The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal
Issue Date: Volume XXVI (Issue No. 5) May 1950
Year: 1950
Language: English
Rights
extracted text: Published monthly in Manila hy the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Fourth Floor, El Hogar Filipino Building — Telephone No. 2-95-70 A. V. H. Hartendorp Editor and Manager Entered as second class matter at the Manila Post Office on May 25, 1921, and on December 10, 1945 Subscription rate: P5.00 the year; $5.00 in the United States and foreign countries Offiters and Members of the Board of Directors of the American Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Paul H. Wood, President; R. J. Newton, Vice-President; C. R. Leaber, Treasurer; J. H. Carpenter, E. E. Selph, C. H. Hirst, Paul T. Millikin, N. Most, and J. A. Parrish. Marie M. Willimont, Executive Vice-President; I. T. Salmo, Secretary Vol. XXVI May, 1950 No. 5 Contents Editorials— The American Government Protests........................... Senate Bill No. 91..................................................................................... Secretary Balmaceda's Statement on the Nationalization of the The Army Goes After the Huks............................................................. Philippine Economic Policy........................................................... Statement on the Import Control Bill....................................... Statement on the Nationalization of Retail Trade............... The Prospect for the Philippine Fisheries.................................................... Correspondence with the Senate President on Import Control........ How the International Bank Makes a Loan.............................................. Retail Trade.......................................................................................................... Manuel L. Quezon................................. Ambassador Myron M. Cowen......... Secretary Cornelio Balmaceda. . . . Herbert E. Warfel............................... Eugene R. Black..................................... 171 172 173 174 176 177 178 179 181 182 The Business View— Banking and Finance...................................................................... Credit............................................................................................................. Stock Market.................................................... Electric Power Production. ................................................................... Port of Manila............................................................................................................................... Real Estate................................................................................ Ocean Shipping and Exports...................................... Lumber.................................................................................................. Mines..................................................................................................................................................................... Copra and Coconut Oil.................................................... Desiccated Coconut.......................................................................... Manila Hemp................................................................................................................................. Sugar...................................................................................................................................................................... Tobacco............................................................................................. Imports......................................................................................................................................................... Food Products.................................................................... Automobiles and Trucks........................................................... Textiles......................................................................................... Legislation, Executive Orders, Court Decisions...................................................................................... Cost of Living Index — 1946-50 (Table)........................................................................................................... The “Let Your Hair Down” Column.................................................................................................................... R. E. Russel.............................................. 182 W. J. Nichols............................................ 182 A. C. Hall.............................................. 183 J. F. Cotton............................................... 184 E. W. Schedler........................................ 184 C. M. Hoskins............................ 184 F. M. Gispert............................................ 184 L. J. Reyes................................................. 184 C. A. Mitke............................................... 185 H. D. Hellis................... 187 H. R. Hick.................................................. 189 F. Guettinger.......................................... 190 G. G. Gordon............................................ 191 L. A. Pujalte............................................ 192 L. S. Kraemer........................................... 193 C. G. Herdman.......................................... 194 K. E. Gay.................................................... 196 L. W. Wirth.............................................. 197 E. E. Selph................................................. 198 Bureau of the Census and Statistics... 199 ........................................................................ 200 50 CENTAVOS THE COPY IMPROVED THROUGHOUT, THE NEW GOODYEAR GIANT TIRES GIVE YOU MORE MILES — MORE TRACTION — WITH LESS DANGER FROM BLOWOUTS AND ROAD FAILURES! SUPER MILEAGE WITH MAXIMUM TRACTION.' PREMIUM PERTORMER at REGUIAR PRICES.1 FLAT TREAD—New, mullirib tread design, of tough eompounds, gives slow, even FLATTER, WIDER TREAD WITH DEEP. NON-SKID DESIGN— The flatter and wider tread with many gripping edges provides unsurpassed road-gripping abi lity. MORE II IBS — Additional sharp angle ribs give tire body to resist beat and brillsTHE liOOIHEIR TIKE & RUBBER CO. OF THE PHILIPPINES, LTD. 11th & Atlanta Sts. Telephones: Branches & Warehouses: Port Area, Manila 3-32-16, 3-38-07, 3-38-08 Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo Editorials “ ... to promote the general welfare ** The American Government Protests Because it is so vitally important that the most amic able and cooperative relations be maintained between the United States and the Philippines, it is to be greatly regretted that certain nationalistic policies here became so threatening to American interests that the United States Government was compelled to lodge a formal protest. The protest, delivered late last month, referred to the provision in the Import Control Bill, passed by the House but at that time not yet acted upon by the Senate, which would set aside 40% of the total import quotas for Fili pino importers. The protest was based on the terms of the Trade Agreement of 1946 which contains a provision (in Article X) that the President of the United States may suspend the effectiveness of the whole or any portion of it if he determines and proclaims, after consultation with the President of the Philippines, that the Philippines or any of its political subdivisions is in any manner discrim inating against citizens of the United States or any form of United States business enterprise. Under such circum stance, he has the right definitely to terminate the Agree ment upon six months’ written notice. Though the protest was properly based on a formal covenant between the two nations, the point which we wish to make in this editorial is that the discrimination protested against would be wrong whether this Agree ment existed or not. For any government to discriminate against a section of the population is wrong in itself. What is usually called “class legislation” is immoral and illegal in the light of the most basic principle of democratic government. Such legislation, moreover, is most unsalutary from the purely practical political and economic points of view. Men generally do not refrain from wrongful acts be cause there are laws against such acts, but because they are felt to be wrong, anti-social, and the laws against them exist because this feeling universally exists. The laws merely give formal expression to such feeling. The discrimination protested against would, in fact, violate not only the Trade Agreement, but, as has been pointed out by some members of Congress on the floor of the Congress itself, the Constitution of the Philippines which provides in Article III, Section 1, paragraph (1): "No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal pro tection of the law." So let no one say that the Trade Agreement, duly authorized by the Philippine Congress, should never have been entered into “because it restricts the Philippines in the full exercise of its sovereignty”. It does no such thing. The Trade Agreement joins with the Philippine Constitu tion in interdicting what the Philippine Government should not do in any case. The Trade Agreement was and remains a highly im portant and necessary arrangement, providing for the continuation of the trade relations between the two coun tries, after the independence of the Philippines, on terms most advantageous to the Philippines. We are pleased to be able to record here that though the Import Control Bill was passed by the House, consid erable opposition to it was voiced by the members, partic ularly against the “40% provision”, on the grounds that it was both unconstitutional and destructive of the real economic interests of the country. Inasmuch as some members of Congress expressed surprise over the protest against the “40% provisions” because, allegedly, no protest was lodged against a similar “20% provision” in the existing import control regulations, we call attention to the fact that although the United States Government made no public protest, this Journal did protest the “20% provision” in an editorial published a year ago, which ran as follows: “Executive Order No. 193 (December 28, 1948) set up the machi nery for the control of the importation of certain so-called ‘ luxury’ arti cles, cut down these imports by an average 50%, and set aside 20% of the volume permitted to be imported for so-called ‘new’ importers. That was the first step. 171 “Now, by Executive Order No. 209 (March 30, 1949) which amends Order No. 193, the 20% set aside for new importers is to be ‘allocated exclusively to Filipino importers". That was the second step. "What is the third step to be? “There may not be a third step, but what guaranty has established business that there will not be; that, some months or a year from now, there will not be another Executive Order amending Order No. 193 as amended and providing that 50% or 75% or 100% of the import volume will be allocated exclusively to Filipino importers? ; "What would be the difference, in principle? There would be no difference, for whether discrimination be rated at 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, or 100%, it is always discrimination. “For any government deliberately to take away anything from one group of people and to serve it nicely wrapped up to another group, introduces an element into government and society the working of which is unpredictable and which may stop at no length whatsoever. “Once any government, even in the name of its own citizens, begins deliberately to discriminate against any element in the population, we have the beginning of a regime of injustice, and injustice knows no limits. “This Executive Order No. 209 was issued, of course, with a view to quickly forcing an unearned improvement in the position of Filipino importers as against non-Filipino importers and largely at the expense of the latter, but we are sure that the discriminatory policies upon which the Philippine Government is today acting can never work out to the real benefit of either Filipino business or the over-all economy of the country. “It is much more likely, if these policies are persisted in, that we shall all descend together into a slough of economic despond and stagna tion.” At the risk of losing some of its friends, this Journal has felt it its duty to protest on a number of occasions against various discriminatory measures actually adopted or proposed by the Philippine Government, and it has done so not only because it is the organ of the American Chamber of Commerce and the interests of its membership were affected, but because we believe that such measures are highly damaging to the whole country. It is certain that had the American Government shown less hesitancy in taking action which might, how ever wrongly, be interpreted as “interference”, and had entered formal protest sooner against such measures, a great deal of damage and bitterness of feeling would have been averted. We say this because we do not believe that the Philip pine Government would persist in policies and actions which the American Government formally and definitely declares to be in violation of American rights. At this writing it is not yet known what form the Import Control Bill will finally take, but the President of the Philippines and leading members of Congress have disavowed any intention to discriminate against American interests, and, certainly, only the most irresponsible of executive officials and law-makers would deliberately propose such a self-destructive course. Already passed on third reading in the Senate and, at this writing, before a committee of the House, is Senate Bill No. 91, “to regulate the practice of Senate Bill certain professions in the Philippines by No. 91 persons who are not citizen of the Republic of the Philippines”. Introduced by two prominent Senators, Quintin Paredes and Vicente J. Francisco, both lawyers by profes sion, this Bill is not one of the several irresponsible pieces of legislation, introduced at every session of Congress, which may be disregarded as very unlikely to pass. According to the “Explanatory Note” prefacing the Bill, the authors seek to establish a rule of “strict reci procity” with respect to the practice of certain professions here, the Bill itself stating in Section 1 that— “No person shall be allowed to practice any of the professions, for the practice of which in the Philippines a previous successful examina tion by the Government of the Philippines or any of its instrumental ities is required by existing laws, without taking and passing the said examination”. and in Section 2 that— “No person who is not a citizen of the Philippines at the time he applies to take the examination shall be allowed to take it unless he can prove in the manner provided by the Rules of Court that, by specific provision of law, the country of which he is a citizen, subject, or na tional either admits citizens of the Philippines to the practice of the same profession without restriction or allows them to practice it after an examination on terms of strict and absolute equality with citizens, subjects, or nationals of the countries concerned, including the uncon ditional recognition of degrees issued by institutions of learning duly recognized for the purpose by the Government of the Philippines.” This, plainly, is not reciprocity, for all members of the professions affected must take and pass the respective examinations here, whether the Filipinos desiring to prac tice these professions in foreign countries are required to take examinations there or not. There are other serious objections, but we wish, first, to point out that Section 3 of the Bill is even more unjust because it would be retroactive in effect and would work great hardship on non-Filipino professionals who have established themselves here over a period of many years. Section 3 reads: “No person who has been allowed to practice any of the profes sions described in Section 1 of this Act fhall be allowed to continue to practice it unless he shall have complied or shall hereafter comply with the provisions of this Act or unless, having been admitted to the bar, in case of a lawyer, he shall have taken the oath required of attorneys by the Rules of Court before July 4, 1946.” The Bill does not specify the professions which would be affected, but states that they are the professions for the practice of which passing a government examination is required by existing law. At present these would include law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, nursing, veterinary science, accountancy, chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, and mining engineering, surveying, and architecture; there also are examining boards for marine officers and engineers. Unless the expression “existing law” is taken in a restric tive sense, other professions could subsequently be included among those for the practice of which passing a govern ment examination would be required. A very wide range of professional activity would therefore be affected in the future if the Bill were to pass, but the retroactive feature of the Bill is all the more in excusable inasmuch as alien “competition” with Filipino professionals (which is the real concern in its motivation) is not extensive. In so far as Americans are concerned, the Bill would affect principally some 30 or 40 mining engineers, a few other engineers, and a very small number of accountants, lawyers, doctors, and dentists. There are, however, a larger number of missionary doctors and nurses in the Philippines whose salaries are paid by their missions and whose services are wholly free to Filipino patients. These, too, would be affected. There also are some “stateless” professionals here, who would not be able even to offer themselves for examination as they could prove no reciprocity; though legally admitted to the country and prepared to serve in a useful and valuable capacity, they would not be able to make a living in the work for which they are especially trained. It is not probable that there are many more other non-Filipino professionals, and from any sane point of view these men would be looked upon as valuable human assets to the country rather than as interlopers whose services must be checked and curtailed if not entirely eliminated. To compel such men, after years of successful prac tice of their professions, men of position and good repute, useful and valuable members of the community, to submit to examination, serves no useful purpose and is further 172 more most unfair. Able and competent though they must be, most of them are not only long out of their technical schools, but have turned to various lines of specialization, so that it is no reflection on their professional ability to say that they might have difficulty in passing a general examination that would give little difficulty to a recent graduate. To hold such experienced and successful tech nical men as still subject to official test, placing them on a level with the neophytes, is, in fact, insulting. To make this a condition to the further practice of their professions, their means of livelihood, the continuation of their businesses which it has taken years of effort to establish, is a cruel outrage. Such a system of special examination is also subject to accident and abuse, for much would depend on the examiners and, as everyone understands, incompetent examiners could unintentionally frame examinations which no one could pass, and dishonest examiners could inten tionally do so. Thus the Bill, if passed, all other objec tions being overlooked, would still put not only the repu tations but the means of livelihood of these professional men in serious jeopardy. So much. for the retroactive features of this Senate Bill No. 91. As for the future, were the Bill to pass, what famous mining engineer or other technical expert, say, sent here by some foreign investment syndicate to inspect property and to make a report on the possibilities, would submit himself first to examination by some local board? As in the case of the local technical men, the possible in vestors would have to consider whether their trusted tech nical advisers would consent to take or could pass a local examination or not, and the upshot would likely be for them to say, "To h— with it!” From the general business, and especially, from the investment point of view, responsible accounting and au diting is most important. Much of the accounting and auditing is done by firms of world-wide reputation, with branch-offices or associated firms in different countries. Outside capital especially will not entrust this important function to unknown accountants. To render the services of stich firms of established reputation unavailable in the Philippines, would only be to drive another nail in the coffin of all our hopes of economic development. True “reciprocity” is entirely fair in principle, yet could still be unwise to apply in a country like the Philip pines which stands in such need of foreign technical assist ance. It has been determined that forty of the forty-eight American States have no laws which would prohibit the employment of Filipino mining engineers, and this is con sidered sufficiently reciprocal by our Philippine Bureau of Mines. But argument might arise on this point, and some local functionary might rule that as long as there were one State in the Union prohibiting the employment of Filipino mining engineers, there would be no accepted reciprocity. But from the practical point of view, it matters little in the economic development of the Philippines whether such reciprocity exists or not. The point is that the Philip pines needs American technical assistance a great deal more than the United States needs Philippine technical assistance. Philippine authorities have professed and evinced great interest in President Truman’s proposed Point IV Program. This Program is based largely on making the services of American and other technical experts available to economically under-developed countries. How incon sistent, therefore, it would be for Philippine law-makers and officials to submit American and other foreign technical men already here to such treatment as is proposed in Bill No. 91! This Bill is only another