The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-12-18

When the sugar industry was at its
height in the Philippines there were
nearly 100000 acres under cultivation
t. eaae at one time. The area IN sugar
acres. The Bureau Of Internal Revenue
has compiled d report. based on personal
Investigations made by its agents.
Nhlch places the area contiguous to
that already under cultivation. which
may be cIassed as sugar land. at ap-
prcXlmateIy 100000 acres. These flo
ures Indicate the amount of uncuIti-
waited sugar land that is available
and show how small is the acre Weld
in these islands. The census of 1902
gives the average product of sugar per
acre for the entire archipelago at 2.200
pounds and Pampanga and adjacent
provinces where it was but 200
pounds and the highest in Negros where
the average yield was $500 pounds 10
the acre.
During recent years the production
of sugar in these islands has ranged
from one hundred and seventy-fiv to
two hundred thousand tons. Of this
amount approximately fifty thousand
tons have gone into local consumption,
the remainder being exported. China
has been the best customer ia king about
two-thlrds of total exports. Part of
this has gone to the refineries on the
cane at present is estimated at 16S, 263
British island of Hongkong and part to
China proper where it is consumed in its
raw state. There is small refinery
at Malabon a point near Manila, but it
IS not a modern plant and does not APP
anIp n fi,lt n
the iongkong refineries even for the
local trade. The consumption of re
fined sugar in the islands has been com
parativelv insignificant: annual i'm
ports conclusive of that supplied to the
United States Army and Navy, amount
to less than four thousand tons.
The United States has taken varying
quantities of Philippine sugar each
year. usually from a sixth to third of
the total exported The legislation re-
Gently enacted by Congress. which pro-
yides for admission duty free of up to
100000 cross tons IN a year of Philip
pine sugar into the United States,
makes it probable that all Of the better
grades produced here viii be diverted
to that market; and. as the industry
should prove strongly attractive to
capital for investment in modern mills,
there is reason to hope that within a
few years improved methods of treat
ment and manufacture will have chang
ed the character of the product, improv
ing the quality so that all produced will
lie enabled to enjoy the benefit of the
remission of duty.
1t i obvious that the future lines of
the industry in the Philippines are
closely bound up with the question of
the commercial relations of these is.
lands with the United States, and those
relations, in turn. hinge on the one
proposition of sugar. / was the mighty
sugar interests Of the United States,
represented by the refiners. the beet
manufacturers. and the cane growers Of
Louisiana and Texas nearly all of
which are under control of the gigantic
Trust-that prevented passage by the
Senate in 1906 of bill providing for
unqualified free trade which had re-
ceived almost unanimous endorsement
by the House of Representatives And
it is these same interests, the fear OF
whose power to check any concessions
whatsoever. induced the present ad-
ADMINISTRATION to arrange a compromise
under which a Limit was placed on the
amount of sugar that should be admit