The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-20
TRADE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
AMERICAN OCCUPATION OF MA
MIA CUSTOM HOUSE.

Conqueror's Language - Traders
Take Kindly TO Seeing Old Glory
Floating at Their Nasthead-A De
tailed statement OF the Imports
Into the Philippines for Four
Months shows What Fierce Rival
~ This Country Must Encounter
in Holding Her own with the
Islands.
BY George Arthur Smith, editor American
Soldier in Manila
The financia. returns Of the Manila Gus
tom house covering the perod from Aug
q. the date of the American occupation
OF the custom house. 10 Dec. 81, 1855 tells
a story of an importation race almost as
exciting in the telling as rush for
claims on a newly opened reservation.
The total revenue. IN excess OF expenses
and refunds. amounted 70 81 s16
These figures ore of Mexican currency or
of pesos instead of dollars ana can SO be
considered throughout the report The
duties collected on imports were 81 .553 il3oi,
and on exports S335.37L20 OF these
amounts $780, 80 We're collected in fines. In
other words. II cost the bewildered Span
lard that amount TO catch the drift of
Uncle Sans way of doing business. The
Spauiards considered our methods fright
fully complicated at the start, but they
now admit them simple, once one gets ac-
customed to them. -Four hundred ana
fourteen dollars and nfty-hve cents were
collected as translation fees. 1t costs the
unlucky skipper who has so far neglected
his education as to slight the learning of
English 10 cents a line for translatins
every document that comes to the custom.
house yelled in The mysteries Of Caste
lano Thus viii the language of the con.
querors prevail in time.
There We're seventy-seven foreign and 260
coast vessels entered Manila during this
period Eighty foreign and PSI coast YES
sels cleared for ports various in and be-
yOn6 the Philippines These figures rop-
resent total tonnage of 990f163 entered
and 81 1921 tons cleared. England heads
the list of foreign traders with g, 907S9
tons registered, and Norway second with
ships registering a total Of 10 1882 tons
American ships come next followed by
Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Den
mark in their order. In the coasting
trade the American flag floats proudly
above old Spain herself which is a very
good example OF the hekleness of SPANS
eOrs, in thus taxing up SO quickly with the
rev love. May it be said however, of a
lew 5pdAiSil ONIldilt5f anu WIN ttt NUM-
Of Spain" st2r.ng us in the face. that
they preferred 20 sell or leave their ships
for others to command rather than face
the odium o. { III Glory at The masthead
The tonnage OF vessels in coast trade fly
INK the -tmeriC an flag was d, O229l while
that Of poor but once proud Spain tummed
UP at ii paltry 1l92.l9 tons hardly the size
OF a Gloucester fisherman. S"
Wen sail the seas, with our added tons.
"a part of the white Mans Burden,~
With knife III our teeth Tor the Moros
we meet
(sun more OF the white Mans Bur
den.D
Tow let us take a look at tie importa-
ton figures They rise ami tan alike
barometer ana ohe can find no better
method for lLdSlnS of the enterprise OF
the different countries of the world than
10 tvk al the Importation barometer at
Manila for the FIST few months after her
occupation by americans Ali my figures
are for The period from Aug. y to Dec. Is
1888.
ScoOpcd ON Cigarette Paper.
H. a country that probably smokes as
many cigarettes as good part of the
rest Of the world put together, cigarette
paper is an item of Importance a. well
as of import. There are no paper mills
in the Philippines. They have depended
upon Spain almost exclusively for their
per is evidently too expensive for it
is very seldom used Ia August there We're
1900 Kilograms "a kiiOgram, or klo, Is
equal 10 .. 2046 pounds arrived from Spain.
China was quick 10 fOrsee a paper fam
Inc and landed ! go kios i'm this month,
but its owner evidently did not meet with
the success hoped for as China does not
again ada fuel for the flames unul De-
cember. when She brought in 252 klos
probably for Chinese consumption only.
In September il seemed as il the world
had seen a fortune in cigarette paper for
England jumped IN with S,Sl3 kilos Ger
many with 1852 kos. France with 10 500
kilos and Austria with S2l3 kEos Where
was Uncle Sam all mis- time? Well, in
this case at least ne was "scooped" f0I
he did not offer 10 Manila a particle of
cigarette paper during the year 1898. and
thus missed the greatest opportunity ol
his life IN not sending mis- cigarette hend:
on a chase 20 his new possessions for the
necessary plating for the odorful coffin
nail" Span. however. was not out of II
for good. In November she dropped IL
with GALS klOs, and followed it up witt
2i,162 kilos IN December She may max,
few more spurts for favor in the pape
market but il is safe TO say that Uncl,
Sam VIII likely look into this question
himself BIT in future
The trade IN fireworks always has. an
more than likely, always viii be held Ia
China and Japan. 1t might. however. b.
interesting 10 note that the importation o
fireworks amounts to quite bit in tn,
course of a year, in which time there ar,
no less than 1876 holidays on which the min
iature rattle Of muskeUy is let loose b,
our newly acquired Young America. Tn
total Importation Of this article of com
merco for The period mentioned was 65g
KIDS, OF somewhat over SIX tons, notwith
standing the fact that great effort wa
made by the American authorities to sun
press this species Of eXuberance in view o
the straineu conditions Of nerves and AT
fairs
Would yol believe 1t that Manila. tn
home OF the mango. paupau. lime. lemon
orange, banana mountain apple. water
melon, pineapple and dozens OF olAa
fruits, was importing fresh fruits? Wei
she is, and during the time for which nm
quoting figures she imported no less IN,
li,9H kilos from the United States alone