The Birmingham age-herald., 1912-02-18

about eight millions. Last year the imI ports amounted to thirteen million dol lars and the exports to about sixteen mill lions.
 ! The importations show how the people are growing in wealth. Since 1901 they have increased their purchases of flour
 900 per cent, of provisions 400 per cent,
 and of leather and oils more than 200 per
 cent. During the past year the gross sales of goods by the merchants were B per cent greater than those of two years ago,
 and the bank deposits have increased 90 per cent.
 In the first year of our occupation the foreign trade of the Philippines was only
 little more than twenty-seven billion dollars By 1909 1t had grown to more than fifty eight millions. Then came free trade
 with us, and it jumped to sevenfy-six mil Hons. This year 1t is expected to reach eighty-two millions, which is three times
 as much as was the average during the
 last 15 years of Spanish rule As 1t is
 now every business is growing, and the
 hemp exports amounted to 11S,000 tons the last year.
 Money in COcoanuts and Hemp
 At present the two best money crops of the islands are hemp or abaea and copra, which is the dried meat of the cocoanut. The abaca fiber Is used for
 ropes and ships cables. We use vast deal of it for binding twine, and It goes in quantities to France and Switz-
 erland, where it Is made into fine laces and hat braids. It Is also woven into cloth and there are thousands of women and girls who are now making such cloth in different parts of the Phlllp- pines. We take about 10 per cent of the hemp exports and the best grades come to our country. The Phillp-
 pines began to export thls product s2 years ago and the first shipment was
 Al tons Last year exports amounted to 17o.0o0 tons. and this sold for more
 than s17.000,0 900.
 How would you like to have cocoa
 nut grove? There are men in the Phiiip-
 pines who have some 10000 trees Eacn tree yields them a dollar and upward a year, and all they have to do is 10 II pick up the nuts.
 This business has been increasing Tn value ever since we took hold of the is- lands. It has grown 10 per cent since 1909. and the exports are now running at about SIC. 100000 a year. They
 bring in about one-fifth of all that the
 islands sell to foreign countries and
 the business Is capable of indefinite ex- pansion Coeoanut trees will grow e~- erywhere along the coast copra is b .tter than apples in oregon. All you have to do Is to plant the cocoanut trees and keep down the weeds for seven or eight years, when they begin to bear. After that the nuts drop of themselves, and they have only to be taken up and carried to the mark cts. In some places the nuts are turned | into copra on the plantation and in others they are sold as they are | One dollar a tree is considered fair | yiold the world over, but there are trees | in the Philippines which bring in more | than $5 tree, some of the nuts being
 worth much more than others. To show
 the difference in the value of the nuts,
 in Samoa it takes 1000 to produce a ton of copra, while in other islands 1t
 takes 5000 or 5000. There are groves in
 tho Philippine islands where 2SO0 nuts
 will make ton and some at San Re-
 mon, of which it takes less than $500.
 Our government is now sending out in- formation to the people as to the best
 nuts to plant and advising them just
 how to cultivate their plantations to
 get the best crops
 My latest information from the is-
 lands is that cocoanuts are now pay
 ing better than anything else. The offi-
 cials say that the copra towns never
 know hard times and that the pres
 tdente of one of them 'complained that