The Philippine Islands Part 27

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. c.u.mulative 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 pa.s.ses 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 antic.i.p.ated 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 pa.s.senger 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 doc.u.ment of identification--the requirement of a pa.s.sport 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 pa.s.sant_ 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, pa.s.sage 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-cla.s.s 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 cla.s.s 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 t.i.tle-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 circ.u.mstances 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 disenc.u.mber 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 quant.i.ty of paltry jewellery from the first hawker who pa.s.sed his way, or let the cash slip out of his hands at the c.o.c.k-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 a.s.sert 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 acc.u.mulate property and were free to transfer their services. They corresponded to that cla.s.s of farmers known in France as _metayers_ and amongst the Romans of old as _Coloni Partiarii_, with no right in the land, but ent.i.tled 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 t.i.tle-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. lat.i.tudes 9 and 11. 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-cla.s.s sugar that it compensates for the decrease in quant.i.ty, 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 quant.i.ty of crystal-grain sugar is sent, ready for consumption, to Spain. Consequently, in the Island of Luzon, a higher cla.s.s 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 ca.n.a.ls 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 s.p.a.ce 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.