In June, 1903, the ss. Don Juan, owned by Francisco L. Rojas, of Manila, took on board in Hong-Kong about $400,000 Mexicans (i.e., pesos) for the purpose of smuggling them into Manila. On board there were also, as passengers, a Senor Rodoreda and a crowd of Chinese coolies. The vessel caught fire off the west coast of Luzon. The captain, the crew, and the Spanish passenger abandoned the ship in boats, leaving the Chinese to their awful fate. A steam launch was sent alongside and saved a few dollars, whilst the despairing Chinese became victims to the flames and sharks. The ship's burnt-out hull was towed to Manila Bay. The remaining dollars were confiscated, and the captain and chief engineer were prosecuted.

The universal monetary crisis due to the depreciation of silver was experienced here, and the Government made matters still worse by coining half-pesos and 20-cent pieces, which had not the intrinsic value expressed, and exchange consequently fell still lower. In September, 1887, a Madrid periodical, Correo de Espana, stated that the bastard Philippine 50-cent pieces were rejected in Madrid even by money-changers. In May, 1888, the peso was quoted at 3s.2 3/4d. (over 19 per cent. below nominal value), and shippers to the Colony, who had already suffered considerably by the loss on exchange, had their interests still further impaired by this action of the Treasury. For Exchange Fluctuations vide Chap, xxxi., "Trade Statistics."



A Custom-house was established and port opened in Zamboanga (Mindanao Is.) for direct communication with abroad in 1831; those of Sual (Pangasinan) and Yloilo (Panay Is.) in 1855, and that of Cebu in 1863. The Custom-house of Sual was subsequently abolished, and the port having been closed to direct foreign trade, the place has lost its former importance, and lapsed into the state of a lifeless village.

Special permission could be obtained for ships to load in and sail direct from harbours where no Custom-houses were established, on a sum of money being lodged beforehand at the Caja de Depositos in Manila, to cover duties, dues, etc., to be assessed.

After the opening of the port of Yloilo, three years elapsed before a cargo of produce sailed thence to a foreign port. Since then it has gradually become the shipping centre for the crops (chiefly sugar and sapanwood) raised in the islands of Panay and Negros. From about the year 1882 to 1897 it attracted a portion of what was formerly the Cebu trade. Since then the importance of Yloilo has diminished. Its development as a port was entirely due to foreigners, and considerably aided agriculture in the Visayas Islands. Heretofore the small output of sugar (which had never reached 1,000 tons in any year) had to be sent up to Manila. The expense of local freight, brokerages, and double loading and discharging left so little profit to the planters that the results were then quite discouraging. None but wooden sugar-cane mills were employed at that time, but since then many small steam-power factories have been erected (vide Sugar). The produce shipped in Yloilo [125] was principally carried to the United States in American sailing-ships.

For figures relating to Chief Exports from the various ports, vide Chap. xxxi., "Trade Statistics."

Most of the carrying Import trade was in the hands of subsidized Spanish steamer-owners, whilst the larger portion of the Exports was conveyed in foreign vessels, which arrived in ballast from Eastern ports where they had left cargoes.

Smuggling was carried on to a considerable extent for years, and in 1891 a fresh stimulus was given to contraband by the introduction of a Protectionist Tariff, which came into force on April 1 of that year, and under which Spanish goods brought in Spanish ships were allowed to enter free of duty. [126]

In order to evade the payment of the Manila Port Works Tax (q.v.), for which no value was given, large quantities of piece-goods for Manila were shipped from Europe to Yloilo, passed through the Custom-house there and re-shipped in inter-island steamers to Manila. In 1890 some two-thirds of the Yloilo foreign imports were for re-shipment.

The circumstances which directly led to the opening of Zamboanga (in 1831) as a commercial port are interesting when it is remembered that Mindanao Island is still quasi-independent in the interior—inhabited by races unconquered by the Spaniards, and where agriculture by civilized settlers is as yet nascent. It appears that the Port of Jolo (Sulu Is.) had been, for a long time, frequented by foreign ships, whose owners or officers (chiefly British) unscrupulously supplied the Sulus with sundry manufactured goods, including arms of warfare, much to the detriment of Spanish interests there, in exchange for mother-of-pearl, pearls, gums, etc. The Spaniards claimed suzerain rights over the island, but were not strong enough to establish and protect a Custom-house, so they imposed the regulation that ships loading in Jolo should put in at Zamboanga for clearance to foreign ports. The foreigners who carried on this illicit traffic protested against a sailing-ship being required to go out of her homeward course about one hundred and twenty miles for the mere formality of customs clearance. A British ship (and perhaps many before her) sailed straight away from Jolo, in defiance of the Spaniards, and the matter was then brought to the notice of the British Government, who intimated that either Jolo must be declared a free port or a Custom-house must be established there. The former alternative was chosen by the Spaniards, but Zamboanga remained an open port for foreign trade which very rarely came.

The supreme control of merchant shipping and naval forces was vested in the same high official. No foreigner was permitted to own a vessel trading between Spain and her colonies, or between one Spanish colony and another, or doing a coasting trade within the Colony. This difficulty was however readily overcome, and reduced to a mere ineffective formality, by foreigners employing Spaniards to become nominal owners of their vessels. Thus a very large portion of the inter-island steamer carrying-trade was virtually conducted by foreigners, chiefly British.

Mail-steamers, subsidized by the Government, left the capital every fortnight for the different islands, and there was a quarterly Pacific Mail Service to the Ladrone Islands. [127] Regular mails arrived from, and left for, Europe every fortnight, but as there were intermediate opportunities of remitting and receiving correspondence, really about three mails were received and three despatched every month. The mail-route for Europe is via Singapore, but there were some seven or eight sailings of steamers per month between Manila and Hong-Kong (the nearest foreign colony—640 miles), whence mails were forwarded to Europe, Australia, Japan, the United States, etc.

Between the capital and several ports in the adjacent provinces there was a daily service of passenger and light cargo-steamers.

Between Yloilo and the adjoining Province of Antique, the District of Concepcion and the Islands of Negros and Cebu, there were some half-dozen small steamers, belonging to Filipinos and Spaniards, running regularly with passengers and merchandise, whilst in the sugar-producing season—from January to May—they were fully freighted with cargoes of this staple article.

The carrying-trade in sailing craft between the Islands was chiefly in the hands of natives and half-castes. There were also a few Spanish sailing-ship owners, and in the Port of Yloilo a few schooners (called lorchas), loading from 40 to 100 tons of sugar, were the property of foreigners, under the nominal ownership of Spanish subjects, for the reasons mentioned in the preceding page.

The principal exporters employ middlemen for the collecting of produce, and usually require their guarantee for sales at credit to the provincial purchasers of imports. These middlemen are always persons of means, born in the Colony, and, understanding both the intricacies of the native character and the European mode of transacting business, they serve as very useful—almost indispensable—intermediaries.

It was only when the crisis in the Sugar trade affected the whole world, and began to be felt in the Philippines in 1884, that the majority of the natives engaged in that industry slowly began to understand that the current price of produce fluctuated according to supply and demand. Before transactions were so thoroughly in the hands of middlemen, small producers used to take their samples to the purchasers, "to see how much they cared to pay" as they expressed it—the term "market price" seldom being used or understood in the provinces, because of the belief that prices rose or fell according to the caprice or generosity of the foreign buyer. Accustomed to deal, during the first centuries of the Spanish occupation, with the Chinese, the natives, even among themselves, rarely have fixed prices in retail dealings, and nearly every quotation in small traffic is taken only as a fancy price, subject to considerable rebate before closing. The Chinese understand the native pretty well; they study his likings, and they so fix their prices that an enormous reduction can be made for his satisfaction. He goes away quite contented, whilst the Chinaman chuckles over having got the best of the bargain. Even the import houses, when they advertise their goods for sale, seldom state the prices; it seems as if all regarded the question of price as a shifty one.

The system of giving credit in the retail trade of Manila, and a few provincial towns, was the ruin of many shopkeepers. There were few retailers who had fixed prices; most of them fluctuated according to the race, or nationality, of the intending customer. The Chinese dealer made no secret about his price being merely nominal. If on the first offer the hesitating purchaser were about to move away, he would call after him and politely invite him to haggle over the bargain. [128]



The only real basis of wealth in the Colony is the raw material obtained by Agriculture, and Forest produce. Nothing was done by the conquerors to foster the Industrial Arts, and the Manufacturing Trades were of insignificant importance. Cigars were the only manufactured export staple, whilst perfumes, a little cordage, and occasionally a parcel of straw or finely-split bamboo hats were shipped.

In the Provinces of Bulacan and Pampanga, split-cane and Nito (lygodium) hats, straw mats, and cigar-cases are made. Some of the finest worked cigar-cases require so much time for making that they cost up to P20 each. Hats can only be obtained in quantities by shippers through native middlemen.