example of the type of legis lation which is motivated not by a wisely constructive national spirit, but by the intolerant hypernationalism which has already done this country so much harm. Our able Secretary of Commerce and Industry, Cornelio Balmaceda, in a statement on the “nationalization” of the retail trade made some Secretary Balmaceda’s Statement on the Nationalization of the Retail Trade in this issue), truly said th factor” in the development weeks ago before the Com mittee on Commerce and Industry of the Philippine House of Representatives (published in full elsewhere at the “main and paramount of a Filipino retail trade will be the “ability of the Filipino merchant to render efficient and satisfactory service and to hold his own in free and open competition.” This is an eminently sound statement, founded on a clear understanding of the economics of the matter. Re tailing is primarily a “service” to both the producer and the consumer, and free and open competition between retailers is the only way to bring it about that this service will be efficient and satisfactory at the lowest possible cost and the lowest possible prices. We regret, therefore, that the Secretary did not em phasize this most basic point and instead prefaced the statement by another defending the current “movement to wrest the control of the trade from the hands of alien retailers”, though declaring in the same sentence that this movement is “not animated by anti-foreign feeling” and that it is but a “proper exercise of self-help on the part of the people”. Unfortunately, the word “wrest” applies all too well to many aspects of the nationalization movement here, both in spirit and method. According to any good dic tionary, “to wrest” means “to twist or extort by violence”, “to pull or force away by violent wringing and twisting”, “to snatch or wrench forcibly and hold or assume anything for oneself, especially by usurpation, extortion, or strong persuasive efforts”, “to turn or strain anything from its true bearing”, “to twist from the natural or proper use”. Any policy or plan, or any measures which involve methods accurately thus described, must stand condemned on the face. In such a connotation, “self-help” can mean nothing more than “to help oneself to what belongs to others”, and protestations that no ill-feeling is involved become simply ridiculous. More than mere “ill-feeling” is, however, involved. What is involved is not even sound economic policy merely, but just and even-handed political and governmental policy. The only “rightful position” to which businessmen or others, anywhere, are entitled, is the position they are able to gain through their own legitimate efforts, indivi dually or in combination. This is the essence of the freeenterprise system. And under legitimacy, discriminatory nationalistic legislation is ruled out under any conception of fairness and justice. In any well-governed country, all the inhabitants are under the equal protection of law. There is no other way to govern well and there is no other way to establish national prosperity. Government departments and bureaus organized for the purpose should encourage and foster all the coun try’s industry and commerce. To aid only one section of it, while seeking to handicap the rest, especially when this is for the time being the greater part, is suicidal in its folly. There is nothing outside of general economic condi tions and business practice which stands in the way of any able Filipino industrialist or businessman to establish 173 himself. As a matter of fact, the general conditions are naturally in his favor. The only reason the Filipino ele ment in the country’s industry and commerce is not greater than it is, is that the Filipinos have up to recently shown no great interest in these lines of activity. That they are showing a greater interest today is, we believe, a healthy thing for the country. Ideally, we agree that a country’s industry and trade “should” not be pre dominantly alien. Naturally, it is best for a people, a nation, to be as self-sufficient and as autonomous as possible in every respect. However, as long as the Philippines con tinues to need considerable outside capital, much of the national enterprise must continue to engage aliens. But that, certainly, is for the time being to the country’s great advantage. To judge from much of today’s nationalistic agitation, one would have to conclude that aliens are somehow wicked in having engaged in business here and made a success of it, that they are guilty of some nameless crime for which they must be punished, that further opportunity for them must be as nearly as possible entirely eliminated, and that even what they have,—such as a piece of land with a home on it, must be taken away from them. What we have said here is intended to stress the im portant point which Secretary Balmaceda made but which he did not emphasize,—the necessity of “free and open competition”, and we would add the adjective “fair”. There is no other way than this to build up the na tional prosperity and to weld the population into a great and happy nation,—hospitable, democratic, industrious, progressive, and respected among the nations of the world. The Army Goes After the Huks The decision of President Quirino, made late in March, to transfer from the Philippine Constabulary to the Philip pine Army the task of combatting and sup pressing the insurgent Hukbalahap organ ization, has inspired widely felt relief, for there is no blinking the fact that the situa tion with respect to the Huk movement has steadily worsened since the failure of the amnesty the President offered the insurgents in June of last year. The Hukbalahap or “People’s Anti-Japanese Army”, organized during the Japanese occupation as a guerrilla group, recently adopted a new name, “Hukbong Mapagpalaya sa Bayan” (H.M.B.), “Nation’s Forces of Liberation”, and in celebration of the eighth anniversary of its existence, staged a number of bold excursions in which important towns were seized and held for periods of several days. The Huk depredations have in fact spread to almost every province in Luzon and to some Bisayan provinces, and have reached the very approaches to Manila. There are today probably no more than 10,000 armed Huks, but they operate in large bands with which the rela tively small and scattered Constabulary forces have been unable to cope. While it is sadly true that the Constabulary of today is not the famous, well-led, and finely disciplined organization it once was, it must be realized that it faced great difficulties in dealing with such large and well-armed forces as those of the Huks, especially in the sort of terrain, great swamp areas and the mountains, to which the Huks, when pursued, preferably retreat. What is worse is that the Huks are not, like the out laws of former times, mere bandits, although they live by banditry, but follow the “line”, the strategy and policies of the communist-led bands which are creating havoc throughout the countries of Southeast Asia. They do not actually hope to take over the govern ments in these countries, but seek only to carry out the “limited objective” of promoting disorder and bloodshed and popular misery. The aim is to foment rage and despair among the people, distrust and hatred of the government, reducing it to virtual impotence, all in preparation for the Kremlin version of Hitler’s Der Tag, the day when Russia expects to find itself at war with the free world. That is the reason why last year’s amnesty failed. The Huk leaders want no amnesty; their organization exists for no other purpose than to promote and maintain internal hostilities and to precipitate, if they can, civil war. The last thing these leaders want is any improvement in the conditions of life of the common people. They want only to make their lives more and more unsettled and miser able, and in this, in the Philippines, the Huks have richly succeeded. It has been officially estimated that more than a million helpless people have been forced to evacuate their homes and villages because of the disorders created by them. Of course, the Huks attempt to disguise this aim. Their strategy of late has assumed a fiendish cleverness, as exemplified by the change of name to “Forces of Libera tion”. Some of their picked units are well disciplined and instead of the past indiscriminate killing and looting, they kill only constabularymen and soldiers and loot only the Chinese tiendas, “protecting” the little native stores. From the people they accept only “boiled water” to drink. They gather the people in the plaza and harrangue them on the evils of the Government and the beauties of the “coming” communist world, make lists of the names of persons whom they promise official positions, and other lists of young men who may “later volunteer” to join the victorious forces (though a few weeks afterward another Huk unit may forcibly impress them in the Huk gangs), and in several instances they have further dramatized their campaigns by having their bands led, ostensibly, by beautiful young women, as, in one case, a “maiden with long black hair, riding a spirited white horse!”. So they seek to win over their dupes, and the exceeding danger of such trickery worked among ignorant and gullible coun try people is manifest. Those who advocate appeasement of the Huks, fur ther offers of pardon, promises of land, etc., are in grave error in supposing that such measures would be met in good faith by the Huk leaders. There is only one thing to be done by the Government and that is to destroy the Huks by armed force. Dealing with them in any other way has been impossible in the past and will remain im possible. They are not to be won over either by reason or any appeal to patriotism. They are deliberate and deter mined traitors, and the fanaticism which has led them so far astray is beyond cure. There should be no further temporizing or hesitation. The Government can not allow the situation to deteriorate any further. Every resource must, if necessary, be brought into action. There can be neither peace, nor progress, nor strength in the Philippines until the “H.M.B.” has been extirpated. The desperate and truly criminal character of the Huk leadership is well brought out by the threat they recently issued to the effect that they would wreak vengeance on the Army officers and men sent against them by assassinat ing their wives and children in their homes. As a conse quence the Army has ceased to make any public reference to the names of the personnel engaged. There sounds the authentic “communist” note,—utter disrespect for every decent human principle, measureless brutality and cruelty, viciousness to the point of delirium, and that the world must take as the appropriate means resorted to in the founding of the Kremlin’s better world. 174 jpoR the information of Journal readers, we reprint the following paragraph from an editorial published in these columns in the October-November, 1948, issue: “Confusion long existed as to the true nature of the Hukbalahap. It first came into being during the Japanese occupation as a strong guerrilla organization, the name meaning, ‘People’s Anti-Japanese Army’, but it was an outgrowth of an earlier, socialist-led agrarian reform movement in Central Luzon. Agrarian reform had many sup porters both in and outside the Government, and rapid progress was being made in improving conditions for the farm tenants. The Huk guerrillas also had many admirers and friends as, for the most part, they fought bravely and well and are also known to have saved the lives of not a few American airmen forced to land behind their lines during the war. Unfortunately, however, communist infiltration began even prior to the enemy occupation and the Huks came definitely under communist leadership, though this was not generally recognized. Today there can no longer be any question about this. Lately, indeed, Taruc has publicly declared that he is a member of the Communist Party.” The following note in the editor’s unpublished book on the Santo Tomas Internment Camp and the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, may be of interest. The note was written in 1945. “The Hukbalahaps, — from Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon (People’s Anti-Japanese Army), was organized in March, 1942, even before the fall of Bataan, the organizers including not only labor and peasant leaders, but intellectuals from the League for the Defense of Democracy and other anti-fascist organizations which had all gone ‘underground’. The heads were Luis Taruc and Casto Alejandrino, close associates of the Pampanga socialist leader, the aged Pedro Abad Santos, brother of Justice Jose Abad Santos who some months later was murdered by the Japanese for refusing to accept office under them. At the time of the organization of the Huks, Pedro Abad Santos had already been arrested by the Japanese and taken to Fort Santiago, together with the Communist leaders, Crisanto Evangelista and Gui llermo Capadocia. (The Socialists and Communists had merged in 1938 and neither of them, particularly the latter, ever constituted a large group.) The three men were held at Fort Santiago for over a year when Capadocia made certain promises to the Japanese in order to save the lives of the others. He was released and made several speeches urging the Huks to lay down their arms, but was then ‘kidnapped’ by them, after which the Japanese killed Evangelista, whom they still held. Pedro Abad Santos had been released because of serious illness, but, though watched, he succeeded in escaping to Huk territory. He died late in 1944. Capadocia was restored to good standing in his organization. “The Huks were recruited and operated in Pampanga, Tarlac, Nueva Ecija, Bulacan, Laguna, and parts of Pangasinan and Tayabas. They numbered around 20,000 of whom some 4,000 were armed; their supporters, however, numbered at least 500,000. Their arms and ammunition originally came from salvage in Bataan, but later from slaughtered Japanese. The Huks claimed to have fought no less than 1200 separate engagements with the Japanese and units of the Japaneseorganized Constabulary which were sent against them, killing over 30,000 Japanese and perhaps 1000 Filipino constabulary men. The Huks differed from other large guerrilla groups in being more aggres sive and more consciously anti-fascist as well as anti-Japanese. To some extent in 1942, and very fully in 1943 and 1944, they played a large part in preventing Japanese seizure of the rice harvest in Central Luzon, the granary of the country. By 1944 they controlled large areas and set up a number of local governments. They saved the lives of scores of American airmen forced down in their territory, among them Colonel Atkinson, and the areas they controlled became places of refuge for hunted men from Manila. They were, however, accused of banditry as well as being ‘communists’ and ‘anti-American’, and although a number of their fighting units joined the American forces after the landing at Lingayen, Taruc and Alejandrino were arrested by the United States Army authorities and some of the Huk units were disarm ed. Representatives of Colonel Thorp, who held a commission from MacArthur to organize the guerrillas in northern and central Luzon, had, late in 1942, reached an agreement with the Huks providing for a unified command, but Thorp was captured by the Japanese (he was later executed) before he could sign it; so the Huks claim. “The Huks allied themselves politically with other guerrilla units, including the Blue Eagles of Laguna, Batangas, Tayabas, and Camsrines, and the Philippine-American guerrillas of Cavite, and with the Free Philippines (the Civil Liberties Union underground), and the League for National Liberation,—the two latter Manila political organizations. It was these and other organizations which, in April, 1945, formed the political group known as the Democratic Alliance, though membership was by individuals and not by groups. In October, after the ‘March on Malacanan’, Taruc and Alejandrino were released on the grounds that no criminal charges against them had been substantiated. Several squadrons of the Huks, known as the Wha-Chi, were composed of Chinese under the leadership of Huang Chieh, son of a Manila merchant from Fukien. They signed the anti-Japanese alliance with the Huks around the middle of 1944.” jyjANY of the people, now enrolled among the Huks, were, before the war, the followers of the good old idealist, Pedro Abad Santos, who had the sympathetic ear of Pres ident Quezon. A program for the betterment of rural conditions had been inaugurated by the Quezon Adminis tration, and the outlook was promising. During the Japanese occupation, the Huk organiza tion which grew out of the movement led by Pedro Abad Santos, played, in the main, a patriotic and worthy part. After the war, the Huks could have converted them selves into a progressive political party, with a sound and constructive program, and they did, in fact, take part in the Roxas-Osmena presidential elections in 1946, support ing Osmena and electing Taruc and a number of other minority leaders to Congress. But they had retained their semi-military organization, were charged with having used illegal coercion in many places, and the leadership was by that time so openly radical and hostile, that Con gress refused to seat Taruc as well as a number of the others. This gave the Huks a real grievance, and when President Quirino took office, after the sudden death of President Roxas, he sought to remedy this situation by issuing his Amnesty proclamation. Congress accorded Taruc his seat and allowed him to draw his full back pay as a representa tive. But the Huks still refused to give up their arms, the Amnesty failed, and Taruc again took to the hills. Actually, the communist Huk leaders, as has been said, did not want an amnesty; they wanted only trouble, conceiving of them selves as the vanguard of a communist revolution. So runs the story of a perverse leadership that is cost ing the Philippines such a treasure in wasted years, money, and blood. “We recognize our special ties with the Philippines.’’ —Secretary of State Dean Acheson 175 Philippine Economic Policy By Manuel L. Quezon THE following statement on Philippine economic policy by the late President Manuel L. Quezon, was reproduced in full as the leading editorial in the March-April (1950) issue of Philippine Com merce, the official organ of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines. The Quezon statement was first published in 1939 in the “NEPA (National Economic Protectionism Association) Handbook of Economy.” The pronouncement is so much to the point with respect to certain present manifestations here, is so sound and breathes such a fine spirit, that it deserves the widest re-reading. We congratulate the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and its official organ for having made this possible. {COMMERCE considers it timely to reproduce in this issue the full statement of the late President Quezon on a topic which is today the country's great est concern. The statement should clarify more than anything else the issue presently confronting the Republic to rehabilitate, stabilize, and build the national economy.) ONE of the aims of my administration has been to grant to the Filipinos every facility they may need to acquire an increasing share in the business activities of the country. This policy is prompted by more cogent reasons than merely a narrow or emotional nationalism. Our natio nal economy can never gain stability and strength, unless it is built permanently upon the brain and brawn, the work and wealth of our own people. But Filipino businessmen would not assume that the Government would extend to them special privileges at the expense of the public interest, or in disregard of the rights of Americans or foreigners doing legitimate business in the Philippines. Under our Constitution, Americans are entitled to the same consideration as Filipinos. As to foreigners, aside from their rights recognized in interna tional law and our own laws, they have the further right to be treated with equity and justice, because they have helped in the development of our country at a time when our own people were not engaging in business enterprises. What the Filipino businessmen have the right to expect from their Government and what we are affording them, are means which they did not have in the past, such as banking institutions, facilities for trade and communica tion, and new opportunities to engage in productive activ ities. In other words, the Government is facilitating and encouraging greater participation of Filipinos in the com merce and industry of the country. But the Filipino must stand on his own worth. He must make his way through earnest, intelligent, and determined effort. He must be ready to meet the exigencies of fair competition; for only under equal circumstances should he have the right to expect the protection of his countrymen. We cannot, we must not, adopt a policy that in any way may be interpreted as antagonistic to foreigners. We do not underestimate what they are doing and can do in aid of our material progress. The attraction of foreign capital has been one of my main concerns. However, foreign capital, at best, is an uncertain factor for the na tional economy of any country to be built upon. The cornerstone, the sustaining walls, every part which gives firmness to our economic edifice, must be constructed mainly with the work and resources of Filipinos. Our own people should supply the blood-streams of our economic life. Our economy must be built principally by ourselves and with ourselves. The only sound basis for a national economy is pro ductive enterprise. Experience counsels that this field be left largely to private initiative. This is a postulate of the profit system and the institution of private property. Our Constitution is committed to this social philoso phy. No other system has been found so far to be of prac tical permanent value. In this regime alone can the natu ral human impulses have free play and be put to advan tageous use. Other systems may, perhaps, temporarily, increase production and add efficiency to the economic machine, but only at the cost of the suppression of the liberties of the people. While private enterprise is to