ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTUsing, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTUsing, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTUsing, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTUsing, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTUsing, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Using, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39
Using, as throughout these notes, theBibliographyas a starting point, the student is referred to the first part of that work, viz., theListof the Library of Congress, under the headings Agriculture, Commerce, Finance, and Political and Social Economy; and to Pardo de Tavera’sBibliotecaunder the alphabetical lists of Aranceles, Balanzas, Boletín, Estatutos, Exposición, Guía, Instrucción, Memoria, and Reglamentos. Some of the works therein cited are obviously indispensable, and occasional biographical and bibliographical notes are also afforded, especially by Pardo de Tavera under the names of authors cited, which will help in forming an opinion on the value of their works.25It is in point here to designate among these works those most useful as references in a general way upon Philippine economicmatters, to add some not listed in theBibliography, and to give some special references under the particular headings of Agriculture, Commerce, and Industry.
General.—Jagor’s book, already noted as the best introduction to the study of this period, is again mentioned here as affording data on the tobacco monopoly (which lasted until 1884, before its affairs were wound up), the attitude of the Spaniards toward the entry of foreign traders, and the part these foreigners played in developing the culture ofabakáand sugar. Cavada’sHistoria geográfica, geológica y estadística de Filipinas(Manila, 1876) has a good arsenal of data drawn chiefly from the civil statistical inquiries of 1870, though, like almost all such works in Spanish, it is without a topical index and is put together in a disorderly manner most exasperating to the searcher for facts or figures on a specific point of inquiry. Of the works of José Jimeno y Agius, hisMemoria sobre el desestanco del tabaco(Binondo, 1871) andPoblación y comercio de las islas Filipinas(Madrid, 1884) should be especially mentioned. Gregorio Sancianco y Goson’sEl progreso de Filipinas(Madrid, 1881), especially valuable on administrative matters just prior to the revision of the fiscal régime in connection with the abolition of the government tobacco monopoly, has also many data on land, commerce, and industry. Scattered through the eight volumes of the fortnightlyLa Política de España en Filipinas(Madrid, 1891–98) are useful items on Philippine currency and exchange, trade, etc., with occasional studies of these questions and those of Chinese and European immigration, in most cases hasty, unreliable pieces of work, often evenfantastic for their utter disregard of the fundamentals of political economy. Foreman’s book has already been characterized; nevertheless, checked up with Sawyer’s, it is of use in this connection. Of the consular and other official reports, those of the British Foreign Office26are the most valuable as a series, though the comprehensive reports of the French Consul, M. de Bérard, covering the years 1888–92, merit first place as individual treatises.27
The testimony and memoranda presented before the American Peace Commission in Paris in 1898, together with some magazine articles on the Philippines, form appendices toSenate Document no. 62, 55th Congress, 3rd session; only the memorandum of General F. V. Greene (pp. 404–440) and Max L. Tornow’sSketch of the Economic Conditions of the Philippinesrequire any consideration in this connection.28The reports on civil affairs (1899–1901) of the United States military government in the Philippines and the reports of the Philippine Commission have much retrospective value in connection with the previous economic and fiscal régime, and merit a general perusal in that light; some of their moreespecially pertinent revelations will be hereinafter cited. TheReport on Certain Economic Questions in the English and Dutch Colonies in the Orient(Washington, 1902) by Jeremiah W. Jenks, special commissioner of the United States government, is of course of comparative value primarily, but contains some general remarks on Philippine conditions as regards currency, labor, land, and taxation. In many respects the best economic study ever made of the Philippines is Victor S. Clark’sLabor Conditions in the Philippines(Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor no. 58, Washington, May, 1905); though discussing the labor question, and that under American occupation, it has been written with a view constantly to past conditions in the Philippines, social and political as well as economic.29
Agriculture, Land, etc.—Beyond the general references given, no special work can be recommended on the subject of Philippine agriculture. The reports and bulletins of the present Philippine Bureau of Agriculture (1902 to date) shed much light incidentally on past conditions and methods of cultivation. Numerous official provisions and some private treatises on the Spanish land laws are cited by Pardo de Tavera; but these remained for the most part dead letters, and for all practical purposes a little compilation in English30by the present Philippine ForestryBureau suffices. In a report on the establishment of land banks in the Philippines, José Cabezas de Herrera provided a historical review and abstract of landed property in those islands.31In connection with his arguments in behalf of a tax on landed property as just and as also necessary in order to support a really efficient government in the Philippines, Sancianco y Goson gives considerable information on conditions of land tenure and cultivation down to 1881.32