In Yloilo Province a rough cloth called Sinamay is woven [129] from selected hemp fibre. Also in this province and that of Antique (Panay Is.), Pina muslin of pure pine-leaf fibre and Husi of mixed pine-leaf and hemp filament are made. Ilocos Province has a reputation in these Islands for its woollen and dyed cotton fabrics. Taal (Batangas) also produces a special make of cotton stuffs. Pasig, on the river of that name, and Sulipan (Pampanga), are locally known for their rough pottery, and Capiz and Romblon for their sugar-bags.

Paete, at the extreme east of the Laguna de Bay, is the centre for white-wood furniture and wood-carving. In Mariquina, near Manila, wooden clogs and native leather shoes are made. Santa Cruz (Manila) is the gold and silver-workers' quarter. The native women in nearly all the civilized provinces produce some very handsome specimens of embroidery on European patterns. Mats to sleep upon (petates) straw bags (bayones), baskets (tampipes), alcohol, bamboo furniture, buffalo-hide leather, wax candles, soap, etc., have their centres of manufacture on a small scale. The first Philippine brewery was opened October 4, 1890, in San Miguel (Manila) by Don Enrique Barretto, to whom was granted a monopoly by the Spanish Government for twenty years. It is now chiefly owned by a Philippine half-caste, Don Pedro P. Rojas (resident in Paris), who formed it into a company which has become a very flourishing concern. Philippine capital alone supports these manufactures. The traffic and consumption being entirely local, the consequent increase of wealth to the Colony is the economized difference between them and imported articles. These industries bring no fresh capital to the Colony, by way of profits, but they contribute to check its egress by the returns of agriculture changing hands to the local manufacturer instead of to the foreign merchant.

Want of cheap means of land-transport has, so far, been the chief drawback to Philippine manufactures, which are of small importance in the total trade of the Colony.

Philippine railways were first officially projected in 1875, when a Royal Decree of that year, dated August 6, determined the legislative basis for works of that nature. The Inspector of Public Works was instructed to form a general plan of a railway system in Luzon Island. The projected system included (1) a line running north from Manila through the Provinces of Bulacan, Pampanga, and Pangasinan. (2) A line running south from Manila, along the Laguna de Bay shore and eastwards through Tayabas, Camarines, and Albay Provinces. (3) A branch from this line on the Laguna de Bay shore to run almost due south to Batangas. The lines to be constructed were classed under two heads, viz.:—(1) Those of general public utility to be laid down either by the State or by subsidized companies, the concession in this case being given by the Home Government; and (2) those of private interest, for the construction of which concessions could be granted by the Gov.-General.

In 1885 the Government solicited tenders for the laying of the first line of railway from Manila to Dagupan—a port on the Gulf of Lingayen, and the only practicable outlet for produce from the Province of Pangasinan and Tarlac District. The distance by sea is 216 miles—the railway line 196 kilometres (say 120 miles). The subsidy offered by the Government amounted to about P7,650 per mile, but on three occasions no tender was forthcoming either from Madrid or in Manila, where it was simultaneously solicited. Subsequently a modified offer was made of a guaranteed annual interest of 8 per cent, on a maximum outlay of P4,964,473.65, and the news was received in Manila in October, 1886, that the contract had been taken up by a London firm of contractors. The prospectus of "The Manila Railway Co., Ltd," was issued in February, 1888. The line was to be completed within four years from July 21, 1887, and at the end of ninety-nine years the railway and rolling-stock were to revert to the Spanish Government without compensation. The rails, locomotives (36 tons and 12 tons each), tenders, coaches, waggons, and ironwork for bridges all came from England. The first stone of the Central Station in Manila (Bilibid Road, Tondo) was laid by Gov.-General Emilio Terrero on July 31, 1887. In 1890 the original contractors failed, and only the first section of 28 miles was opened to traffic on March 24, 1891.

Many other circumstances, however, contributed to delay the opening of the whole line. Compensation claims were very slowly agreed to; the Government engineers slightly altered the plans; the company's engineers could not find a hard strata in the bed of the Calumpit River [130] (a branch of the Rio Grande de Pampanga) on which to build the piers of the bridge; and lastly the Spanish authorities, who had direct intervention in the work, found all sorts of excuses for postponing the opening of the line. When the Civil Director was applied to, he calmly replied that he was going to the baths, and would think about it. Finally, on appeal to the highest authority, Gov.-General Despujols himself went up to Tarlac, and in an energetic speech, reflecting on the dilatoriness of his subordinates, he declared the first Philippine railway open to traffic on November 23, 1892. For about a year and a half passengers and goods were ferried across the Calumpit River in pontoons. Large caissons had to be sunk in the river in which to build the piers for the iron bridge, which cost an enormous sum of money in excess of the estimate. Later on heavy rains caused a partial inundation of the line, the embankment of which yielded to the accumulated mass of water, and traffic to Dagupan was temporarily suspended. The total outlay on the line far exceeded the company's original calculation, and to avert a financial collapse fresh capital had to be raised by the issue of 6 per cent. Prior Lien Mortgage Bonds, ranking before the debenture stock. The following official quotations on the London Stock Exchange will show the public appreciation of the Manila Railway Company's shares and bonds:—

OFFICIAL QUOTATIONS.

December. 7% Cum. Pref. L10 Shares. 6% Deb. L100 Stock. 6% Prior Lien Mort. Bonds, Series A., L100. 6% Prior Lien Mort. Bonds, Series B., L100.

L L L L 1893 2 49 98 87 1894 1 32 104 91 1895 1/2 29 107 85 1896 1/4 22 96 64 1897 1/4 19 101 75 1898 1 3/4 45 110 98 1899 1 3/4 33 1/2 101 1/2 87 1/2 1900 1 1/2 42 103 1/2 97 1901 2 55 108 102 1902 1 1/2 52 109 102 1903 1 1/2 58 108 104 1904 3 1/2 83 110 107 1905 4 3/4 117 110 106

Up to July 1, 1905, the interest has been regularly paid on the Prior Lien Bonds. No interest has been paid on the debentures (up to December, 1905) since July 1, 1891, nor on the 7 per cent. Cumulative Preference Shares since July 1, 1890. On January 26, 1895, these shares were officially quoted, for sellers, 0.

Including the termini in Manila (Tondo) and Dagupan, there are 29 stations and 16 bridges along the main line, over which the journey occupies eight hours. There are two branch lines, viz.:—from Bigaa to Cabanatuan (Nueva Ecija), and from Angeles (Pampanga) to Camp Stotsenberg. From the Manila terminus there is a short line (about a mile) running down to the quay in Binondo for goods traffic only. The country through which this line passes is flat, and has large natural resources, the development of which—without a railway—had not been feasible owing to the ranges of mountains—chiefly the Cordillera of Zambales—which run parallel to the coast.

The railway is ably managed, but when I travelled on it in 1904 much of the rolling-stock needed renewal.

In 1890, under Royal Order No. 508, dated June 11 of that year, a 99 years' concession was granted to a British commercial firm in Manila to lay a 21-mile line of railway, without subsidy, from Manila to Antipolo, to be called the "Centre of Luzon Railway." The work was to be commenced within one year and finished within two years. The basis of the anticipated traffic was the conveyance of pilgrims to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Voyage and Peace (vide p. 184); but, moreover, the proposed line connected the parishes of Dilao (then 4,380 pop.), Santa Ana (then 2,115 pop.), Mariquina (then 10,000 pop.), Cainta (then 2,300 pop.), and Taytay (then 6,500 pop.)—branching to Pasig and Angono—with Antipolo (then 3,800; now 2,800 pop.). The estimated outlay was about P1,000,000, but the concession was abandoned. The project has since been revived under American auspices.



Under Spanish government there was a land Telegraph Service from Manila to all civilized parts of Luzon Island—also in Panay Island from Capiz to Yloilo, and in Cebu Island from the city of Cebu across the Island and up the west coast as far north as Tuburan. There was a land-line from Manila to Bolinao (Zambales), from which point a submarine cable was laid in April, 1880, by the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Company, Ltd., whereby Manila was placed in direct telegraphic communication with the rest of the world. For this service the Spanish Government paid the company P4,000 a month for a period of 10 years, which expired in June, 1890. In April, 1898, the same company detached the cable from Bolinao and carried it on to Manila in the s.s. Sherard Osborn, 207 nautical miles having been added to the cable for the purpose. In return for this service the Spanish Government gave the company certain exclusive rights and valuable concessions. In May, 1898, the American Admiral Dewey ordered the Manila-Hong-Kong cable to be cut, but the connection was made good again after the Preliminaries of Peace with Spain were signed (August 12, 1898). Cable communication was suspended, therefore, from May 2 until August 21 of that year.

In 1897 another submarine cable was laid by the above company, under contract with the Spanish Government, connecting Manila with the Southern Islands of Panay and Cebu (Tuburan). The Manila-Panay cable was also cut by order of Admiral Dewey (May 23, 1898), but after August 12, under an arrangement made between the American and Spanish Governments, it was re-opened on a neutral basis, and the company's own staff worked it direct with the Manila public, instead of through the medium of Spanish officials.

