United States to part of it. The Administration was not successful in maintaining the minimum tariff intact; Switzerland was able to obtain reductions on some thirty articles after a tariff war of three years, while Russia secured some concessions for its petroleum and Italy some reductions on miscellaneous articles.

ERRORS OF LABOR UNIONS.

[New York Journal of Commerce.]

An error of labor unions that has done vast harm to the industries of England, where they have gained the greatest power, and that shows a tendency to spread in this country, is the notion that there can be gain for the wage-earner in curtailing production, at least in curtailing the output of the individual workman. It is common for them to assume that there is a fixed limit to the amount of work to be done in any particular trade or occupation, and to try to divide that fixed amount among the largest number by shortened hours and at the same time to get for labor the largest share of the product by increased wages. It is a part of the same theory that induces them to resist the use of devices for "saving labor," or, more properly, for increasing production, as they assume that these reduce the number of persons to be employed. The fact is that there is no fixed limit to consumption, which creates the demand for production, and consequently none to production itself. It is much to the advantage of labor as to that of capital to increase output and lessen its cost, for that results in more to be divided in wages and profits. The rewards of both capital and labor are not measured in money, but in what money will buy, and both benefit by large production at low cost.

as

Another mistaken object at which labor unions aim is uniformity in wages

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in a given industry, which tends to keep all upon a level near to that of the lowest capacity. While some of their leadcontend that the aim is only to maintain a minimum scale, which shall insure to all a "living wage" without keeping all down to a uniform rate, the practical effect is to restrain the capable and ambitious, to destroy emulation and establish a common level of productiveness. Men are discouraged from doing more than a certain amount or excelling in quality of work. There is a process of levelling which results in keeping down the most capable, while it may give the least capable more than they earn. The objection to piecework and insistence upon scales of wages belong to this policy of levelling and uniformity of production and of pay, which is an economic mistake. It is not necessarily organization that produces the result of lessened and more costly output and reduced efficiency due to the levelling process, but it is the mistaken methods of organization which ignore the benefits of free competition of effort.

THE FARMERS AND RECIPROC

ITY.

[Michigan Farmer.]

Recently a convention was held in Detroit to forward a scheme to secure reciprocal trade relations between this country and the Canadian provinces. It was attended by a number of business men and manufacturers from various parts of the country, and several ambitious politicians who are very anxious for advancement in public life. There were also a number of Canadian statesmen, generally lawyers holding public positions, nice gentlemen to meet, good talkers, and with the ability to "make the worse appear the better cause."

Of course the Americans present demanded reciprocity in the name of the people, whom they represented as crying for it, while a fool Congress was standing in the way. We notice that when

ERS.

[New York Journal of Commerce.]

A national convention of the United Mine Workers of America has finished its sessions at Indianapolis, and are in conference with the operators in the bituminous field with a view to settling the wage scale for another year, beginning with April 1. There was some hopeful show of conservatism in the discussions of the convention and two or three socialistic propositions were voted down, including one in favor of government ownership of the mines. And yet the general tone and attitude of the convention were not reassuring. There was a determination to demand a twenty per cent increase in wages in fixing the scale for another year, and this was followed by a demand for the passage of the anti-injunction bill now pending in the Senate and plans for raising what is called a "defence fund" of large dimensions. This was regarded by operators who watched the proceedings as ominous of an intention to strike in case the demand for an increase of wages is not complied with, and they are reported as declaring that a twenty per cent increase is out of the question. It does not seem likely that a strike in the bituminous coal fields will be ordered so soon after the disastrous consequences of the anthracite strike, and probably some kind of compromise will be reached, but the attitude of the miners appeared to be anything but conciliatory or predisposed to concession. There was a good deal of the arbitrary spirit which is apt to be displayed upon both sides and lead to conflicts where a labor organization has to be dealt with which feels that it has command of the situation, and can force terms by the menace of loss to mine owners and suffering to the public. But the mine workers will hardly venture upon a course this year that will lead to another coal strike. There would be no chance for sympathy in that.

The Philippine Islands occupy the most northern part of the eastern end of the geographical grand division known as the Eastern Archipelago in Eastern Asia. Through their capital and chief emporium, Manila, they are the key to the commerce of the islands that border the steam routes between Japan and China and the Philippines, the Sulu Archipelago, the islands of the South Pacific, the coasts of Borneo, Celebes Sea and islands, Molucca and Gillols passages, Bando and Arafuros seas, the coasts of Papua, or New Guinea, and Australia to the southeast and south and Indo-China, Siam, Malay Peninsula, Java and India and countries beyond the southwest and west, and can serve a thousand million people. They lie entirely within the north torrid zone. They received their present name from Ruiz Lopez de Villalobos, one of the early discoverers, in honor of the Prince of Asturias, afterwards King Philip of Spain.

TIME CIRCUIT.

