New Britain herald., 1917-03-02
SUN Of PROSPERITY
 BEAMS ON F|LIPINOS
Pacific Islands Never More Pros
 porous Than in 1916

PV4VuO xuUu III 1VIV
 Manila. P. l.. March, 2.-Though the Philippines have no war munitions factories and no vast plants for the 1 supply of belligerent Europe with it's needs. the year 1916 saw an era of remarkable prosperity in the islands. l There were several causes but chief l of them was agricultural prosperity 4 coupled With a good demand for i'm sular products at high prices. A sub. ordinate cause was the fact that the Threatened exodus of Americans. due to greater Filipino control, did not materialize, or at least, materized to q very slight degree. Many Amer jeans, taking advantage of the pro- visions of the retirement. law. have given wat in the governnsnt to Fili~. pinos. but some proportion of them have elected to remain in the island4 and the places of many of those who have said goodbye to the islands, have been filled by new arrivals es- tablishing themselves in business here.
 In agriculture, bumper crops are reported. Rice, the staple food of the Filipino. is abundant. All the rice-growing sections. favored by good weather have produced almost. record crops. The dearth of. work animals produced by the ravages of rinderpest and the government quar- antine. has been a handicap but has only made the harvest slightly less abundant. There will be need this year of rice importations from Saigon and Japan as there always is, but there will be a big decrease in the usual amount of rice imports and the money thus saved will add to the prosperity of the islands.
 The hemp producers who, in 1915, suffered under the combined cloud of decreased demand because of the war, and decreased crop, because of heavy storms the year before, have been, during 1916. extended to their limit to supply the world demand at high prices. The output has not been the best on record but 1t has been. excelI lent and 1t has secured record prices. In the hemp provinces. 1t is no up- common sight to see lowly peasant hemp-grower walk into store, make his picks of goods he wants and give twenty peso bills to pay for his pur- chase. A twenty peso bill to such a
 man in previous years was a matter of hearsay than a tangible reality.
 Tobacco i'm Demand.
 Short crops for two years in the tobacco regions were followed the past year by a crop little below normal Foreign and local demand for Philip pine tobacco has never been so insist ant ana rrfrno hrnro oll rocardc quasi in Philippine leaf to- bacco helped the upward trend of prices but the growers shared in the prosperity the high prices betokened.
 The Manila cigar, heretofore, ex- ported almost as much to Europe as to the United States. faced dismal future when the war cut off the Euro pean demand. But that future changed Its aspect very materially during 1916. Europe was still not in the market but the United States pur- chased 114.000.O00 Manila cigars, an increase of 70 per cent. over the pre- vious year. and more than 90 per cent. more than In 1914. The government collected in the internal revenue on these cigars 100000, just 100 per cent. ! more than in the year 1915.
 This increase In the cigar expor- tations was reflected in increased prosperity for the cigar manufactures in some instances.
 The average price obtained for Philippine cigars in the United States
 was lower than in 1915. Manufac- turers of the finer grades of cigars here have viewed the increased export with grave alarm. They declare that 1t means that the Philippine cigar has been definitely established in the American market as a cheap smoke Some of them have ceased advertising ! their cigars in the states as Philip pine" for this reason. and are using 1 only their standard factory names. A plan Is afoot now to secure a com
 bination of factories to prevent the
 cheapening of the better grades ot l Philippine cigars in the American
 market.
 l Food Prices For Sugar.
 Last year saw also a fine crop in the sugar provinces of the islands and
 excellent prices for the product. The
 Philippine sugar industry is still in a primitive state because of the lack
 of modern sugar plants. Many plans
 are afoot for the erection of centrals
 but few have been brought to realiza- ton. There are no sugar refineries in
 the islands. The few planters who
 have the advantage of centrals and
 modern machinery have had won-
 derful year. Several companies. on
 the verge of bankruptcy before, have
 pulled themselves out of the slough
 and will pay dividends, reaching in
 some cases to 70 per cent.
 Cocoanut planters, with high prices
 for copra, have also made a notable
 financial success during the year. Bud
 rot, which had at one time seemed a
 menace to insular trees, has been
 wiped out and favorable weather aid
 ed the planters as much as high