FORMOSA
The Japanese island of Formosa (Taiwan) lies off the coast of China, about two hundred miles north of the Philippines, between 21 degrees 45 minutes and 25 degrees 38 minutes north latitude and 120 degrees 10 minutes and 122 degrees east longitude. It is about two hundred and twenty-five miles long and narrow in shape; its width is seventy-seven miles and its total area 13,504 square miles. A range of mountains runs from north to south, and the highest peak is 13,600 feet. The mountainous region is rugged and well wooded, but in the southwestern part there is a fertile plain which is very productive. Rice, tea and sugar are grown pretty much all along the western portion of the island.
In the west, too, are found the best seaports and bays, also the most important towns. In 1905 Formosa had about 3,000,000 inhabitants, nearly all of whom were Chinese.
The climate is tropical, and at sea-level the average temperature in July, which is the hottest month, is about 72 degrees Fahrenheit, while in February, the coldest month, the mean is 51.6 degrees.
Sugar has been known in the island for a great many years. There is a record of a shipment having been made from there to the Netherlands as far back as 1622, from which time the trade was carried on until the competition of the West Indies closed the European markets to Formosan sugars. Nevertheless, the industry prospered and the production grew until during the last years of Chinese rule it amounted to something between 60,000 and 80,000 tons annually. Nearly all of this was soft brown sugar of fine grain, the remainder being a so-called whitesugar, made by purging the brown sugar crystals of their syrup.
The island was seized by Japan in 1895, but the Formosans made a stubborn resistance to the invaders, and it was not until 1898 that they were finally subdued and a stable government established by the Japanese. An insurrection broke out in 1902, but was quickly put down, and since then there has been no further trouble.
In 1895 Formosa had something near one thousand small mills, all driven by buffaloes. The product was a brown clayed sugar, similar to that made in the Philippines, and one-half of it was consumed locally, the other half going to China and Japan.
After the subjugation of Formosa in 1898, the Japanese were not immediately able to set about repairing the damage caused by the war. Two years later, however, they took up the task with characteristic energy and thoroughness, and the sugar industry soon felt the effects of the movement. In 1902 measures were passed providing for the establishment of a sugar station at Tainan and for the investigation of all questions relating to the industry. Young Japanese students were sent to Java, Hawaii and Europe to look into methods employed in the cultivation and manufacture of sugar in those countries and to determine by careful observation and study what would be best suited to Formosan conditions. Seed cane was brought in from other countries and comparisons of results obtained from the different plantings were made at an experiment station built by the government at Daimokko. Striped Tanna and Lahaina canes throve well, but they were rejected because they required an extraordinary amount of irrigation and constant care. The Rose Bamboo, on the other hand, was hardier and did not need so much water, consequently the experts at the sugar station did everything they possibly could to encourage its use.
At the same time the government offered companies starting sugar refineries a bonus of six per cent per annum for five years on the paid-up capital, or a single bonus of twenty per cent of the value of the plant and equipment. Other enterprises were supplied with machinery by the government for five years; in other words, the machinery was bought with government money and the sugar company was given five years in which to reimburse the government. Cane lands could be acquired on very favorable terms, and any planter who was willing to bind himself to raise a crop of cane for five consecutive years was supplied with fertilizer by the government, free of cost. These privileges remained open until the early part of 1911, when they were abrogated.
About the first enterprise to receive the benefit of this special legislation was the Taiwan Sugar company, incorporated in 1900 with a paid-in capital of 500,000 yen, which carried a bonus of 30,000 yen from the government. The company’s intention was to buy the cane from the growers and make it into sugar for the Japanese market. The factory was ready for business by the fall of the following year, but as soon as grinding was begun the Chinese farmers manifested a decided unwillingness to furnish cane. As a consequence, the sugar company determined to grow its own cane, and after increasing its capital to 1,000,000 yen proceeded to carry out this plan. Arrangements were made to turn out 30 tons of sugar per day during the grinding period of 150 days, but the first year’s results were only 1200 tons.
Two factories near Tainan owned by Chinese were started about this time at the instigation of the government, and also with its assistance. Unfortunately, the operators did not understand how to use the modern equipment furnished them by the authorities. Further trouble arose in connection with the buying of the cane and there was constant friction betweenthe factories and the government experts at the sugar bureau. So the venture proved far from profitable either to the factories or the industry.
