Government control and Guaranty No cigar in the world today is produced under such carefully prepared and rigidly enforced regulations as the Manila cigar. The Philippine government has assumed control of the industry, has established invariable standards of excellence, and has guaranteed the production under its own official stamp. If you will examine the next box of Manila cigars you see, you will find that it bears a label stating that its contents are guaranteed by the Philippine government. One of the regulations enforced provides that, under certain limitations, cigars which reach the American dealer in a damaged condition may be returned to the Philippines at the expense of the Philippine government. Another regulation is to the following effect:

“To be up to the standard established by the Government, Philippine cigars are required to be made from good, clean, selected tobacco, properly cured and seasoned, exclusively the product of the Provinces of Cagayan, Isabela, and Nueva Vizcaya, well made with suitable spiral wrapper and with long filler from which must have been removed all stems dust, scrap or sun-burned tobacco; cigars to be properly assorted and packed in clean receptacles of wood not before used, manufactured from native wood known as Calantas or from imported cedar. No cigars made between sunset and sunrise may be graded as standard.”

The Cigar Factories The factories in which the Manila cigars are made are worth visiting. They are counted among the show-places of the city. Visitors are always welcome and given an opportunity to follow the entire process of manufacture from the time the bales of tobacco reach the warehouses until the finished cigars are packed in air-tight cases for shipment to all parts of the world.

In these factories every precaution is taken to guard against dirt and disease. No one is employed except after a searching physical examination and thereafter all the employees are regularly examined twice a month. Every now and then, government inspectors visit the factories, and these have a right to condemn a lot of cigars which they do not think is up to the standard.

No scraps of any kind are used in the making of Manila cigars. There are no broken leaves and no dust. There is nothing in the cigar but long, clean leaves of tobacco. The Manila cigar is the mildest made. It is the most pleasant and satisfying smoke that can be had at any price.

Cigars exported, 1913–1922

YearTo all countriesTo the United States
NumberValueAverage value per thousandPer cent of total exportsNumberValueAverage value per thousand
PesosPesos CigarsPer centCigarsPer cent
1913 191,762,442 6,024,468 31.42 6.31 71,513,141 37.29 3,285,776 54.54 45.95
1914 154,753,363 4,630,318 29.92 4.75 56,205,050 36.32 2,400,252 51.84 42.71
1915 134,647,687 4,114,605 30.56 3.82 61,169,600 45.43 2,302,444 55.96 37.64
1916 193,025,578 5,688,751 29.47 4.02 111,478,216 57.75 4,066,242 71.48 36.47
1917 284,524,500 9,588,192 33.70 5.07 202,198,534 71.07 7,725,966 38.20 38.29
1918 360,144,827 14,252,637 39.57 5.21 248,747,584 69.07 11,365,675 79.85 45.69
1919 392,339,462 18,157,707 46.28 8.07 263,942,555 67.27 13,828,639 76.16 52.39
1920 421,545,143 25,442,276 60.35 8.43 316,862,859 75.17 21,092,607 82.90 66.57
1921 154,879,488 6,454,886 41.67 3.66 68,216,608 44.04 3,960,503 61.36 58.06
1922 300,484,824 11,602,219 38.61 6.07 173,317,046 57.68 8,519,576 73.43 49.16

SECONDARY FOOD PRODUCTS.—Corn leads in importance among the secondary food products. In 1918 there were 1,035,067 acres grown to corn producing 11,269,258 bushels valued at $10,686,061. The other food crops worth mentioning under this heading are sweet potatoes, cassava, sesame, mongoes, peanuts, bananas, mangoes, citrus, lanzones, and a great number of tropical fruits and vegetables. Including the edible algæ and fungi there are more than 100 species of plants in the Philippines, either wild or cultivated, that find a place in the dietary system of the people. So rich is the country in food producing plants.

PROSPECTIVE AGRICULTURAL INDUSTRIES.—The plants from which the various other tropical staple products in the world’s markets are derived, such as rubber, coffee, tea, cacao, pepper, cinchona, and cassava are all known to thrive well in the Philippines, although the growing of those enumerated is yet of comparatively little importance. Rubber has the greatest future of these. The great Island of Mindanao, which is outside the typhoon zone, has been found to be suitable to the growing of rubber. All the large rubber plantations of the Philippines are located on Mindanao or the adjacent Island of Basilan.