Among other dire calamities which he says have befallen the Philippines Blount includes “tariff-wrought poverty,”[1] and he roundly scores the Congress of the United States for its attitude toward the suffering Filipino.
As a simple matter of fact, tariff legislation enacted by Congress has been the commercial salvation of the islands. The tariff law of 1909, known as the Payne Bill, was passed August 5, 1909, and went into effect sixty days thereafter. In order to make the effect of this act more apparent, the figures from July 1, 1909, in the following statistical tables are printed in bold-faced type. These tables speak for themselves, very loudly.
Internal-Revenue Statistics
| Fiscal Year | Total Collections | Increase (+) or Decrease (-) |
| Per Cent | ||
| 1906[2] | $4,434,364 | — |
| 1907 | 4,729,515 | + 7 |
| 1908 | 5,542,022 | +17 |
| 1909 | 5,871,267 | + 6 |
| 1910 | $7,160,810 | +22 |
| 1911 | 7,922,787 | +11 |
| 1912 | 8,389,929 | + 6 |
| 1913 | 9,035,922 | + 8 |
Trade with the United States
| Fiscal Year | Imports from the United States | Exports to the United States | Total |
| 1899 | $1,150,613 | $3,540,894 | $4,691,507 |
| 1900 | 1,656,469 | 3,635,160 | 5,291,629 |
| 1901 | 2,666,930 | 2,572,021 | 5,238,951 |
| 1902 | 4,035,243 | 7,871,743 | 11,906,986 |
| 1903 | 3,944,082 | 13,863,059 | 17,807,141 |
| 1904 | 4,843,207 | 11,102,860 | 15,946,067 |
| 1905 | 5,839,512 | 15,678,875 | 21,518,387 |
| 1906 | 4,333,917 | 11,580,569 | 15,914,486 |
| 1907 | 5,155,478 | 12,082,364 | 17,237,842 |
| 1908 | 5,079,670 | 10,332,116 | 15,411,786 |
| 1909 | 4,693,831 | 10,154,087 | 14,847,918 |
| 1910 | 10,775,301 | 18,703,083 | 29,478,384 |
| 1911 | 19,483,658 | 16,716,956 | 36,200,614 |
| 1912 | 20,970,536 | 21,619,686 | 42,390,222 |
| 1913 (at the rate of) | 26,264,218 | 23,573,865 | 49,838,083[3] |
Total Trade, including that with the United States
| Fiscal Year | Imports | Exports | Total CustomsCollections | Foreign Tonnage | |||
| Value | Increase (+) or Decrease (-) | Value | Increase (+) or Decrease (-) | Value | Increase (+) or Decrease (-) | ||
| Per Cent | Per Cent | Per Cent | |||||
| 1899 | $13,116,567 | — | $14,640,162 | — | $3,106,380 | 336,550 | — |
| 1900 | 20,601,436 | +57 | 19,821,347 | +35 | 5,542,289 | 636,034 | +89 |
| 1901 | 30,276,200 | +47 | 23,222,348 | +17 | 8,982,813 | 987,094 | +55 |
| 1902 | 32,029,357 | + 6 | 24,544,858 | + 6 | 8,528,938 | 1,104,968 | +12 |
| 1903 | 32,978,445 | + 3 | 33,150,120 | +35 | 9,540,706 | 1,542,200 | +40 |
| 1904 | 33,221,251 | + 1 | 30,226,127 | - 9 | 8,493,868 | 1,542,138 | — |
| 1905 | 30,879,048 | - 7 | 32,355,865 | + 7 | 8,263,444 | 1,417,396 | - 8 |
| 1906 | 25,799,290 | -16 | 31,918,542 | - 1 | 7,553,206 | 1,455,055 | + 3 |
| 1907 | 28,786,063 | +12 | 33,721,767 | + 6 | 8,194,708 | 1,293,266 | -11 |
| 1908 | 30,918,745 | + 7 | 32,829,816 | - 3 | 8,318,020 | 1,464,448 | +13 |
| 1909 | 27,794,482 | -10 | 31,044,458 | - 5 | 8,539,098 | 1,392,333 | - 5 |
| 1910 | 37,067,630 | +33 | 39,717,960 | +28 | 8,286,073 | 1,715,268 | +23 |
| 1911 | 49,833,722 | +34 | 39,778,629 | +0.2 | 8,678,810 | 1,808,308 | +15 |
| 1912 | 54,549,980 | + 9 | 50,319,836 | +26 | 9,363,296 | 1,939,079 | + 7 |
| 1913 | 56,327,533 | +11 | 56,683,326 | +17 | 8,246,026 | 1,868,811 | - 4 |