The times., 1898-07-25
RICHES OF THE PHILIPPINES
Facts Of Interest Concerning Amer
ica's Latest Acquisition

ica's Latest Acquisition
The following facts regarding the re-
sources of the Philippines have been COM
piled by DR.. Wilson of the Philadelphia
Commercial Museum:
If the policy OF colonization had been
deliberately adopted by the United States
and the world searched for territory ca
pabie OF yielding wealth in a hundred dif-
ferent ways. whose natural resources lay
in allegiance and neglected. awaiting only
ordinary enterprise and modern methods
TO develop. no better place answering
these conditions could have been selected
than the Philippine Islands
The number and extenc of these ISL
ands have never been accurately deter
mined. but they are variously estimated
at from 500 to 1900, with an area of from
80. 900 square miles to ll2, 500 square miles.
The majority OF them are barren, little
more than volcanic eruotions of coral
reefs thrusting their heads above water.
The principal islands are nine in number.
with a joint area of 9S500 square miles
The largest and most northerIy of these
is Luzon. which is abous $50 miles long
and 80 miles wide at its broadest part
The next in area is .Mindanao. which is
also the most southerly, about 30 miles
in length and 40 miles wide.
Between these, lying side beside in
| cluster on the western side of the group
are Paney. 100 miles long by so wide:
Negras, 13O miles long by % miles wide,
| and Cebu. a long and narrow island l40
miles in length and averaging Is miles
| wide The chief characteristics of the
| islands are their high but sioping noun
| tains. many of them active volcanoes, the
! extraordinary depth and fertility of the
| SOIL and the luxuriance of the forest
! growth. For the most part the islands
/ are unexplored even the interior of Luz
| Zon, which has the capital Manila, and
is the best cultivated of any of them. re-
mains unknown to the outside world.
| No geological survey of the islands has
ever been attempted, the information pig
| eon-holed in the Spanish archives being
mainly obtained through the religious
| missionaries. There is no doubt that
mineral! riches abound; all that is needed
to extract their wealth being modern
methods and scientific working. Aurifer-
Gus deposits exist over widely spread
| areas, and mining for gold is an industry
which the Philippine native has prosecut-
! ed in his own primitive way for years. He
| crusheS the quartz by means of a heavy
| stone pulled over and around another on
| the principle of the mill stone, and
| washes out the gold in wooden dish.
The placer gold he extracts by pounding
the dirt in the dish and washing it after
wards in a finely woven basket. which
holds the gold but allows the mud to run
Coal has been found on many of the
islands, but the only deposits which have
been in any way developed are on the ISL
| and of Cebu. In 1895 two mines in opera
| tion there were estimated to yield $500
| tons each a day. but this amount was
! not being taken out. The coal is a lig-
| mite. and some of 1t used on the steamers
of the coast trade has been preferred to
the New South Wales product. The Span
ish feet drew supplies from these mines.
In the mines of Ulung five beds have been
| located measuring three of them three
| feet eight inches. one five feet eight
| inches and one five feet thick The car
| boniferous formation extends over the
greater portion of Cebu. From Baiambon
and Sogod to Malabuyue and Bojoon, COM
| ptAofaiS dil area CI UlIY miles, tneFe Is
not village that does not show an out
crop Of coal. and at Campastella, near
Cebu City, the coal being mined is of a
superior quality On the island of Mas
bate, a local steamship owner supplied
his ship from the hillside as long as the
i-&aborers could probe out coal with crow
bars This locality is estimated to con-
tain 6Oa,e00 tons of fuel. On the island OF
Batan, southeast of Luzon, deposits have
been successfully worked. Cebu coal ex-
ported to Hong Kong has given a very
good quality of illuminating gas.
| Copper has been found in many parts
of the Philippines. In the central noun.
tain range of Luzon there are consider.
able deposits which were worked after g
fashion by the half castles prior 20 the
Spanish invasion.
Deposits of rich iron are known to exis
in Luzon, some close to Manila, and alsc
in Cebu. Mercury is said to have beer
found, and galena has been taken out ir
| Cebu. Good samples of gypsum have
been found in Butangas and fine kaolir
has been produced from the decomposef
rocks found in many places. A hand
some marble of grayish hue with whit,
veins exists in considerable quantities i,
Cebu and deposits of sulphur are fre
| quent apart from those in the craters O.
the inactive volcanoes. Excepting for {
few spasmodic and faint-hearted attempts
by Anglo-Spanish companies no effort to
wards exploiting these deposits has beer
made, and probably it has been left {,
the enterprise and dash of Americans t,
, show the way here as elsewhere.
Il II is, however when the attention is
turned to the agricultural riches of the
islands that the immense possibilities ii
the development of them may be conceiv-
! | ed. Taking up first those which nature
lavishly supplies. there IS the banana
/, tree. from which the famous so-calleG
Manila hemp is obtained. 1t is indigenou:
and most prolific Raised from seeds, tht
, trees grow rapidly and require little care
! When modern methods are applied to tn.
manufacture of this material. known te