be relied upon to buttress the national economy, it must be admitted that there are certain social and economic objectives which can best be accomplished by direct government action. This fact has been recognized by our Constitution, which grants specific authority to the State “in the interest of national welfare and defense, to establish and operate industries and means of transportation and communication, and, upon payment of just compensation, transfer to public ownership utilities and other private enterprises to be operated by the Govern ment.” The provisions of the Constitution in this respect are not only based upon the experience of other govern ments lacking these powers when confronted with urgent and grave economic or social problems, but also upon a consideration of the fact that the Philippines has to face the difficult task of economic reconstruction. Pursuant to these provisions, when private capital is either not prepared or willing, I have considered it necessary for the Government to undertake essential economic actions. The ventures, however, are not intended to compete with private enter prise, but rather to aid and stimulate individual effort. I do not believe in the nationalization of business. By that I mean that my political and social philosophy is opposed to a government monopoly of economic enter prises except, perhaps, in the case of public utilities, if and when circumstances demand it. Neither do I favor bureau cratizing the whole system of production and distribution of commodities. That would be one of the greatest cala mities that can happen to this or any other country. Private business constitutes the support of the social structure. To a large degree, each citizen finds the basis of his own material welfare in it, and the government builds on it. No statesman can fail to recognize this fact. It is, therefore, to the interest of the government and the people to help business,—to enlarge it, to strengthen it in all its parts, and to insure its continued existence.' Anything that hurts business cannot but have harmful reactions in the government and the people. It is with this knowledge that I have adopted as a basic policy of my administra tion the affording of the assistance of the Government to legitimate business. It is my purpose to persevere in this policy. I wish to give to every businessman, foreigner or Filipino, the assurance of just and fair treatment. My endeavor to secure for labor adequate wages and satisfac tory working conditions is not motivated by a desire to destroy business or to create circumstances under which private enterprise could not survive. I have asked for labor the means for a decent existence, in the conviction that labor is entitled to humane and equitable treatment, and that, in the last analysis, this is to .the permanent benefit of capital itself. Enlightened self-interest is the best policy for businessmen and it will convince them of the wisdom of giving to labor the fairest treatment that they can give. Capital itself is nothing more than the accumulated values (Continued at the bottom of the next page) 176 Statement on the Import Control Bill * * Addressed to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Commerce, and Natural Resources, April 28, 1950. By Amaassado.? Myron M. Cowen I AM certain that all members of the Committee agree with me that the cornerstone of friendly relations be tween nations is first the negotiation of treaties and agree ments on matters of mutual concern and, thereafter, so long as the instruments are in effect, steady adherence to their provisions. The long history of the relations between our two countries shows an enviable record of full com pliance with the letter and spirit of covenants undertaken for specific performances in the fields of political organiza tion, legal rights, and economic association. The currently most important of our formal under standings is the “Agreement Between The United States of America and The Republic of the Philippines Concerning Trade and Related Matters During a Transitional Period Following the Institution of Philippine Independence”, signed at Manila on July 4, 1946. This Agreement was entered into pursuant to a statutory warrant of the U.S. Congress legally known as “The Philippine Trade Act of 1946”, and commonly referred to as the “Bell Act”. I believe there have grown up many misconceptions of the origin and character of this Act and the pursuant Agreement. I do not wish to take your time for a detailed analysis, but I think a few words are helpful in arriving at an understanding of the problem which confronts us with respect to a limited part of the Import Control Bill now lying before your honorable body. The underlying philosophy of the Agreement was the desire expressed by three Presidents of the Philippines and two Presidents of the United States to continue for a period of 20 or 25 years after Philippine Independence as nearly as practicable the economic and financial relations then existing between our nations and their peoples. The conditions which evoked this mutual desire were the devastation of war in the Philippines, the unsettled state of world trade, and the need for a “floor” under Philippine economy sufficiently strong to support a program of reha bilitation to be financed mainly by United States appro priations. Agreeably to both nations, it was intended to build the “flobr” by an exchange of privileges and conces sions which would re-establish temporarily the conditions quo ante. The United States broached its standing policy of universal tariff relations with foreign countries to allow the continuation on declining scale of reciprocal preferen tial trade. This was practically the same post-Independ ence trade program as that recommended at an earlier date by the Joint Preparatory Committee on Philippine Affairs and, I understand, unanimously approved by the several Filipino members. In 1939 the United States Congress declined to enact the program and postponed further consideration to the eve of Independence. But, with the terrible effects of war on the Philippines visible, the Congress acceded in 1945-46 to the requests of the Philippine Government and authorized not only the pre ferential system but granted a preliminary 8-year (1946 to 1954) free trade “plateau.” Agreeably to both nations during the hearings on the Philippine Trade Act of 1946, the continuation of the reciprocal preferential trade system was conditioned on there being no discrimination against American citizens and their corporations doing business in the Philippines, as had been the case before Independence. This relation ship was sanctioned by Paragraph 4 of Article X of the Agreement, reading as follows: “If the President of the United States determines and proclaims, after consultation with the President of the Philippines, that the Philip pines or any of its political subdivisions or the Philippine Government is in any manner discriminating against citizens of the United States or any form of United States business enterprise, then the President of the United States shall have the right to suspend the effectiveness of the whole or any portion of this Agreement. If the President of the United States subsequently determines and proclaims, after consulta tion with the President of the Philippines, that the discrimination which was the basis for such suspension (a) has ceased, such suspension shall end; or (b) has not ceased after the lapse of a time determined by the President of the United States to be reasonable, then the President of the United States shall have the right to terminate this Agreement upon not less than six months’ written notice.” After due consideration by the Department of State of Section 14 (formerly Section 13) of the Import Control Bill, I was instructed to present to your Government the Department’s conviction that statutory provisions for reserving to Philippine nationals a part of allowable import quotas clearly discriminated against American citizens and American business, and, if enacted, would necessitate consideration of the applicability of Paragraph 4 of Article X of the Agreement. It appeared also that without further clarification the wording in Section 23 (formerly Section 22) of the Bill could be construed as a statutory qualifica tion of the protection accorded United States citizens in the Agreement. Apart from consideration of the Agreement, under the stress of controls which have fallen upon the normal eco nomies of many countries, one is constrained to view the allocation of quotas or issuances of licenses to lawfully resident businessmen without discrimination as to their nationality or race not only as a matter of amity among friendly nations, not only as a virtual human right, but also as necessary to preserve the ideas of private property, private enterprise, and individual initiative towards ma terial progress. There are practicalities in the situation. First, while it is true that the Philippines buys the greater part of its imports from the United States, it is also true that the Philippines sells the greater part of its exports in the pre ferentially protected United States market? Secondly it is impropitious that the discriminatory provisions of the Import Control Bill and of other bills, such as those limiting practice of the professions and those placing heavy fees and taxes upon aliens, should be advocated at a time when of labor. Capital should be willing to accord to labor a reasonable share of its profits. I bespeak the cooperation of all businessmen in my efforts to give labor its due, assuring them in turn that they can expect the cooperation of the Government in the promotion of their legitimate interests. Business may rely on the sustaining arm of the Govern ment. It may feel secure against injustice or revolutionary changes. Our steps turned toward reform of our economic and social conditions will be deliberate — constructive and not destructive. But we will not brook unreasonable opposition to our determination to raise the standard of living of the common man. 177 the administrative and legislative branches of the United States Government have under consideration programs for assistance to the Philippines. Finally, a word should be said for the American traders many of whom, or their companies, have been in the Philippines for years and have not failed to plow back into the economy of the country a goodly portion of their profits. There is much in the Import Control Bill which is desirable and I recognize that the present law expires in a few days. Therefore, I respectfully suggest that the prob lem may be happily solved by insertion of the following language in lieu of the present Section 23: “During the effectivity of the Agreement Between the United States of America and the Republic of the Philippines Concerning Trade and Related Matters signed on July 4, 1946, citizens of the United States and all forms of United States business enterprises shall be exempted from the provisions of Section 14 of this Act.” Please be assured that I have every wish to be of the utmost help in the solution of the problem with which we are confronted, to the end that good relations between the Philippines and the United States, between Filipinos and Americans, not only may be preserved but may grow and be strengthened in these days which seem to me not less than critical for the nations which love liberty and justice. Statement on the Nationalization of Retail Trade * • Made before the Committee on Commerce and Industry, House of Represent atives, March 30, I9S0. By Cornelio Balmaceda Secretary of Commerce and Industry IT is only natural that we should seek to place our own nationals in control of our retail trade. What is wanted, I believe, is not the total exclusion of the foreign elements from our retail trade, but to place our Filipino retailers in their rightful position. The domestic trade of any coun try should not be controlled by the foreign elements but by the nationals themselves. So this movement to wrest the control of the trade from the hands of alien retailers here is not animated by any anti-foreign feeling but is a proper exercise of self-help on the part of our people. There should be no doubt as to the legitimacy of this objective. The disagreement lies in the way of accomplish ing it. One way that is proposed is “nationalization of retail trade”, which is taken to mean the exclusion of aliens from the trade. This is not the first time that such a pro posal is made. It will be recalled that in the Constitu tional Convention, the same proposal was considered, and various bills have also been submitted repeatedly in past legislatures, for this same purpose. However, these proposed nationalization measures failed to secure the approval of the Constitutional Con vention as well as the legislatures mainly because of the international ‘questions involved. It was felt that the adoption of such a measure would be discriminatory, would invite retaliatory measures, and is not conducive to in ternational amity. Now that the Philippines is an inde pendent nation, this aspect of the proposed nationaliza tion measure assumes even more importance. We should, therefore, find other means of accomplish ing the desired filipinization of our retail trade. The obstacles in the way of the Filipino retailer to enable him to compete fairly and successfully in the trade must be re moved. All reasonable assistance should be given to him by the Government and by the public. We should create here a climate wherein Filipino retail trade can grow and develop. Such measures, however, although important and necessary, cannot overlook the main and paramount factor—the ability of the Filipino merchant to render efficient and satisfactory service and to hold his own in free and open competition. In the past the Government has adopted various meas ures toward this end. The Bureau of Commerce for many years past has been giving assistance to Filipino retailers in buying their merchandise and forming wholesale organ izations. The Bureau has been organizing consumers’ cooperative stores, believing that if consumers establish and manage their own retail stores, it will be an effective way of filipinizing the retail trade. The Government also established the former National Trading Corporation to act as a wholesale supplier of merchandise for Filipino retail stores. The functions of this entity have been taken over by the PRATRA which is now giving assistance to Filipino retailers. I believe that these measures should be continued and intensified. The Department of Commerce and Industry, in cooperation with other entities of the Government, has adopted an integrated plan which consists of two parts: (1) an entity to supply merchandise to Filipino retailers and give them financial assistance; and (2) organization and assistance to Filipino retailers. The first part of this plan is assigned to the PRATRA. The PRATRA, having taken over the functions of the National Trading Corporation, acts as wholesale supplier of merchandise for Filipino retailers. The PRATRA not only endeavors to supply goods at the right prices to Fili pino retailers but also give them commodity loans. The second part consists in the organization of re tailers and consumers and giving assistance to retailers. The Bureau of Commerce and the National Cooperative Administration cooperate with each other in the organiza tion of consumers’ cooperative stores. The consumers movement is an effective way for filipinizing the greater portion of our retail trade. If the consumers themselves come to realize the benefit of organizing themselves and establishing their own store, they will eventually gain the control of the retail trade. This movement is being pushed slowly but surely, starting with established groups of consumers in government offices, business firms, schools and other institutions. There are already a number of these consumers units functioning successfully as coopera tives. Labor groups will also be organized for the same purpose. The next group of consumers are the farmers and pro ducers, like the tobacco growers in the Cagayan Valley, the rice planters in Central Luzon, the abaca planters in Bicol and Mindanao, and other groups of farmers. The cooperatives being established among them are the producers-consumers cooperatives. These cooperatives will not only sell the products of the farmers but will handle the distribution of consumers goods and thus take over the retailing work into their own hands. It is to be admitted that there have been many fail ures in this cooperative work in the past. But many coun tries which have now successful consumers’ cooperative associations, embracing big portions of their populations, have gone through these experiences. We should not give up the accomplishment of this objective just because of 178 past failures. We should learn from our experience and do better in the future. We must not loss hope in the eventual success of cooperatives in the Philippines. The Bureau of Commerce and the National Coopera tives Administration will also give assistance to the retailers in forming them into retailers’ associations for purposes of cooperative buying. The Bureau has started the organ ization of provincial retailers into provincial trading corporations. This activity is now being resumed. The Filipino elements in the retail trade can establish their own wholesale buying organizations. This will put them in a better position to meet alien competition. The Prospect for the Philippine Fisheries By Herbert E. Warfel In Charge, Biological and Oceanographic Investigations, Philippine Fishery Program, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior THERE is probably no segment or the Philippine economy so little understood in its entirety as the fishing industry; yet, with the exception of agricultural food production, none is so important to the health and welfare of the nation. Next to rice, fish and allied products are the foremost food items in the Philippine diet; and next to agriculture in all its aspects, the fishing industry, in all likelihood, ranks second in the nation. Although beset by many problems, the fishing industry has made considerable progress since the last Pacific war, and, for the most part, has kept pace with the growth of the Republic. Whether or not this progress can be maintained in the face of the rapidly-increasing popu lation, is the consideration of this report. To understand the fisheries and their potentialities, it is necessary that certain basic factors be brought together and considered, each for its proper value. These factors are, first, the demand upon the fisheries; .second, production dynamics; and finally, the outlook for the future. Under each of these headings are many variables that must be evaluated, and these range from the food habits of the people to con siderations pertaining to the weather, the seas, and the biology of the fishes. Unfortunately, none of these factors has had the study neces sary for complete understanding, but during the past three years the Philippine Fishery Program of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made considerable progress in compiling much of the basic data. The Filipinos rely, as do most other tropical peoples, on fish as their main source of protein. There are many reasons for this, but the outstanding one is that there have never existed, in most tropical areas, satisfactory meat animals in sufficient quantity to supply a steady source of food. Fish, on the other hand, have always been conveniently accessible, do not have to be husbanded, and at the same time, supply the need. There is, therefore, a tradition, or a habit, of reliance upon fish as a main staple in the diet. Formerly, and even now in many isolated places, fish supplied the protein requirement very handily. With the changes brought about by the advent of white men into many tropical places, however, a strain has been exerted upon the fish resources to such a degree that, in many places, critical protein shortages now exist. The Philippines has not, apparently, reached that stage, but indica tions are that it is not beyond the realm of immediate possibility. It is considered by physiologists that the average human being needs 4 ounces of protein food each day. The day-to-day food, other than fish, eaten by tropical peoples does not include that much protein; and, in addition, there are various kinds of proteins, and no single vegetable food contains all of the constituents of the proper kinds. There are no substitutes for animal-derived protein available today in a natural state. Therefore, in tropical islands in particular, there are no substitutes for fish for most of the people. To supply this much fish to the people of the Philippines, 4 ounces, 1,825,000,000 pounds of fish must be captured annually—or, stated another way, 91.2 pounds per person per year. It is doubtful that pro duction of such proportions has ever been achieved. This calculation does not take natural wastage into consideration. There are supplemental foods available to some groups within the general population, such as eggs, poultry, and some red meat. The latter is very limited, but still must be considered. Estimates of actual fish consumed vary considerably, and there are no reliable figures. One study made of the food habits of citizens in barrios in Luzon indicated that pre-war consumption was in the neighborhood of 4.5 ounces per person per day; but the recorded landings for 1948, as reported by the Philippine Government, indicated that consumption of fish was 1.4 ounces per day. Considered judgment of fisheries officials indicates that total consumption is in the neighbor hood of 66 pounds per person per year of fish and allied products—or between 2.5 and 3.0 ounces per day. This figure may be exaggerated, but if true, it means that approximately 1,100,000,000 pounds of these products are produced every year. This level of production is not far from that which, in the opinion of this writer, is ideal. If the fisheries can maintain production at that level, it would seem that sufficient proteins could be made available from other sources to meet the currently-accepted minimum daily requirement. The sources of fish and other aquatic products used for food are various, but in the main, the Philippines