Since the American occupation a new cable connecting the Islands with the United States has been laid (opened July 4, 1903), whilst a network of submarine and land-wires has been established throughout the Archipelago.



Owing to their geographical position, none of the Philippine ports are on the line of the regular mail and passenger steamers en route elsewhere; hence, unlike Hong-Kong, Singapore, and other Eastern ports, there is little profit to be derived from a cosmopolitan floating population. Due, probably, to the tedious Customs regulations—the obligation of every person to procure, and carry on his person, a document of identification—the requirement of a passport to enter the Islands, and complicated formalities to recover it on leaving—the absence of railroads and hotels in the interior and the difficulties of travelling—this Colony, during the Spanish regime, was apparently outside the region of tourists and "globe-trotters." Indeed the Philippine Archipelago formed an isolated settlement in the Far East which traders or pleasure-seekers rarely visited en passant to explore and reveal to the world its natural wealth and beauty. It was a Colony comparatively so little known that, forty years ago, fairly educated people in England used to refer to it as "The Manillas," whilst up to the end of Spanish rule old residents, on visiting Singapore and Hong-Kong, were often highly amused by the extravagant notions which prevailed, even there, concerning the Philippines. But the regulations above referred to were an advantage to the respectable resident, for they had the desirable effect of excluding many of those nondescript wanderers and social outcasts who invade other colonies.

Since the Revolution there has been a large influx of American tourists to the Islands, arriving in the army-transports, passage free, to see "the new possession," as the Archipelago is popularly called in the United States.



CHAPTER XVI

Agriculture

In years gone by, before so many colonies were opened up all over the world, the few who, in the Philippines, had the courage to face the obstacles to agriculture in a primitive country made fairly large fortunes in the main staple products—sugar and hemp. Prices were then treble what they have since been, labour was cheaper, because the needs of the labouring-class were fewer, and, owing to the limited demand and the rarity of epidemic cattle-disease, buffaloes for tilling were worth one-eighth of what they cost at the present day. Although the amount of trade was vastly less, those natives engaged in it were in sounder positions than the same class generally is now.

Within the last few years there are hundreds who have embarked in agricultural enterprises with only one-tenth of the capital necessary to make them successful. A man would start planting with only a few hundred pesos and a tract of cleared land, without title-deeds, and consequently of no negotiable value. In the first year he inevitably fell into the hands of money-lenders, who reasonably stipulated for a very high rate of interest in view of the absence of guarantees. The rates of interest on loans under such circumstances varied as a rule from 12 to 24 per cent. I know a Visayo native who, by way of interest, commission, and charges, demanded as much as 30 per cent. I need not refer to the isolated cases which have come to my knowledge of over 100 per cent. being charged. As at the present day agriculture in the Philippines does not yield 30 per cent. nett profit, it naturally follows that the money-lender at this rate has to attach the estate upon which he has made loans, and finally becomes owner of it. In the meantime, the tiller who has directed the labour of converting a tract of land into a plantation, simply gets a living out of it. Some few were able to disencumber their property by paying, year by year, not only the whole of the nett returns from the plantation, but also the profits on small traffic in which they may have speculated. It seldom happened, however, that the native planter was sufficiently loyal to his financial supporter to do this: on the contrary, although he might owe thousands of pesos, he would spend money in feasts, and undertake fresh obligations of a most worthless nature. He would buy on credit, to be paid for after the next crop, a quantity of paltry jewellery from the first hawker who passed his way, or let the cash slip out of his hands at the cock-pit or the gambling-table.

Even the most provident seemed to make no reserve for a bad year, and the consequence was that in 1887 I think I may safely assert that if all the Philippine planters had had to liquidate within twelve months, certainly 50 per cent. of them would have been insolvent. One of the most hazardous businesses in the Colony is that of advancing to the native planters, unless it be done with the express intention of eventually becoming owner of an estate, which is really often the case.

The conditions of land-tenure in Luzon Island under Spanish rule stood briefly thus:—The owners either held the lands by virtue of undisturbed possession or by transferable State grant. The tenants—the actual tillers—were one degree advanced beyond the state of slave cultivators, inasmuch as they could accumulate property and were free to transfer their services. They corresponded to that class of farmers known in France as metayers and amongst the Romans of old as Coloni Partiarii, with no right in the land, but entitled to one-half of its produce. Like the ancients, they had to perform a number of services to the proprietor which were not specified in writing, but enforced by usage. Tenants of this kind recently subsisted—and perhaps still do—in Scotland (vide "Wealth of Nations," by Adam Smith, edition of 1886, p. 160). Leases for long periods were exceptional, and I never heard of compensation being granted for improvements of Philippine estates. The conditions in Visayas are explained on p. 274.

The value of land suitable for Sugar-cane growing varies considerably, being dependent on proximity to a port, or sugar-market, and on quality, facilities for drainage, transport, site, boundaries, etc.

In the Province of Bulacan, land which in a great measure is exhausted and yields only an average of 21 tons of cane per acre, was valued (prior to the American occupation), on account of its nearness to the capital, at P115 per acre. In Pampanga Province, a little further north, the average value of land, yielding, say, 30 tons of cane per acre, was P75 per acre. Still further north, in the Province of Nueva Ecija, whence transport to the sugar-market is difficult and can only be economically effected in the wet season by river, land producing an average of 35 tons of cane per acre would hardly fetch more than P30 per acre. Railroads will no doubt eventually level these values.

In reality, Bulacan land is priced higher than its intrinsic value as ascertained by yield and economy of produce-transport. The natives are, everywhere in the Colony, more or less averse to alienating real estate inherited from their forefathers, and as Bulacan is one of the first provinces where lands were taken up, centuries ago, an attachment to the soil is particularly noticeable. In that province, as a rule, only genuine necessity, or a fancy price far in excess of producing-worth, would induce an owner to sell his land.

Land grants were obtainable from the Spanish Government by proving priority of claim, but the concession was only given after wearisome delay, and sometimes it took years to obtain the title-deeds. Then large capital was requisite to utilize the property, the clearance often costing more than the virgin tract, whilst the eviction of squatters was a most difficult undertaking: "J'y suis et j'y reste," thought the squatter, and the grantee had no speedy redress at law. On the other hand, the soil is so wonderfully rich and fertile that the study of geoponics and artificial manuring was never thought essential.

The finest sugar-cane producing island in the Archipelago is Negros, in the Visaya district, between N. latitudes 9 deg. and 11 deg.. The area of the Island is about equal to that of Porto Rico, but for want of capital is only about one-half opened up. Nevertheless, it sent to the Yloilo market in 1892 over 115,000 tons of raw sugar—the largest crop it has yet produced. In 1850 the Negros sugar yield was 625 tons.

The price of uncleared land there, suitable for sugar-cane cultivation, in accessible spots, was, say, P35 per acre, and cleared land might be considered worth about P70 per acre. The yield of sugar-cane may be estimated at 40 tons per acre on the estates opened up within the last ten years, whilst the older estates produce per acre nearly 30 tons of cane, but of a quality which gives such a high-class sugar that it compensates for the decrease in quantity, taking also into account the economy of manipulating and transporting less bulk.

Otaheiti cane (yellow) is generally planted in Luzon, whilst Java cane (red) is most common in the southern islands. Tubo is the Tagalog generic name for sugar-cane.

The following equivalents of Philippine land-measures may be useful, viz.:—

1 Quinon = 40,000 square varas = 10,000 square brazas. = 5 cabans = 6.9444 acres = 2.795 hectares.

1 Balita = 4,000 square varas = 1,000 square brazas. = .69444 acre = .2795 hectare.

1 Loan = 400 square varas = 100 square brazas. = .06944 acre = .02795 hectare.

1 Square Braza = 3.3611 square English yards. = 4,355.98 square English inches.

1 Square Vara = .8402 square English yards. = 1,088.89 square English inches.

1 Acre = 5,760 square varas = 1.44 balitas. = .72 caban = .404671 hectare.

The average yield of sugar per acre is about as follows, viz.:—

Pampanga Province, say @ 6 1/2% extraction = 1.95 Tons of Sugar. Other Northern provinces, say @ 5 1/2% extraction = 1.65 Tons of Sugar. Negros Island (with almost exclusively European mills), say @ 7 1/2% extraction = 2.75 Tons of Sugar.

From Yloilo the sugar is chiefly exported to the United States, where there is a demand for raw material only from the Philippines for the purpose of refining, whilst from Manila a certain quantity of crystal-grain sugar is sent, ready for consumption, to Spain. Consequently, in the Island of Luzon, a higher class of machinery is employed. In 1890 there were five private estates, with vacuum-pans erected, and one refinery, near Manila, (at Malabon). Also in 1885 the Government acquired a sugar-machinery plant with vacuum-pan for their model estate at San Ramon in the Province of Zamboanga; the sugar turned out at the trial of the plant in my presence was equal to 21 D. S. of that year. Convict labour was employed. During the Rebellion half the machinery on this estate was destroyed or stolen.

