360 715 Total........ 24,050,976 P 834,956 For 50 Mills for the months of November and December Mill Production Lumber Deliveries 1936 1935 Nov. and Dec.. .. 38,076,327 37.731.678 Lumber Inventory at end of December 1936 1935 Nov. and Dec.. .. 35,231.933 33.716.443 1936 1935 Nov. and Dec......... 34,843,528 31,351.833 THE RICE INDUSTRY By PERCY A. HILL of Munoz, Nueva Ecija Director, Rice Producer's Association Prices for both rice and palay are prac tically the same as in last report. Lux ury rice quotations are from P5.20 to 1*5.40 per sack of 561/2 kilos, with Macans from P4.75 to 1*4.95. Macan palay at marketing points from 1*2.25 to P2.30 with superior classes at from 1*2.35 to P2.45 per cavan of 44 kilos. A new measure for palay purchased by the Rice and Corn Corporation is the sack of 45. l/2_ kilos for shrinkage, with D R Y s E A L S Superior Qualify Dependable Service RING UP 2-18-01 the next time you need a Rubber Stamp or Dry Seal and our Salesman will call 7lfc/^rrr r curn tt / ■/> PRINTING COMPANY >---- < u lf JLl Sales Office: 2nd Floor IOI Escolfa R u B B E R s T A M P S higher price accordingly. The crop now threshing out, while not a banner one, is very good, thus eliminating the necessity for imports. The NARIC, now has sufficient oash on hand for the purpose of pur chasing supplies of palay at convenient points for re-distribution, and the Chinese have, so far, cooperated in keeping the price stable, which is the goal of the NARIC itself. With supply good and price ample this should go far in keep ing the market stable. The New Tenancy Act signed by Pres. Quezon before his departure for the United States was a courageous thing. To date some dozen landlords have been killed and wounded for collecting debts at usurious rates, with more to follow. The Act, lying doggo for years, being hamstrung by the provision of its only being applied on the request of town councils, was never expected to be put into force. Only 2 of the 1247 towns and municipal districts did so approve, hence the cutting of the Gordian knot by Pres. Quezon, in an effort to make better provisions for the tenant. However the new act needs some rectifications and clarifications before its full acceptance by the proprietors, and the refusal to pay debts will automatically dry up the credit of the tenants, as some of the provisions are not contractual but arrived at mutual understandings, other wise the tenant will lose all his offsets, and be in worse case than before. Former projected laws were too complicated and long, with the addition that only in certain districts they could be put into effect. While the interests charged were clearly usurious, the landlords used the offsets in an endeavour to receive their shares, and which added together made no little sum available to the tenants. The clarification of these should be made by those familiar with the situation and local con ditions which vary greatly, and are not suscept ible to laws drawn up by labor leaders. It is no little task to scrap the usages of over 500 years by law. On the other hand if agents pro vocative continue to interfere, we can expect more Communist and Soviet societies will result. The landlords took little interest in the Tenancy Law for they never expected it to go into effect, altho they were warned, but it will be to their best interests if they do not form too many Protective Associations, until the try it out. The whole question is one of greed versus ignorance and all its complications. To simplify the act, aimed at usury, all the offsets, such as subsistence, supplies, rent of lots, and monies should be put in cash upon which legal interest can be collected, the crop divided equally, less the expenses accruing to both parties as to transplanting, harvesting, irrigation fees and fertilizer costs. The act can still be made more liberal to the tenant if drawn up by an agricul turist familiar with conditions in the Luzon Plain. However no law ever drawn up can eliminate the phases of human nature unless it is square for both contracting parties, and the clause giving the preponderance of evidence to the tenant, will prove a boomerang to the very agencies who proposed it, if written contracts are used, as they are in about 60% of the cases. Clauses that are too drastic injure the tenant more than the landlord, and require more clarification. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 41 Manila Hemp (Continued from. page 38) and other regions produced a very depressing effect upon most dealers and producers, with the result that large supplies were offered in all local markets except Davao at a time when there were no foreign buyers. The natural consequence of such a situation was a rapid decline in prices, and the market closed with every indication pointing toward still lower prices. The situation in Davao was quite different from the northern markets, as production there continued on the low side, and buyers went on paying the peak prices throughout the whole month of January. Prices of Loose Fiber in Manila Per Picul December 31st January 31st Nominal CD... ........ P28.00 CD .............. 1*30.00 E.... .......... 23.00 E.. .............. 24.50 F...... .......... 21.00 F.. .............. 21.50 I...... ........... 19.00 I... ............ 19 00 JI.... .......... 16.50 Jl. .............. 17.00 G.... .......... 16.75 G.. .............. 16.00 H. ... .......... 15.50 H................. 14.50 J2... . .......... 16.00 J2. .............. 14.50 K. ... .......... 15.25 K. ............... 14.00 LI.... .......... 14.75 LI. .............. 13.50 L2... .......... 13.00 L2. .............. 12.00 Prices of Loose Fiber ■in Davao Per Picul December 31st January 31st F. . .. ........ P22.50 F.. .............. 1*23.50 I....... .......... 21 50 I 22 00 S2... . .......... 20.00 S2. .............. 20.50 JI.... .......... 20.50 Jl. ............. 21.00 G... .......... 19.00 G.. .............. 19.50 H.... .......... 16.00 H. .............. 16.50 J2.... .......... 19.00 J2. .............. 19.50 K. ... .......... 16.75 K. .............. 17.00 What is . . . (Continued from page 36) So it may be that this “absolutely positive mas sacre” will be fought out by ships that are launched but do not shell, by planes that fly but do not bomb, by men who march but never out of their own back yard. Another strong antiseptic working on the germ of war is the matter of alliances. The various lineups among the nations change as rapidly as the lineup of a football team in the last quarter. If the geographical boundaries of the countries of Europe shifted as rapidly as do the opinions and agreements of their leaders, the map would resemble a whirling roulette wheel. And you may be sure that so long as this bewildering, tricky, ever-changing alignment of pacts, lo yalties and “friendly” agreements continues, there will be no frightful World War. A third agent putting in some quiet but mighty licks for peace is the ever-swelling tide of world prosperity. All the nations are on the com mercial upgrade, some faster than others, but every country now has not only more hope but more cash. When you add to this pleasant picture the prospect of a stabilized world cur rency; started by the recent devaluation of the franc, you have even more practical reasons for a sane belief in no horrible World War. With surging prosperity and harmonious world money —which many economic analysts claim is the fundamental difference between war and peace— it is possible that-the only serious international conflict will be a matter of tariffs and raw ma terials. A final and perhaps most vital reason for believing that this “frightful World War” is not inevitable is its own propaganda. That is, the very picture of coming horror will prevent its coming. We have been told so long, so color fully, so plausibly, that the next World War will be frightful and destructive beyond anything the earth has ever seen that we believe it. And the more we believe it, the more we are told how deadly and destructive it will be, the more we are shown that no nation will escape—the less likely is such a war to occur. So, still out “on a limb,” we repeat: the “ine vitable” war is not inevitable. It is possible— even though at present it does not seem probable that preparedness, shifting alliances and horror propaganda may postpone the actual clash until returning prosperity and stable money-exchange quietly but surely turn the war of guns and blood into one of trade and tariffs. (Reprinted from World Digest.) OXY-ACETYLENE Welding & Cutting Equipment Philippine Acetylene Go. 281 CALLE CRISTOBAL, PACO MANILA, P. I. Circulation, $5,568,099,785, equivalent to Per Capita....................................... 