draws upon three rather dis tinct types. By far the greatest portion of the general daily needs comes from the sea, and a fair estimate from this source is 75%. It needs to be emphasized that these figures are simply considered estimates. Statistics on marine production are collected only at certain selected localities, and there are thousands of landing places that do not enter into the calculations of the officials. More fish are probably landed on isolated beaches than at piers and other establishments. Fish produced in fishponds are likewise accounted for only in a general way, and the fish taken from fresh-water places, such as paddy fields, irrigation channels, lakes, and ponds are known only in a very meager way. Production dynamics for fish in the seas of the Philippines com prise an intricate and highly characteristic situation that contains the answers to the many speculations concerning the potentiality of the fisheries. In the first place, the Philippines is surrounded by the deepest waters in the world, and such waters are not generally produc tive. If one looks at production in the ocean as one looks at production on land, he soon discovers that there are basic factors common to both situations. Just as on land, where the soil must be fertile to produce a crop of rice or sugarcane, likewise in the sea, the water must be fertile to produce a crop of fish. To produce beef demands that green plants must first be produced on the soil; to produce fish in the sea,green plants must also be produced. The green plants responsible for the conversion of the energy of the sun into energy represented by fish, are microscopic algae; and in all likelihood, it requires a comparable amount of algae to produce a pound of fish as it does grass to produce a pound of beef. The difference between the production set-up on land compared with that in the sea, is that soil is static in its special distribution, where as the sea is constantly shifting and fluid. The fertility of soil is readily available if it is present in the first place, but the sea, in order to be productive, has to circulate vertically. Life in the sea, for the greatest part, is confined to the surface layers of water. When this life dies, it falls to the bottom and disintegrates, and the basic chemicals are re leased and become the elements of fertility. The problem in the sea is to get these elements back up into the realm of sunlight where they can be incorporated again into the microscopic green plants, and in turn incorporated into the bodies of fish. This can happen only in certain definite situations in the seas, and the areas of productivity in the ocean are reasonably well marked. Thus, there are expanses of ocean that are wholly without significant living organisms. For the most part, the earth’s productive areas are those of the more shallow sections; and of the 800,000 square miles of waters surrounding the Philippines that have been explored by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in all likelihood, not more than 8,000 or 10,000 square miles could be said to be productive to a degree com parable to an area of similar magnitude in the shallower waters of the temperate zones. Thus, supposing that there are 10,000 square miles of productive waters in the Philippine seas (and this estimate will include the greater part of productive shorelines), this would mean that 2,000 Filipino people are dependent upon each square mile of productive water for their animal protein food; or that each acre would have to produce enough fish to supply three people at the current rate of consumption. It further means that each acre has to produce 175 pounds of sea food annually. Actually, it is highly improbable that production is as high as this, and the Filipino people have to augment the fish supply from the sea with fish from other sources, such as inland waters and fishponds. The second consideration in the production set-up is the mechan ical aspect of capturing fish for human consumption. In a country 179 like the Philippines, where basic productivity is light and where the fish are thinly distributed, many ingenious methods have been deve loped. It is significant, however, that productivity per man engaged in the fishing industry is the lowest in the world. Pre-war estimates indicated that approximately 1,500 pounds per man was the average annual production of the fisherman, compared with 63,000 pounds per man in Great Britain; 32,000 in the United States; and 7,000 in Japan. From this figure one also gains an idea of the productive capacity of Philippine waters. This does not mean that a Filipino fisherman is not skillful; in fact, it probably means he is more skillful than many others. But it does mean that for every hour that he puts into fishing, he takes far less than the fisherman in other parts of the world, because he does not have the fish available to him to capture. The outlook for the future is not overly encouraging. As far as dan be ascertained, the opportunities for expansion are very limited. Of the fishes in the sea, only sharks and tuna are unexploited at the present time; and if the fishing industry were to concentrate on cap turing these forms, production would be expanded by only about 7-1/2%. To do this would demand new investments in the fishing industry, acquisition of new techniques, and a high degree of industria lization. The Filipino people today also are wasteful of this resource. Dy namite fishing, among other illegal practices, is threatening the future of the entire industry. The life-cycle of fish is such that the immature of many species spend the greatest part of that stage of their lives in shallow water. Shallow waters are the hunting grounds of the dyna miter, and it has been pointed out many times that every blast of dyna mite kills not only fish for the immediate market, but also kills a con siderable quantity of fish upon which the market of the future must depend. In the past three years it has been possible to follow the retro gression of the fish supply by noting the progressingly farther distances that have had to be traversed by the dynamite fisherman in order to assure himself a supply of fish for his market. Three years ago the Manila market was largely supplied by dynamited fish from places as close as Busuanga and northern Palawan. Today, that market is being supplied by dynamited fish from as far away as Balabac and Tawi-tawi. Not all fish in one place are killed by dynamite, to be sure, but the habitat of fish that is constantly exposed to explosions is so changed that it will be a matter of many years before these places are restored as fish-producing areas. To further emphasize the situation facing the Philippine nation in the matter of the future supply of animal protein, if drawn almost wholly from the sea, a few comparisons will suffice. One of the great fisheries of the world is that off the coast of California for the pilchard, or sardine. This fishery has produced approximately 450,000 tons per annum for many years. The fish are exploited by a type of gear called purse seine, which when set, surrounds and holds as many as 1,000 tons of fish at one time. A large purse seiner operating from San Francisco can carry as many as 200 tons of fish to port from the sea, and some times as many as four or five vessels of this type will load from one set of this net. The best sardine fishing ground in the Philippines is the Visayan Sea, and while catch statistics from this area are sketchy, by putting together figures from the principal landing places in that area, it is doubtful that more than 100 tons of sardines could ever be gathered from the Visayan Sea in a single night. Working all year at this rate, if it could be done, would produce 30,000 tons, or one-fifteenth of what can be produced in the California sardine fishery. Actual pro duction is, however, of the order of magnitude of 10,000 tons, as esti mated by the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries. Another example seems to be to the point. Before the war, the Japanese operated three fish canneries in the southern Philippines and in North Born?o which attracted a great deal of attention and are al ways cited as an example of the indicated potential of the fisheries of the Philippine waters. However, the capacity of these plants is known, and the extent of their operations can be fairly well estimated. If all three plants operated at maximum capacity throughout the year, the total take of fish necessary to supply them would be 5,000 tons. While 5,000 tons is a considerable load of fish, nevertheless several places in the United States such as Astoria, Oregon, and Stonington, Connecti cut, will handle in a year two to three times that many fish. Finally, there are the reports by the Anglo-Caribbean Commis sion which studied the fishery potentials of the Caribbean Sea during the war and attempted to offset the curtailed food supply that existed at that time. A comparison was made between Chesapeake Bay, an area of 2,800 square miles, and Paria Gulf, an area of 3,200 square miles adjacent to the Caribbean Sea. The former will produce within a year 300,000,000 pounds of fish and shellfish, whereas the latter will pro duce 6,000,000. The Caribbean is comparable in many ways to the Philippine seas, not only because its waters are deep, but also because they are tropical. The opportunity for vertical circulation is limited, and thus the fertility of surface waters where fish are produced is low. Thus, the prospect for the future of the Philippine fisheries is not the abundant one that has so often been emphasized in the past. Compared with the more temperate waters, the Philippine seas do not teem with fish. Single observations by former writers on this subject are in no way indicative of the potential of the Philippine seas for sustaining production. The Philippine fisheries will probably continue just as they have, with the use of primitive gear, low productivity per man, and the continuous effort of a multitude of fishermen. This does not mean that opportunities for mechanization and in dustrialization of the industry do not exist, but it does mean that any such enterprise will be comparatively small, and even if carefully man aged, will produce but a modest, steady income. The tuna fishery, for example, has been studied rather carefully by the U. S. Fish and Wild life Service. This study has uncovered considerable information on the distribution and abundance of these fish. The Service has arrived at the conclusion that by employing the longline trawl technique, as deve loped by the Okinawans in the South Pacific, each vessel will take one ton of fish per day. It is of the opinion that a fleet of 60 such vessels could operate profitably from the Philippines, and that the results, if packed, would yield 300,000 cases of canned tuna each year and 2,700 tons of fish-meal in the same period, besides an undetermined amount of fair quality fish-oil suitable for nutritional purposes. Such an in dustry is estimated to be worth P6,000,000 to ?7,000,000 annually. A tuna canning industry would have two advantages: The canned fish could be used as a substitute for canned sardines which are widely eaten at present and are one of the heaviest items on the import list. Fish-meal is badly needed for the growing Philippine poultry industry, and the oil could be used in supplementary rations for both animals and human beings. On the other hand, opportunities for canning such forms as sar dines are not promising. Such fish are simply not present in sufficient quantities; and the demand and the price paid for them fresh are too high to warrant the expenditure of placing them in cans for sale unless such local products were rigidly protected by import quotas, high tariffs, or otherwise. Even then they would have to compete with fresh, salted, and dried products which are much cheaper. From time to time there have appeared in the local press articles describing products that lend themselves to small industrial-unit deve lopments. Such products as canned dilis, canned oysters, fancy fish pastes, and others offer opportunities for the small investor willing to manage his own business and willing to be content with a modest profit. SUMMARY OF DEMOCRATIC THEORY ((t BELIEVE . . . that morality, compassion, generosity, are innate I elements of the human constitution; that there exists a right inde pendent of force; that a right to property is founded in our natural wants, in the means with which we are endowed to satisfy these wants, and the right to what we acquire by those means without violating the similar rights of other sensible beings; that no one has a right to obstruct another, exercising his faculties innocently for the relief of sensibilities made a part of his nature; that justice is the fundamental law of society; that the majority, oppressing an individual, is guilty of a crime, abusing its strength, and by acting on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society; that action by the citizens in person, in affairs within their reach and competence, and in all others by representatives, chosen immediately and removable by themselves, constitutes the essence of a republic; that all governments are more or less republican in proportion as this principle enters more or less into their composition; and that a government by representation is capable of extension over a greater surface of country than one of any other form.” —Thomas Jefferson It is this moral quality that makes democracy a political philosophy, not a mere ideology. It is this that has enabled it 'to survive the changing circumstances from Jefferson’s time to ours. It survives in an industrial age because it is at bottom moral rather than economic...” —A. Whitney Griswold in the April Fortune 180 Correspondence with the Senate President on Import Control The Honorable M. Jesus Cuenco President of the Senate Manila April 25, 1950 Sir: In view of the passage of the pending Import Control Bill by the House, the American Chamber of Commerce would like to set forth its views, relative to this legislation. First, attention is invited to the fact that the Bill reserves 40% of quotas for new importers. It is obvious that this provision will force certain established importers, many of whom have been in the Philip pine Islands for 40 years, to close their businesses if they have not al ready done so. This provision constitutes class legislation of the worst form and is hardly conducive to encouraging further foreign invest ments in this country. We should like to point out that this provision is in direct contradiction to the President’s statements welcoming foreign capital to the Philippines and assuring it of fair and equitable treatment. Second, that the provisions of this Bill calling for the establish ment of a new Import Control Board and licensing of all imports is almost certain to .bring the majority of import businesses to a complete standstill. The present Import Control Bill covers only luxuries and non-essentials and yet, after almost five months’ work on the part of the Import Control Board, a great many importers have yet to receive a single license. It is obvious that with total import control it may be more than one year before some importers receive licenses at all. It is true that the House has incorporated into the new Bill a provision requiring all applications to be acted upon within one month. How ever, writing such a provision into the Bill will not accomplish the fact and extreme delays in issuing licenses will unquestionably occur, regard less of the provision, simply because of the impossibility of the taskThe American Chamber of Commerce is in full sympathy with the necessity of preserving the country’s exchange position and is as anxious as any group in the Philippines to aid this country in its present diffi culties. The measure proposed however, will, in the Chamber’s opinion, have a very adverse effect on economic conditions in the Philippines and specially on the efforts of many friends of the country to obtain more aid from the United States. It is, therefore, the Chamber’s suggestion that the present Import Control Bill be extended for a period of one year to allow the present Import Control Office to reap the benefits of the reorganizations and investigations to which that body has been subjected. It appears to us to be a tremendously wasteful procedure to dis regard the effort and experience gained by the present Import Control organization, by establishing a new group when the old group has only just begun to function. It is also the Chamber’s recommendation that a commission be established immediately to formulate rules and policies for total import control effective May 1, 1951. In this manner a smooth transition can be made at that time without total dislocation of trade. The foregoing is respectfully submitted for your consideration. Board of Directors April 27, 1950 American Chamber of Commerce Gentlemen: In reply to your letter of April 25, 1950, I wish to state that it has always been the firm policy of our Government to deal fairly with all foreigners engaged in business in our country. It should be clear to everyone, however, that the lawmakers of the Philippines cannot shirk their duty to enact laws that will protect the interests of their own people. In this country, the great bulk of trade and commerce is controlled not by Filipinos but by aliens, and in all fairness, ways must be found to give our own citizens their just share of the trade and commerce of their own land. I wish to assure you, however, that it is not the feeling in the Senate that such laws as we may consider necessary to protect the interests of Filipino business men should be prejudicial to the rights and privileges which American citizens are entitled to enjoy in this country. Sincerely yours, M. Jesus Cuenco The Honorable M. Jesus Cuenco President of the Senate Manila Dear Mr. President: May 3, 1950 We gratefully acknowledge your letter of April 27 and wish to express our appreciation for your assurance that it is not the feeling in the Senate that laws considered for the protection of Filipino busi nessmen's interests should be prejudicial to the rights and privileges of American citizens in this country. There is another point on this subject to which we wish to invite your attention. It is to the fact that American firms in the Philippines not only employ many thousands of Filipino nationals, but that the importations and production of such American firms normally enter into consumption and use in this country through established Filipino jobbers, dealers, agents, and representatives. American firms are largely staffed and, in many cases, are managed and partly owned by citizens of this country. When such firms protest discriminatory action affect ing them, they are protesting for the benefit of these Filipino citizens, too. As we are sure you have already witnessed, it is the normal and continuing practice of the established American firms in this country to nationalize their operations by furthering ever closer ties and asso ciation with their Filipino employees and the Filipino businessmen who, in a great many cases, have been assisted in the establishment of their businesses by these American firms. We believe there has been a decided trend and achievement, since Philippine Independence, in the efforts of American firms to encourage and assist Filipinos, both within their businesses and so as to set up as independent businessmen. Through the practice of such a policy, Filipinos have obtained a large and increasing share of the trade and Chamber of Commerce THE Chamber’s letter to Senate President Cuenco was based on the following considerations: That it is proposed to permit the importation of articles, goods, and commodities during the year 1950 equal to P800.000; That it has been reported in the press that the Import Control Office has licensed a total of less than 8% of this amc * J ’,v first 4 months of the year and that the amount license! around 6% of the quantity of importations during 194 That the Import Control Office has been unable to z of importers’ applications duririg this period and that i have received no quotas or licenses since last October_________ necessary articles of trade have therefore not yet been ordered foreign suppliers; and That these conditions are bound to result, if the mediately and materially speeded up, in (1) rising prices and black-marketting, (3) increased unemployment, (5) decrease in tax import houses. As the American Chamber of C all necessary efforts to preserve the country’s to only is not im181 The Business View A monthly review of facts, trends, forecasts, by Manila businessmen Banking and Finance By R. E. Russell Sub-Manager, National City Bank of New York COMPARATIVE Statement of Condition of the Central Bank of the Philippines: ASSETS As of Dec. 31 As of Jan. 31 As of Feb. 28 As of Mar. 31 (in thousands of Pesos} International Reserve... . Contribution to InternaP460.689 P442.432 P441.999 P441.792 tional Monetary Fund. Account to Secure Coin30,000 30,000 30,000 30,000 age..................................... 113,306 113,306 113,306 113,306 Loans and Advances........ Trust Account — Secur 77,047 83,374 85,451 87,198 ities Stabilization Fund — — — — Domestic Securities......... 92,197 96,774 104,649 106,449 Other Assets....................... 20,390 25,248 25,462 29,069 P793.629 P791.136 P800.868 P814.664 LIABILITIES Currency—Notes.............. P555.576 P540.849 P541.577 P544.296 Coins............... 74,384 74,723 77,966 79,326 Demand Deposits — Pesos................................. 117,682 128,571 130,328 139,776 Securities Stabilization Fund................................. Due to International 2,000 2,000 6,848 6,848 Monetary Fund........... Due to International 22,498 22,497 22,497 22,497 Bank for Reconstruc tion and Development 2,389 2,389 2,389 2,387 Other Liabilities............... 2,636 2,942 6,354 5,719 Capital................................. 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 Undivided Profits ........... 