Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-08
TRADE OF The PHILIPPINES
New Conditions Proving a Stimulus to
COMMERCIAL Life.
UNITED STATES GETTING LARGER SHARE
Lpsuiar Buresu Pats Out n Compre-
hensive summary Of the Trade
for n Past Three
Years.

WASHINGTON. Sept. THE trade sta
tistics Of the Philippines Tor the calendar
years 1899. 1900 and 1901. as published BY
Inc, Bureau OF Insular Affairs Of the War
department In its monthly bulletin for De-
ccmoer, 1901. shows a determined effort on
1he part of the commercial world at large to
invade the Industrial field afforded by the
Islands. With what success is shown by
the fact that the importation of merchan-
disc for the year 1901 establishes a new
record the value Of goods purchased dur
ing thfs period exceed. ng that Of any pre-
Niouf year In the history OF the archipelago.
me statements made In this review OF
hllippine relate exclusively to
goods which are duly entered and passed
through the Philippine custom houses, but
DO not include supplies imported by the
United states government for the use OF the
army, navy, marine hospital service, or
by the insular government for it's use, or
that OF It's subordinate branches. For ex-
ample. the Manila ice plant, costing in the
neighborhocd Of $1,000, 900, the govern.
ment printing plant. which cost about $780,
oOd large supplies in the way Of school
DOCKS furniture, etc, for the Department
Ct Public Instruction, were all purchased
IN the United States, but do not appear in
the Of the United States with
The islands. The insular distributing agent
at Washington disburses something like
S1'OVO'OOO per annum for the insular gov
ernment all Of which is for merchandise
purchased in the United States. The in
sular purchasing agent at Manila also DUR
chases extensively in the United States as
Wen as in other countries, so that the total
volume OF trade between the United States
and the Philippines is much greater than
appears from the following;
Analysis of Leading Imports.
Below is furnished an analysis Of the
leading articles Imported and exported;
comparisons between the business of The
years 1899, 1900 and 1901; relat We propor-
lions OF trade Of different countries with
the archipelago, and other data which is
considered interesting and may be Of bene-
nj to any who anticipate relations with
the Islands In q business way.
Trade In the islands has received An i'm
petus since their transfer to the United
yates which. under tho present conditions,
vs. bound to continue. The only visible fac
Aors winch VIII in any way check or i'm
pede an immediate greater development are
Jack OF means OF transportation and of
proper agricultural machinery and methods.
The construction of railroads and high
ways and the improvement Of harb3rs will
necessarily be gradual, but the introduce
ZION OF proper farming machinery and i'm
PIGMENTS should be immediate.
Natives are not expected to take the
Initiative in these matters. but they will
adopt improved methods which are brought
to their immediate notice; for instance.
we're a number OF intelligent farmers, us nR
up-to~date appliances, distributed among
the different provinces, the trade in all
tnat goes to properly equip a farm or
plantation would soon reach great propor-
aions. 1t would doubtless pay some Of our
manufacturer OF machinery to experiment
along this line. One of the alleged MS
takes Of the Spanish government during
IS ownership OF the archipelago was the
disbursement. OF real estate tenure en-
me part Of the inhabitants. the latter on
tnis account being reduced to a condition
Ot peonage. or at the best. living as squat
'crs upon crown lands and subject TO evic-
tlon without notice. BY leg station now
pending the United States government pro-
poses to make II possible for the natives
OF the Philippine islands to secure for
themselves lands in fee simple, and nothing
Is better calculated to induce thrift. indus
try ard a law-abiding spirit on the part of
any individual than a home surrounded by
a few acres Of land that he may call his
cW7.
Increase In Imports and ExpOrts.
BY reference to the figures herein II will
be shown that the imports into the ISLANDS
rose from a little more than $40. 900. 900 n
1888 to nearly $25, 900, 900 in 1900, ana to
more than $50. 200. 900 in 1901, the Increase
for 1901 being 50 per cent over 1899 and
more than 21 per cent over 1900; exports
having risen in the same period from
nearly SIS, 000. 900 in 1899 to about s29, 900. 900
in 1900, and approximately $24, 500, 900 in
1901. Customs duties on merchandise rose
from $4,411 $50 in 1899 to sI700, 67e in 1900
and to IS, 164. 466 in 1901. During the latter
years of Spanish ownership the revenue
from this source averaged between 81, 000,-
900 and $500. 900 annually.
1t Is interesting 20 note the fluctuations
In the volume Of trade under the new order
of things as regards its distribution. In
1893 the United States supplied Z per cent
Of the imports; in 1900, 9 per cent. and in
1901, IL per cent; the United Kingdom, II,
% and IS per cent for these years, re-
spectively; Spain, IL. 8 and s per cent;
Germany, 3, 7 and Z per cent; France, 2,
4 and 8 per cent; China, including Hong
Kong, 43, 81 and 16 per cent; British East
indies, 4. Z and IL per cent; Japan, 1, 2 ana
4 per cent; all other countries, Z. 10 and
20 per cent. Quite a large portion OF the
Philippine trade is via Hong Kong, and
from reports, especially Of exports. It would
appear that Hong Kong furnishes the
archipelago a considerable part OF It's i'm
ports and absorbs a large percentage OF
its exports. This. however, is not the
case, as Hong Kong Is simply a distributing