43.79 On January 31, 1934, the President of the United States proclaimed the new United States standard gold dollar to be 15-5/21, that is, 15.23809 grains 9/10 fine, equivalent to S35 per fine ounce troy. The Assay Commission (1901) reported that the fineness of gold coined in the U. S. Mint was from 0.899 to 0.901; silver 0.8982 to 0.9009. Contrary (Continued from page 11) The bully relies on two weaponstr-his superior equipment and a surprise assault. Both of those factors seemed to be on the side of the attacker in the War of 1914; neither is possible for this freely predicted sure-as-sin melee in 1936-7— or pick-your-own-year. With the surprise attack an impossibility, and with all the major nations about equally pre pared, it’s a good sensible bet that no belligerent will dare to fire the first gun until it feels it has shot ahead of its rivals in the armament race. INSURANCE For Every Need and Purpose WORKMEN’S COMPENSATION PUBLIC LIABILITY AUTOMOBILE ATLAS ASSURANCE CO. LTD. CONTINENTAL INSURANCE CO. FIRE MARINE ACCIDENT PLATE GLASS THE EMPLOYER’S LIABILITY ASSURANCE CORPORATION LTD. ORIENT INSURANCE COMPANY INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA General Agents E. E. IIMI. INC. Telephone 2-24-28 — MANILA — Kneedler Building IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 42 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 United States Monthly Economic Cable January, 1937 Washington, D. C. February 16, 1937. General General business during January declined moderately from December as a result of the floods in the Ohio Valley and labor disputes in the automobile and other industries which tended to retard production and distribution. Indexes of industrial output and freight traffic for January were below the December figures because of the foregoing obstacles and shifting seasonal influences. The steel industry, how ever, maintained its high rate of output during January notwithstanding the drop in automobile assemblies; textile mill output remained high and consumers goods industries generally reacted to the stimulus resulting from the continued rise in income and upward trend in prices; and durable goods industries, in which demands are influenced mainly by long term considerations, have a large volume of orders on hand. The expansion in consumer income during December was an extension of the upward movement evidence, throughout the year in both farm and urban areas. The Department of Agriculture estimates total cash income from agricultural products in 1936 at 88.100,000,000 compared with $7.200,000,000 for the same period last year, and the farmers share at $5,300,000,000, or 17 per cent above the same period 1st year and only 7 per cent below 1929. In terms of purchasing power, this amount exceeded the 1929 total because prices of goods purchased bv farmers came near ly 20 per cent lower. January advances in wholesale commodity prices were less general and more irregular than the December advances. 11)e index of raw materials advanced more than twice as much as the index of finished products and the index of semi-manufactures rose even more rapidly than raw materials. The widest advances shown for December and the first half of January were in farm products, chemicals and drugs, and hides and leather. Large gains were also made in the price indexes of building materials, foods, and metals and metal products. Practically all farm products showed marked substantial prices increases. The domestic trade was marked by sustained high level of general busi ness activities and the improved position of the farm population despite the effects of the Ohio valley and Mississippi floods. The trend of employment was upward through out the last year with the net gain for the number of persons at work exeeeding any of the three preceding years. Payrolls were also higher in December and employment in manufacturing industries reached the highest figures reported since January 1930. Financial The Seventy-fifth Congress now in session passed a bill, approved January 23, extending until June 30, 1929 the powers conferred upon the President by the Gold Reserve Act of 1934, granting him authority to reduce the gold content of the dollar by not more than fifty per cent as originally provided by the amend ment to the Emergency Farm Relief Act of 1933. Money markets were more interested, however, in the President’s budget message to Congress on January 8, reporting that “the 1938 budget is in balance and except for the debt reduction of S401,500,000, it will remain in balance even if later on there are included addi tional expenditures for recovery and relief”. Stock prices moved upward during January with the most pronounced rise in industrial shares, which reached new high levels for the recovery period. Utility stocks also advanced and bond prices have remained firm, while continued low interest rates sustained the high grade issues. Construction The construction industry is entering 1937 with relatively favorable prospects and activi ties at about 65. per cent of the pre-depression average, but construction costs are still relatively high, having advanced further in the past year. While the largest gain was in residence con struction, industrial construction made a faster pace. With operations in many lines of in dustries approaching capacity and with sharply rising corporation profits, the upward movement in industrial construction seems likely to be extended. The rapidly mounting output of electric power is also a factor tending to in crease expenses of industrial equipment. Freight Movement The volume of freight carried by railroads was seasonally lower January than in Decem ber but car loadings were 20 percent larger than in the same period last year and seven percent below the 1930 average. The volume of rail road traffic Inis now reached a point where demands for new equipment are insistent and prospects of increased traffic through the current year have caused railroads to place large orders for new rolling stock. Two major factors influencing the immediate financial outlook of carriers are the alteration of the rate structure on January one, through the elimination of emergency freight charges, and the plans of the Railroad Brotherhood to request a 20 per cent wage increase. The Interstate Commerce Commission is now holding hearings of the mil roads’ petition for an upward revision of the permanent rate structure. A utomolive Labor disputes affected a sharp reduction in the output of automobiles during January. Factory sales of automobiles during 1936 totaled 4.455,000 units exceeded only once before, in 1929. Production of commercial cars alone was the highest on record. Output in the tire manufacturing industry hits maintained a high level,. with prices ad vancing 6 per cent in mid-January. This price advance is the third in less than a year and follows the sharp rise in the crude rubber market as a result of tightening supplies and continued consumption. While total world