New-York tribune., 1901-08-05

cultes the chief drawback to the Immediate COM
merctal supremacy OF Americans in the Philip
pines is their ignorance OF the field. The English
man has been here for years. he knows the coun-
try, its products and its peoples. Furthermore by
judicous system OF loans TO planters he has tied
up for himself many Of the choicest crops Of the
islands. and by long commercial supremacy he has
the confidence OF the native traders. The
Yankee Will find a worthy business rival In the Far
Eastern colonial Engshman. and In the Philip
pines there is n fine promise OF war to the knife
between the two for there prizes here that are
worth the battle.
interisand transportation In connection with the
hemp, copra tobacco and lumber trades. Present
facilities very poor and entirely inadequate to
handle present business. much less the great In
crease that is soon TO come. This traffic is now
monopolized by the English firms mentioned and
in addition to the regular commercial business.
they get much government freight from Manila to
interisand ports.
The copra situation offers a fine example of
Phfippne business procedure and profits. The
Manila merchant pays the cocoanut planter 81
Mexican tree yearly rental Each tree bears
annually about 12J nuts. and three trees VIII turn
out two pculs Of dried cOpra. The process of
converting the cocoanut into copra consists simply
In cutting the nut in half and placing 1t In the
sun. When the meat is dried sufficiently 1t falls
out of the shell and Is baIed into picus. The
current price for picul of copra in Manila at
this date is S. Thus. it will be seen that the
planter gets 50 the product OF three trees that
net the Manila merchant approximately N2 Copra
is nearly all shipped Marseilles. France and
there the oil is extracted and used In the manu-
facture of fine toilet soaps etc. To Illustrate the
crudeness of business conditions here. attention is
called the fact that the raw copra in bulk is
shipped to Europe whereas IL the oil could be eX-
tracted from the nuts here a great saving would
be made both in freight and from loss in the evap
Grafton oil IN the copra state. However, the
profits large as IL is that only live competi-
tion will arouse the Oriental merchant to the
meaning OF the words saving in freight and vast
age" - = -
Cocoanut planting presents most attractive
field for investment. Cocoanut trees grow we'll
many parts of the archipelago and commence 10
bear after the NTH year. There about five
hundred TO the acre of cocoanut grove, and
even at the less than value rental of 81 tree the
ownership of hundred acres of healthy cocoa
nut trees is a comfortable holding, especially since
the trees bear we'll up TO the ninetieth year.
The island of Negros has some OF the finest su-
gar lands in the world, and the people there are
the most peaceful in the archipelago. With proper
supervision transportation facilities and labor. this
island will become world factor In sugar. The
orange Industry Is also capable of unlimited de-
velopment in the Philippine Islands ~ good na-
tive orange Claws wild in many OF the provinces.
and with proper cultivation there Is no reason
why the Philippines should not raise fine oranges.
for the climate is ideal for their culture. Coffee
has already been grown with success and profit In
Batangas Province. The industry seriously
injured a few years ago by worm that ate the