Chinese.—Discussion of the Chinese in the Philippines is related more particularly to questions of industry and retail trade. Nevertheless, the Spanish government maintained almost to the end the theory—it was hardly more than an empty theory—that the Chinese immigration was being so regulated as to constitute a stimulus to agriculture. The subject also falls into place here because, from about 1886, whena campaign for the exclusion of the Chinese was started by Spanish merchants and newspaper men, a program for fostering the immigration of Spaniards into the Philippines, and especially into the undeveloped areas of Mindanao and Palawan, was quite regularly coupled with the arguments for Chinese exclusion. This program was usually presented without regard for the climatic and economic considerations involved; that it was a “patriotic” scheme was sufficient for some of these writers, who never stopped to ask themselves if their plans were practical.33Among the pamphlets on the Chinese in the Philippines cited by Pardo de Tavera, those of Del Pan and Jordana y Morera deserve attention. A good survey of the subject, though not accurate in its statistics, is G. García Ageo’sMemorandum on the Chinese in the PhilippinesinReport of the Philippine Commission, 1900, ii, pp. 432–445.34
Industries.—The general references already cited must be relied upon, and it is a rather wearisome task to uncover the data for a study of Philippine industries from statistical tables, treatises and pamphlets which have given the subject a cursory or fragmentary treatment. The British and French consular reports may, however, be especially remarked. Also, the reports of the Chief of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the reports of the Philippine Commission since 1904, when a new scheme of internal taxation was adopted, contain much information on industrial conditions, past and present.
Commerce, Internal Trade, Navigation, etc.—The Spanish statistical annuals, tariff regulations, etc., are fully listed by the Library of Congress and Pardo de Tavera, under the headings above noted for general references on economic matters. The most comprehensive survey of trade statistics, and one which almost serves the purpose by itself alone, is contained in theMonthly Summary of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, for December, 1904, published at Washington by the Bureau of Insular Affairs. It presents classified tables covering Philippine imports and exports for the fifty years 1855–1904; they were prepared from the best available Spanish trade statistics, reduced to terms of American gold currency at the average rate of exchange for each year, and, so far as the writer has checked these figures, they are the most reliable that are presented anywhere.35Among the very few Spanish writings, Azcárraga’sLibertad de Comercio(Madrid, 1872) and Jimeno Agius’sPoblación y comercio(1884) deserve special mention, also once more the useful little book of Sancianco y Goson, for brief but useful data for 1868–80 in its appendices.36For 1891–98,La Política de España en Filipinashas some scattering figures on trade and commerce, year by year, highly unsatisfactory for the most part. Besides the general references upon the Spanish customs tariffs, one will find inSenate Document no. 134, 57th Congress, 1st session (Washington, 1902), in its Exhibit D, a comparison of the 1901 tariff with the Spanish tariff of 1891.37
Currency.—TheListof the Library of Congress, under the heading Finance, cites a few Spanish and foreign treatises on Philippine currency prior to 1898, and the earlier American official reports on the subject. One will get more enlightenment upon the actual conditions prevailing during the last years of Spanish rule from memoranda and testimony in certain of these American reports than from any of the printed sources of date earlier than 1898. Nevertheless, the petition of the Manila Chamber of Commerce in 1895 reproduced inLa Política de España en Filipinas, v, no. 105, brings out in part the highly unsatisfactory conditions produced by the Spanish government’s inaction and disregard of well-established economic principles. Inibid., vii, p. 217, is given the text of the decree of April 17, 1897, providing for the new Philippine silver peso which was beginning to circulate in the islands when American arms intervened, and which was proclaimed as a “settlement” of the Philippine currency evils, yet would obviously not have proved sufficient, unsupported as it was by provisions to sustain it in the face of the decline of silver. In much of the loose talk about economic depression in the Philippinessince the wars of 1896–98 and 1899–1901, not enough attention has been paid to the fact that “hard times” had really begun before, during 1891–95 particularly, and that an unstable currency and exchange fluctuations had then played their part in producing these conditions; also that it was the Filipino laborer and small producer who was especially mulcted of his due by conditions produced in part officially and in part by governmental neglect.38In addition to the American documents listed by the Library of Congress, reference should be made, as regards currency and exchange evils before 1898, to the survey of the subject by the Schurman Commission (Report of the Philippine Commission, 1900, i, pp. 142–149), and the testimony of Manila bankers and business men in the same report (vol. ii); to magazine articles by Charles A. Conant printed as appendices inReport of the Commission on International Exchange(Washington, 1903); and, for a few details on previous conditions, with exchange tables, to the reports of E. W. Kemmerer, Chief of the Division of Currency, for 1904 and 1905.39