stocks of crude rubber appear much reduced. Lumber Activity in lumber industry showed a marked expansion during the year, with production of all types increasing 26 per cent over the same period last year and shipments and orders received were 24 and 27 per cent higher, respectively. Total lumber consumption for the year was placed at 22,500,000,000 board feet, an increase of 23 per cent over the previous year and 71 per cent over 1932. Exports were five per cent, building and construction, 33 per cent, railroad consumption 18 per cent, and other manufac tures 8 per cent. Iron and Steel Iron and steel production continued at 'a high rate into the new year with the volume of orders from major steel consuming agencies increiising during December but orders for machine tools were outstanding in their advancement in spite of rising prices Further price advances have been made in various finished steel pro ducts also and scrap prices have advanced to the highest level in more than ten years. Textiles All textile fibers, with the exception of silk, were consumed in greatly increased quantities during December and prices of both fibers and fabrics rose steadily, but no data are avail able to determine the increase of stocks on hand with producers and distributors as a result of the high production rate and increased prices. The seasonally adjusted textile production index for December was 140 compared with 100 during the 1923-25 period. In the rayon industry, manufacturers’ deliveries in December recorded a marked gain although still below the recorded high level of last August. Mill operations have been at full capacity. The total putput of rayon yarn and stable fibers in 1936 recorded a gain of about 10 percent over the same period last year, while domestic consumption was approximately 25 per cent above the same period l ist year, the difference being accounted for by increases in imports and decline in producers stocks. Fruits and Vegetables The West Coast reports that during December dried fruit shipments were particularly affected by strikes although at present there are but a few tons of apricots in growers hands, and these were being held at an average of 11 to 12 cents per pound with 14 cents asked. At least 4,000 tons of dried figs are being diverted to use for making by-products. Comparat ively small hold ings of dried peaches are in growers hands and prices arc from 6 to 7 and a half cents per pound, while market quotations range from 8 to 10 and one-fourth cents Prunes, in spite of strike effects, are well cleaned up with growers holdings estimated at about 35.000 tons. Raisins have shown considerable activity during strike days and although some 3,500 tons of seedless remain in growers hands. Muscats and Sultans are almost completely cleaned up. All fresh fruits and vegetables have been subjected to the most severe December weather ever recorded in California, but the exact amount of frost dam age is yet undetermined. The loss on citrus fruits is estimated at from 15 to 25 per cent in quantity but. because of heavy production, prices may not be greatly affected. Dye, Director Bureau of Foreign & Domestic Commerce. February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 43 The New Engineer .... (Continued from page. 34) when suckling their young. They have no real love for the color, or odor, of an Americano, and in general they deserve a reasonably wide berth. Jungle reptiles such as the several species of cobra, pythons, and other snakes throughout the archipelgo, arc a source of extreme danger. The python, while not venomous, docs not hesitate to strike man from ambush with such force as to knock the victim down—and usually out—as a prelude to a few constricting wraps and a meal. Cobras, and other veno mous snakes, strike both from ’the ground and out of over hanging vegetation. One also must use caution in stepping over fallen and decaying logs. The usual procedure applies for snake bites—cutting open the wound, applying tourniquets, free bleeding, and the injec tion of permanganate of potash solution. A king cobra bite leaves little hope for the victim; therefore caution is more to be indicated than remedial measures. Crocodiles infest the rivers of Mindanao, and to some extent elsewhere in the islands. An unknown toll is taken by them of native children, and once they have an appetite for human flesh they become increasingly bold, even though they rarely attack unless with an advantage. Due care must be taken when on river travel, or in traversing swampy places. They drag their victim beneath the water and bury him in the mud, meantime weeping copious tears over the plight of the late lamented. I once criticized the lack of life preservers for an Asiga River—Lake Mainit launch, and the only satisfaction derived was, “Sir, the life preservers are total useless because of the many crocodiles when you will want to swim.” I could recount unbelievable stories about leech bites, ulcers, and itch; Hongkong foot and the like, and I could fill a page with an outline of remedies, and preventatives for the above— many of which have been gleaned from well-meaning, but otherwise inexperienced individuals with brilliant ideas. The Southern Island jungle trails should be traveled with close attention to batik signs indicating that a “run” leaving the trail has a set wild boar trap; which, if sprung, may shatter one’s legs, or even kill him. Fortunately one early learns to recognize these signs. The foregoing is not the discourse of a soured engineer. It is more a disclosure concerning a few things learned by expe rience, and somewhat avoidable with due care. I should be glad if the information, or any part of it, becomes of value to the newly arrived engineer undertaking, particularly the opening up of our unexplored, or otherwise remote, mineral areas. The Philippines are most importantly coming into outstanding mining prominence, with which many of the engineers now here, as also those to come, will be successfully identified. The Islands are a paradise; when looked upon in the proper attitude. Wo have* the unquestioned mineral re sources, and there is every opportunity here for the ethical en gineer who can exercise tact, take care of his health, and stick with the ship until he has survived some of the disequraging features which seem never to end, but toward which there gradually develops a sort of beneficent callousness. Abra Mining . . . (Continued from page 24) conundrum in the Philippine mining field. The situation is extremely com plicated, as we have indicated, by the aggressiveness of folk of the region in taking advantage of th? eagerness of the public to risk funds in mining. Ig.irots are said to be the cleverest folk in the Islands at selling claims, but we would rate th? folk of Abra as at least second. As in all districts, it would bo best to go by the men back of th<* project rather than by what is said of the project itself. Certainly the claims-peddlers of Abra are dragging ten pesos out of Manila t) every on? taken out by Igarots. That they have been working to great purpose. A. SORIANO Y CIA. (Successors to Sorox y Cia.) ADMINISTRATORS and INSURANCE AGENTS GENERAL AGENTS: Commonwealth Insurance Co. Connecticut Fire Insurance Co. The Home Insurance Co. Niagara Fire Insurance Co. The Yangtsze Insurance Assn. Ltd. P. O. Box 3223 Soriano Bldg. Telephone No. 2-30-81 Manila P. I. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 44 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Thoughts Current (Continued from page 15) of the foremost chemists in the world and the outstanding authority upon food values, the Baron devised a model diet. At that same time there was a distinguished chef of the Reform Club, the descendant of a line of chefs through several gene rations. Mr. Wallas said that he had been at great pains to compare the menus of meals of the Reform Club, distinguished for their palatability, with the lists prescribed by Baron von Liebig. From a comparison of these Mr. Wallas stated it was perfectly clear, in the light of present-day knowledge, that one who held to Baron von Liebig’s diet long enough would not only have sacrificed all enjoyment in eating but would likewise event ually have grievously impaired his health, while one who ate constantly at the Reform Club would have sacrificed neither health nor appetite. So far as they went, Baron von Liebig’s deduc tions were scientifically accurate, but there was no allowance in them for such intangibles as were later to be found in the properties of calories and vitamins. On the other hand, the Reform Club chef, who had inherited an art perfected by trial and error through generations of his ancestors, offered a perfectly balanced diet. In some analogous manner, it may well be that a government committing itself exclusively to a new form of political action and social organization may in later days be found to have ignored the intangibles essential to social health. The hazard is great: instead of preserving social health it may prove to have induced social scurvy and spiritual death. And the analogy suggests more than this to many of us who have been eager for reforms in our social and political life. A man may be such a glutton for nourishment that his body will reject all that it has tried to absorb. Think of our experiment with Prohibition. When the body politic bolts its measures of social advance too rapidly and in too indigestible a form, the unassimilated mass re gurgitates and the patient thinks with nausea of all that he has attempted to swallow. I do not doubt the idealism or the worthy pur pose that has actuated the Administration in much that it has undertaken. Some positive performance was imperative. But I do believe that a plethora of unrelated measures hazily con ceived, inadequately organized, and hastily put into effect without any competent personnel to develop them, is working to the detriment of the very pur poses of fulfillment of which they have presumably been undertaken. Ill The nature of man is whatever it is. It is no fair criticism of what has been done to argue that political expediency, might have been disregarded by the Administration in its attempt to secure authority for measures conceived with high moral intent. Nevertheless, I shrink from believing that politics has had to be so completely practical as it has been made. The blight of Farley ism is on the land. For political expediency, Civil Service has been undermined. For political ex pediency, it is suddenly and violently stabilized. Political assistance has been required from the beneficiaries of public bounty. Vast sums in public works have been strategically spent for political advantage. Everywhere manifestations of practicality dissipate the aura of idealism which many of the Administration supporters attempt to exhale. I am very doubtful of how much the conscious ness of the President is alive to the significance of some of these matters. In the very nature of things the Chief Executive is surrounded by a neutralizing zone, in his advisers, which prevents such situations being allowed to become known to him, except as definite attempt is made to have counselors who will be real informants. Such attempt, certainly, the President does not appear to have made. His responsibility for conditions, therefore, is but little less than it would be if such conditions existed with his knowledge and approval. His artistry in the use of language is so effective and his dramatic genius for emphasizing promises rather than records is so great that it is difficult, in the face of one’s desire to be fair to him, to be fair to the public whose minister he is. Never theless, admiration for his personal qualities and belief in his individual integrity do not justify us in judging him apart from the government which he has set up. Madison, in the fifty-first paper of the Federalist, said: ‘In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.’ My reluctant loss of faith in the New Deal is based largely on my con viction that it has takqn none of these auxiliary precautions and that it has made no attempt to control itself. If these things be true, our Ship of State is on an uncharted course, where the elemen tary precautions of a survey have been forgone and where the gambler’s chance has been accepted of a speedy passage to a given haven or of ship wreck upon an unmarked reef. However one figures the odds, the hazard is not justified. What, meanwhile, of the organization of society in the promised land, if it be reached? It is to be unlike anything our people have ever known or desired. I question if they wish it now. Initia tive, courage, hardihood, frugality, and aspiration for self-betterment are to be penalized, and the fruits of these are to be taken from those who have undergone self-sacrifice to attain them and bestow ed upon those who have never developed the quali ties to possess themselves of rewards. Humani tarianism is to be reduced to the economic code of a managed society. The necessity for struggle, by which men have developed strength, and the discipline of hardship, through which they have achieved greatness of mind and heart and soul, are to be replaced by a specious security. I say ‘specious’ because in the very nature of the system there must be attrition of the qualities which afford means to establish security. Thus security itself must eventually be made impossible. How can we escape the conclusion that society, for whose material welfare the Administration is so solicitous, instead of being graded up to a higher level of intelligence, culture, and achievement, is being graded down? And the level to which it is being degraded is the lower standard of men little competent to understand what constitutes the goodness upon which humanity must depend for social advance. I would not be understood as arguing that society must not assume responsibility for its natural dependents or that concern should not be felt for and necessary help offered to its under privileged members. Neither would I attach blame to the Administration for the gradual dis appearance of qualities of resourcefulness among an increasing number of our population in recent years for which the sordid materialism of public thought in the past has been responsible. What I would assert is that, under the New Deal, de pendency is being encouraged to the point where it is rapidly and needlessly increasing, that the last desirable tendencies of a materialistic age are being accentuated rather than diminished, and that by the exclusiveness of solicitude for the in capable at the expense of the capable we are in ducing a deterioration in our national character to a point little short of self-destruction. Particularly, I resent the extent to which the New Deal has felt obliged to go in soliciting support for its programme by reiteration to the public, and particularly to youth, of the misfortunes to which they are pictured as being subject. We are being made a people sorrowing in self-pity for ourselves. If enough people tell a man that he looks ill, he begins to feel his own unhappy symptoms. The influence of suggestion is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and one of the greatest mis fortunes of the present day is the effect upon our people of having had sympathy forced upon them for conditions the correction of which demanded but the exercise of due measures of intelligence and courage. The foundations of American society were laid by men who endured economic want and physical hardships that they might gain access to opportu nities few in number and inconsiderable in im portance as compared with those which to-day lie close at