It is a rare thing to see other than European mills in the Island of Negros, whilst in every other sugar-producing province roughly-made vertical cattle-mills of wood, or stone (wood in the south and stone in the north), as introduced by the Chinese, are still in use. With one exception (at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija), which was a failure, the triple-effect refining-plant is altogether unknown in this Colony.

The sugar-estates generally are small. There are not a dozen estates in the whole Colony which produce over 1,000 tons of raw sugar each per season. An estate turning out 500 tons of sugar is considered a large one. I know of one estate which yielded 1,500 tons, and another 1,900 tons in a good season. In the Island of Negros there is no port suitable for loading ships of large tonnage, and the crops have to be carried to the Yloilo market, in small schooners loading from 40 to 100 tons (vide p. 263). From the estates to the coast there are neither canals nor railroads, and the transport is by buffalo-cart.

The highest tablelands are used for cane-planting, which imperatively requires a good system of drainage. In Luzon Island the output of sugar would be far greater if more attention were paid to the seasons. The cane should be cut in December, and the milling should never last over ten weeks. The new cane-point setting should be commenced a fortnight after the milling begins, and the whole operation of manufacture and planting for the new crop should be finished by the middle of March. A deal of sugar is lost by delay in each branch of the field labour. In the West Indies the planters set the canes out widely, leaving plenty of space for the development of the roots, and the ratoons serve up to from five to twenty years. In the Philippines the setting of cane points is renewed each year, with few exceptions, and the planting is comparatively close.

Bulacan sugar-land, being more exhausted than Pampanga land, will not admit of such close planting, hence Bulacan land can only find nourishment for 14,300 points per acre, whilst Pampanga land takes 17,800 points on average computation.

In Negros, current sugar is raised from new lands (among the best) and from lands which are hardly considered suitable for cane-planting. Good lands are called "new" for three crops in Negros, and during that period the planting is close, to choke the cane and prevent it becoming aqueous by too rapid development.

In the Northern Philippines "clayed" sugar (Spanish, Azucar de pilon) is made. The massecuite, when drawn from the pans, is turned into earthenware conic pots containing about 150 lb. weight. When the mass has set, the pot is placed over a jar (Tagalog, oya) into which the molasses drains. In six months, if allowed to remain over the jar, it will drain about 20 per cent, of its original weight, but it is usually sold before that time, if prices are favourable.

The molasses is sold to the distilleries for making Alcohol, [131] whilst there is a certain demand for it for mixing with the drinking-water given to Philippine ponies, although this custom is now falling into disuse, in Manila at least, because molasses is never given to the American imported horses.

From nine tests which I made with steam machinery, of small capacity, in different places in the northern provinces, without interfering with the customary system of manipulating the cane or the adjustment of the mill rolls, I found the—

Average juice extraction to be 56.37% Average moisture in the megass on leaving the mill 23.27% Average amount of dry megass [132] 20.36% 100.00%

The average density of juice in the cane worked off as above was 10 3/4 deg. Beaume.

In Negros the process is very different. The juice is evaporated in the pan-battery to a higher point of concentration, so that the molasses becomes incorporated with the saccharine grain. It is then turned out into a wooden trough, about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide, and stirred about with shovels, until it has cooled so far as to be unable to form into a solid mass, or lumps. When quite cold, the few lumps visible are pounded, and the whole is packed in grass bags (bayones). Sugar packed in this way is deliverable to shippers, whereas "clayed" sugar can only be sold to the assorters and packers (farderos), who sun-dry it on mats and then bag it after making up the colour and quality to exporter's sample (vide p. 173).

The Labour system in the Northern Philippines is quite distinct from that adopted in the South. The plantations in the North are worked on the co-operative principle (sistema de inquilinos). The landowner divides his estate into tenements (aparcerias), each tenant (aparcero) being provided with a buffalo and agricultural implements to work up the plot, plant, and attend to the cane-growth as if it were his own property. Wherever the native goes to work he carries the indispensable bowie-knife (Tagalog, guloc; Spanish, bolo). When the cutting-season arrives, one tenant at a time brings in his cane to the mill, and when the sugar is worked off, usually one-third, but often as much as one-half of the output, according to arrangement, belongs to the tenant. The tenant provides the hands required for the operations of cane-crushing and sugar-making; the cost of machinery and factory establishment is for the account of the landowner, who also has to take the entire risk of typhoons, inundations, drought, locusts, [133] etc.

During the year, whilst the cane is maturing, the tenants receive advances against their estimated share, some even beyond the real value, so that, in nearly every case, the full crop remains in the hands of the estate-owner. In the general working of the plantation hired day-labour is not required, the tenants, in fact, being regarded, in every sense, as servants of the owner, who employs them for whatever service he may need. Interest at 10 to 12 per cent. per annum is charged upon the advances made in money, rice, stuffs, etc., during the year; and on taking over the tenant's share of output, as against these advances, a rebate on current price of the sugar is often agreed to.

In the South, plantations are worked on the daily-wages system, (sistema de jornal), and the labourer will frequently exact his pay for several weeks in advance. Great vigilance is requisite, and on estates exceeding certain dimensions it is often necessary to subdivide the management, apportioning it off to overseers, or limited partners, called "Axas." Both on European and native owners' estates these axas were often Spaniards. The axas' interest varies on different properties, but, generally speaking, he is either credited with one-third of the product and supplied with necessary capital, or he receives two-thirds of the yield of the land under his care and finds his own working capital for its tilth, whilst the sunk capital in land, machinery, sheds, stores, etc., is for the account of the owner.

In 1877 a British company—the "Yengarie"—was started with a large capital for the purpose of acquiring cane-juice all over the Colony and extracting from it highly-refined sugar. The works, fitted with vacuum-pans and all the latest improvements connected with this class of apparatus, were established at Mandaloyan, about three miles from Manila up the Pasig River. From certain parts of Luzon Island the juice was to be conveyed to the factory in tubes, and the promoter, who visited Cebu Island, proposed to send schooners there fitted with tanks, to bring the defecated liquid to Mandaloyan. The project was an entire failure from the beginning (for the ordinary shareholders at least), and in 1880 the machinery plant was being realized and the company wound up.

The classification of sugar in the South differs from that in the North. In the former market it is ranked as Nos. 0, 1, 2, 3 Superior and Current. For the American market these qualities are blended, to make up what is called "Assorted Sugar," in the proportion of one-eighth of No. 1, two-eighths of No. 2, and five-eighths of No. 3. In the North the quality is determined on the Dutch standard. The New York and London markets fix the prices, which are cabled daily to the foreign merchants in Manila.

From a series of estimates compiled by me I find that to produce 7,000 to 10,000 piculs, the cost laid down in Yloilo would be, say, P2.00 per picul (P32.00 per ton); the smaller the output the larger is the prime cost, and vice-versa.

Fortunes have been made in this Colony in cane-sugar, and until the end of 1883 sugar-planting paid the capitalist and left something to the borrowing planter; now it pays only interest on capital. From the year 1884 the subsidized beet-root sugar manufacturers on the continent of Europe turned out such enormous quantities of this article that the total yield of sugar exceeded the world's requirements. The consequence was that the cane-sugar manufacture declined almost at the same ratio as that of beet-root advanced, as will be seen from the subjoined figures:—

Tons.

The world's production in 1880; cane sugar 3,285,714 The world's production in 1880; beet sugar 1,443,349 ========= 4,729,063

Tons. The world's production in 1887, cane sugar 2,333,004 The world's production in 1887, beet sugar 2,492,610 ========= 4,825,614

Tons. Beet sugar Increase 1,049,261 Cane sugar Decrease 952,710

The world's output was Increased 96,551

Since the above date, however, the output of Beet Sugar has become about double that of Cane Sugar, as will be seen from the following figures, viz.:—

World's Production. Season of 1899-1900. Season of 1900-1901. Tons. Tons.

Cane sugar 2,867,041 3,425,022 Beet sugar 5,607,944 6,096,858 ========= ========= 8,474,985 9,521,880

On estates already established at old prices, cane-sugar production pays an interest on capital, but the capitalist is not necessarily the planter and nominal owner, as has been explained. Since the American occupation the cost of labour, living, material, live-stock, and all that the planter or his estate need, has increased so enormously that the colonist should ponder well before opening up a new estate for cane-growing in world-wide competition. For figures of Sugar Shipments vide Chap, xxxi., "Trade Statistics."



Rice (Oryza) being the staple food of the Filipinos, it is cultivated more or less largely in every province of the Colony. Its market value fluctuates considerably according to the stocks in hand and the season of the year. It appears to be the only branch of agriculture in which the lower classes of natives take a visible pleasure and which they understand thoroughly. In 1897 about 80,000 tons were raised.