6,464 7,161 1,291 2,196 Surplus................................. — — 1,616 1,616 P793.629 P791.136 P800.868 P814.664 CONTINGENT ACCOUNT Forward Exchange Sold.. P 6,460 P 6,460 P 6,000 — 'J'he comparative statement shows little change between the x figures for the last two months. There is a negligible difference in the International Reserve, and other categories require little comment. Gold to the value of approximately $100,000 was added to the Reserve under the provisions of the exchange control regulations. Money in circulation increased approximately P4,000,000 and is explained by Central Bank sources as par tially due to Government’s desire to flood the country with coins to prevent an artificial coin shortage. The Control authorities have been worried about the expenditures in foreign exchange for travel. It has been frequently stated in the daily papers that some $1,000,000 was spent by tourists and for pleasure trips during the month of February, which naturally constitutes quite a drain on the dollar reserve position. Large sums have likewise been used during March. Much of this expense has been incurred on behalf of pilgrims to Rome. Conse quently, the authorities have now limited the authorized agents to a maximum amount of $1200 per family for travel purposes. A special license issued by the Central Bank would be required for amounts in excess of this sum, and the Bank has indicated that the applicant would require very good reasons if more dollars were to be granted. Also, it has stipulated that there shall be no travel funds granted except for business reasons. The restrictions for exchange for medical and family upkeep have likewise been tightened. Remittances for mainten ance may only be made to parents, children, or wife, while it has been indicated that doctor’s and hospital bills will be subjected to rigid examination. Remittances for me dical expenses may only be made to the hospital or doctor concerned, and not to any third parties. Credit By W. J. Nichols Treasurer, General Electric (P.I.) Inc. THE fourth annual post-war meeting of the members of the Association of' Credit Men, Inc. (P.I.) was held on April 18 at the Tower Club. At the gathering the election of a new board of directors for the ensuing year was held and representatives of the following firms were selected: American Factors (Phil.) Inc. Bank of the Philippine Islands Caltex (Phil.) Inc. Colgate-Palmolive Philippines Inc. International Harvester Co. of Philippines National City Bank of New York San Miguel Brewery We came across several very interesting paragraphs in the reprint of an article by Mr. Eugene R. Black, President of the International Bank for How the Reconstruction and Development International Bank on the “lending techniques” of Makes a Loan this Bank. The passage read: "In some instances, particularly where the less developed countries are concerned, no spedfic project is presented for consideration for a loan. Instead, the Bank is asked to survey the country’s needs with a view to determining which sectors of the economy should be developed and an order of priority for the projects. “The critical examination stage begins if the loan request meets these first general tests and if the project appears to warrant serious consideration. A careful investigation is made by the Bank of the economic and finandal conditions of the country and of the borrower, and a study is made of the project. In examining the project, surveys are made of the sources and amount of local capital available to meet local costs; and of the availability of labor including skilled manage ment personnel. The technical feasibility of the project is thoroughly investigated and experts examine plans, market surveys, and financial arrangements. A thorough appraisal is also made of all factors affecting the borrower’s creditworthiness and its ability to complete the undertaking. In examining the economic and financial conditions in a country, attention is focussed on the following types of questions: “Can the country properly assume additional foreign debt for a project of the type under consideration? Are the financial and economic policies of the government conducive to sound development and the success of the project? If not, what steps should be taken to remedy any shortcomings? Will the project contribute effectively to the im mediate development of the country, or are there other projects with a higher priority? What effect will the project have upon the ability of the country to earn sufficient foreign exchange to repay the loan? “In short, the Bank recognizes that the prospects for success of a project and the borrower’s ability to service a loan will be substan tially influenced by economic and financial conditions of the country in which it is located, and that these must be taken into account. . . "All of this effort and expense devoted to processing loans is in recognition of the Bank’s responsibility to the member countries which supplied its capital and to investors who have purchased its bonds. It is the aim of the Bank to insure that its loans shall contain the mini mum of risk consistent with its objectives and that they shall contri bute as much as possible to the borrowers’ economic well-being. . . “The Bank’s interest in a loan does not end with the signing of the loan agreement. It is at this point that administration begins, and the Bank is developing special procedures for following the progress of a 182 After the general meeting the newly elected directors elected the following officers: Mr. C. W. Muilenburg of International Harvester Co. of Philippines was elected President. Mr. R. C. Antonio of the Bank of the Philippine Islands was elected Vice-President, and Mr. J. F. Unson of the National City Bank of New York was elected Secretary and Treasurer. At the end of the first quarter of 1950, membership in the Association numbered 70. The organization of Credit Men recently polled its members to determine what the current practices are with respect to terms of credit allowed. A resume of the replies received indicated that before the imposition of govern ment controls on imports the majority of the members extended 30 days credit to their customers. At the present time, however, the number allowing this length of time has decreased and it appears that several firms are favorable to more stringent terms. 1946-49 Range "■-h Low ' * .32 MINING SHARES High 94.40 60 P 375 P 024 07 3 75 5 30 0052 05 014 66 70 021 21 085 22 39 12 011 34 04 2 00 2 65 038 025 28 02 10 03 105 18 04 M. S. E. Mining Share Acoje Mining Com pany .......................... Antamok Goldfields Mining...................... Atok-Big Wedge Min ing Co........................ Baguio Gold Mining Co.............................. Balatoc Mining Com pany .......................... Benguet Consolidated Mining Co............... Batong Buhay Gold Coco Grove, Inc...... Consolidated Mines, Inc.............................. Itogon Mining Com pany .......................... IXL Mining Company Lepanto Consolidated Mindanao Mother Lode Mines............. Masbate Consolidated Mining...................... Misamis Chromite, Paracale Cons........................... San Mauricio Mining Co............................... Surigao Consolidated Mining...................... United Paracale Mining...................... Gumaus High 81.22 05 2 80 3 72.70 P— 34 2 50 2 65 0036 009 075 07 66 55 021 085 165 365 07 61 45 Close 72.70 P.llb .018b .38 .05 2.50 2.65 .075 • 08a .61 .46 021 .021 15 08 155 30 07 .15 .085 .16 .315 .07 Change Total Sales Off 9.07 Off Off Off Off Off Off Off Off Off Off Up Up Off .065 004 .30 .0004 25,000 5,200 .0012 2,590,000 .01 .10 .025 .005 .005 66,500 681,500 214,000 128,000 501,000 185,000 Stock Market By A. C. Hall A. C. Hall Company March 29 to April 28 CONDITIONS have taken an unfavorable turn for mining stocks during the past month, and values have been whittled away by steady offerings in a market where buyers, currently, have little incentive to bid for stocks. In contrast to the inflationary atmosphere and deva luation psychology prevailing around the turn of the year, deflationary factors have recently gained the ascendency. In addition to a tighter money situation, which is a seasonal occurrence at this time of year, investors are also concerned over the contracting business outlook, taxes, and social unrest. In the face of these uncertainties, it is not surpris ing that sellers have the upper hand at the moment, partic ularly in the absence of any dynamic developments from the mining companies whose 1949 reports, generally speak ing, have fallen short of expectations. In the commercial section, San Miguel shares continue to attract investment buying at approximately unchanged prices, but sugar shares are meantime in poor demand, with buyers’ ideas generally quite a bit below asking prices. 1949-50 High P 88.00 Low P59.00 10.00 75.00 51.00 220.00 135.00 95.00 35.00 200.00 25.00 4.00 25.00 .165 1.28 38.00 103.00 9.00 90.00 111.00 90.00 70.00 25.00 185.00 23.50 .74 2.00 25.00 .065 24.50 7.00 75.00 COMMERCIAL SHARES High Low Close Bank of the Philippine Islands........................ P8S.00 P82.00 P82.00 Binalbagan - Isabela Central Azucarera de Bais........................... Central Azucarera de la Cariota................ Central Azucarera del Pilar.......................... Central Azucarera de Sara Ajuy................ Central Azucarera de Tarlac....................... China Banking CorpoFilipinas Cia de SeManila Broadcasting Co............................... Manila Wine MerPhilippine Guaranty Co............................... Philippine Oil Devel opment Co.............. Philippine Racing Club........................... San Miguel Brewery, San Miguel Brewery, 8%Pfd...................... Williams Equipment Co., Com................... Williams Equipment Co., Pfd ................. Universal Insurance. . Change Total Sales Off P4.00 80 10.00b 180.00 180.00 180.00 Off 35,00 50 90.00 .7 2.10 90.00 90.00 90.00a 25.00b — 190.00b 26.COb .75 .75 26.00b 24 3,000 Off .40 1,250 .0975 .0825 .0825 1.20 30.00 29.50 29.50 101.00 100.00 101.00 '.00 7.00 7.00 90.00 90.00 90.00 — — 14.00b OVER THE COUNTER High Financing Corp, of Philippines................ Jai Alai Corporation. . Philippine American Victorias Milling Co., Inc. * .......................... * Ex-stock dividend. Low Close Off Off Off Up .0075 .02 .50 27,237 15,504 912 30 200 Change Total Sales P .565 4.50 135.00 180.00 P.565 4.50 P.565 4.50 75,000 500 135.08 135.00 312 180.00 180.00 IS project and for maintaining effective contacts with its borrower during the life of all loans. Instead of turning over all proceeds to the borrower, when the loan becomes effective, the Bank retains full control over all undisbursed funds. It will release them only upon presentation of documentary evidence that the money has been or will be spent on items agreed on for the project. . . "It is the establishment and development of close and friendly contacts with the borrower, however, that is the most important of all activities during the administration stage of a loan. Through main taining a close relationship with its borrowers, the Bank is able to ap praise developments which may effect the economic position of the borrower and the position and security of its loans. An exchange of views may result in action forestalling the development of conditions likely to cause a default. Confidence and mutual understanding be tween a lender and a borrower always form the strongest bulwarks against adverse changes which are almost certain to arise during the life of any long-term commitment.” According to a recent report, the funds which have become available to the International Bank for lending up to the end of last year consisted of: 20% paid-in portion of United States subscrip tion ................................................................................... 3635,000,000 2% portion of subscriptions of other countries paid in gold or dollars................................................. 98,555,000 Part of 18% portion of subscription of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, and United Kingdom............ 11,525,000 Proceeds of two bond issues in the United States.. 250,000,000 Sale of Swiss Franc Bonds to B.I.S............................. 4,000,000 Net available funds resulting from operations 20,764,000 $1,019,844,000 Of this sum, approximately $304,000,000 remained available for lending. 183 Electric Power Production (Manila Electric Company System) J. F. Cotton Treasurer, Manila Electric Company 1941 Average—15,316,000 KWH KILOWATT HOURS 1950 1949 January......................................... 37,661,000 33,745K000 February....................................... 33,828,000 31,110,000 March........................................... 38,107,000 * 34,776,000 April.............................................. 35,400,000 ** 33,048,000 May............................................... 34,453,000 June............................................... 34,486,000 July................................................ 35,726,000 August.......................................... 35,394,000 September.................................... 35,763,000 October......................................... 37,461,000 November.................................... 35,856,000 December..................................... 38,673,000 Total........................ 420,411,000 * Reviaed ** Partially estimated APRIL output was 2,352,000 kwh or 7.1% over April, 1949. The use per day was 4% lower than in March, due mainly to the Easter holidays. The first 25,000 kw Rockwell Station turbine arrived in Manila on April 18 and is now in process of installation. The second unit is in transit from the United States. Port of Manila By E. W. Schedler Vice-President, Luzon Brokerage Company THOSE of us who work on the waterfront, are frequently asked what is the trend of cargo since controls have been instituted. The following table, showing ton nage of incoming cargo to the Port of Manila on a compara tive basis for the first quarter of the year, answers the question: MONTH 1950 1949 1948 January............................................ 134,015.491 218,709.603 135,209.581 February......................................... 103,022.553 170,460.949 148,666.244 March............................................... 117,715.845 162,412.978 189,542.323 Total Tonnage.................. 354,753.889 551,583.530 483,418.148 The first quarter of 1950 tonnage is 64% of the ton nage for the same period of 1949. It is 73% of the tonnage for the same period for 1948. Real Estate By C. M. Hoskins C. M. Hoskins Sf» Co., Inc., Realtors REAL estate sales in the City of Manila recorded in April were the lowest in 8 months, but suburban sales held their own at slightly higher than the 8month average. Sales in Manila proper totalled Pl,757,506 for April, compared with P2,660,652 for March, and P3,362,635 for April of last year, and an average of P3,313,495 for the past 8 months. Suburban sales for April were P3,176,939, compared with P3,564,944 in March and an average of P3,058,980 for the past 8 months. Mortgages placed in the Greater Manila area totalled P6,317,160 for April, compared with P8,079,542 for March. Monthly figures of sales, as procured from the several registers of deeds, are as follows: Real Estate Sales, Manila and Suburbs * Monthly Totals September, 1949 —April, 1950 MONTHS 1949 Manila Suburbs Combined September.................................... P3,668,662 P3,786,671 97,455,333 October......................................... 3,032,543 2,872,327 5,904,870 November..................................... 1,861,723 1,883,727 3,745,450 December..................................... 6,037,740 2,047,602 8,085,342 1950 January......................................... 4,486,846 3,554,460 8,041,306 February....................................... 3,002,289 3,703,126 6,705,415 March............................................ 2,660,652 3,564,944 6,225,596 April.............................................. 1,757,506 3,176,939 4,934,445 Cumulative.................................. 26,507,961 24,589,796 51,097,757 Monthly average....................... 3,313,495 3,073,725 6,387,220 <Suburbs included: Rizal City (Pasay), Quezon City, ParaHaque, Makati, Mandaluyong, San Juan, Caloocan, and Malabon. Ocean Shipping and Exports By F. M. Gispert Secretary, Associated Steamship Lines EXPORTS of most commodities for the month of March showed little or no increase over exports during the same month last year. Total exports of 252,350 tons was an increase over total exports of 223,640 tons during March last year due to the increase in ship ments of iron and manganese ores. Exports for March, 1950, by commodities, compared with exports for March, 1949, are as follows: 1950 1949 Alcohol............................. 57 tons 13 tons Buntal fiber.................... 24 ” 10 ” Cigars and cigarettes.. 11 ” 10 ” Coconut, desiccated. .. 10,992 ” 9,550 ” Coconut oil.................... 3,789 ” 4,178 ” Concentrates, copper. . 1,776 ” 2,114 ” ” gold.... 546 ” 175 ” Copra............................... 43,185 ” 42,150 ” Copra cake, meal......... 6,258 ” 6,124 " Embroideries.................. 163 ” 129 ” Empty cylinders.......... 400 ” 524 ” Fish, salted.................... 20 ” 33 ” Fruit, fresh................... 119 " 172 ” Furniture, rattan.......... 625 " 810 ” Glycerine......................... 176 ” 298 ” Gums, copal................... 62 ” 91 ” Hemp............................... 66,616 bales 49,309 bales Hemp, knotted.............. 46 tons — Household goods......... 293 ” 132 tons Junk, metal.................... 2,039 ” 5,766 ” Logs.................................. 3,760,757 bft. 2,339,874 bft. Lumber............................ 3,476,149 ” 4,201,214 " Molasses.......................... 2,832 tons 2,185 tons Plywood.......................... 14 ” — Ores, chrome................. 24,808 ” 26,860 ” ” lead....................... 131 ” — ” iron........................ 58,657 ” 18,317 ” ” manganese........... 51,132 ” — Pineapples, canned. . .. 4,737 ” 170 ” Rattan, palasan............. 115 ” — Rope................................. 213 ” 376 ” Rubber............................. 83 ” 129 ” Shells................................ 26 ” 23 ” Skins................................. 114 ” 128 ” Sugar, raw...................... 57,517 ” 79,367 ” Tobacco........................... 696 ” 620 ” Vetable oil products... 42 ” 23 ” Transit cargo................. 823 " 550 ” General merchandise... 2,413 ” 2,743 ” Lumber By Luis J. Reyes Philippine Representative, Penrod, Jurden &• Clark Company LUMBER exports for the month of March amounted to 7,316,150 board feet, which is more than double that exported during the previous month. There was notable increase in shipments to the United States 184 and Formosa, to the latter perhaps due to the require ments of the Nationalist government there. The lumber shipments to America were mostly FAS (Firsts and Se conds) and No. 1 Common, representing the highest grades produced by the local sawmills. These go largely to the furniture trade; the logs are cut into veneers and plywood. The increase in our exports, no doubt, is the result of the cooperative effort between the Government and the lumber industry, a long-range program having been drawn up for regaining the United States market for Philippine woods. Careful grading and manufacture enable us to compete with other countries producing woods similar to Philippine mahogany. The demand for lumber in the local market continues firm with tangile selling at Pl75 and apitong at Pl55, while lauan dropped down to P145, in some instances selling as low as P140. It is probable that these prices will be maintained up to the month of May, but in June they may go down another P5 to PIO. Small parcels consisting of about 40,000 to 50,000 board feet of sawn lumber and logs come to Manila daily from Bataan, Nueva Ecija, and Mindoro. These serve to stabilize prices in the local market,. because the producers in these provinces bring their product to Manila only when prices are rela tively high and stop operations when prices go down as the supply catches up with the demand. The officials of the Philippine Lumber Producers’ Association are doing all they can to place the lumber industry on a more stable basis in order to enable it to compete in the United States market. In this connection, the shipping companies have kindly cooperated by lower ing freight rates not only on logs and lumber shipped to America but also to the Far Eastern countries. So far, there is little trade to Europe because of the shortage of dollars, but it will not be long before England, at least, will be in a position to trade with us. The freight rates on logs to Hongkong, Shanghai, and Japan have been reduced as follows:— Hongkong.. . P35.00 per 1,000 bd. ft. to P28.00 per 1,000 bd. ft. Shanghai.... 48.00 ............... ” ” 38.50 ” ” ” ” Japan............ 38.00 ..............’ ” ” 37 00 ” This reduction in rates was made effective on March 22, 1950. The Bureau of Forestry sent out invitations to a cele bration of the Golden Anniversary of the establishment of the Bureau, which was held in Manila on April 14. After the celebration, the provincial foresters held a conference in which they discussed problems affecting the administra tion of the Bureau. The College of Forestry likewise celebrated its Eme rald Anniversary last April 19. It was a home-coming affair for most officials of the Bureau, including Director Tamesis who is himself a graduate of the College of Forestry, University of the Philippines. Mines By Chas. A. Mitke Consulting Mining Engineer IVE years have elapsed since liberation and we are still a long way from normalcy in the mining industry. True, we have attained between 20% and 25% of Production: March, 1950 Tons Value Benguet Mine..................................... 22,541 P385,174.10 Balatoc Mine....................................... 38,537 587,353.76 Benguet Consolidated .................... 61,078 972,527.86 Atok-Big Wedge................................. 13,183 303,635.00 Mindanao Mother Lode................... 9,100 295,023.00 Surigao Consolidated........................ 11,126 253,340.00 Lepanto Consolidated...................... 16,370 455,275.00 Consolidated Mines.......................... 20,500 410,000.00 Acoje..................................................... 