hand for all of us. There was no thought in their minds that the conditions of life ought to be anything but a challenge or that the rewards of life could be possessed except through valiant effort. They accepted the conditions and went their individual ways without dismay and without complaint, with definiteness of purpose and with high aspiration. Thus, from recognition of the fact that life must be a struggle for men to profit most from it, arose a great people. IV The New Deal was so fundamentally right in its assumption that positive action was necessary that it may seem gratuitous to criticize it for anything which it has done. It is to be granted that com promise was indispensable between the forces holding rigidly to tradition and those arguing for change in projected policies. The seriousness of the situation lies in the lack of recognition of subtle factors with which this compromise was under taken. Measures of humanitarian aspect have been adopted without attempt to safeguard them against subversive influence upon the stalwartness for merly characteristic of our people. Relief has been so administered that to many its appeal has become preferable to gainful labor. Without reflection upon the honest toil of some, conditions under which PWA projects have been set up in many an instance have made malingering a fine art. The Civilian Conservation Corps Camps, highly meritorious even as they stand, might nevertheless have been made infinitely more advantagous to qualities of citizenship by requiring either accept ance of the discipline of a military camp or the training of a trade school. Granted the objections of the pacifists on the one hand, and the trade unions on the other, w'hich February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 45 would have made such requirements difficult, no great effort to overcome these was evident. In short, among scores of enterprises looking toward the amelioration of economic distress, little attempt has been made to develop any sense of moral obligation in the minds of recipients to build up their own moral stamina or to endure any measure of hardship as an aid to recovery for society as a whole. The dictum that all men are entitled to a more abundant life without regard to their willing ness to strive for it, without the self-discipline of learning how to use it, destroys all sense of realism and works toward a disintegration of national character which rapidly is becoming tragic. Nothing is more distasteful to me than to find myself cast in the role of a pessimist. However, if effective opposition is not soon offered to types of thought and modes of action wliich the New Deal cumulatively aids and abets, I can see little hope of escaping an age darker than this country has ever known. The mental, moral, and spiritual nature of individual men of genius and capacity will be stunted and stultified. On the material side, the New Deal seems to me wrong and dangerous in that it destroys economic values on the incomprehensible thesis that the less there is, the more will each of us have. When it argues that money is not entitled to its natural return, it does more than penalize the rich. It endangers the welfare of hosts of citizens in humble circumstances. It cripples every charitable institu tion in the country, every hospital, every college. In the name of security it threatens the continuing stability of such agencies of real public security as life insurance companies, upon whose vigorous survival all sense of legitimate safety among mil lions of our people must depend. It inveighs against special privilege, but it is blind to the fact that special privilege is still special privilege when taken from one class of our people and conferred upon another. But it is the effect of the New Deal on the imagi nation and aspiration of youth that I most dread. I am desperately afraid of it because it teaches young men and women to unlearn the lessons of America wliich school and college have striven so earnestly to teach. It encourages weakness and penalizes strength. It diffuses throughout the masses of our people the spirit of acquisitiveness wliich it condemns in groups cf them. It punishes accomplishment and persecutes individuals and in dustrial enterprises alike simply on the basis of the magnitude of their achievement without regard to the social value of the imaginative and creative talent which brought them into being. It thwarts mutual understanding and cooperation, and stimu lates antagonism in our industrial life. It foments class hatreds and exploits them for its own political advantage. It is tragic for an educator to watch these lessons taught to young men. Shall they be instructed that comfort is theirs for the asking, that they have a right to things they do not earn, that ease and rest must not be bought by toil and danger and struggle? Young men have their heroes, and the heroes of the world have had a different gospel from the New Deal. As I write, I think of the appeal of Giuseppe Garibaldi to’ the battalions of young men upon whom he called to do the impossible. Of that scene the historian, Trevelyan, writes:— In that stillness of the tempest, the sonorous, thrilling voice was heard to the outskirts of the vast crowd. ‘Fortune, who betrays us to-day, will smile on us to-morrow. I am going out from Rome. Let those who wish to continue the war against the stranger come with me. I offer neither pay nor quarters nor provision. I offer hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles and death. Let him who loves his country with his heart and not with his lips only, follow me.’ Hunger, thirst, forced marches, battles, death. Such was the offer, notliing more. No such sacrifices are demanded of us, thank God! I cite the striking passage simply to show that no selfish interest can make an appeal to man hood comparable to the call of devotion to a liigher cause. Had such a call been the clarion note of the New Deal, how gladly would our united country have responded! This timely article of President Hopkins appealed to me so strongly that I am sending a copy to every Dartmouth graduate. Lyman M. Drake, Jr. Class of ’18 175 West Jackson Street Chicago, Illinois The Melt Cradled in a furnace cherry red, The final product of a thousand men Lies molten in a carborundum bed Awaiting the Smelter Man’s “say when” Until it runs in rivulets of flame Into the waiting soot-lincd mold, A concentrated epitome of fame— The orange-coloured metal: gold. —Philip Whitmarsh. Compliments of CENTRAL LUZON MILLING COMPANY, INC. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 46 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 Wisdom of Chinese Doctors By G. K. Spencer For centuries, the Western world has professed amazement or amusement at the weird list which forms the Chinese native pharmacopeia. Frog skins, tigers’ teeth, crabs’ eyes, rattlesnake skins, deer horns, dried shrimp, are only a few of the items which Western physicians and news paper readers have regarded as examples of the backwardness and superstition of the Chinese. But now comes an American chemistry profes sor, Professor Arthur Maas, of the University of Southern California, himself a pharmacist of note, to reveal that the Chinese Materia Medica is not so unscientific as it may superficially seem. For instance Ma Huang is the Chinese medica ment for dropsy. Western physicians for years have been amazed that the mere dried skin of certain Chinese frogs could function as an ame liorative and cure for dropsy. Yet, they have had to admit that Ma Huang, or dried frog skins, does cure dropsy, often after Western doctors have treated cases for months. Professor Maas has revealed that these Chinese frog skins yield such powerful substances as bufagin, bufotalin, and bufotoxin; that bufagin is really efficacious in dropsy, and