The natives measure and sell rice (Tagalog, bigas) and paddy (Tagalog, palay) by the caban and its fractions; the caban dry measure is as follows, viz:—

4 Apatans = 1 Chupa; 8 Chupas = 1 Ganta; 25 Gantas = 1 Caban,

the equivalent of which in English measure is thus, viz:—

1 Atapan = .16875 of a pint. 1 Chupa = .675 of a pint. 1 Ganta = 2 quarts, 1 2/5 pints. 1 Caban = 16 gallons, 3 quarts, 1 pint.

Rice of foreign importation is weighed and quoted by the picul of 133 1/3 lbs. avoirdupois, subdivided as follows, viz.:—

16 Taels = 1 Catty; 10 Catties = 1 Chinanta; 10 Chinantas = 1 Picul.

Thirty years ago rice was exported from the Philippines, but now not even sufficient is produced for home consumption, hence this commodity is imported in large quantities from Siam, Lower Burmah, and Cochin China to supply the deficiency. In 1897 nearly 65,000 tons of rice were brought from those countries, and since the American occupation the annual receipts of foreign rice have increased to fivefold. Sual (Pangasinan), on the Gulf of Lingayen, was, thirty-five years ago, a port of importance, whence rice was shipped to China (vide p. 261). This falling off of rice-production did not, however, imply a loss to the population in Spanish times when imported rice was sold cheaply, because, in many provinces, land formerly used for rice-growing was turned to better account for raising other crops which paid better in a fairly good market.

The natives everywhere continue to employ the primitive method of treating rice-paddy for domestic and local use. The grain is generally husked by them in a large mortar hewn from a block of molave, or other hardwood, in which it is beaten by a pestle. Sometimes two or three men or women with wooden pestles work at the same mortar. This mortar is termed, in Tagalog dialect, Luzon, the name given to the largest island of the group. However, I have seen in the towns of Candava (Pampanga), Pagsanjan (La Laguna), near Calamba in the same province, in Naig (Cavite), in Camarines Province, and a few other places, an attempt to improve upon the current system by employing an ingenious wooden mechanical apparatus worked by buffaloes. It consisted of a vertical shaft on which was keyed a bevel-wheel revolving horizontally and geared into a bevel pinion fixed upon a horizontal shaft. In this shaft were adjusted pins, which, at each revolution, caught the corresponding pins in vertical sliding columns. These columns (five or six)—being thereby raised and allowed to fall of their own weight when the raising-pins had passed on—acted as pounders, or pestles, in the mortars placed below them. Subsequently, notable progress was made in Camarines Province by Spaniards, who, in 1888, employed steam power, whilst in Pagsanjan (La Laguna) animal motive power was substituted by that of steam. Also, near Calamba, in the same province, water power was eventually employed to advantage. In Negros, near the village of Candaguit, there was one small rice-machinery plant worked by steam power, brought by a Spaniard from Valencia in Spain. Presumably it was not a success, as it remained only a short time in use.

Finally the Manila-Dagupan Railway gave a great stimulus to the rice-husking and pearling industry, which was taken up by foreigners. There are now important rice steam-power mills established at Calumpit, Gerona, Moncada, Bayambang, and other places along the line from Calumpit towards Dagupan, which supply large quantities of cleaned rice to Manila and other provinces, where it is invariably more highly appreciated than the imported article. Also, at Nueva Caceres (Camarines), in 1896, a large steam-power rice mill was being worked by Don Manuel Pardo, who had a steamer specially constructed in Hong-Kong for the transport of his output to the provincial markets.

The average yield of cleaned rice from the paddy is 50 per cent., whilst no special use is found for the remaining 50 per cent. of coarse paddy-bran. The fine bran, almost dust (called in Tagalog Tiki Tiki), serves, however, for several purposes on the farm. The rice grain which is broken in the husking is known as Pinaua in Tagalog.

The customary charge for husking and winnowing a caban of paddy is 12 1/2 cents, so that as two cabans of paddy give one caban of rice, the cost of this labour would be 25 cents per caban of rice.

The average amount of rice consumed by a working man per day is estimated at four chupas, or, say, close upon eight cabans per annum, which, on the old reckoning—that is to say in Spanish times, taking an average price of 1 peso per caban of paddy = 2 pesos per caban of rice, plus 25 cents for cleaning = 2.25 pesos per caban of clean rice—amounts to 18 pesos per annum. A native's further necessities are fish, an occasional piece of buffalo, betel-nut, tobacco, six yards of cotton print-stuff, and payment of taxes, all of which (including rice) amounted to say P50 in the year, so that a man earning 20 cents per day during 300 days lived well, provided he had no unforeseen misfortunes. Cock-fighting and gambling of course upset the calculation.

There are, it is said, over 20 different kinds of rice-paddy. These are comprised in two common groups—the one is called Macan rice (Spanish, Arroz de Semillero) which is raised on alluvial soil on the lowlands capable of being flooded conveniently with water, and the other has the general denomination (in Luzon Is.) of Paga or Dumali (Spanish, Arroz de Secano) and is cultivated on high lands and slopes where inundation is impracticable.

The Macan, or low-land rice, is much the finer quality, the grain being usually very white, although Macan rice is to be found containing up to 25 per cent. of red grain, known in Tagalog as Tangi, or Malagcquit. The white grain is that most esteemed. The yield of grain varies according to the quality of the soil. In the north of Bulacan Province the average crop of Macan rice may be taken at 80 cabans of grain for one caban of seed. In the south of the same province the return reaches only one-half of that. In the east of Pampanga Province, in the neighbourhood of Arayat, Magalang, and Candava villages, the yield is still higher, giving, in a good year, as much as 100 cabans for one of seed. In Negros a return of 50 cabans to one may be taken as a fair average.

Paga rice always shows a large proportion of red grain, and the return is, at the most, half that of Macan yield, but whilst rarely more than one crop per annum is obtained from low-lands (Macan rice)—taking the average throughout the Islands—in most places up to three crops of Paga rice can be obtained.

Besides the ordinary agricultural risks to which rice cultivation is exposed, a special danger often presents itself. The Paga rice is frequently attacked by flies (Tagalog, Alutangia), which suck the flower just before seeding, and the person in charge of the plantation has to stroll in the evenings and mornings among the setting to whisk off these insects with a bunch of straws on the end of a stick, or catch them with a net to save the grain. Both Macan and Paga are sometimes damaged by an insect, known in Ilocos Province as Talibatab, which eats through the stalk of the plant before maturity, causing the head, or flower, to droop over and wither, but this does not happen every season.

To plant Macan rice the grain or seed is sown in the month of June on a piece of land called the "seeding-plot," where, in six weeks, it attains a height of about one foot, and, provided the rains have not failed, it is then pulled up by the roots and transplanted, stem by stem, in the flooded fields. Each field is embanked with earth (Tagalog, pilapil) so that the water shall not run off, and just before the setting is commenced, the plough is passed for the last time. Then men, women, and children go into the inundated fields with their bundles of rice-plant and stick the stalks in the soft mud one by one. It would seem a tedious operation, but the natives are so used to it that they quickly cover a large field. In four months from the transplanting the rice is ripe, but as at the end of November there is still a risk of rain falling, the harvest is usually commenced at the end of December, after the grain has hardened and the dry season has fairly set in. If, at such an abnormal period, the rains were to return (and such a thing has been known), the sheaves, which are heaped for about a month to dry, would be greatly exposed to mildew owing to the damp atmosphere. After the heaping—at the end of January—the paddy, still in the straw, is made into stacks (Tagalog, Mandala). In six weeks more the grain is separated from the straw, and this operation has to be concluded before the next wet season begins—say about the end of April. On the Pacific coast (Camarines and Albay), where the seasons are reversed (vide p. 22), rice is planted out in September and reaped in February.

The separation of the grain is effected in several ways. Some beat it out with their feet, others flail it, whilst in Cavite Province it is a common practice to spread the sheaves in a circular enclosure within which a number of ponies and foals are trotted.

In Negros Island there is what is termed Ami rice—a small crop which spontaneously rises in succession to the regular crop after the first ploughing.

It seldom happens that a "seeding-plot" has to be allowed to run to seed for want of rain for transplanting, but in such an event it is said to yield at the most tenfold.

Nothing in Nature is more lovely than a valley of green half-ripened rice-paddy, surrounded by verdant hills. Rice harvest-time is a lively one among the poor tenants in Luzon, who, as a rule, are practically the landowner's partners working for half the crop, against which they receive advances during the year. Therefore, cost of labour may be taken at 50 per cent. plus 10 per cent. stolen from the owner's share.

Paddy-planting is not a lucrative commercial undertaking, and few take it up on a large scale. None of the large millers employing steam power are, at the same time, grain cultivators. There is this advantage about the business, that the grower is less likely to be confronted with the labour difficulty, for the work of planting out and gathering in the crop is, to the native and his family, a congenial occupation. Rice-cultivation is, indeed, such a poor business for the capitalist that perhaps a fortune has never been made in that sole occupation, but it gives a sufficient return to the actual tiller of his own land. The native woman is often quite as clever as her husband in managing the estate hands, for her tongue is usually as effective as his rattan. I venture to say there are not six white men living who, without Philippine wives, have made fortunes solely in agriculture in these Islands.



