Rensselaer Journal, Volume 12, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1902 — BROADENS TRADE IN PHILIPPINES [ARTICLE]

BROADENS TRADE IN PHILIPPINES

President’s Order Breaks Up Monopoly Long Held by Spaniards. CUTS DOWN EXORBITANT RATES Permits Vessel Owners of Any Nationality to Engage in Transporting Merchandise Between Ports to the Delight of the Islanders. The Philippine commission,* through President Roosevelt, has authorized an extension of the coastwise trade of the Philippine archipelago so that shipowners of any nationality may engage in it This is regarded as a godsend by the merchants and others. Heretofore this trade has been practically a monopoly in the hands of Spaniards, who charged exorbitant rates, they being protected by the old Spanish laws. Commercial Revolution. The new order will probably result in revolutionizing insular commerce. It is expected that a large number of Germans, English, Chinese, and Japaneses will now take advantage of the new registry regulations. The Chinese now control the rice situation and are smashing the English and Spanish pool with the aid of China guilds. The wretched agricultural conditions are causing poor trade prospects for next year. To Help the Poor. The Philippine commission has decided to devote the sum of 566,000, the profit of government saleß of rice under General Bell’s administration, including the profits derived from the concentration villages in Batangas, Laguna and Mindoro, to the purchase of food to be distributed to the poor through the agency of the civil officials in the provinces mentioned, it will also loan 52,500 of the insular funds to the province of Ilocos for the purchase of food for the sufferers there. The general suffering among the natives is the natural result of the war and pestilence. Soldiers Turn Farmers. Permanent relief cannot be expected until 1904, when, it is thought, agriculture will revive. General Bell, with the aid of the chief of the agricultural bureau, has secured an appropriation for the purchase of seeds and machinery, and is taking great pains to instruct the natives in American methods of farming. His soldiers have discarded their guns for plows.