that research workers of the University have recently prepared ephedrine from Ma Huang, which has an action similar to that of adrenalin. For centuries, Chinese physicians have been prescribing powdered tigers’ teeth in cases of debility. When Professor Maas encountered this item of the Materia Medica, he was as skeptical as anyone else—until he analyzed the substance and found it rich in calcium phos phate, the very same substance prescribed by Occidental physicians for debilitation I Crabs’ eyes were next to come under the uni versity pharmacist’s test tube. Chinese doctors prescribe crabs’ eyes for stomach disorders. Since most cases of stomach disorder are marked by hyperacidity, and since crabs’ eyes un doubtedly do afford the Chinese stomach patient relief, the professor looked for calcium carbonate, which is a well-known Occidental medical stand by in cases of hyperacidity in the stomach. By this time, he wasn’t surprised to find that crabs’ eyes do contain an important percentage of calcium carbonate. And so on through the Chinese Materia Medica he journeyed, finding that, except for a very few items which are given for the same psychological effect that our West ern doctors seek when they give a simple man a pill of salt or starch, the strange items of the Chinese prescriptions are well-known drugs in a more elemental form than those purchased in the modern well-equipped American drug store. The Chinese healing arts are grouped under two headings. The Taoist priesthood has its own incantations and superstitions. Hence the many superstitious practices resorted to for deceiving or warding off the evil spirits. The priests recite incantations, paper money is buried and burned, and the pentagon is hung over the doorway. The demons are thought to be especially fond of marring beautiful children, hence the parents invent disgusting names for their offspring in the hope of misleading these tormentors. Boys are especially liable to injury at the devils’ hands. Hence a guest never inquires into the sex of a new-born child, and a boy is often dressed as a girl and called by a female name. The Chinese physician, however, is quite a different individual from the Taoist priest. He is usually steeped in the Chinese classics, the study of which is an excellent mental training. He may be unlicensed, but often his reputation comes down through several generations. Hence his name as a doctor is a valuable one, and you find such names as Dr. “Salts of Hartshorn,” and Dr. “Rhubarb,” inscribed on his place of business. While Westerners think of Jenner as the father of vaccination, the student of Chinese medicine will be surprised to discover that the Chinese preceded Jenner by almost a thousand years in inoculating against smallpox. Chinese use of serum, however, apparently stopped at this point. Yet for many centuries Chinese was far in advance of Western medicine. It is interesting to watch a Chinese street doctor “taking” a patient’s pulse. The Chinese are especially skilled in the art of diagnosis without instruments such as the stethoscope, so well known in Western diagnosis. Even Oc cidental physicians are now studying the Chinese method of diagnosing diseases by the pulse. The Chinese doctor holds both of his patient’s hands. With the right band he feels the left pulse and with the left hand the right pulse. He applies three fingers—the ring, middle and index fingers—over the pulse and the thumb un derneath the wrist. Then he palpates the pulse with each finger successively. Under the ring finger the pulse of the right hand reveals the condition of the lungs, middle of chest, and large intestines, while the ring finger on the left hand determines the state of the heart and the small intestines. The pulse under the middle finger corresponds on the right to the condition of the stomach and spleen, on the left to the state of the liver and the gall bladder. The index finger placed over the pulse of the right radial shows the condition of the bladder and the lower portion of the body; over the left radial it reveals the state of the kidneys and ureters. For each of these six pulses the physician must practice weak, moderate and strong pressure, to determine whether the pulse be superficial, moderate or deep. This must be done during complete inspiration. If the pulse be properly “taken” the Chinese physician is said to De able to determine the nature of diseases, and even the months of gesta tion in a pregnant woman. But, with all their authentic skill, the lack of a truly scientific approach to healing among Chinese native doctors, is painfully evident in Insular Sugar Refining Corporation many fields of medicine. For instance, in treat ing a fracture, no attempt is made to reduce the parts. A clay is prepared in a wooden bowl, and the heads cf a few chickens are cut off while the blood flows over the clay in the bowl. When the blood and clay are mixed and applied to the fracture, bandages and thin strips of bamboo are applied, and over this the blood of yet another chicken is spread. There are no Chinese sanitary laws like those of the old Mosaic codes, but the Taoist religion is to a vast extent based on rules of personal hygiene, and preaches that in order to live long, man should live moderately. Restraint of the appetites and cleanliness in house and person are exhorted. Almost everything the Chinese eats and drinks has been subjected to the temperature of boiling water or boiling oil, and when he eats fruit, it is always peeled. Therefore, he is largely preserved from typhoid fever,, cholera and other diseases conveyed by fruit or food infection. The Chinese will not eat raw oysters; he considers them much too cold for his stomach. Yet, with all this consumption of cooked foods, and scarcely any consumption of raw food, the Chinese possesses about the best teeth obser vable among any of the world’s people, and he seldom has an alimentary disease. This, along with the fact that Chinese workers and farmers always seem to be vested with a fine vitality, offers a field of speculation to our raw food ad vocates. Meat is seldom used. The Chinese is a vege tarian, and on an average possibly he eats meat once a month, or even once a year. He inva riably eats only twice a day, and in China is temperate in his meals. Only when he associates with Westerners for a long time, does he break into the custom of frequent, heavy eating, and he almost always suffers thereby. In concluding, it is surprising to learn that anesthetics were administered by Chinese sur geons in the third century B. C., that a Chinese biologist two thousand years before Harvey found that blood circulates through the body, that the catheter which the West invented in 1850 was described in The Thousand Golden Remedies in the seventh century A. D., and that dissection was practiced by Chinese anatomists in 1122 B. C. (Condensed from Travel.) of IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Monthly average for 12 months previous to December, 1936 Commodities Canton (Low Grade Cordage Fiber). Cigars (Number).................................. ! Coconut Oil............................................ Copra Meal. . Desiccated and Shredded Coconuts. Embroideries......................................... Hats (Number)................................... Knotted Hemp........................ Leaf Tobacco.......................... Lumber (Cubic Meters)....... Maguev..................................... Pearl Buttons (Qross).......... Sugar......................................... Ali Other Products................ Total Domestic Products. . . United States Products........ Foreign Countries Products. Grand Totsl. PRINCIPAL EXPORTS December, 1936 December, 1935 Quantity Value % Quantity Value 120,112 20,240,553 3,650,166 7.920 1,084,614 46,041 76,917,094 P 291.743 353,209 2,119,546 4,516.173 507,912 209.877 620,769 609.663 207,337 4,449.870 6.206 998,597 233.992 141,283 33,993 10.882,102 1,733,385 P28.025.741 Quantity Value 2,985,304 56,312 15.974.450 8.145 1,663,626 10,201 1,672,964 61,398 47,332,856 P 61,609 510,913 2,804,621 2,860,667 344,061 92,553 700,975 1,041,153 82,293 3,222,272 12,672 527,323 285,509 155,3(50 40,634 5,732,646 3,613,850 P19.189.111 94,259 16,499 P19.299.869 8 8 2 8 8 99.5 0.5 Note:—All quantities are in kilos except where otherwise indicated. PRINCIPAL IMPORTS Monthly average for December, 1936 December, 1935 12 months previous to December. 1936 Automobiles....................... Automobile Accessories.. Automobile Tires............. Books and Other Printed Matters........................... Breadstuffe Except Wheat Flour............................... Cacao Manufactures Ex cept Candy................... Cars and Carriages......... Chemicals, Dyes, Drugs, Etc................................... Coal...................................... Coffee Raw and Prepared. Cotton Cloths................... Cotton Goods, Other.. .. Dairy Products................. Diamond and Other Pre cious Stones Unset.. .. Earthen Stones andChinaEggs and Preparations of. Electrical Machinery.... P Value Value 3 0 0 7 174,980 7 P Value 156,273 0.9 99,534 90,882 119,398 0 0 0 4 3 0 0 7 101,985 1.962 5,971 86. 0 7 0 0 2 9 7 0 6 0 105,780 68,310 117,560 75.605 0j 0.4 .0.7 0.5 55,328 12,700,903 43.305 1,037,874 10,888 16,147,261 58,015 72,521,811 CARRYING TRADE IMPORTS 25,914 0.1 470,563 2.1 2,355,236 10.8 2,312,004 10.5 291,268 1.3 190,357 0.9 741.196 3.4 724,461 3.3 87,629 0.4 2,645,759 12.1 8,157 338,443 1.5 305,445 1.4 277,537 1.3 39,613 0.1 9,944,066 45.4 1,117,550 5.0 P21,923,100 99.6 68,266 0.3 22,919 0.1 P22.014.186 Monthly average for December, 1936 December, 1935 12 months previoils Nationality of Vessels to December, 1936 Value % Value % Value % American. British. Chinese. German. Greeks. Italian. Japanese... Norwegian. Panaman... Philippines. Swedish.. .. P 5,688,776 26 8,145,571 37 794,973 3 863,014 4 1,635,974 7 916,906 4 33,138 0 3,813 1,312,130 6 1,314,698 6 253,194 1 39,832 0 107.975 0 2,450 9 P 4,700,521 7 4,027,436 7 47,180 1 365,662 7 803,863 3 2 1,078,547 2 1,639,115 2 1,322.460 2 678,016 2 5 67,938 P 5,558,497 4,885,235 69,351 359,147 906,885 2,569 904,604 25,268 4,037 1,476,265 1,299,919 331,736 11,140 100,488 72 Explosives.......................... Fertilisers........................... Fish and Fish Products .. Fruits and Nuts............... Gasoline.............................. Glass and Glassware.. .. India Rubber Goods.. Instrument and Appara tus Not Electrical.. .. Iron and Steel Except Machinery..................... Leather Goods.................. Machinery and Parts of.. Matches............................. Meat Products................. Motion Picture Films. .. Oil, Crude......................... Oil, Illuminating.............. Oil, Lubricating............... Oils, not Separately Listed............................. Paints, Pigments, Var nish, Etc........................ Paper Goods Except Books.............................. Perfumery and Other Toilet Goods................. Photographic Equipment and Supplies................. Rice...................................... Shoes and Other Foot ware................................. Silk Goods......................... Soaps................................... Sugar and Molasses. ... Tobacco and Manufac tures of........................... Veget ables......................... Vege table, Fibreand Manfacturcs of ................. Wuheut Flour..................... Wood, Reed, Bainboo^nd Rattan .......................... Woolen Goods................... Other Imports..................._ Giand Total............ 64,424 123,019 50,091 87,957 97,387 28,545 9 3 2 0 6 0 0 0 3 9 0 8 7 1 1 0 0 0 3 9 1 0 0 .4 0 7 2 61,175 0. 78,191 136,821 345 33,729 118,678 0 0 9 2 0 0 7 0 0 0 2 7 3 3 2 0 0. . 10 9 4 87.250 387,274 76,945 38,942 483,652 84,083 34,232 0.5 0.9 0.5 0'.5 1.7 TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES Monthly average for December, 1936 December, 1935 12 months previous Ports ______________________________________ to December, 1936 Value % Value % Value % Cebu....................... .......... P 7,595,261 15. 3 P 5,460,162 1.6 P 5,353,240 13 Davao..................... .......... 1,739,192 1,583,540 1,535.194 4 6 Iloilc....................... .......... 10.625.304 21’4 4,022,865 if 7 6,793,953 17 7 Jolo......................... .......... 121,367 0.2 67,289 0.2 39,224 0 1 .......... 4,165,513 1,237,803 3.6 1,766,348 2 Manila.................... .......... 25,020,908 50.4 21,578,450 62.5 22,376,743 58 3. Zamboanga............ .......... 407.653 485.800 1.4 461.063 1 2l Total................. ......... P49.675.198 P34,435,909 P38.325.765 By Freight... By Mail........ Total,. ,. .... P21.112.444 97.5 P14.730.738 97.3 P15.935.213 97.7 .... 537,013 2.5 405,302 2.7 376,366 2.3 .... P21.649.457 P15.136.040 P 16,311,579 EXPORTS December, 1936 December, 1935 Nationality of Vessels_________________________________ British................................. Chinese............................... Danish................................. Dutch.................................. German............................... Greeks................................. Italians................................ Japanese............................. Norwegian......................... Panaman............................. Philippines......................... Swedish............................... By Freight... By Mail........ Total. P Value % 7,744.994 5,986,770 150,720 359,208 1,320,252 461,707 33,600 54,112 7,014,586 4,440,618 2,785 Monthly average for 12 months previous to December 1936 Value % 27.9 P 7,754,442 21.6 4,027,098 0.5 7,227 1.3 728,929 4.8 551,068 1.7 290,610 0.1 0.2 9,000 25.3 3,516,298 16.0 1.615,144 520,274 170,941 0.6 150,009 Value 40.4 P 7,051.403 21.0 5.121.216 35,135 3.8 850.360 2.9 762,291 1.5 426,894 12.544 116,589 18.3 4,733.807 8.4 2,252,574 2.7 266,314 4,608 0.8 193,819 253 .. P27,740,293 99.0 P19,170,299 99.3 P21.901.105 99.5 285,448 1.0 129,570 0.7 113,081 0.5 P28.025.741 P19,299,869 P22.014.186 TRADE WITH THE UNITED STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES Monthly average for December, 1936 December, 1935 12 months previous Countries to December, 1936 United States................... United Kingdom.............. Australia............................. Austria................................ Belgium............................... British East Indies......... Canada............................... China................................... Dutch East Indies. French East Indies......... Germany............................. Hongkong........................... J apanese-China................. Netherlands....................... Norway............................... Siam.................................... Spain.................................... Switzerland........................ Other Countries............... Total Value P34,960.476 1,724,017 015.071 5,980 392,747 644,005 270,286 518,566 71,428 242,132 664,021 1,066,160 912,217 171.107 55,121 4,120,569 19,766 458,485 133,344 1,528,425 593,880 89,940 316^611 ?49,675,198 % Value 70.4 P22.933.311 3.5 1,127,839 1.2 445,843 8,189 0.8 248.735 1.3 406,123 0.5 249,956 1.0 802,108 0.1 151,859 0.5 185,217 1.3 762,726 2.1 155,360 1.8 1,073,138 0.3 166,069 0. 1 44,087 8.3 3,775,603 9,883 0.9 537,943 0.3 28,594 3. 1 27,497 1.2 730,613 0.2 152,767 0.2 181,273 0.6 231,176 P34,435,909 Value 66.6 P27.312.537 3.3 1,083,676 1.3 425,378 8,397 0.7 279,057 1.2 377,417 0.7 306,040 2.3 634.498 0.4 112,983 0.5 374,034 2.2 448,877 0.5 281,388 3.1 907,201 0.5 197,913 0. 1 207,257 10.9 3.558,667 27,000 1.6 772,072 40,332 39,657 2.) 