CHAPTER XVII

Manila Hemp—Coffee—Tobacco

Hemp (Musa textilis)—referred to by some scientific writers as M. troglodytarum—is a wild species of the plantain (M. paradisiaca) found growing in many parts of the Philippine Islands. It so closely resembles the M. paradisiaca, which bears the well-known and agreeable fruit—the edible banana, that only connoisseurs can perceive the difference in the density of colour and size of the green leaves—those of the hemp-plant being of a somewhat darker hue, and shorter. The fibre of a number of species of Musa is used for weaving, cordage, etc., in tropical countries.

This herbaceous plant seems to thrive best on an inclined plane, for nearly all the wild hemp which I have seen has been found on mountain slopes, even far away down the ravines. Although requiring a considerable amount of moisture, hemp will not thrive in swampy land, and to attain any great height it must be well shaded by other trees more capable of bearing the sun's rays. A great depth of soil is not indispensable for its development, as it is to be seen flourishing in its natural state on the slopes of volcanic formation. In Albay Province it grows on the declivities of the Mayon Volcano.

The hemp-tree in the Philippines reaches an average height of 10 feet. It is an endogenous plant, the stem of which is enclosed in layers of half-round petioles. The hemp-fibre is extracted from these petioles, which, when cut down, are separated into strips, five to six inches wide, and drawn under a knife attached at one end by a hinge to a block of wood, whilst the other end is suspended to the extremity of a flexible stick. The bow tends to raise the knife, and a cord, attached to the same end of the knife, and a treadle are so arranged that by a movement of the foot the operator can bring the knife to work on the hemp petiole with the pressure he chooses. The bast is drawn through between the knife and the block, the operator twisting the fibre, at each pull, around a stick of wood or his arm, whilst the parenchymatous pulp remains on the other side of the knife. There is no use for the pulp. The knife should be without teeth or indentations, but nearly everywhere in Capis Province I have seen it with a slightly serrated edge. The fibre is then spread out to dry, and afterwards tightly packed in bales with iron or rattan hoops for shipment.

A finer fibre than the ordinary hemp is sometimes obtained in small quantities from the specially-selected edges of the petiole, and this material is used by the natives for weaving. The quantity procurable is limited, and the difficulty in obtaining it consists in the frequent breakage of the fibre whilst being drawn, due to its comparative fragility. Its commercial value is about double that of ordinary first-class cordage hemp. The stuff made from this fine fibre (in Bicol dialect, Lupis) suits admirably for ladies' dresses. Ordinary hemp fibre is used for the manufacture of coarse native stuff, known in Manila as Sinamay, much worn by the poorer classes of natives; large quantities of it come from Yloilo. In Panay Island a kind of texture called Husi is made of a mixture of fine hemp (lupis) and pine-apple leaf fibre. Sometimes this fabric is palmed off on foreigners as pure pina stuff, but a connoisseur can easily detect the hemp filament by the touch of the material, there being in the hemp-fibre, as in horsehair, a certain amount of stiffness and a tendency to spring back which, when compressed into a ball in the hand, prevents the stuff from retaining that shape. Pina fibre is soft and yielding.

Many attempts have been made to draw the hemp fibre by machinery, but in spite of all strenuous efforts, no one has hitherto succeeded in introducing into the hemp districts a satisfactory mechanical apparatus. If the entire length of fibre in a strip of bast could bear the strain of full tension, instead of having to wind it around a cylinder (which would take the place of the operator's hand and stick under the present system), then a machine could be contrived to accomplish the work. Machines with cylinders to reduce the tension have been constructed, the result being admirable so far as the extraction of the fibre is concerned, but the cylinder upon which the fibre coiled, as it came from under the knife, always discoloured the material. A trial was made with a glass cylinder, but the same inconvenience was experienced. On another occasion the cylinder was dispensed with, and a reciprocating-motion clutch drew the bast, running to and fro the whole length of the fibre frame, the fibre being gripped by a pair of steel parallel bars on its passage in one or two places, as might be necessary, to lessen the tension. These steel bars, however, always left a transversal black line on the filament, and diminished its marketable value. What is desired is a machine which could be worked by one man and turn out at least as much clean fibre as the old apparatus could with two men. Also that the whole appliance should be portable by one man.

In 1886 the most perfect mechanical contrivance hitherto brought out was tried in Manila by its Spanish inventor, Don Abelardo Cuesta; it worked to the satisfaction of those who saw it, but the saving of manual labour was so inconsiderable that the greater bulk of hemp shipped is still extracted by the primitive process.

In September, 1905, Fray Mateo Atienza, of the Franciscan Order, exhibited in Manila a hemp-fibre-drawing machine of his own invention, the practical worth of which has yet to be ascertained. It is alleged that this machine, manipulated by one man, can, in a given time, turn out 104 per cent. more clean fibre than the old-fashioned apparatus worked by two men.

Musa textilis has been planted in British India as an experiment, with unsatisfactory result, evidently owing to a want of knowledge of the essential conditions of the fibre-extraction. One report [134] says—

"The first trial at extracting the fibre failed on account of our having no proper machine to bruise the stems. We extemporized a two-roller mill; but as it had no cog-gearing to cause both rollers to turn together, the only one on which the handle or crank was fixed turned, with, the result of grinding the stems to pulp instead of simply bruising them."

In the Philippines one is careful not to bruise the stems, as this would weaken the fibre and discolour it.

Another statement from British India shows that Manila hemp requires a very special treatment. It runs thus:—

"The mode of extraction was the same as practised in the locality with Ambadi (brown hemp) and sunn hemp, with the exception that the stems were, in the first place, passed through a sugar-cane mill which got rid of sap averaging 50 per cent. of the whole. The stems were next rotted in water for 10 to 12 days, and afterwards washed by hand and sun-dried. The out-turn of fibre was 1 3/4 lbs. per 100 lbs. of fresh stem, a percentage considerably higher than the average shown in the Saidapet experiments; it was however of bad colour and defective in strength."

If treated in the same manner in the Philippines, a similar bad result would ensue; the pressure of mill rollers would discolour the fibre, and the soaking with 48 per cent. of pulp, before being sun-dried, would weaken it.

Dr. Ure, in his "Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines," p. 1, thus describes Manila Hemp:—

"A species of fibre obtained in the Philippine Islands in abundance. Some authorities refer these fibres to the palm-tree known as the Abaca or Anisa textilis. There seem indeed to be several well-known varieties of fibre included under this name, some so fine that they are used in the most delicate and costly textures, mixed with fibres of the pine-apple, forming pina muslins and textures equal to the best muslins of Bengal. [135]

"Of the coarser fibres, mats, cordage and sail-cloth are made. M. Duchesne states that the well-known fibrous manufactures of Manila have led to the manufacture of the fibres themselves, at Paris, into many articles of furniture and dress. Their brilliancy and strength give remarkable fitness for bonnets, tapestry, carpets, network, hammocks, etc. The only manufactured articles exported from the Philippine Islands, enumerated by Thomas de Comyn, Madrid, 1820 (translated by Walton), besides a few tanned buffalo-hides and skins, are 8,000 to 12,000 pieces of light sail-cloth and 200,000 lbs. of assorted Abaca cordage."

Manila-hemp rope is very durable; it is equally applicable to cables and to ships' standing and running rigging, but wanting in flexibility. [136]

Hemp-growing, with ample capital, appears to be the most lucrative and least troublesome of all agricultural enterprises in staple export produce in the Colony, whilst it is quite independent of the seasons. The plant is neither affected by disease nor do insects attack it, and the only ordinary risks appear to be hurricanes, drought, insufficient weeding, and the ravages of the wild boar.

Planted in virgin soil, each shoot occupies, at first, a space of 20 English square feet. In the course of time, this regularity of distribution disappears as the original plant is felled and the suckers come up anywhere, spontaneously, from its root. The plant requires three years to arrive at cutting maturity, or four years if raised from the seed; most planters, however, transplant the six-month suckers, instead of the seed, when forming a new plantation. The stem should be cut for fibre-drawing at the flowering maturity; in no case should it be allowed to bear fruit, as the fibre is thereby weakened, and there is sometimes even a waste of material in the drawing, as the accumulation of fibre with the sap at the knife is greater.

The average weight of dry fibre extracted from one plant equals 10 ounces, or say 2 per cent, of the total weight of the stem and petioles; but as in practice there is a certain loss of petioles, by cutting out of maturity, whilst others are allowed to rot through negligence, the average output from a carefully-managed estate does not exceed 3-60 cwt. per acre, or say 4 piculs per caban of land.

The length of the bast, ready for manipulation at the knife, averages in Albay 6 feet 6 inches.

The weight of moisture in the wet fibre, immediately it is drawn from the bast, averages 56 per cent. To sun-dry the fibre thoroughly, an exposure of five hours is necessary.

