The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1909-08-10
Derforna ance
THE MAN BEHIND THE GUN.

ture has been niggardly in her gifts TO
the Philippines. Nowhere Is vegetation
more luxuriant. and nowhere is there
q greater variety OF useful products
Japan, with Formosa, has an area OF
l47.s55 square miles. less than 20 pei
cent of which Is tillable. The popula-
ton of Japan Is 50.000,000. The area
Of the Philippine Islands 10 1883
square miles, and the population Is
about 100000. Nearly the whole of
It's area Is arabic, and the greater por-
tion of 1t is a garden spot.
The Philippines, with agriculture
properly developed, could support q
population larger than that OF Japan
and the position Of Manila with regard
to Asian markets gives the islands
magnificent opportunities for export
ing both agricultural products and the
surplus output of factories. The great
need of the islands is their rapid de-
velopment as producers OF staples for
home consumption and export trade.
At present Manila annually imports
millions Of dollars worth OF rice while
excellent rice lands lie fallow.
In valleys which rival those Of the
Nile in richness one sees agricultural
methods as primitive as those of Egypt
The Taos pillow is made from the
crotch of a tree, lightly shod with iron
To this lie hitched carabao. an ami
NAL as dignified as the donkey and as
deliberate in his movements as the
snail. Upon the edge of q cane field
there is sugar mill made OF two re.
yolving stones or rollers of molave
wood. which crush only 80 or so per
cent Of fhe sap from the cane. The
rest, goes to waste.
Within the last decade the farmer
has been discouraged by war. by pesti-
lence. by ladronism, by rinderpest that
killed 80 per cent of his carabao, by
surra that killed his horses, and by
native politicians who tell HIM that
what he wants Is not bread and meat
but independence. He has hardly had
time to get upon his feet, but with q
vigorous pushing of agricultural in
struction and experimentation, by the
insular government, he may come into
his own within the next decade. Until
farming is put upon q modern basis
geat prosperity will not come to tbs
Philippines.
II one Is asked what crops will grow
In the Philippines the answer in detail
must be made In the form OF cata.
logue of the products of all tropica
and semi-tropical countries. Hemp, to.
bacco. sugar and rice are usually men.
TONED as the great Philippine staples
but these are only few Of the crops
that can be produced upon a remuner.
ative scale. Coffee, chocolate, cocoa.
nuts, tropical fruits of all kinds, rub
err, sisal hemp, tapioca. gutta percha
pepper, indigo and numerous othel
tropical products may he grown with
less outlay in money and labor. in pro
portion to returns, than most crops re.
quire In temperate zones
From invetefate critics of the Fill
Pine comes the statement that wher
the plague killed the carabao a few
years ago the farmers sat down will
| their hands folded and did not attemp
| to pillow their fields. Chinese, In SINH
lar circumstances, would have hitchet
coolies to their plows. but Filipinos
| like Occidental peoples. use only ami
| mails as beasts OF burden. They di,
what American farmers would have
done in the same dilemma. Quite lik,
an American farmer one Filipino il
Luzon bought gasoline traction motor
when his carabao died, and ran hi
| plows with them. AS the season wal
| far advanced he used acetylene lamps
and double shifts and plowed by nigh
as we'll as by day. Other native farm
ers of means and education are adopt
ing American methods. but the vas
majority lack both means and educa
ton. and their progress Is necessaril,
| slow.
The slump in hemp of all kinds ha
been a hard blow to Philippine inter
| ests. Coming after the war and upoi
| the heels of other disasters 1T has nat
urally, had a serious effect. Manila
hemp has never had a successful riva
and Manila Zines" are known to sail
ors in every port in the world TIL,
| fibre is the product of the abaca plan
which closely resembles the banan:
H., 10.
| and although attempts have been mad,
to cultivate 1t in the West Indies ant
other tropical islands. no success hal
! been met with. This natural monopol.
Is certain to continue to be a source o
wealth, and railroads now being pro
Jected into the hemp growing section
will stimulate the industry. Becaus
OF it's hardness as compared to othe
varieties, Manila hemp Is in demand a
| binder Irvine. as we'll as for cables II
| oil wells.
Hemp growing, II the planter live
on HE plantation, entails residence II
the warmest climate in the islands. Tn
| plant fiourishes In a humid and hot at
mosphere. The oid-fashioned metho
was to devote little cultivation to hem
growing, and In the slip-shed Spanis
l days many families owning large hold
Ings drew good incomes from hem
lands where rival vegetation and hun
cry wild hogs did what they could t
destroy the crop. 1t is pointed out b
the Insular Bureau of Agriculture tha'
like other crops. hemp should be plant
| ed in prepared soil, fenced and give
attention. A few years ago expert ag
riculturists employed by the govern
Iment made estimates as to net return
from hemp plantations. but the recer
slump knocked out all calculations 70
the present. Philippine hemp is usua
ix cut with the holo. which Is at ono