420,262 0.4 105,611 0.5 96.048 0.7 310,263 P38.325.765 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL February, 1937 RAIL COMMODITY MOVEMENTS By LEON M. LAZAGA Traffic Manager, Manila Railroad Comfany The volume of commodities received in Manila during the month of January 1937, via the Manila Railroad Company, are as follows: Rice, cavans................................ 194,547 Sugar, piculs............................... 504,089 Copra, piculs............................... 35,882 Desiccated Coconuts, cases.... 16.880 Tobacco, bales............................ 3,033 Lumber, board feet................... 159,840 Timber, kilos.............................. 558,000 The freight revenue car loading statistics for five weeks ending Jan uary 30, 1937, as compared with the same period of 1936 are given below: FREIGHT REVENUE CAR LOADING COMMODITIES FREIGHT CARS FREIGHT lDeefeaa°r 1937 1936 1937 1936 Cars Tonnage Rice................................................. 999 1,086 12.877 14,059 (87) (1.182) Palay.............................................. 266 2,330 3,253 (71) (923) Sugar.............................................. 1,558 1,839 45,771 54,995 (281) (9,224) Sugar Cane.................................... 13,098 11,540 241,075 215,815 25,260 Copra............................................. 219 812 ■ 1,488 5,935 (593) (4.447) Coconut......................................... 86 68 843 691 18 152 Molasses........................................ 119 132 3,650 4,016 6 (13) (366) (1) (6) Tobacco......................................... 75 16 Livestock....................................... 12 9 Mineral Products........................ 442 339 5,286 4,400 103 886 Lumber and Timber................... 122 162 2,952 4,077 (40) (1,125) Other Forest Products............... 2 10 (2) (10) Manufactures................................ 227 215 3.059 3,808 12 (749) All others including L.C.L........ 3.148 3,463 19,111 23,545 (315) (4,434) Total.................................... 20.23) 9 338.529 334,672 294 3.H57 Week ending January 2.......... Week ending Janunry 9.......... Week ending January 16.......... Week ending January 23........... Week ending January 30.......... SUMMARY 3,041 4,376 4,392 4,283 4,139 2,599 4,162 4,504 4,331 4,341 48,578 72,729 75,960 71,324 69,938 44,272 68,883 74,687 71,858 74,972 442 214 (112) (48) (202) 4,306 3,846 1,273 (534) (5,034) 20,231 19,937 338,529 334,672 294 3,857 NOTE:—Figures in parenthesis indicate decrease. The Philippine Mining . . . (Continued from page 20) parties by the directors, their wives, or in-laws, usually in rotation. These week-end parties, under the guise of in spection trips to the property, call for the submittal of an expense account. This is having your cake and eating it too. Why overlook any chance for a little extra cake? The old slogan of prohibition days at home, among the speakeasies and night clubs, “never give a sucker a break” is echoed here in full voice. The sucker often gets less than a ghost of a break. East Mindanao . . . (Continued from page 32) body truck. These will be put into operation at once at the Briggs Mine and some ore will be taken to the mill this month. A concrete bulkhead is being installed on the western end of the ore body which will prevent any futher trouble with the creek above which caved the western end of the works last year. The repairs on the Nellie Bridge have been completed. In spite of the minor setbacks stated above the operation of both mine and mill has been satisfactory. Respectfully submitted, (Sgd.) J. Smeddle, Acting Mgr. EAST MINDANAO MINING COMPANY By (Sgd.) H. Gasser, President and Gen. Mgr. BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY Kerr Steamship Co., Inc. General Agents ‘SILVER FLEET” Express Freight Services Pl i lippines-New York-Boston Philippines-Pacific Coast (Direct) Roosevelt Steamship Agency Agents Chaco Bids. Phone 2-14-20 Manila, P. I. P. O. Box 1394 Telephone 22070 J. A. STIVER Attorney-At-Law—Notary Public Certified Public Accountant Administration of Estates Receiverships Investments Collections Income Tax 121 Real. Intramuros Manila, P. I. Philippines Cold Stores Wholesale and Retail Dealers in American and Australian Refrigerated Produce STORES AND OFFICES Calle Echague Manila, P. I. fr & ® * CHINA BANKING CORPORATION MANILA, P. I. Domestic and Foreign Banking of Every Description MINING & METALLURGICAL ENGINEERS, INC. 422 National City Bank Bldg. MANILA Mining Reports by Licensed Engineers. Technical Superintendence and Management. Assaying, Ore Testing, Mill Design. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL Creosote Is An ‘Antidote’ for Ants White ants simply will not associate with creosote or anything that has creosote in it. Taking advantage of this knowledge it will pay you to use nothing but CCECSCTEC II Hill Rot is another problem that causes large losses. Again creosoted lumber brings a great saving. Actual use of this has proven that it will prolong the life of lumber for many more years. We have ample stocks for all purposes, including piles and ties. ATLANTIC, GULF & PACIFIC COMPANY The Going Is Good with DUNLCID TIRES Built for splendid traction, but eli minating skids; with tough, even wearing treads on every tire to give greater mileage, DUNLOP - • - the pioneer modern tire. . . gives you that feeling of safety which insures pleasant, trouble-free motoring. Distributed by MONSERRAT ENTERPRISES COMPANY, LTD. 477 A. Mabini Tel. 5-72-51 Manila BV TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCF JOURNAL If To The Cost Of Fare You Include These Indispensable Items Riding Ease Arrival on Time Safety Home comfort in transit You will find that Travel on Railroad Trains and its auxiliary services is the cheapest BUY ROUND TRIP TICKETS WEEK END TICKETS Ride on Buses of Luzon Bus Line Benguet Auto Line TRAINS LEAVE ^MANILA 6:55 a.m. for S. Fernando U. S:3() a.m. for Damortis 10:50 a.in. for San Fabian 1:30 p.m. for Baguio & Ilocos 3:15 p.m. for Tarlae 6:00 p.m. for S. Fernando P. TRAINS LEAVE PACO 5:36 a.in. for Lucena 7:27 a.in. for New Aloneros 1:14 p.m. for N.'w Aloneros 3:14 p.m. for Lucena 4:49 p.m. for Pagsanjan and Balangas 9:15 p.m. for New Aloneros with connection Bieol provinces (except Monday night) For information, inquire or write to Traffic Department R. E. BERNABE Chief Clerk LEON M. I.AZAGA Traffic Manager Call lip Tel. 4-98-61 Information, Local 42 City Office, Tel. 2-31-83 521-523 Dasmarinas PIO Q. MOLINA City Agent MANILA RAILROAD COMPANY 943 Azcarraga Manila Stop These Losses—Prevent Rust! RUST COSTS $1,000,000,000 It is estimated that the aver age yearly rust bill of the United States is $1,000,000,000 an amount equal to the interest on the national debt.—New Item. In the Philippines millions of square meters of galvanized iron are being destroyed by rust. Sherwin-Williams Metal Protective Paints Bring Savings to Property Owners pvery year rust is taking money out of the pockets of property owners. Daint protection to prevent disintegration. Sherwin-Willianis offers a complete line of metal protective paints to assist you small expenditure for these quality S-W products now S-W Roof and Bridge Paint: gives an exceptionally durable coating to protect steel and all metal surfaces. S—W Ebonol: the long-wearing, elastic paint for galvanized iron roofs; economy leader. S-W Elastic Roof Cement and Liquid Roof Ce ment: first class materials for repair and pro iron and steel surfaces need in the fight against rust. A means large and permanent savings: tection of roofs. S-W Exterior Aluminum Paint: especially suitable for tanks, tank cars and stacks—dependable and economical. S-W Salamander Smokestack Black: gives max imum protection and service on hot surfaces. Complete information furnished upon request Pacific Commercial Company --- Distributors IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS pr.EASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERS'' tNAL