From a series of estimates compiled by me I find that to produce 7,000 to 10,000 piculs, the cost laid down in Yloilo would be, say, ₱2.00 per picul (₱32.00 per ton); the smaller the output the larger is the prime cost, and vice-versa.
Fortunes have been made in this Colony in cane-sugar, and until the end of 1883 sugar-planting paid the capitalist and left something to the borrowing planter; now it pays only interest on capital. From the year 1884 the subsidized beet-root sugar manufacturers on the continent of Europe turned out such enormous quantities of this article that the total yield of sugar exceeded the worldʼs requirements. The consequence was that the cane-sugar manufacture declined almost at the same ratio as that of beet-root advanced, as will be seen from the subjoined figures:—
| Tons. | |
| The worldʼs production in 1880; cane sugar | 3,285,714 |
| The worldʼs production in 1880; beet sugar | 1,443,349 |
| 4,729,063 | |
| Tons. | |
| The worldʼs production in 1887, cane sugar | 2,333,004 |
| The worldʼs production in 1887, beet sugar | 2,492,610 |
| 4,825,614 | |
| Tons. | |
| Beet sugar | Increase 1,049,261 |
| Cane sugar | Decrease 952,710 |
| The worldʼs output was | Increased 96,551 |
Since the above date, however, the output of Beet Sugar has become about double that of Cane Sugar, as will be seen from the following figures, viz.:—
| Worldʼs Production. | Season of 1899–1900. | Season of 1900–1901. |
| Tons. | Tons. | |
| Cane sugar | 2,867,041 | 3,425,022 |
| Beet sugar | 5,607,944 | 6,096,858 |
| 8,474,985 | 9,521,880 |
On estates already established at old prices, cane-sugar production pays an interest on capital, but the capitalist is not necessarily the planter and nominal owner, as has been explained. Since the American occupation the cost of labour, living, material, live-stock, and all that the planter or his estate need, has increased so enormously that the colonist should ponder well before opening up a new estate for cane-growing in world-wide competition. For figures of Sugar Shipments vide Chap, xxxi., “Trade Statistics.”
Rice (Oryza) being the staple food of the Filipinos, it is cultivated more or less largely in every province of the Colony. Its market value fluctuates considerably according to the stocks in hand and the season of the year. It appears to be the only branch of agriculture in which the lower classes of natives take a visible pleasure and which they understand thoroughly. In 1897 about 80,000 tons were raised.
The natives measure and sell rice (Tagálog, bigas) and paddy (Tagálog, palay) by the caban and its fractions; the caban dry measure is as follows, viz:—
4 Apatans = 1 Chupa; 8 Chupas = 1 Ganta; 25 Gantas = 1 Caban,