The Cordova daily times., 1918-04-01
PROSPERITY |S IN EVIDENCE N
 PHILIPPE |NES

MANILA, Feb. 10 (by maiD. .-The Philippine Islands have enjoyed dur ing the past twelve months the great est prosperity in their historyf War conditions, prices and demands are directly responsible, In the past two years, the balance of trade in favor of the islands has been $5O,OOOObO, 65 per cent of which is to be accounted for in the unprecedented prosperity of 1917.
 Internal trade has leaped to unheard of proportions. There is more money in every part of the Philippines today than ever before. More business is being done and the currency reflects this condition. Despite constant ac- cretions of the currency, through i'm portations from United States hints, the Philippine bank, the government financial institution, has had to tissue paper ten, twenty and fifty-centavo bills, and one-peso notes.
 Internal revenue taxes, collected on the same basis in 1917 as in l1916, went up nearly 33 1-3 per cent, reach ing the highest figure in historE
 With the exception of sugar, all de- partments of insular trade proffaQ by the prosperity of the country. Freight rates quintupled and sextupled, for sugar, and the Philippine producers often faced a loss on their sales in the United States.
 When the price of sugar in the United States was fixed by the food control board, it was so regulated that under existing trans-Pacific rates profitable transactions in Philippine sugar were no longer possible Sam uel Ferguson, president of the govern. ment bank, made a special trip tC Washington in the inter ests of the sugar men and got a pledge of addi- tiOnal ships for the Philippines Whether this pledge included provi- sion for lower freight rates is not known here. Unless the new ships bring q substantial reduction in exist ing freight rates, it is believed they will not help out the sugar industry
 Hemp, with all the world demanding it for ships and war vessels, played a big role in the prosperity of the isl ands. During 1917 it reached record prices and paid it's producers hand somely. Hundreds of plantation own CTS have become rich in the past two years. Scores of Americans who years ago picked out Mindanao, the land of the untamed Moro, as ideally suited to hemp, and then struggled along for years on the verge of bankruptcy, suddenly found their optimism iusti- fled and their years of toll and hard ship repaid by two years of undreamed of prosperity.
 Likewise the cOcOanut planters have been carried along on the crest of the wave of success. During the early part of the year, prices rose steadily as American manufacturers demanded the product at any cost. But freights also rose. This led many business men to figure that if 1t were possible to sell the raw copra-the dried meat of the cocoanut-at a profit, it would be much more profitable to. extract the oil locally. save large part of the freight costs and count that say. ing as profit. During the year. fully 1 twenty cocoanut oil mills, all of small capacity, were started in Manila alone and in the provinces as many more were inaugurated.
 The tobacco planters, manufacturers and dealers have also had year of unparalleled business success. The demand for Philippine tobacco and cigars from the United States has been such that Philippine growers and planters have been unable to meet it. The year saw the cigar production