Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1902-06-12
fibre are annually exported from these
cocoanuts and Rice Raised.

fibre are annually exported from these
islands.
Cocoanuts and Rice Raised.
The manufacture of copra, which is
the meat of the cocoanut in the dried
state, Is engaged in by almost the en-
tire population of the provinces where
cocoanut groves have been planted,
and this industry, with small patch
of rice, is the chief source of revenue
for many thousands of persons. The
cocoanut palm is planted, and in from
three to five years it begins to bear
fruit, and the work of the natives is
to gather up the fruit after they have
ripened and, after extracting the
white meat lay it in the sun to dry.
After it has become sufficiently dried
it is pressed into crates and shipped
to France and Spain where it is chiefly
used in the manufacture of oils, SOAP
and cologne.
AS the native diet is chiefly rice and
fish, these two industries occupy the
time and attention of no small part
of the inhabitants of the archipelago.
The natives fish in the creeks and
along the rivers and their tributaries
for small fish and hunt in the mud
banks for the schrimp and minnows,
disposing of what they do not eat. in
the market of the cities towns and
provinces. This occupation is chiefly
engaged in by the boys and old men,
who are unable or disinclined to do
the harder labor of the fields, and the
natives who live in the cities and
larger towns depend upon these fish
ermen to supply them with one of
their principal dishes. The income de-
rived from this source is not, to the
foreigner, enough to enable him to
purchase any. or very little of the ne
cessities of life.
Rice is grown by almost every ma
tive living in the provinces where the
waters during the rainy season easily
overflow the land, or where the land
is EARLY irrigated by means of the
streams flowing down the mountains
There are rice mills in number of
the provinces throughout the islands,
and it is to these that the natives
bring their rice to be threshed, ground
and rolled. The rice mills are owned
and controlled in the most instances
by the English firms, but are operated
by the natives. In the provinces or
portion of provinces where there are
no mills the natives generally grind
their own rice by placing it in large
wooden mortar and pounding it with a
pestle of heavy wood, and separate
the chaff by placing it in circular bas-
kets and turning it rapidly around and
occasionally tossing it into the air.
The surplus rice of a province is
shipped generally to Manila and that
not consumed there is shipped to the
non-rice-producing provinces or other
islands. The quantity of rice which is
! produced is, as in case of all the 9TH
| er necessities of life. raised in the
| Philippines for less than the con-
sumption, and, in order to supply the
demand, large quantities are con-
stantly being imported from Hong
Kong and other Asiatic ports.
Tobacco Produced.
The cultivation and manufacture of
tobacco is engaged in by large por-
ton of the natives in the northern part
of the islands, and little is grown in
the southern part; the factories of the
city of Manila alone employ thousands
of natives. The native women and
| girls are employed chiefly in the manu-
facture of cigarettes, while the men
/ are engaged in the rolling of cigars,
and the small wages which each cigar.
cite girl receives often goes to the sup
port of a whole family of relatives
i You can see from the cheapness of the
4 goods what wages they are compelled
I to receive. Good cigars sell at from
| 1lac to &c and cigarettes at from 20
to so for &c.
Although the manufacture of tobac-
/ co has been established for many
years, they have devoted their entire
! time and attention to producing cigars
and cigarettes and with this limitation
put upon their expansion in expert
menting with other kinds, the output
of all the factories fails to meet the
demand for home consumption. The
importation of Havana cigars has been
carried on quite extensively and most
/ probably.
The natives of the province of lisa
bella raise the best quality of tobacco
grown on the islands, and the entire
crop of that Province is practically
controlled by one or two companies in
Manila. The tobacco land is worked
by the natives on the cooperative sys.
\ TEN which is, and has been for several
!,
tations of the southern states of the
Union. The Filipino often disposes OF
his share by selling it to the owner OF
lessee at a price slightly below that
which prevails at Manila. AS has
i been said the factories devote theil
time to cigars and cigarettes, while
the smoking and chewing tobacco have
I received hardly any attention at all
There has, however, during the past
i few months, been established ant
erected, factory for the making OF
this kind of tobacco alone. and for the
past two months they have been work
ing day and night in order to supply
the orders which have already been re
ceiyed.
i Much Sugar Cane Grown.
Owing to the geographical situation
of the islands and the wonderful fer
tility of the soil. the production of SUI
gar cane has been comparatively easy
and the few sugar mills that have beer
ereced in the islands, employ most O
the natives living in the vicinity there
of. The southern islands produce The