The first petioles forming the outer covering, and the slender central stem itself around which they cluster, are thrown away. Due to the inefficient method of fibre-drawing, or rather the want of mechanical appliances to effect the same, the waste of fibre probably amounts to as much as 30 per cent. of the whole contained in the bast.

In sugar-cane planting, the poorer the soil is the wider the cane is planted, whilst the hemp-plant is set out at greater space on virgin land than on old, worked land, the reason being that the hemp-plant in rich soil throws out a great number of shoots from the same root, which require nourishment and serve for replanting. If space were not left for their development, the main stem would flower before it had reached its full height and circumference, whereas sugar-cane is purposely choked in virgin soil to check its running too high and dispersing the saccharine matter whilst becoming ligneous.

A great advantage to the colonist, in starting hemp-growing in virgin forest-land, consists in the clearance requiring to be only partial, whilst newly opened up land is preferable, as on it the young plants will sometimes throw up as many as thirty suckers. The largest forest-trees are intentionally left to shade the plants and young shoots, so that only light rooting is imperatively necessary. In cane-planting, quite the reverse is the case, ploughing and sunshine being needful.

The great drawback to the beginner with limited capital is the impossibility of recouping himself for his labour and recovering profit on outlay before three years at least. After that period the risk is small, drought being the chief calamity to be feared. The plants being set out on high land are extremely seldom inundated, and a conflagration could not spread far amongst green leaves and sappy petioles. There is no special cropping season as there is in the case of sugar-cane, which, if neglected, brings a total loss of crop; the plants naturally do not all mature at precisely the same time, and the fibre-extraction can be performed with little precipitation, and more or less all the year round, although the dry season is preferable for the sun-bleaching. If, at times, the stage of maturity be overlooked, it only represents a percentage of loss, whilst a whole plantation of ripe sugar-cane must all be cut with the least possible delay. No ploughing is necessary, although the plant thrives better when weeding is carefully attended to; no costly machinery has to be purchased and either left to the mercy of inexperienced hands or placed under the care of highly-paid Europeans, whilst there are few agricultural implements and no live-stock to be maintained for field labour.

The hemp-fibre, when dry, runs a greater risk of fire than sugar, but upon the whole, the comparative advantages of hemp cultivation over sugar-cane planting appear to be very great.

Hemp-fibre is classified by the large provincial dealers and Manila firms as of first, second, and third qualities. The dealers, or acopiadores, in treating with the small native collectors, or their own workpeople, take delivery of hemp under two classes only, viz.:—first quality (corriente) and second quality (colorada), the former being the whiter, with a beautiful silky gloss.

The difficulties with which the European hemp-cultivator has to contend all centre to the same origin—the indolence of the native; hence there is a continual struggle between capitalist and labourer in the endeavour to counterbalance the native's inconstancy and antipathy to systematic work. Left to himself, the native cuts the plant at any period of its maturity. When he is hard pressed for a peso or two he strips a few petioles, leaving them for days exposed to the rain and atmosphere to soften and render easier the drawing of the fibre, in which putrefaction has commenced. The result is prejudicial to the dealer and the plantation owner, because the fibre discolours. Then he passes the bast under a toothed knife, which is easy to work, and goes down to the village with his bundle of discoloured coarse fibre with a certain amount of dried sap on it to increase the weight. He chooses night-time for the delivery, so that the acopiador may be deceived in the colour upon which depends the selection of quality, and in order that the fibre, absorbing the dew, may weigh heavier. These are the tricks of the trade well known to the native. The large dealers and plantation owners use every effort to enforce the use of knives without teeth, so that the fibre may be fine, perfectly clean and white, to rate as first-class; the native opposes this on the ground that he loses in weight, whilst he is too dull to appreciate his gain in higher value. For instance, presuming the first quality to be quoted in Manila at a certain figure per picul and the third quality at two pesos less, even though the first-class basis price remained firm, the third-class price would fall as the percentage of third-class quality in the supplies went on increasing.

Here and there are to be found hemp-plants which give a whiter fibre than others, whilst some assert that there are three or four kinds of hemp-plant; but in general all will yield commercial first-class hemp (Abaca corriente), and if the native could be coerced to cut the plant at maturity—draw the fibre under a toothless knife during the same day of stripping the petioles—lodge the fibre as drawn on a clean place, and sun-dry it on the first opportunity, then (the proprietors and dealers positively assert) the output of third-quality need not exceed 5 to 6 per cent. of the whole produced. In short, the question of quality in Abaca has vastly less relation to the species of the plant than to the care taken in its extraction and manipulation.

The Chinese very actively collect parcels of hemp from the smallest class of native owners, but they also enter into contracts which bring discredit to the reputation of a province as a hemp-producing district. For a small sum in cash a Chinaman acquires from a native the right to work his plantation during a short period. Having no proprietary interest at stake, and looking only to his immediate gain, he indiscriminately strips plants, regardless of maturity, and the property reverts to the small owner in a sorely dilapidated condition. The market result is that, although the fibre drawn may be white, it is weak, therefore dealings with the Chinese require special scrutiny. Under the native system each labourer on an "estate" (called in Albay Province late) is remunerated by receiving one-half of all the fibre he draws; the other half belongs to the late owner. The share corresponding to the labourer is almost invariably delivered at the same time to the employer, who purchases it at the current local value—often at much less.

In sugar-planting, as no sugar can be hoped for until the fixed grinding-season of the year, planters have to advance to their workpeople during the whole twelve months in Luzon, under the aparcero system. If, after so advancing during six or eight months, he loses half or more of his crop by natural causes, he stands a poor chance of recovering his advances of that year. There is no such risk in the case of hemp; when a man wants money he can work for it, and bring in his bundle of fibre and receive his half-share value. The few foreigners engaged in hemp-planting usually employ wage labour.

In Manila the export-houses estimate the prices of second and third qualities by a rebate from first-class quality price. These rates necessarily fluctuate. When the deliveries of second and third qualities go on increasing in their proportion to the quantity of first-class sent to the market, the rebate for lower qualities on the basis price (first-class) is consequently augmented. If the total supplies to Manila began to show an extraordinarily large proportionate increase of lower qualities, these differences of prices would be made wider, and in this manner indirect pressure is brought to bear upon the provincial shippers to send as much first-class quality as possible.

The labour of young plant-setting in Albay Province in Spanish times was calculated at 3 pesos per 1,000 plants; the cost of shoots 2 feet high, for planting out, was from 50 cents to one peso per 100. However, as proprietors were frequently cheated by natives who, having agreed to plant out the land, did not dig holes sufficiently deep, or set plants without roots, it became customary in Luzon to pay 10 pesos per 100 live plants, to be counted at the time of full growth, or say in three years, in lieu of paying for shoots and labour at the prices stated above. The contractor, of course, lived on the estate.

In virgin soil, 2,500 plants would be set in one pisoson of land (vide Albay land measure), or say 720 to each acre.

A hemp-press employing 60 men and boys should turn out 230 bales per day. Freight by mail steamer to Manila in the year 1890 from Albay ports beyond the San Bernardino Straits, was 50 cents per bale; from ports west of the Straits, 37 1/2 cents per bale.

In the extraction of the fibre the natives work in couples; one man strips the bast, whilst his companion draws it under the knife. A fair week's work for a couple, including selection of the mature plants and felling, would be about 300 lbs. However, the labourer is not able to give his entire attention to fibre-drawing, for occasionally a day has to be spent in weeding and brushwood clearance, but his half-share interest covers this duty.

The finest quality of hemp is produced in the Islands of Leyte and Marinduque, and in the Province of Sorsogon, especially Gubat, in Luzon Island.

Previous to the year 1825, the quantity of hemp produced in these Islands was insignificant; in 1840 it is said to have exceeded 8,500 tons. The average annual shipment of hemp during the 20 years preceding the American occupation, i.e., 1879-98, was 72,815 tons, produced (annual average over that period) approximately as follows, viz.:—in Albay and Sorsogon, 32,000 tons; in Leyte, 16,000 tons; in Samar, 9,000 tons; in Camarines, 4,500 tons; in Mindanao, 4,000 tons; in Cebu, 2,500 tons; in all the other districts together, 4,815 tons.

Albay Province is still the leading hemp district in the Islands. A small quantity of low-quality hemp is produced in Capis Province (Panay Is.); collections are also made along the south-east coast of Negros Island from Dumaguete northwards and in the district of Mauban [137] on the Pacific coast of Tayabas Province (Luzon Is). For figures of Hemp Shipments, vide Chap. xxxi., "Trade Statistics."

The highest Manila quotation for first-quality hemp (corriente) during the years 1882 to 1896 inclusive was P17.21 1/2 per picul, and the lowest in the same period P6.00 per picul (16 piculs = 1 ton; 2 piculs = 1 bale), whilst specially selected lots from Sorsogon and Marinduque fetched a certain advance on these figures.

Albay Province (local) Land Measure

1 Topon = 16 square Brazas = 53.776 English square yards. 312 1/2 Topones = 1 Pisoson = 5,000 square Brazas. 312 1/2 Topones = 1/2 of Quinon = 2 1/2 Cabanes = 3.472 acres.

