The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-16
NATURAL RESOURCES.

Nal L Kali 1(EoOO 1LCES.
There is, indeed, scarcely any tropical
product of value which canot be grown
in the islands, and there is one, espe-
cially remunerative-Mani hemp
which will succeed nowhere else.
Spain has done nothing to encourage
agriculture; she has, on the contrary,
checked and hampered it in every pos
sble way by her ill-judged taXations
and monopolies; she has, as NJ. de I.e-
val shows, violated every economic
and commercial law. But in spite of
it all, the output of this, the finest Of
her colonies, has been remarkable.
Cane sugar, we know, is doomed, but
the amount grown is enormous, and in
1897 over 100000 tons were exported.
Negros and Panay. especially the
former where the yield is often forty
tons per acre. are the chief islands
producing it; but it is grown almost
universally, as is rice, the staple food
of the people. The latter however,
not being a paying crop, is not pro-
duced in sufficient quantities for the
needs Of the archipelago, and much is
imported from China and Siam. The
agriculturist looks to other crops for
profit. and of these the most important
are Manila hemp known in the islands
as abaca, tobacco and copra.
The plantations of abaca, which are
by the traveller generally mistaken for
tall bananas. and are in fact q closely
allied species of Musa, give, it may be
said, the best return of any product.
The province of AlbaY, in Southern
Luzon, surDasseS every other district
both in the quantity and quality of its
yield, though much is also grown in
Samar and Leyte. Mr.. Lala quotes the
case of an 1S00-acre plantation owned
by one of his friends, who had invested
capital to the amount of 100000. His
annual working expenses amounted to
$4,000, and his net profit in the year
of which he speaks was Sl7 1000. Yet
the method of obtaining the fibre is
still more primitive, and strikes every
European with surprise. A blunt knife,
much like a tObaccO-Cutter, drops on to
block of hard wood, and between
these the portions Of leaf-stalk are one
by one pulled, the operator regulating
the pressure by a sort of pedal The
juice being thus expressed, the result
ant fibre is dried in the sun. AS yet no
machinery has been found to perform
the operation so satisfactorily, but it is
unlikely that American powers of in
vention will long be bafFied by this
problem. Some 100000 bales of hemp
are now annually produced, and Il
seems more than probable that this
produce will be cultivated in greatly
increased quantities when the war is
over. Whether tobacco will prove
equally remunerative is doubtful,
IL
half the expenses of the colony. The
enforced culture of the plant during
the days of the reggie was no doubt a
great hardship for the natives who
were unable to work their rice fields at
the same time. but most people who
knew the country at that period would
agree in saying that since 1882 it has
not been so easy to obtain good cigars.
The great tobacco district is that of
Cagayan, in the extreme north of Lu-
2on, but the plant is widely grown
throughout the archipelago. About
157 ,00O 900 cigars were exported in
1897, in addition to $4,000 tons of leaf
tobacco; and the tobacco factories of
Manila employ nearly 10000 hands.
There is a vast production of leaf Of
poor quality, though in Sulu Island an
attempt was made, a few years ago,
and with some success, TO produce
the valuable wrappers" for the Ha-
vana cigars a trade which, up to that
| time, had been monopolized by Scots
| men In Sumatra; hut whether the in
| dustry still continues we know not.
| There are some very large tobacco
! companies i'm the islands. among them
| the Compania General de Tabacos dc
| n ~
| on the whole il may be said there is
| less room for development, save In the
direction of improved quality, in this
| product than in others. COpra, on the
| other hand, seems to offer a certainty
of increase, and the shipments. which
| in 1890 amounted only to 1000 tons,
| reached a total of 20 600 in 1897 Among