Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/175

the principal seaports is strongly emphasized by the great lack of docks and wharves throughout the islands. But few ports have docks at which an inter-island steamer can unload, and consequently every pound of freight and all passengers must be landed in small boats. One of the great drawbacks to the commerce of the Philippines has been the lack of dock facilities in the harbor of Manija for ocean-going ships. As a result, all vessels exceeding 15 feet draft must be lightered while lying at anchor some distance from the wharves and at considerable expense, more especially during the prevalence of the rainy season, when frequent typhoons interrupt the work of loading and unloading. This great obstacle to commerce will soon disappear, however, through the foresight of the Philippine Commission in making ample appropriations for the improvement of the Pasig River and the construction of an artificial harbor south of and adjoining the entrance to the river, with wharves capable of receiving and discharging at all seasons the largest sea-going vessels.

These improvements, which are to be completed by June 30, 1905, at a cost of about $4,000,000, will make Manila one of the great ports of the orient. Direct trade with the United States will then be the rule and not, as in the past, the exception. Manila will become a great mercantile depot and point of distribution of American and foreign merchandise of all kinds, destined for either the Philippines, China, or other points. The development of the abundant coal deposits in the Philippines, with the harbor improvements above referred to, will make Manila the chief coaling port in the East, surpassing Nagasaki in this respect, for the coal is of a quality equal to that of Japan and the coaling facilities of Manila will be much superior to those of the Japanese city. The commercial importance of Manila will become still more apparent when the Panama Canal is completed.

The value of manufactured tobacco far exceeds any other industrial product, liquors and other beverages come next, and the two combined make 38.5 per cent of the value of all manufactured products. It should not be inferred from this that the Filipinos use these articles in excess, or that intemperance prevails, for, while nearly the entire population use liquor and tobacco in some form, they do so in great moderation. That the state of manufactures in the Philippines is what it is should occasion no surprise when we review the colonial system of government which generally prevailed for so many centuries. Under this system the Filipinos received but little encouragement to engage in industrial pursuits, and manufactures were not developed. The capital invested in manufactures exceeds $20,000,000.

Many important and salutary changes have been made by the Insular government. Stenographers and typewriters have been substituted for longhand writers in the courts. The Spanish colonial judiciary as it existed in the Philippines at the time of American occupation has been transformed into a system under which, says Chief Justice C. S. Arellano in the chapter on "The Judiciary," "we have a more simple code of civil and criminal procedure, following American methods, and an avoidance of the great delays which previously existed in the disposal of cases and criminals. In fact, delay is now more a question of a sufficient number of judges than, as formerly, of voluminous and abstruse forms and of petty interlocutory appeals or other means of obstructing and arresting the course of justice."