During the decade prior to the commercial depression of 1884, enormous sums of money were lent by foreign firms and wealthy hemp-staplers to the small producers against deliveries to be effected. But experience proved that lending to native producers was a bad business, for, on delivery of the produce, they expected to be again paid the full value and pass over the sums long due. Hence, capital which might have been employed to the mutual advantage of all concerned, was partially withheld, and the natives complained then, as they do now, that there is no money.

Fortunately for the Philippines, the fibre known as Manila hemp is a speciality of the Colony, and the prospect of over-production, almost annihilating profits to producers—as in the sugar colonies—is at present remote, although the competition with other fibre is severe. The chief fibre-producing countries, besides this colony, are New Zealand, Mauritius, East Indies, Italy, Russia, North America (sisal) and Mexico (henequen).

In 1881 the Abaca plants presented to the Saigon Botanical Gardens were flourishing during the management of Mons. Coroy, but happily for this Colony the experiment, which was to precede the introduction of "Manila Hemp" into French Cochin China, was abandoned, the plants having been removed by that gentleman's successor. In 1890 "Manila Hemp" was cultivated in British North Borneo by the Labuk Planting Company, Limited, and the fibre raised on their estates was satisfactorily reported on by the Rope Works in Hong-Kong.

In view of the present scarcity of live-stock, hemp, which needs no buffalo tillage, would seem to be the most hopeful crop of the future. It will probably advance as fast as sugar cultivation is receding, and command a good remunerative price. Moreover, as already explained, not being distinctly a season crop as sugar is, nor requiring expensive machinery to produce it, its cultivation is the most recommendable to American colonists.



Coffee (Coffea arabica) planting was commenced in the Colony early in the last century. Up to 1889 plantation-owners in the Province of Batangas assured me that the trees possessed by their grandfathers were still flourishing, whilst it is well known that in many coffee-producing colonies the tree bears profitably only up to the twenty-fifth year, and at the thirtieth year it is quite exhausted. Unless something be done to revive this branch of agriculture it seems as if coffee would soon cease to be an article of export from these Islands. In the year 1891 the crops in Luzon began to fall off very considerably, in a small measure due to the trees having lost their vigour, but chiefly owing to the ravages of a worm in the stems. In 1892-93 the best and oldest-established plantations were almost annihilated. Nothing could be done to stop the scourge, and several of the wealthiest coffee-owners around Lipa, personally known to me, ploughed up their land and started sugar-cane growing in place of coffee. In 1883 7,451 tons of coffee were shipped, whilst in 1903 the total export did not reach four tons.

The best Philippine Coffee comes from the Provinces of Batangas, La Laguna and Cavite (Luzon Is.), and includes a large proportion of caracolillo, which is the nearest shape to the Mocha bean and the most esteemed. The temperate mountain regions of Benguet, Bontoc, and Lepanto (N.W. Luzon) also yield good coffee.

The most inferior Philippine coffee is produced in Mindanao Island, and is sent up to Manila sometimes containing a quantity of rotten beans. It consequently always fetches a lower price than Manila (i.e., Luzon) coffee, which is highly prized in the market.

MANILA QUOTATIONS FOR THE TWO QUALITIES

Average Prices throughout the Years

Per Picul of 133 1/3 Eng. lbs.

Manila (Luzon) Coffee 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1890 1891 P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts.

10.25 12.00 12.68 12.00 12.17 26.14 21.47 31.00 30.50

Mindanao Coffee 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1890 1891 P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. P.cts. 9.30 10.00 12.00 9.87 9.56 19.50 20.34 25.80 24.40 nom.

Quotations later than 1891 would serve no practical purpose in the above table of comparison, as, due to the extremely small quantity produced, almost fancy prices have ruled since that date. In 1896, for instance, the market price ran up to P35 per picul, whilst some small parcels exchanged hands at a figure so capriciously high that it cannot be taken as a quotation. For figures of Coffee Shipments, vide Chap, xxxi., "Trade Statistics."

I investigated the system of coffee-growing and trading in all the Luzon districts, and found it impossible to draw up a correct general estimate showing the nett cost laid down in Manila market. The manner of acquiring the produce and the conditions of purchase varied so greatly, and were subject to so many peculiar local circumstances, that only an approximate computation could be arrived at.

Some of the provincial collectors had plantations of their own; others had not, whilst none of them depended entirely upon the produce of their own trees for fulfilling the contracts in the capital.

Coffee was a much more fluctuating concern than hemp, as the purchase-rate (although perhaps low) was determined out of season several months before it was seen how the market would stand for the sale of that coffee; in hemp transactions (there being practically no season for hemp) the purchase-money need only be paid on delivery of the produce by the labourer at rates proportionate to Manila prices, unless the dealer be simply a speculator, in which case, having contracted in Manila to deliver at a price, he must advance to secure deliveries to fulfil his contract. Therefore, in coffee, a provincial collector might lose something on the total year's transactions or he might make an enormous profit, if he worked with his own capital. If he borrowed the capital from Manila dealers—middlemen—as was often the case, then he might make a fortune for his Manila friends, or he might lose another year's interest on the borrowed funds.

In Cavite Province districts there was another way of negotiating coffee speculations. The dealer with capital advanced at, say, 6 or 7 pesos per picul "on joint account up to Manila." The planter then bound himself to deliver so many piculs of coffee of the next gathering, and the difference between the advance rate and the sale price in Manila was shared between the two, after the capitalist had deducted the charges for transport, packing, commission in Manila, etc. All the risk was, of course, on the part of the capitalist, for if the crop failed the small planter had no means of refunding the advance.

On a carefully-managed plantation, a caban of land (8,000 square Spanish yards) was calculated to yield 10.40 piculs (= 12 1/2 cwt.) of clean coffee, or, say, 9 cwt. per acre. The selling value of a plantation, in full growth, was about P250 per caban, or, say, P180 per acre. After 1896 this land value was merely nominal.

The trees begin to give marketable coffee in the fourth year of growth, and flourish best in hilly districts and on highlands, where the roots can be kept dry, and where the average temperature does not exceed 70 deg. Fahr. Caracolillo is found in greater quantities on the highest declivities facing east, where the morning sun evaporates the superfluous moisture of the previous night's dew.

In the Province of Cavite there appeared to be very little system in the culture of the coffee-tree. Little care was taken in the selection of shading-trees, and pruning was much neglected. Nevertheless, very fine coffee was brought from the neighbourhood of Indan, Silan, Alfonso, and Amadeo. The Batangas bean had the best reputation in Manila; hence the Indan product was sometimes brought to that market and sold as Batangas coffee.

In Batangas the coffee-plant is usually shaded by a tree called Madrecacao (Gliricidia maculata)—Tagalog, Galedupa pungam. On starting a plantation this tree is placed in rows, each trunk occupying one Spanish yard, and when it has attained two or three feet in height the coffee-shoot is planted at each angle. Between the third and eighth years of growth every alternate shading-tree and coffee-plant is removed, as more space for development becomes necessary. The coffee-plants are pruned from time to time, and on no account should the branches be allowed to hang over and meet. Around the wealthy town of Lipa some of the many coffee-estates were extremely well kept up, with avenues crossing the plantations in different directions.

At the end of eight years, more or less, according to how the quality of soil and the situation have influenced the development, there would remain, say, about 2,400 plants in each caban of land, or 1,728 plants per acre. Comparing this with the yield per acre, each tree would therefore give 9.33 ounces of marketable coffee, whilst in Peru, where the coffee-tree is planted at an elevation of 5,000 to 6,000 feet above sea-level, each tree is said to yield one pound weight of beans.

In the Philippines the fresh ripe berries, when thoroughly sun-dried, lose an average weight of 52 per cent. moisture.

The sun-dried berries ready for pounding (husking) give an average of 33.70 of their weight in marketable coffee-beans.

It takes eight cabanes measure (vide p. 276) of fresh-picked ripe berries to turn out one picul weight of clean beans.

Owing to the fact that one year in every five gives a short crop, due either to the nature of the plant or to climatic variations, it pays better to collect coffee from the very small growers rather than sink capital in large estates on the aparcero system (q.v.).

The coffee-plant imperatively requires shade and moisture, and over-pruning is prejudicial. If allowed to run to its natural height it would grow up to 15 to 25 feet high, but it is usually kept at 7 to 10 feet. The leaves are evergreen, very shining, oblong, leathery, and much resemble those of the common laurel. The flowers are small, and cluster in the axils of the leaves. They are somewhat similar to the Spanish jasmine, and being snow-white, the effect of a coffee plantation in bloom is delightful, whilst the odour is fragrant. The fruit, when ripe, is of a dark scarlet colour, and the ordinary coffee-berry contains two semi-elliptic seeds of a horny or cartilaginous nature glued together and enveloped in a coriaceous membrane; when this is removed each seed is found covered with a silver-grey pellicle.