4,257 156,000.00 pre-war production in gold, but a 100% production is still wishful thinking. In excusing the slowness of recovery, we have made due allowance year after year for the damage done to former operating mines, but there is no great at tempt to do anything about it, and the desire to create new enterprises, to develop new mines to take the place of the old, receives only lip-service. We are going through- a re-adjustment crisis, endeavor ing to balance income with expenditures, but, as one ob server states, we are endeavoring to close the dollar-gap at a low level of productivity and income, instead of at a high level. Money, capital, investment—the key to the situa tion, is still lacking. If our local capitalists will not take the chance, will not cooperate to develop new producers, investors from abroad must come in, or the industry will languish and gradually disappear as the present producers exhaust their ore reserves. But, foreign capitalists will not invest under an unfriendly climate. Certain conditions must be met. Capital is “timid” and easily takes flight, as we have just seen recently as import and exchange con trols are being enforced. Of what does a favorable climate consist? Let us see what others think in this respect. The National Minerals Advisory Board, in the United States, recently promulgated a plan to aid the mining in dustry in that country, which includes the following: (1) Allowances for depletion should be made to stockholders as well as to the corporations. “A stockholder should be permitted to deduct a percentage of his mining company dividends from his taxable income that is equal to the percentage that the company’s depletion allowance is of net income plus depletion allowance”. (2) Tax exemption should be granted to a new mine for at least three years after profitable operation begins. (3) Development costs after discovery should be recognized as operating expenses. (4) Adequate allowances for percentage depletion should be made. (5) Losses from unprofitable ventures should be allowed corpora tions, partnerships, or individuals, as ordinary deductions against current income. (6) Income should not be taxed without full allowance for loss years. The tax exemption proposed under “2” is pat terned after a law in Canada which has been a profound stimulant to new mine development. It is not a theory but an actual practice by a government which also needs taxes, but which seems to understand that all taxes will disappear if the sources of new wealth are cut off. The Tax Committee of the American Mining Con gress is sponsoring the movement for tax adjustments; so also the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America, and the Engineering and Mining Journal, which is devoting a great deal of space to it. In urging everyone interested in mining to take the fight to Congress, the Engineering and Mining Journal speaks to the prospector as well as to the engineer and the investor. It says to the prospector: “You may not have a mine yet, but simply a group of claims, or merely hope in your heart, and you may say, ‘But this doesn’t concern me. I have no mining income, and income taxes don’t bother me. Why should I fight the other fellow’s battle?’ “But hold on a moment, friend. Where are you going to get a grubstake if that dentist, lawyer, or grocer can’t get a run for his money? Where are you going to finance your prospect? Also, if you prove up a mine, you won’t want to struggle with the aches and pains of operation. You will want to take advantage of the lower tax rate on other income and sell it to a big company. But how can they pay you anything worth while if they can’t make a profit commensurate with the risks they take? 185 186 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May,1950 HAVE A TOUCH JOB at MERALCO 420,491,000 Kilowatt-Hours! That’s the electric energy MERALCO was called upon to generate in 1949—a monthly average of 35,034,250 Kilowatt-Hours against 15,316,000 Kilowatt-Hours prewar. Such heavy demand for power on a utility that has yet to rehabilitate its war-destroyed facilities, calls for a minimum of machine failures to maintain continuous power production. A tough job for both equipment and lubricants! That’s why MERALCO relies on GARGOYLE OILS for CorrectLubrication. For instance, this rehabilitated Allis Chalmers Turbo-generator at Blaisdell Station, which is capab!e of delivering 12,500 Kilowatts at 13,800 Volts, is correctly lubricated with GARGOYLE DTE 797 —typical of equipment that operates on STANDARD-VACUUM CORRECT LUBRICATION. Standard-Vacuum May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 187 “There are thousands like you, scattered over the West, all hoping that an investor, seeking a run for his money, will come along and help you achieve that goal so dear to your heart.” What has been said to the prospectors and mining investors of the United States, could with truth be addressed to the same class of people in the Philippines. How can the prospector sell his claim; how can the purchaser interest mining investors; how can they raise the necessary capital for the development of meritorious properties, which, even tually, may contribute dollar reserves to the Government, so long as the present apathetic attitude continues to exist? This wall of indifference must be broken down before anything new can be accomplished. Look at South Africa, also a gold-producing country. Some $560,000,000 of British, American, and Canadian capital is to be spent on 13 gold mines in the Orange Free State in the near future. Eight large mines are rapidly developing and 5 more are beyond the planning stage. On one alone, Kennecott is committed to spend $7,000,000. South Africa’s gold production for 1949 was the highest in seven years. The country produced 11,708,103 ounces, valued at approximately $323,717,320. Dividends totalled $11,480,000 higher than in 1948. We need some of this venture capital in the Philip pines. Just 5% of what is going into South Africa would work wonders here, and if invested in meritorious mining prospects, might in the comparatively near future, lift the Government out of its present economic rut and put the country on a prosperous basis, where import controls and exchange controls would soon become a thing of the past. Copra and Coconut Oil By H. Dean Hellis Manager, Philippine Refining Company, Inc. March 16 to April 15 SINCE the last review on copra and coconut oil, the picture has remained more or less true to expecta tions, particularly in that during the major portion of the period the markets have continued rather tight, that of copra perhaps more so than that of coconut oil. Shortly after the beginning of the period, prices began to rise from buyers at around $192.50 c.i.f. and sellers about $197.50 c.i.f. Pacific Coast, both prices for immediate ship ment, to a point at which by the early part of April, $210.00 c.i.f. was bid and $212.50,/$215.00 c.i.f. was asked. As of the close of the period, however, there were definite indica tions of a recession in prices, and $195.00/$200.00 c.i.f. seemed to represent the best available buying prices, while sellers were asking $205.00/$207.50 c.i.f. . It is interesting to note that this is the first time the copra market has sold as high as $200 c.i.f. sines the end of February, 1949, a fact which probably was considered by many traders in the nature of a “danger signal”, for fundamentally the market should work lower rather than higher as time goes on. Accordingly, sellers generally attempted to keep a wellbalanced position during the period, while, on the other hand, buyers operated on a “hand-to-mouth” basis as required to fill previous commitments. At no time during the period has a crusher, whether in the Philippines or on the Pacific Coast, been able to buy copra and to cur THIS MODERN WAY ELECTRIC HOISTS Main OHices and Plant: Milwaukee 14. Wis.. U.S.A. HANDLING COSTS LESS I handling costs as much as SOY. — the tsers are doing with PAH Hevi-Lift Hoists. That's because electric power handles those heavy loads — up to. IS tons — so much (asler and easier. PAH Hoists are built (or lifetime service — pay for themselves many times over. Why not investigate the advantages of "thru lheair" handling now? See your local PAH Distributor. The P&H Hevi-Lift Capacities up to IS Ions. Operates on hook, jib or trolley. Available (or AC PtH HOIST A CRANE DISTRIBUTORS TIIE EAKNSIIAWS DOCKS & HONOLULU IKON WORKS 188 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 rently sell coconut oil at even a very slight margin of profit. In some instances, it has been cheaper to shut the mills down completely, absorbing full overheads, rather than try to operate. Copra supplies in the Philippines have continued seasonally scarce, and this fact, coupled with the usual rumors of occasional European and other non-American interest in copra, has been largely responsible for sellers’ maintaining rather exaggerated ideas of price, though it is true that here and there some trading was actually accomplished. Most of the interest in Philippine copra in countries other than the United States has failed to materialize into anything but ordinary inquiries, principally because of the price situation. Japan is interested, but only on a barter or “back-to-back” letter-of-credit basis, terms which Philippine sellers have been reluctant to consider. 'T'he coconut oil market in the United States, while X reflecting stronger prices for copra from the Philippines, has been largely inactive, with most buyers feeling the situation too greatly overpriced. Besides this, and purely as a result of the price situation, the consumption of co conut oil has dwindled to a point where it now is probably at an all-time low. Undoubtedly, one of the largest buyers of Philippine coconut oil for some months past has been the United States Government, but we now hear reports that in all probability this has come to an end, at least for the time being. Thus it would not surprise us to see quite a reduction in copra prices as soon as the supply increases sufficiently, which should be beginning around mid-year. Supply and demand, after all, are purely relative terms, and though we may have an apparent short supply of copra and may entertain the logical assumption that prices should work higher, consumer-demand, on the other hand, might be even shorter, with the result that actually we will have a bearish rather than a bullish market. Failure Do Your Banking South of the Pasig at our PORT AREA BRANCH CORNER BONIFACIO & 13th STREET to realize this has probably misled some interests in recent weeks, particularly in the Philippines, where a good many copra sellers are inclined merely to view, and to be guided by, the prospects of supply only. Insofar as coconut oil was concerned during the period under review, prices rose from about 14-1/4 cents f.o.b. tank cars Pacific Coast, to as high as 15-3/4 cents f.o.b. Bulk coconut oil on the Atlantic Coast was available at 15 cents c.i.f. and up to a high of 16 cents c.i.f. This resulted in another rather peculiar situation, in that Pacific Coast prices having advanced more than Atlantic Coast prices, Pacific Coast crushers actually purchased a fair amount of their “cover-in” requirements on the Atlantic Coast, it being cheaper for them to do so than to buy the corre sponding copra and to crush it themselves. To the best of our knowledge, no buyer paid more than 15-3/4 cents c.i.f. for bulk oil on the Atlantic Coast during the period, though some few tank cars may have been sold at as high as from 16 cents to 16-1/4 cents f.o.b. Atlantic Coast. J^Tanila copra prices have been even more greatly exaggerated than the export prices, and some trading was done at well over P40, some sellers asking as high as P44. Accordingly there has been very little activity on the part of Manila mills recently, except for covering their requirements for locally-made edible and soap products. Chopra exports during the month of March, 1950, amounted to 43,185 tons, as compared to 29,736 tons during February, 1950, and 42,150 tons during March, 1949. The total for January through March, 1950, amounted to 110,931 tons, against 104,271 tons for the same period last year. March, 1950, exports are broken down as to destination, as follows: United States Pacific Coast 19,321 tons Atlantic Coast 6,481 ** ★ NO BRIDGES TO CROSS ★ AMPLE PARKING SPACE ★ AIR-CONDITIONED PREMISES ★ COMPLETE BANKING FACILITIES— including commercial and personal checking accounts, sav ings, demand and fixed deposits, safe deposit boxes for valua bles and important papers. THE NATIONAL CITY BANK OF NEW YORK Sir At in World Wide JSanking. Branches in the Philippines MANILA Main Branch: Juan Luna St. PAMPANGA: Clark Field Port Area Branch: 13th Street CEBU: Cebu City May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 189 Gulf Ports 5,783 “ Canadian Pacific Coast 3,300 “ Europe 7,800 “ Japan 500 “ 43,185 tons Oil exports for March, 1950, amounted to only 3,789 tons, as compared to 3,531 tons during February, 1950, and 4,178 tons during March, 1949. The total coconut oil exported for the period January through March, 1950, amounted to 10,086 tons, against 8,409 tons for the same period last year. All of the March, 1950, exports of oil were shipped to the United States Atlantic Coast. The Pacific Coast meal market has firmed up further, due principally to shortage of supplies, as crushers both in the Philippines and in the United States have not been operating on normal schedules, which, in turn, is again the result of the supply and demand situation for copra and coconut oil, particularly at currently high prices there for. According to last advices, copra meal on the Pacific Coast is worth approximately $60 per short ton c.i.f. As far as we know, Denmark has purchased only 1,000 ton of Philippine copra meal against its recent ECA allocation of $400,000 for May, July shipment, this sale having been made at $66.50 per long ton c. and f. Copen hagen. Therefore, there is a goodly back-log of further purchases to be made of Philippine meal by Denmark, though latest reports are that this buyer is awaiting a more opportune time to buy. As we write, there is nothing new to report on the “outport” situation, and April 30 is the dead-line with respect to further copra shipments from the outports. What the eventual outcome of this matter will be, is yet too early to determine. Summarizing the present condition of the copra and coconut oil markets, and barring any unforeseen circum stances, destructive typhoons, or other such calamities, we feel that the long-range view as to prices over the remainder of this year must be definitely downward if the Philippines is to find a ready market for all of its supplies now expected. Copra production during the latter half of the year should be exceedingly good. Meanwhile, though the writer feels we already have seen top prices paid for the year, both for copra and coconut oil, it is just possible that the market may remain fairly steady, subject to minor fluc tuations, at perhaps only slightly lower prices than at present during the months of May and June. Desiccated Coconut By Howard R. Hick President and General Manager Peter Paul Philippine Corporation THIS report covers the period from March 15 to April 15. During this period copra and raw nut prices stayed quite firm and there was little fluctuation either way. Nut prices stayed close to the copra equivalent and generally a little above. The high price of copra has affected the United States selling-price of desiccated co conut which could no longer stand the pressure of raw material increases without passing this on to the consumer. Due to high raw-material prices and low selling prices in the United States, several factories were shut down as they could not compete in such a market. Red V and Franklin Baker continue to lead the industry in produc tion, with Red V becoming more active in Mindanao at Oroquieta. Peter Paul is installing a new modern drier which will considerably help its production and insure top-notch quality. The Proctor-Schwartz drier it has received' has become a popular drier in the industry and has proved itself to be of high quality and to be labor-saving. ENGINEERING EQUIPMENT & SUPPLY COMPANY, Inc. MACHINERY • MECHANICAL SUPPLIES • ENGINEERS • CONTRACTORS AIR CONDITIONING For Offices, Theatres, Hospitals, Stores, Restaurants, Hotels, Clubs and Homes ★ ★ ★ Suppliers of MACHINERY, EQUIPMENT and INDUSTRIAL SUPPLIES For Sugar Centrals, Mines, Sawmills, Power Plants, Machine Shops and All Industrial Plants ★ ★ ★ ENGINEERING — DESIGN — APPLICATION — ESTIMATES INSTALLATION — MAINTENANCE - SERVICE - REPAIRS General & Sales Office 1 74 M. de Comillas Manila Tel. 3-29-21 ★ ★ ★ Operating: MACHINE SHOPS • STEEL PLATE SHOPS STRUCTURAL STEEL SHOPS • WELDING SHOPS • BLACKSMITH SHOPS • SHEET METAL SHOPS • MARINE RAILWAY Engineering Shops No. 1 Calle L. Segura & Pasig River Mandaluyong, Rizal Tel. 6-65-68 190 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 The labor front is not very active, with only the Peter Paul case in the Court of Industrial Relations at the time of this report. This case has been delayed by the Union leaders through dilatory tactics, and promises to continue to be a drawn-out affair because it involves a request for layoff by the management. The shipping statistics for the month of March are as follows: Shippers Pounds Franklin Baker Co............................................... 4,454,300 Blue Bar Coconut Co......................................... 1,444,930 Peter Paul Philippine Corp............................... 1,500,000 Red V Coconut Products Ltd.......................... 3,624,900 Sun-Ripe Products Inc....................................... 660,690 Standard Coconut Products Inc...................... 4,500 Cooperative Coconut Products Inc................ 367,700 Tabacalera............................................................. 369,840 Coconut Products Philippine Inc.................... 0 Luzon Desiccated Coconut Corp.................... 443,745 12,870,605 Manila Hemp By Fred Guettinger Vice-President and General Manager Macleod and Company of Philippines DURING the period under review, March 16 to April 15, the markets ruled quiet and closed around the same level as a month ago. Due to poor business, cordage manufacturers in the United States confined their purchases to cover immediate requirements. A fair amount of business to Europe was done, with Germany and Hol land in the market for coarse grades. France obtained new import permits and bought S2, S3, G and grades below. SCAP was completely out of the market but is expected to resume buying shortly. Local provincial prices remained steady throughout the period and closed at about the same prices ruling a month ago. Production in March was the highest so far this year, amounting to 62,860 bales—an increase of 1,590 bales from February and 9,001 bales from the corresponding month last year. Davao balings were 27,983 bales against 20,183 bales in March last year, and Non-Davao balings increased by 1,201 bales. Production in the first quarter this year amounted to 178,246 bales, exceeding by almost 6,000 bales the production in the first quarter of 1947— the year of highest production post-war. The following tables show comparative figures for balings and exports of the first quarter fiom 1947 to 1950: Davao.................................. Balings 1950 75,456 — First Quarter 1949 54,724 1948 55,010 1947 82,636 Camarines, Albay, and Sorsogon.......................... 50,790 36,569 66,623 60,588 Leyte and Samar.............. 31,598 31,741 32,280 17,340 All Other Non-Davao... . 20,402 23,463 36,046 11,757 Total (Bales)............. 178,246 146,497 189,959 172,321 Exports — First Quart * 1950 1949 1948 1947 United States and Ca nada .................................. 61,080 49,049 91,766 107,25Z Japan.................................... 31,688 47,428 24,404 — Continental Europe......... 23,384 33,641 33,081 30,637 United Kingdom.............. 17,240 7,447 37,060 2,085 China.................................... 3,850 3,629 1,800 431 India..................................... 1,775 326 1,800 Korea................................... 700 — — South Africa....................... 780 750 300 — Australia and New Zea — land................................... 625 42 All Other Countries......... — — 1,930 575 Total (Bales)............. 