El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-06-21
Island Trade Doubles
Removal of Duty Makes philippines
Valuable Trude Territory For
American Made Goods
-Rr Ercderie j. HnsIEin -


wv AsHINGToN, d. G, June u
N/ Although the Payne-AIdrich
tariff bill has been the target
/ for many verbal Onslaushts, there IS
I one part of that measure about which
/ there has been but one opinion. whe-
Their Democrat or Republican That is
me clause which provided Tor practlcdL
I 4Eee trade between the United states
and the Philippines. In four years the
total trade Of the islands has nearly
DOUBLED because Of this clause in the
hlll and the beneficiaries have been
ana VIII continue TO be, the American
merchants and manufacturers
Tariff for Ten Aenrs.
IT IS not generally known IN TINS
country that the Philippines main
famed a protective tariff against the
United states as well as all other cOun-
Fles from 1899 to August. 1903. This
was because Of the treaty of Paris
,"nlch stipulated that Spain should
!!Ls1Ee the same commercial tights IN the
I Islands that the United States might
reserve to herself
one Of the first problems which the
americans had to face was whether or
HOl lhe philippines should be Sel1-Sup-
F.. porting 1t was finally decided that
the lnSular government should be con-
Quoted without aid from the United
SSLates- In order to do this a tariff
LoI revenue became a necessity If
american goods should be admitted
LIee the same privilege would. under
the treaty, be enjoyed by Spain. mas
lhucn as large volume Of Philippine
---IllgL Is came from spain. and because
or tne reasonable sUppOsitiOu that the
american acquisition of the Islands
would draw large American trade. Il
was seen that free trade for the United
9tates ana spain by the resultant loss
OF customs collections would prevent
the ISLANDS from being self supporting
me decision to make the civil ad-
mlnlstration Of the new dependency in
LVpsi lueHL OF Uncle sam treasury was
que 70 two reasons First. in the be-
He1 that the FiliDinOs, since they were
10 be trained for self-gOvernment.
should learn to support themselves as
L@plul! as possible Second. politics
Inc Republicans realized that an at
tempt 10 care for the insular govern
nent out Of congressional apprOpria-
lions would give the Democrats a
cnance 20 assail the Philippine policy
every Tune a dollar was asked for
Whatever the cost of the Philippines
may be TO the United States to date
the maintenance of the government
lhere cannot be included therein
Betards american T ade.
therefore, tariff for revenue was
decided upon and retardinG OF
American trade in the islands was the
result On paper the United States had
fair show with its European and
Aslattc rivals. and might be considered
0y theorists to have had an advantage
lands belong to the United States. In
reality. however. the mother country
was at disadvantage for two
reasons
In the first place, Spain. Great
Britain- Germany and Switzerland con-
TFoled the foreign trade Of the Philip
pines long before the Americans ever
heard of the islands All these nations
mad well established branches there
from 90 to 200 years before DeWey's
memorable victory at Manila bay on
Nay !. 1898 The other deterrent was
the long haul and higher freight rates
which the United States had to meet
In other words. the European traders
could land goods at Manila via Suez at
lower rates than those possible by the
American route from the Pacific coast
Consequently, American trade did not
flourish as il should even though the
Islands had been won at a great sac
rlllce and had then been bought out
or pure pnllanthrOphy for S2O.0O0.000.
Even though we had owned the islands
for 10 years. despite our dominating
influence over every phase of Philip
pine affairs. We held but 20 percent OF
the import trade Of the Islands. Great
Britain enjoyed so percent Even AUS
tralta ourStripped the United States in Z
certain articles For instance inst
prior to the free trade bill. Australia I
sold 100000 worth OF flour per annum
60 the Philippines. while the United B
States. the greatest wheat produce. in
the world. was able TO sell a mere
$1,000 worth OF flour every year to the I
Philippines.
Free Trade Changes Things.
The free trade bill ended all this I
The treaty of Paris expired as the 4
Payne-Aldrich bill was in the making
and there was nothing to stop the I
clause in the bill which created the l
natural and greatly delayed bond OF I
commercial interests between the {
mother country and her possessions in I
the Pacific. At about the same time
-r.T,
set up within the islands the new tar
if wall which all the rest of the I
world would have to hurdle while {
American products slipped untaNed /
through the back door. However.
American goods. the raw material OF
which IS Of foreign origin. still pay
duty It might be thought as mat
of course Philippine products would be
given free entry into the United States
But not so. A limit of 500 600 tons
of sugar and 500, 100000 cigarets and
loO-UOO,O0O cigars per annum was i'm
posed These figures have never been
tiCally reciprocal free trade at this
time The greatest volume Of tobacco
shipped free into the United States
was 1SS.1Sl.0OO cigarets and 10000. 600
cigars Sugar up to date has not come
within One-half of that limit. Last
year American Importation of Philip
pine sugar amounted to 161.7S2 tons. :
valued at Ss,l+2,S35, compared with
in 1911
beneficial Effect Immediate.
Inc beneficial effect on local Philip
pine trade and on American export
tlade was immediate In the first year
Philippine exports jumped from SSH
o44.45S TO S39.7SS.629 The following
= ear. 1911, showed another slight in
crease and last year jumped to $50
il9.S36- The figures for this year are !
expected to show $4,000. 600 or more.
The imports have been even more phe-
gain of S10.O00,O00 was +
shown i'm the first year. that fl from T
$4,000. 600 to over $4,000 600 In 1911 .
a splendid total of S49.S33.722 was ]
cached Last year the imports were I
;54,549,9S0 This shows an increase Of