The Chinese growers continued to cling tenaciously to their crude method of grinding cane in their buffalo-driven mills, instead of selling it to the factories, and they obstinately refused to plant the new and more productive variety of cane, Rose Bamboo, imported from the Hawaiian islands by the government for seed purposes—this in spite of the fact that cane tops for planting could be obtained gratis at the sugar station, and that the substitution of the better cane entitled the farmer to free fertilizer, irrigation privileges and a money bonus.
It was plain that the government would have to take more vigorous action to save its sugar program for Formosa from complete failure, so in 1905 new regulations were framed and made public. Under these rules no one could embark in the business of manufacturing sugar without first securing the official sanction of the director of the sugar bureau. A fixed territory was assigned to the newcomer with the express understanding that no other factory could be established there and that all the cane growers in the territory were obligated to sell their cane to the factory and forbidden to send it out of the district or put it to any other use. The factory owner on his side bound himself to take all the cane grown in his district, even if the supply should be greater than his needs. In order to stimulate modern methods of manufacture, the sugar bureau prohibited the grinding of cane by the growers in their buffalo mills, except by special permission.
In certain sections of the island where there was no cane cultivation, large tracts of land might be granted outright to persons engaging in sugar raising and manufacture. In such cases the capacity of the factory and the period of operation was agreed upon in advance, and as soon as the land wasplanted to cane, the title to it passed to the factory. If, however, the owners of the factory failed to act in good faith, the undertaking was declared void and the factory dismantled.
By 1911 twenty-nine large factories were in operation and nine others were being built. Every one of these establishments was new and equipped with the latest and most improved machinery.
It was officially announced in November, 1910, that no further charters authorizing the forming of new sugar companies or the extending of the operations of those already in existence would be issued, the reason given being the desire to limit the production to the requirements of Japan until such a time as an outlet could be found in the markets of the world. The measure was regarded as a temporary one.
The opposition of the native farmer to the new order of things was not overcome at once. Cane plantings decreased at first, but when the natives realized that cane paid them better than other crops, they gradually resumed cultivating it on the same scale as formerly, and the government bonus on Rose Bamboo cane helped matters still further.
As long as the manufacturers are far-seeing enough to pay the grower a fair figure for his cane, the supply will be forthcoming. Conversely, if too low a price is offered, the farmer will be driven to raise other crops, and, as the factory cannot purchase cane outside of its own district, lack of material will prevent it from running at full capacity, which means a heavy loss. So there is an excellent reason for maintaining the price of cane at a point which enables the grower to make a profit. Another potent factor, too, is that the price must receive the approval of the government. It is significant that the factories built between 1907 and 1911 have all been put up without government aid.
KOHEKIRIN MILL, FORMOSA
KOHEKIRIN MILL, FORMOSA
KOHEKIRIN MILL, FORMOSA
Irrigation in Formosa has not been developed to any extentand the crop depends upon the rainfall. In the southern part of the island the monsoons are fairly regular and plentiful rains can be counted upon between June and September, with a dry period from November to April. In the north climatic conditions are not so good, and consequently all of the large sugar enterprises are to be found in the south. Ploughing by the natives is poorly done with wooden ploughs, but the modern plantations use steam ploughs with excellent results. Cane is planted every year and there are no ratoon crops. Grinding usually takes 150 days, beginning in November and ending in May.
The old-fashioned mills turn out a soft brown or yellowish white, open-pan sugar. The modern plants make centrifugal sugar only, practically all of which goes to Japan, although shipments have been made to China, Korea, Hong Kong and even Canada. The molasses is consumed at home.
Just how much of the open-pan brown sugar is used in Formosa itself it is impossible to determine, but Willett & Gray’s figures for the crops, by years, since 1901 clearly show what strides the industry has made:
The crop of 1911-12 suffered severely from prolonged drought at planting time, and the typhoons of August, 1911, devastated the cane fields. The effect of this disaster was to deter the natives from planting cane the following year, and inconsequence the production for that season was cut down more than fifty per cent.
It is obvious that the rapid development in Formosa has been brought about by the paternal policy of the government, without whose powerful aid the industry would in all probability have made but slow progress. The total of Japan’s sugar consumption is about 300,000 tons per annum, and it is perhaps safe to hazard the guess that her statesmen will do everything they can in reason to encourage production in her own territory until this quantity shall have been reached.[83]