141,122 142,270 J90J83 142,780 ENGINEERS • CONTRACTORS MANUFACTURERS • DISTRIBUTORS Specializing in the Fabrication and Erection of Bridges, Tanks and Buildings — OPERATING — MACHINE SHOPS FOR CONSTRUCTION AND REPAIRS FOUNDRY FOR CAST IRON. BRASS & BRONZE STEEL PLATE & STRUCTURAL STEEL SHOPS MARINE REPAIR SHOPS • WOOD PRESERVING PLANT THE GREATE_ST NAME IN ENGINEERING & CONSTRUCTION SINCE 1900 ATLANTIC, GULF & PACIFIC COMPANY OF MANILA May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 191 Sugar By G. G. Gordon Secretary-Treasurer Philippine Sugar Association THIS review covers the period from April 1 to April 30, inclusive. New York Market-. The market closed at the end of March with the spot price being quoted at 5.48/. An easier tone prevailed at the beginning of April, and on April 3 Puerto Ricos for prompt shipment were sold, at 5.45/. With the approach of the Easter holidays there were rumors that Cuban sugar workers would not resume work after the holidays pending settlement of their claim for a renewal of the Presidential decree freezing wage rates which will end in May and also extra compensation for work done during the period of high cane yields and high production. On April 10 the Exchange opened higher on reports from Cuba that only half of the mills were showing signs of resuming grinding after the holidays. However, later on the opinion prevailed that there would be no general crop strike. Refiners’ ideas continued to be not above 5.45/ while a considerable quantity of Philippines and Puerto Ricos for April arrival were offering at 5.50/. On April 12 there were sales of 7,600 tons of Philip pines due April 29 at 5.45/. On April 13 the market was firm, apparently due to further rumors of labor trouble in Cuba and threats of a United States shipping strike, coupled with improvement in refined withdrawals. On this date, Philippines and Puerto Ricos for May arrival were sold at 5.50/. There was a later sale of Puerto Ricos for late May shipment at 5.55/. - On April 14 the market maintained a firmer undertone as the Cuban labor situation, both at the mills and ports, was still beclouded. Puerto Ricos for May shipment were on offer at 5.60/. On April 17 it was reported that while the situation was still not normal in Cuba, though the majority of the mills appeared to be grinding, three ports were reported to be on strike, but the laborers were expected to resume work the following day. The market continued about unchanged with prompt arrival Philippines being offered at 5.55/. On April 18 there were sales reported of Puerto Ricos for late June shipment at 5.65/ to an operator. Phil ippines due May 1 were sold at 5.50/. On April 19 it was reported that refiners’ April needs were pretty well filled and, consequently, there was a depres sed market for sugar about to arrive. Despite the un favorable spot position, sales of Puerto Ricos for first half of May shipment were made at 5.60/, and for June ship ment at 5.65/. On this date it was reported that 20 Cuban mills had completed their crops and that all mills are now reported grinding without labor trouble. On April 19, 4,000 tons of Philippines, due to arrive in April, were reported sold at 5.55/, and 2,000 tons for early May arrival was also reported at the same price. Puerto Ricos for second half of May arrival were sold at 5.60/. United States distribution for the year to April 15 was 1,888,364 short tons, against 1,952,081 short tons for the same period last year. The lag of about 64,000 tons was expected to be pretty nearly wiped out by the end of April. On April 21, sales of 10,000 tons Philippines and Puerto Ricos nearby were reported at 5.55/. The market for the rest of the month was firmer and prices showed an upward tendency. On April 25 there were large sales of Philippines and Cubas for May arrival at 5.65/. On April 26 a sale between operators of Philippines for June/July shipment was reported at 5.75/, and the month closed with the market steady, moderate offerings for May/June arrival being made at 5.75/ with buyers’ ideas at 5.65/ and pos sibly 5.70/. International Sugar Agreement: During April a preliminary meeting of an Industrial Advisory Group to advise the United States Government with respect to its policy on the proposed new International Sugar Agreement was held. At this were represented the domestic cane and INSULAR LUMBER COMPANY FABRICA, OCC. NEGROS -------------------- ¥-------------------SPECIALISTS IN KILN DRIED LUMBER and MANUFACTURERS OF BOXES OF ALL DESCRIPTIONS MANILA DISTRIBUTORS: Norton & Harrison Company 814 Echague Manila D. C. Chuan & Sons, Inc. 14-30 Soler St. Manila Insular Saw Mill, Inc. 340 Canonigo, Paco Manila MANILA OFFICE: 401 FIL1PINAS BUILDING 192 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 beet producers, beet growers, farm organizations, refiners, industrial sugar users, consumers, and brokers. It is pro posed to revise the 1937 International Sugar Agreement in the light of present-day circumstances so that sugar will be available at reasonable prices, but with regulation of production through the establishment of market quotas in order to avoid the possibility of the creation of unsalable surpluses which unregulated production may produce. Cuban Production: Cuban production to March 31 was reported as 4,019,119 short tons, compared with 3,723,340 short tons to the corresponding date last year. We give below the quotations on the New York Sugar Exchange as of April 21 for Contracts Nos. 4, 5, and 6: Contract Contract Contract No. 4 No. 5 No. 6 May.............................. .................... 4.38 5.13 — July............................... .................... 4.37 5.24 5.17 September.................. .................... 4.36 5.27 5.23 November................... — 5.26 January....................... .................... 4.20 — — March................................................ 4.04 — — Local Market: (a) Domestic Sugar.—During the month a somewhat firmer tone developed in the domestic sugar market, and at the close of the month centrifugal sugar polarizing 97’ was quoted by the Bureau of Com merce at P16 to P16.40 per picul as against P14.80 at the close of last month. Washed sugar polarizing 99’ was quoted at P18.50 to P19 per picul as compared with P17.50 to P17.80. (b) Export Sugar.—Local quotations improved in keeping with the New York market and at the close of the month quotations were P13.80 to P 13.90 per picul. Philippine Crop: The majority of the centrals have now finished grinding, though some mills will continue to produce for another month or two. It now seems probable that the total out-turn will be only slightly in excess of the out-turn of the 1948-49 crop. Tobacco By Luis A. Pujalte Secretary-Treasurer, Manila Tobacco Association THROUGHOUT April there has been no noticeable change in the market conditions for leaf and manufac tured tobacco. Prices for leaf tobacco of the new crop are bound to recede during May as more of the new crop is marketed in the different tobacco producing regions and as considerable quantities of Virginia leaf are expected to arrive during the month. During March and April prices paid in Manila for the Isabela 1949 crop were extremely high due to low stocks and a very big demand. In Pangasinan very high prices were paid for the first leaves (Palaspas) but as the bulk of the crop is harvested prices will come down as more to bacco will be on hand and as the La Union, Isabela, and Cagayan crops also will start to be marketed during May. This year will probably have one of the shortest buying periods in the history of tobacco of the Philippines. Buying usually starts in Pangasinan during April; then in La Union and Ilocos; Visayas during May; and Isabela and Cagayan during June and continuing up to October or November. This year purchases started earlier and I believe that the bulk of the crops will be in the merchants’ warehouses before the end of August. Small cigarette factories are springing up like mush rooms. These factories are the prime cause for the high prices paid during these last months as they had no stocks to start with, and as, due to the scarcity of cigarettes, the demand for even unknown brands was very high; thus they were, and still are paying fabulous prices for 1949 and newly harvested leaf. full size four-bow typewriters. . • PERSWALLY in regular standard CONVENTIONAL SPACE BAB.■■ ” typewriters. • • in standard office 20 >/, lbs. INCLUDING .b. dmxe And THIRTY other exclusive features that make the REMING TON PERSONAL PORTABLE TYPEWRITER ideal for office, school, shop and home work. . . INQUIRE TODAY.......................... Exclusive Representatives TAILOR PACIFIC (Phil.) LTD. ATKINS KROLL & CO., INC. — Gen. Mgrs. 124 MYERS BLDG., PORT AREA — TEL. 3-34-41 May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 193 Imports By Louis S. Kraemer Vice-President, Mercantile, Inc. CONGRESSIONAL debate over the issue of import control has taken top position over all other import subjects for the month of April. Certain members of both Houses are vigorously pushing a proposal to reserve 40% of all import quotas for new Filipino importers in an effort to nationalize the trade. This section of the Bill now under consideration has done little good for the “better ment of international public relations’’ which is today a foremost subject in top-level government circles. We quote a portion of an article which was printed on the front page of the New York Journal of Commerce on April 26: "American businessmen who have closely followed developments in the Philippines say the present import control bill is only one of several measures introduced into the Philippine Congress this session which have a strong flavor of totalitarianism.” There is little comment to be made regarding the general trend of imports beyond the fact that April has shown an appreciable increase in arrivals over previous months of this year. This is indicative of some progress being made by the Import Control Office in the issuance of licenses for the first third of 1950 although according to latest advices received from that Office, it still has 700 applications of old importers unacted upon out of 2,500 applications received, and we are now entering the fifth month of the year. All figures shown below are in kilos with the exception of those for foodstuffs which are given in package units (excluding the figures for the totals). Commodities March March 1950 1949 Automotive (Total)........................... 1,713,399 1,529,231 Automobiles....................................... 48,612 379,577 Auto Accessories............................... 535 15,210 ” Parts......................................... 238,614 411,587 Bicycles............................................... 152 6,573 Trucks.................................................. 73,845 9,287 Truck Chassis................................... 425,787 421,322 Building Materials (Total)............... 12,980,053 252,175 Board, Fibre...................................... 575 369,100 Cement................................................ 8,213,883 11,235,369 Glass..................................................... 1,195,036 737,133 Plumbing Misc.................................. 1,004,525 1,108,134 Chemicals (Total)................................ 5 552,042 7,559,021 Caustic Soda..................................... 1,103,278 140,099 Explosives (Total)............................... 60,200 81,860 Firearms (Total)................................... 24,130 Ammunition....................................... 36,146 Hardware (Total)................................. 6,191,480 5,564,529 Household (Total)............................... 566,712 2,744,453 Machinery (Total)............................... 2,213,80) 1,690,160 Metals (Total)....................................... 10,647,783 11,646,297 Petroleum Products (Total)............. 46,848,701 71,682,344 Radios (Total)....................................... 26,998 38,927 Rubber Goods (Total)........................ 1,106,400 1,283,252 Beverages, Misc. Alcoholic.................. 7,212 62,751 Foodstuffs (Total kilos)...................... 23,923,466 28,262,935 Foodstuffs, Misc. (Total)..................... 591 12,469 Foodstuffs, Fresh (Total).................... 89,873 197,859 Apples............................................... 16,899 956,292 Oranges.............................................. 13,050 552,899 Onions................................................ 17,000 431,627 Potatoes............................................ 13,288 889,984 Foodstuffs, Dry Packaged (Total). . 8,763 69,990 Foodstuffs, Canned (Total)............... ' 239,438 501,929 Sardines................................................. 2,100 115,439 Milk, Evaporated............................. 147,710 149,809 Milk, Condensed 50,600 24,000 Foodstuffs, Bulk (Total).................... 550,520 318,362 Rice........................................................ 794 3,903 Wheat Flour..................................... 489,676 244,456 Foodstuffs Preserved (Total)........... 174 2,475 Fairbanks-Morse DIESEL GENERATING SETS Here’s dependable electric power at low cost . . . Fairbanks-Morse Model 32 Diesel Gen erating Sets! They are designed and built in their entirety by one reliable and establish ed company. This Model 32 Diesel Engine commands world-wide preference! Today, even after thirty years, Diesels of this type arc still in active service. A 2-cyclc, slow-speed, heavy-duty Diesel, this engine ranges in size from 120 to 450 h.p.—featuring efficient fuel injection, highly automatic exhaust scaveng ing and open-type cylinder head. Sets can be supplied in cither A.C. or D.C. For full de tails on this dependable, low-cost electric power, call on us today. ------- Other F-M Lincs-------DIESEL ENGINES ¥ MOTORS ¥ MAGNETOS PUMPS ¥ SCALES * FARM EQUIPMENT Exclusive Distributors OF MANILA Merchandise Sales Division Robert Dollar Bldg., Muclle del S. Francisco & 23rd Street Port Area, Manila Tel. 3-36-61 (Connecting all Depts.) 194 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 Bottling, Misc. (Total)........................ 2,700,258 2,920,607 Cleansing and Laundry (Total).... 925,349 99,609 Entertainment Equipment (Total) . . 1,479 12,361 Livestock — Bulbs — Seeds (Total) 2,600 3,136 Medical (Total)...................................... 574,230 516,983 Musical (Total)..................................... 12,075 92,739 Office Equipment (Total).................... 161,335 119,219 Office Supplies (Total)........................ 53,287 41,587 Paper (Total).......................................... 7,062,106 5,795,443 Photographic (Total)........................... 90,569 45,515 Sporting Goods (Total)........................ 8,820 23,841 Stationery (Total)................................. 306,955 352,525 Tobacco (Total)...................................... 489,487 824,392 Chucheria (Total)................................. 92,743 164,452 Clothing and Apparel (Total)........... 51,646 342,445 Cosmetics (Total).................................. 5,392 139,921 Jewelry (Total)...................................... — 405 All this at regular air travel fares NEWEST First plane with a double deck. First to provide a club lounge LARGE Carries 61 passengers in luxury and comfort. Equipped with new-type extra-big lounge seats FINES Air-conditioned and altitudeconditioned for living-room comfort — even at 25,000 feet! FASTES More speed, more reserve power than any other airliner in the world Yours when you fly Pan American Clippers Double-decked Clippers fly twice weekly to San Fran cisco and Los Angeles... via the Sunny Southern Route and Hawaii. No extra fare. For reservations, call your Travel Agent or Pan American — Manila Hotel or Downtown Offices (?7(> Plaza Cervantes') Phone 2-7H-IH Airport Offices * Phones 5-/2-6’5. fi-M-W Pan Am erkan World Airways World's Moit Experienced Airline Mark, Pan An Leather (Total)..................................... Textiles (Total)..................................... Twine (Total)........................................ Toys (Total).......................................... General Merchandise (Total)........... Non-Commercial Shipments (Total) Advertising Materials, Etc. (Total) 290,511 738,539 28,835 1,042 239,640 40,280 17,638 199,874 2,917,959 57,917 49,450 1,324,863 37,638 1,389,669 Food Products By C. G. Herdman Director, Trading Division, Marsman &> Co., Inc. THE principal item of interest during the month of April is the new Import Control Bill, passed by the House of Representatives, but, up to the end of the month, not acted on by the Senate. It is probable that action on this Bill will be delayed somewhat and that in the meantime the Import Control Act, which was to expire on April 30, will be extended pending action on new legislation. Every indication is that imports not only of food products but of all merchandise will be still further restricted, particularly insofar as established importing firms are concerned. Under the new Bill as proposed, everything would be under import control. The Bill itself specifies the cuts which would be made in imports on a very long list of commodities, but import licenses would be required on every commodity regardless of whether such item is defi nitely mentioned in the control list or not. The only ex ception would be wheat flour, imports of which are con trolled under I.W.A. by the Philippine Wheat Flour Board operating through PRATRA. It seems probable that items not included on the list specified in the Bill would be affected to a greater extent than the specified items, as such imports would be con trolled by the amount of exchange available as certified by the Central Bank to the Import Control Board. This would undoubtedly necessitate the latter to establish a list of priorities and it would be almost inevitable that extreme confusion would result. The most serious objection to the new Bill on the part of established importers is the fact that even after the quotas would be determined, participation of the “old importers” would be further restricted by 40%, which, ac cording to the Bill, would be allotted exclusively to new, Filipino importers. Thus, according to a strict interpre tation of the Bill, even Filipino firms which have been importing previously and have a historical record would be penalized, their business being arbitrarily taken away from them to be given to newcomers entering the import business. The effect on foreign firms would be very serious. They have previously suffered by the 20% cut in quotas to the extent that almost without exception they have had to materially reduce personnel and have found it difficult to break even on the limited business they are permitted to do. With a further restriction on their import quotas, it appears probable that many such firms would be forced out of business. Another objectionable feature of the new Bill is the fact that import quotas would be based on the average importations during the three years from 1946 to 1948, instead of on the single year 1948 as previously established. This would not affect the actual imports of most firms to a marked degree but would create further extensive delays and considerable additional expense to the firms applying for quotas. It has been a very expensive proceeding for importing firms to engage the services, as required by the Import Control Board, of an independent certified public accounting to go over company records and make up a certified statement of the imports of each particular entity for the year 1948. . Any entity importing numerous lines and in considerable volume finds that it takes several May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL _________195 weeks to compile this information in the necessary form and detail. Hence, if this new basis is finally determined on, and the corresponding certified reports are required, it would seem that new import quotas would not become available to applicants before July or August, assuming that the new Bill is enacted before Congress closes, which is supposed to be May 18. Action on applications for import quotas filed in accordance with the present Import Control Act which went into effect on December 1 last, was only taken, in the majority of cases, during the month of April and there are still quite a few of those applications pending action. It had been the general hope and expectation of im porters in general that new legislation on import control would simplify procedure, making things easier for all concerned, both the Import Control Board as well as im porters, but the exact opposite may be the case. Plour shipments under I.W.A. are beginning to arrive in fair quantities and an immediate shortage in local supplies has apparently been averted. Figures have not been announced by PRATRA as to the total quantity of flour it has licensed for import, but figures at hand from Washington would seem to indicate that over 700,000 bags of flour had been shipped to the Philippines or were on dock awaiting shipment at the end of April. As I.W.A. became effective February 27, these figures would seem to indicate that total flour shipments during March and April would average approximately 350,000 bags, 50-lbs. each, per month, or roughly 50% of the average monthly consumption here judging by the 1949 imports. If these figures are accurate, a shortage in the Philippines of wheat flour is inevitable in the near future. It is probable, how ever, that licenses were granted for a greater quantity than has been indicated above but that corresponding orders had not been placed by quota holders. Many importers to whom quotas were granted may have found it difficult to arrange to finance corresponding importations. It is to be hoped that in such cases where orders were not placed firm and financed by holders of quotas issued in April, that PRATRA will reduce the future allotments to such entities, granting increased allotments to established im porters of proved financial responsibility. 'there is very little to report on food products in general A in the local market. Stocks continue to be ample on canned milk, canned fish, canned meats, and fresh frozen imported meats. Fruits and vegetables, both canned and fresh, continue to be on the short side and are unduly high in price. Relief of this situation does not appear probable. Locally produced fruits and vegetables are far from adequate in supply and the prices are even higher than those of the imported items. FOR RE-WINDING OF GENERATORS—MOTORS CALL E.J. MOIllEEEITRKrO.JM’. Address: 170-2 M. de Comillas Tel. 3-21-85 BOTICA BOIE, Inc. Photo Department On the Escolta, Manila CEBU — ILOILO — LEGASPI __ DAVAO FAST WORKER! CYALE-j AIR-COOLED CABLE KING HOIST Does more, work per day. Lifts faster. Exclusive Air-Cooling design. Only hoist equipped with a load brake with positive lubrication. Rugged power. Simple, easy to operate, hi to 12 tons capacities. Speeds handling. Cuts cost. Find out hoiv the Yale Cable King can save you money. Phone or come in today. THE EDWARD J. NELL COMPANY 1450 Arlegui Street Tel. 3-21-21 196 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 Automobiles and Trucks By Karl E. Gay Sales Representative, Ford Motor Company ★ Lizin nteveiiorim; COMPANY, INC. Manila ★ REPORT OF SALES Manila and Northern Luzon Accumulated to February 28, 1950 Make Passenger Trucks Total No. % No. % No. % Ford.................... 72 16.11 99 28.79 171 21.63 Mercury............. 12 2.68 12 1.52 Lincoln............... 4 .89 4 .50 Prefect................ 1 .23 1 .14 Chevrolet........... 202 45.19 178 51.74 380 48.04 Buick................... 23 5.14 23 2.91 Cadillac.............. Pontiac............... 5 1.12 5 .63 Oldsmobile......... 2 .44 2 .25 GMC................... 7 2.03 7 .88 Chrysler............. 18 4.03 18 2.27 DeSoto................ 29 6.49 5 1.45 34 4.30 Plymouth........... 10 2.24 10 1.26 Dodge.................. 22 4.92 15 4.36 37 4.68 Fargo................... 3 .87 3 .38 International. . . 18 5.23 18 2.27 Willys.................. 15 3.35 8 2.32 23 2 91 Studebaker........ 18 4.03 1 .30 19 2.40 Packard.............. • 2 .44 2 .25 Reo...................... 7 2.03 7 .88 Nash.................... 10 2.24 10 1.26 Austin................. 1 .23 1 .30 2 .25 White.................. 2 .58 2 .25 Hudson............... 1 .23 1 .14 Total........... 447 344 791 POWER For other jobs CUTS COSTS Accumulated to February 28, 1950 Provinces Make Passenger Trucks Total No. % No. % No. % Ford..................... 20 29.00 60 35.93 80 33.89 Mercury............. 2 2.90 2 .85 Lincoln............... Prefect................ Chevrolet........... 34 49.28. 86 51.49 120 50.84 Buick................... 1 1.44 1 .43 Cadillac.............. 1 1.44 1 .43 Pontiac............... Oldsmobile......... GMC................... 3 1.80 3 1.27 Chrysler............. DeSoto............... 4 5.79 4 1.69 Plymouth........... 2 2.90 2 .85 Dodge.................. 3 4.35 3 1.80 6 2.54 Fargo................... 6 3.59 6 2.54 International. . . 7 4.19 7 2.97 Willys................. 2 1.20 2 .85 Nash.................... 2 2 90 2 .85 Total.. . . 69 167 236 “Caterpillar” Diesel Tractors can cut costs on belt jobs as well as on drawbar tusks. Versatility and economy go hand in hand with “Caterpillar” Diesel power. See us for all your “Caterpillar” needs! j=KOPPEL=j (PHILIPPINES) BOSTON & 23RD STREETS | N C. PORT AREA * TEL- WI-53 Branches: l Bacolod * Iloilo * Cebu * Davao * Cotabato * Zamboanga J MOTOR Slilllllli U, lit. AUTOMOTIVE PARTS • ACCESSORIES GARAGE & SHOP EQUIPMENT BATTERIES • TIRES • TUBES 230 13th St., Port Area — Tel. 3-36-21 May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 197 Philippines Make Ford.................... Mercury............. Lincoln............... Prefect................ Chevrolet........... Buick................... Cadillac.............. Pontiac............... Oldsmobile......... GMC................... Chrysler............. DeSoto............... Plymouth........... Dodge.................. Fargo................... International. . . Willys.................. Packard.............. Nash.................... Studebaker........ Hudson............... Reo...................... Austin................. White................... 516 511 1,027 Accumulated to February 28,1950 Passenger Trucks Total No. % No. % No. % 92 17.83 159 31.11 251 24.45 14 2.72 14 1.36 4 .77 4 .39 1 .20 1 .10 236 45.74 264 51.65 500 48.68 24 4.65 24 2.33 1 .20 1 .10 5 .99 5 .48 2 .40 2 .20 10 1.96 10 .97 18 3.50 18 1.75 33 6.39 5 .98 38 3.70 12 2.33 12 1.17 25 4 84 18 3 53 43 4.19 9 1 76 9 .87 25 4 89 25 2.43 15 2.92 10 1.96 25 2.43 2 .40 2 .20 12 2 32 12 1.17 18 3 50 1 .20 19 1.85 1 .20 1 .10 7 1.37 7 .68 1 .20 1 .20 2 .20 2 .39 2 .20 Total.. . . Textiles By L. W. Wirth General Manager, Neuss, Hesslein Co., Inc. AFTER the imposition of the import controls last December, local prices steadily advanced through January/March, but during April prices became more or less steady; in fact certain items declined due to the arrival of stocks of items which had been held in the United States awaiting the release of quotas. There also were some arrivals during April of cotton goods from Hongkong, as well as some fair-sized shipments frorfi Japan against letters of credit which were opened prior io February 24. However, no further letters of cre dit for Japanese goods were opened since the Central Bank issued its memorandum of February 24 advising all banks to refer all applications to the Central Bank for exchange covering imports from Japan in view of special arrange ments it was working out to finance such imports. A new Import Control Bill was passed by the Lower House on April 24 but is still pending in the Senate because of the controversial provision setting aside 40% of the import quotas for new Filipino importers. The American Embassy has urged that an amendment be adopted to exempt United States nationals and corporations from the 40% thus set-aside, and it is expected that some agreement will be reached before the Senate adjourns on May 18. Meanwhile a joint resolution has been passed by Congress extending the effectivity of Executive Order No. 295 to May 18. * * * * * * * * * * * YES! You hear it everywhere FIRE, MARINE, MOTOR CAR, WORKMEN'S COMPENSATION, FINEST BFEB SERVED —Anywhere Distributors: F. E. ZUELLIG, 55 Rosario A SMOOTH PERFORMER For Every Record — In Any Size WATSON d AM£STOWN, N .Y. FILING CABINETS with the improved “ALL BALL BEARING” SUSPENSION Designed for those who recognize the overall worth of a quality product. . . built to exact ing standards. . . available in a wide range of styles. O7V DISPLAY AT F. H. STEVENS & CO., INC. El Hogar Filipino Bldg. — Du Chin Liu Bldg. MANILA CEBU CITY FULL PROTECTION... The Philippine Guaranty Company, Inc. MISCELLANEOUS INSURANCE. FIDELITY SURETY BONDS, MORTGAGE LOANS 3RD FLOOR • INSULAR LIFE BUILDING • PLAZA CERVANTES • MANILA PHONE 2-81-12 198 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 The American Chamber of Commerce has a number of copies of DIGEST OF DECISIONS of the COURT OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS especially prepared and mimeographed last year and kept up-to-date by quarterly supplements. Write or telephone Mrs. Marie Willimont at the Chamber offices, (Telephone 2-95-70) if you are interested in obtaining copies. Original Digest (123 pages) P75.00 (from August 1945, to January 31, 1949) Five Quarterly Supplements . 5.00 (each) (covering months from January, 1949, to March, 1950) ' SILVER LI Nt, LTD. London, E. C. 2 SILVER & JAVA PACIFIC LINES JAVA PACIFIC LINE N. V. S. M. "Nederland" Amsterdam Koninklijke Rotterdamsche Lloyd, N. V. Rotterdam KERR STEAMSHIP CO . INC. General Agents 17 Battery Place New York JAVA pacific line, inc. MANILA ILOILO General Agents 25 Broadway New York CEBU VANCOUVER To and From SEATTLE LOS ANGELES and SAN FRANCISCO and To and From PORTLAND CALCUTTA. BOMBAY and PERSIAN GULF PORTS ♦ ♦ ♦ PRINCE LINE, LTD. FROM U. S. ATLANTIC AND PACIFIC COAST PORTS TO MANILA FROM PHILIPPINES TO HALIFAX and U. S. ATLANTIC COAST PORTS For Particulars See: ROOSEVELT STEAMSHIP AGENCY, INC. AGENTS 3rd Floor, Trade & Commerce Bldg., Juan Luna Tel. 2-82-01 Legislation, Executive Orders, and Court Decisions By Ewald E. Selph Ross, Selph, Carrascoso & Janda ON March 23, 1950, the Supreme Court promulgated a decision (Visayan Surety vs. Pascual, L-2981) regarding the liability of the surety on a replevin bond where plaintiff lost his suit for recovery of a truck and judgment was rendered for return of the truck valued at P2.300, together with damages at the rate of P30 per day, aggregating P20.500, which judgment was rendered and execution issued thereon without notice to the surety. The Supreme Court said: “In the present case, although the plaintiff Yu Sip filed an answer to defendant’s application for damages and prayed that it be dismissed, he did not appear during the trial and as a result the proofs adduced by the defendant as to the amount of the alleged damages remained uncontradicted. Had the herein surety been duly notified of said ap plication for damages, it could have appeared and contested defendant’s claim as excessive. The damages awarded against the plaintiff for his retention of the truck in question from January 6, 1947, to November 20, 1948, aggregate more than P20.500. That seems exorbitant, con sidering that the truck itself was valued at only P2.300. “In recapitulation, we are of the opinion and so hold: “(1) That damages resulting from preliminary attachment, pre liminary injunction, the appointment of a receiver, or the seizure of personal property, the payment of which is secured by judicial bond, must be claimed and ascertained in the same action with due notice to the surety; “(2) That if the surety is given such due notice, he is bound by the judgment that may be entered against the principal, and writ of execu tion may issue against said surety to enforce the obligation of th^bond; and “(3) That if, as in this case, no notice is given to the surety of the application for damages, the judgment that may be entered against the principal cannot be executed against the surety without giving the latter an opportunity to be heard as to the reality or reasonableness of the alleged damages. In such case, upon application of the prevailing party, the court must order the surety to show cause why the bond should not respond for the judgment for damages. If the surety should contest the reality or reasonableness of the damages claimed by the pre vailing party, the court must set the application and answer for hearing. The hearing will be summary and will be limited to such new defense, not previously set up by the principal, as the surety may allege and offer to prove. The oral proof of damages already adduced by the claimant may be reproduced without the necessity of retaking the testi mony, but the surety should be given an opportunity to cross-examine the witness or witnesses if it so desires. “To avoid the necessity of such additional proceedings, lawyers and litigants are admonished to give due notice to the surety of their claim for damages on the bond at the time such claim is presented. “The writ of execution issued by the respondent judge against the petitioner is set aside, and the parties are directed to proceed in con formity with this opinion. The respondent Victoria Pascual shall pay the costs.” TIIE SERVICE YOU HAVE WAITED FOR! EXPERT INTERIOR CLEANING Of Offices, Buildings, and Homes Fast, Complete, Dependable Service ROBERT S. CLARK, Gen. Mgr. EVERCLEAN SERVICES 214 Sta. Cruz Bldg. Manila May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 199 COST OF LIVING INDEX OF WAGE EARNER’S FAMILY' IN MANILA BY MONTH, 1946 TO 1949 (1941 = 100) Bureau of the Census and Statistics Manila 1946 It ** ’ Food (59.15) House Rent (8.43) Cloth(0n682) Fuel, Light and Water (13.94) Miscel laneous (17.86) ing Power January.......... 603.4 759.2 236.4 984.0 363.8 434.8 .1657 February........ 547.2 656.3 236.4 940.31 369.5 460.5 .1827 March............., 525.9 631.0 236.4 940.1 340.4 445.2 .1902 April................, 556.2 684.1 236.4 910.3 345.5 435.9 .1798 May................ , 545.1 675.6 236.4 762.5i 342.3 409.6 .1835 June................ 538.7 666.4 236.4 737.9 343.3 404.2 .1856 July.................. 552.7 704.3 236.4 598.91 341.3 364.6 .1809 August............ 477.9 590.0 236.4 384.7' 320.9 346.3 .2092 September. . . 477.9 591.3 236.4 378.7' 314.5 347.2 .2092 October.......... 487.4 587.2 236.4 382.7’ 405.8 342.7 .2052 November.... 484.8 607.8 236.4 406.4 346.5 305.2 .2063 December.... 461.9 570.8 236.4 371.9 344.7 302.1 .2165 1947- (100.00) (63.43) (11.96) (2.04) (7.73) (14.48) January.... .. 426.2 368.2 453.9 381.9 326.2 282.5 .2346 February... .. 418.5 454.9 453.9 356.2 344.8 281.4 .2389 March........ .. 406.8 440.1 453.9 295.2 334.7 279.4 .2458 April........... .. 387.7 413.3 543.9 269.2 328.9 271.6 .2579 May............ .. 381.0 404.4 453.9 250.9 325.4 269.4 .2625 June............ .. 386.3 414.4 453.9 236.8 316.6 268.6 .2589 July............. .. 393.4 426.8 453.9 217.7 309.3 269.9 .2542 August.... .. 387.4 419.8 453.9 210.2 292.0 269.1 .2581 September. .. 368.9 392.1 453.9 216.4 283.3 266.8 .2711 October.... .. 358.7 376.3 453.9 212.7 280.5 267.7 .2788 November.. .. 358.4 376.3 453.9 215.1 280.5 265.3 .2790 December.. .. 371.9 395.8 453.9 219.1 298.2 262.9 .2689 1948 January.... .. 391.2 428.3 453.9 224.5 304.6 249.9 .2556 February... .. 368.5 392.0 453.9 223.8 301.1 254.4 .2714 March......... .. 349.4 361.0 453.9 '214.6 308.1 255.9 .2862 April........... .. 356.1 374.1 453.9 209.4 289.7 254.8 .2808 May............ .. 349.8 360.2 453.9 214.2 289.7 271.6 .2859 June............ .. 354.3 370.4 453.9 205.2 283.2 262.9 .2823 July............. .. 356.4 374.2 453.9 201.3 281.6 262.4 .2806 August. . . . .. 363.6 385.7 453.9 199.8 281.6 261.7 .2751 September. .. 370.6 397.2 453.9 199.2 279.6 260.6 .2698 October.... .. 374.9 404.0 453.9 204.8 283.2 257.9 .2668 November.. .. 368.7 394.4 453.9 202.0 281.6 258.7 .2712 December.. .. 365.9 389.9 453.9 202.0 282.4 258.9 .2732 1949 January.... .. 363.8 386.8 453.9 202.0 279.0 258.9 .2750 February... .. 343.8 355.5 453.9 203.0 277.5 258.9 .2909 March......... .. 346.3 358.2 453.9 202.0 276.3 258.5 .2896 April........... .. 348.7 362.6 453.9 197.6 287.5 257.1 .2868 May............ .. 348.8 362.8 453.9 197.2 287.5 257.1 .2867 June............ .. 349.0 362.9 453.9 203.9 287.5 257.2 .2865 July............. .. 351.7 374.0 453.9 194.2 265.8 240.5 .2844 August. . .. .. 337.5 351.2 453.9 196.3 266.6 241.2 .2963 September. .. 333.6 345.1 453.9 190.3 264.8 243.1 .2998 October ... .. 332.9 343 3 453.9 199.9 264.8 245.0 .3004 November.. .. 339 6 356.1 453 9 191.1 258.4 239.8 .2945 December . .. 329 6 335 9 453 9 202 9 259 5 256.2 .3035 1950 January . . .. 332.3 336.8 453 9 238.0 253.1 269.3 .3010 February . . .. 336.9 340.2 453.9 233.3 257.8 284.1 .2969 March......... .. 339.0 341.4 453.9 236.7 257.8 292.6 .2950 April........... 331.8 328.6 453 9 237.7 252 9 301.2 .3015 : Revised in Manila" 1 number of persons in < in accordance with i family = the new = 4.9 members. survey on the “Levels of Livin by Department of Labor andI the Bureau of the Census and he is going to be 160% stronger than before the war. It is taking about fifty million pesos (P50,000,000) to build him up to that muscle power. It’s going to take a lot of money, men and materials to build our capacity up to what we expect e'cctrical needs will be in the future. But that’s part of our job—to be there with the kilowatts when and where you want them. MANILA ELEGTRIC COMPANY AGENTS TELEPHONES BROKERS 3-34-20 CHARTERERS 3-34-29 American Steamship Agencies, Inc. Manila, Shanghai, Tokyo, Yokohama Cable Address: 203 Myers Bldg. “AMERSHIP” Port Area Manila Insist on G-E Lamps GENERAL ELECTRIC FORT AREA (P.I.f INC. MANILA A Product of General Electric Co., U.S.A. 200 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 FIMHIG ¥ A Field Warehouse of Luzon Brokerage Company can be of great service in your 1950 financing. ¥ Enquire of your Banker or consult L B C> All enquiries in confidence. Telephone 3-34-31 The “LET YOUR HAIR “T get so tired of those signs that j. say, ‘NO PARKING BOTH SIDES’,” said the editor the other day. ‘‘Every time I see these signs, and I see them’everywhere, I squirm. They offend me to the soul.” ‘‘What! Why?” said we, because, as usual, we were hardly paying him any attention. ‘‘The English, man! The English! Awful! attrocious!” We just looked at him. “ ‘No parking both sides!’ ” he scoffed. “Who 'ever could park his car on both sides? The words are meaningless. I’d park my car on such a street just to get arrested and make a test case out of it,—that is, if I had a car. I’d simply deny that I was parking on both sides, and what could the judge do?” “You’d be surprised,” said we. “Somebody ought to tell these traffic authorities that the sign should read, ‘No Parking, Either Side’. Think of the bad effect of such Eng lish on the school children, in fact, on the whole population! Seeing this thing before one’s eyes all the time. I shudder to think the error may one day slip into one of my own editorials.” "A truly frightful thing to con template,” said we. “Imagine!” and then we had to laugh. The editor glowered, and fixing us with a finger said: “Just suppose I wrote something like, ‘There should be no discrimination on both sides’, instead of ‘on either side’. Gad!” And he wiped his bald dome with a handkerchief. “Why don’t you take it up with Major Young or Major Tenny?” said we. “And, while you’re at that, you might say something on the need DOWN” = Column of more parking space, too. You might say quite a lot about our traffic problem in general. Let them give us good traffic control, and what do we care about their English?” We were really a little sorry, after ward, when we had brought the editor to with a glass of water. We saw a release from one of the Manila press services the other day, prepared on the typewriter and mi meographed, which used a combina tion of type we had not seen before. It was in the usual typewriter type, capitals and small letters, except that the a’s and e’s were small capi tals. The word “element”, for in stance, looked like this: “ElEmEnt”; and “headquarters”, “hEAdquArtErs”. Since a and e are of frequent oc currence in English, this gave many of the words a very odd look, and not only odd, but ugly. The partic ular’ specimen we saw was in fact even uglier than it needed to have been because the small capital letters A and E were slightly .larger than the other small letters, which made them stand out all the more sorely. The editor began to talk about type design, the work, he said, of centuries of development in legibility and beauty, mentioning names like Aldus, Jenson, Garamond, Caslon, Baskerville, Bodoni, Goudy, Hess, and Goodhue, and declared this new combination to be a barbarism. Mr. Stevens, who was a typesetter in his younger days, said he had read some time ago that the new alphabet was introduced because a’s and e’s get clogged up easily on the typewriter and that this leads to confusion and error. E. E. ELSER, INC. GENERAL AGENTS for ATLAS ASSURANCE CO., LTD.—THE EMPLOYERS’ LIABILITY ASSURANCE CORP. LTD. CONTINENTAL INSURANCE CO. OF NEW YORK-ORIENT INSURANCE CO. THE INSURANCE CO. OF NORTH AMERICA 404 Ayala Bldg., Manila Phone 2-77-58 Cable Address: “ELSINC” May, 1950 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 201 “I’d prefer a misspelled name or word to this awful looking stuff”, said the editor. “You would,” said we. “Why,” said the editor, “shouldn’t a typist just keep his typewriter clean? There are special brushes for that. Are we to have this botch inflicted on us just because of some lazy and negligent typists? Ye gods! Is that a sufficient reason for the ruination of typography, the spewing of a new form of ugliness out upon the world? “Isn’t there enough that is sicken ing in the world already? We are being deprived of so much, must we also be deprived of our small a’s and e’s? Give me a big E that is a big E and a small e that is a small e. Give me all the beautiful small a’s and e’s I’m entitled to, or I’ll stop reading. That’s all there is to it.” MB fully automatic calculator A. Simple to Learn...in less than 15 minutes anyone in your office can be taught to multiply, divide, add and subtract. B. Simple to Operate ... exclu * sive touch-one-key operation permits writing answers, while the ne:;t problem is being calculated. C. Simple to Get...just telephone and arrange for a demonstration on your own work. Try before you Buy! SMimFEu^aiixb. TRADE AND COMMERCE BLDG MANILA Tel. 2-69-71 Another valued column-editor sent us a note informing us that he would be away for a time and that he had arranged for some one to run his column in his absence, — Mr. C. M. Hoskins, of the Real Estate column. He wrot.e briefly and to the point: “I will be away for a couple of months and have asked Mr. Varias of my staff to contribute in my stead.—Hoskins.” We wish Mr. Hoskins a pleasant vacation and welcome Mr. Antonio Varias, Vice-President of C. M. Hos kins & Co., Inc., Realtors, to our pages. Mr. Varias often writes on real estate topics for the daily news papers. We received a form letter from the Order Division of the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C., which said in part: “We return herewith your notice stating that the Library of Congress’ subscription has expired or is due for payment. “Please note that Library of Congress subscriptions should not be permitted to lapse but should be renewed automatically each year until a formal cancellation is re ceived. . .” Managing Director Felipe Buencamino, Jr., of the Rice and Corn Production Administration of the National Development Company, in subscribing for 2 copies per issue of the Journal, added a postscript in his own handwriting to his formal typewritten letter, stating, — “Good paper. Please let us have a complete file for 1950. Regards. F.” We added a postscript to the formal acknowledgement, — “Thanks for that good word from a good friend.” C. F. SHARP & COMPANY, INC. STEAMSHIP OPERATORS—AGENTS SHIP BROKERS GENERAL ORIENTAL AGENTS: WATERMAN STEAMSHIP CORPORATION Mobile, Alabama THE I VAR AN LINES—FAR EAST SERVICE (Holter-Sorensen—Oslo, Norway) PACIFIC ORIENT EXPRESS LINE (DITLEV-SIMONSEN LINES) Norway (TRANSATLANTIC STEAMSHIP CO., LTD.) Sweden GENERAL STEAMSHIP CORPORATION SIMPSON, SPENCE & YOUNG New York V. MULLER Kobenhavn, Denmark Head Office: 5TH FL., INSULAR LIFE BLDG. MANILA, PHILIPPINES TEL. 2-87-29 2-96-17 Branch Offices: SAN FRANCISCO—SHANGHAI SINGAPORE—PENANG TOKYO—YOKOHAMA NAGOYA—OSAKA SHIMIZU-FUSAN (KOREA) Cable Address: "SUGARCRAFT" all offices “It is very easy to talk against communism. It is equally important to believe those things which provide a satisfying and effective alternative. Democracy is that satisfying, affirma tive alternative. . . I deeply believe in the capacity of democracy to sur mount any trials that may lie ahead, provided only that we practice it in our daily lives.”—David E. Lilienthal, Former Chairman of the United States Atomic Commis sion . “Our economic system is far from perfect, but under it 7 percent of the people of the world do produce 50 percent of the world’s goods, and those goods are distributed with sufficient fairness so that the average man of America enjoys the highest standard of living in the world.”— Paul G. Hoffman, Director, Econo mic Cooperation Administration. EVERETT STEAMSHIP CORPORATION GENERAL AGENTS AMERICAN MAIL LINE To and From Portland Seattle Vancouver Tacoma PACIFIC TRANSPORT LINES To and From California Philippines BARBER-FERN LINE Service to U.S. Atlantic Via Straits, Suez, Mediterranean FERN LINE To and From North Atlantic Ports Gulf Ports—Philippines EVERETT ORIENT LINE Serving the Orient Philippines to China, Japan, Korea, Straits and India Ports PHILIPPINE STEAM NAVIGATION CO. Serving the Philippine Islands 223 Dasmarifias St., Manila Tel. 2-98-46 (Priv. Exch. All Lines) 202 AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL May, 1950 Total _ “Using the figure 100 as a base for the average American worker’s earnings, the following list shows the relative earnings of workmen in the other countries: “Soviet Russia 13; Italy 24; Aus tria 26; Hungary, France, and West Germany 35; Chile 36; Ireland 45; Switzerland 49; Israel 51; Finland 54; Great Britain 66; Sweden 69; Denmark 83; Canada 83; Norway 87; Australia 98. “Workers in Soviet Russia are worse off than in any other country. Low wage levels and low productivity account for low living standards.”— Report of the American Federa tion of Labor. RADIOTYPE YOUR MESSAGES S&vound t/ie via Subscribe to the JOURNAL to keep your files complete For GLOBE MESSENGER Tel. 2-98-66 Globe Wireless Ltd. Main Office: Sixth Floor China Bank Bldg. Branch Offices: Lobby, Filipinas Bldg. 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