When it is 12 o'clock noon, standard time, at Washington, it is

1.40 A. M. next day at Manila. 2.18 A. M. next day at Yokohama. 0.37 A. M. next day at Hongkong.

BOUNDARIES.

The land surface is greater than the combined area of the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware (104,970) square miles, nearly twice as large as the five states of New England (66,425 square miles), and larger than the five New England states, New York and New Jersey (123,860 square miles).

The total area, land and water, is equal to the combined area of New York, west of Utica; New Jersey, west of Trenton; all of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Northern Florida, Eastern Tennessee, Eastern Kentucky, all of Ohio, the east half of the peninsula of Michigan, and nearly the whole of Ontario, Canada. The area of the archipelago is seven thousand square miles-larger than that of the British Isles, and ten times that of the Netherlands, the possessor of the extensive domain among the islands and groups near to the Philippines.

NEARBY COLONIAL POSSESSIONS OF OTHER

The Philippines Archipelago bounded on the north by the China Sea, on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Celebes Sea and Borneo, and on the west by the China

Sea.

AREA.

Land, 127,853 statute miles. Water, 705,115 statute miles. Total, 832,968 statute miles.

Portugal
Germany
Netherlands (East
Indies) ......628,000

The large islands of the archipelago have extensive fluvial systems, deter mined by the great mountain ranges. That of Luzon, the principal island, on which the city of Manila is, is represented by four large streams and their drainage basins. Another island, Mindoro, has 60 rivers. Another has 26 rivers. Other islands are famous for their large lakes. The island of Mindanao is a very important one. It has the largest volcano, the Apo, 10,311 feet high, and also the greatest river in the United States Asiatic possessions. It receives the waters of two large lakes, and is navigable to the lakes for gunboats. From its source to its mouth it has a fall of 5,000 feet. In some places it is a torrent. It has numerous tributaries, among them seven large ones.

CLIMATE.

The climate of the Philippine Islands is temperate in the months of November, December, January and February, the monthly means oscillating between 25 degrees C. and 25.5 degrees C. It is excessively hot in April, May and June, and intermediate in March, July, Au

gust, September and October. The most rains fall in July, August and September, and the least in February and March. The dry season is from November to May, and the rainy season from June to October.

PHILIPPINE SEAS.

The coast line of the Philippine Islands is 11,444 miles. The shallowness of the inter-island waters indicates a submarine plateau connecting with the islands of Japan.

BAYS AND HARBORS.

Manila is the principal bay of the archipelago, and one of the finest in the East, occupying a most valuable strategic position on the China Sea. It is beautiful, expansive and clear of obstructions, with excellent anchorage, and can contain the fleets of the world. It is surrounded by five provinces.

Zingayen, a gulf on the same coast, has an entrance twenty miles wide, and extends thirty-one miles inland, also with a depth and shelter for the fleets of the world. It washes the shores of three provinces, and its chief landmark, Mount St. Tomas, is 7,418 feet high. There are many other fine bays and harbors.

ROADS AND COMMUNICATIONS.

The present ways of land communication are by cart road, horse trail or foot path. There is a fair system of constructed highways on the principal island, Luzon. There is only one railroad, that connecting Manila with Dagupan, 120 miles long. An expert estimate gives 1,000 miles of railroads as sufficient to meet all requirements of the islands for some years, at a cost to build of $35,000,000.

POSTAL SERVICE.

This service has been fully organized as far as facilities permit. The internal postage is one cent gold per half ounce, instead of the United States rate of two cents per ounce, or less.

Total postal expenses, 1900-01.. 900-01..$159,028 Total postal receipts, 1900-01... 122,832

Deficit only $36,196 Numerous money order offices are also in operation. The usual time transit from New York to Manila, via San Francisco, is 34 days. No United States mail is sent to Manila, via Europe, unless so marked.

FARES TO MANILA FROM NEW YORK.

Via San Francisco, the first-class fare is $303.50, one way. For servants (other than Asiatic), $225. Steerage, $168.75.

CABLES AND TELEGRAPHS.

The Signal Corps of the United States army has constructed and laid 9,000 miles of telegraph, telephone and submarine cable lines in the Philippines since the occupancy of the United States forces, August, 1898, to June, 1902, two months less than four years. Over this system an average of upward of 10,000 official messages, civil and military, have been handled daily for several months. Schools have been opened for the instruction of Filipinos as operators. Commercial business is also taken care of at 203 of the signal corps offices. All this means business and profit for the American ocean cable to be built at once from San Francisco to Manila, calling at Honolulu and Guam on the way. In less than two years we shall be in direct telegraphic speaking communication with these far-off isles of the sea, where day begins, at a much lower expense than the present cost of $3.59 Mexican, or $1.75 American currency, per word.

POPULATION AND TOWNS.

As near as can be computed from the incomplete Spanish census of 1887, the total population of the Philippines is 6,975,073, and the total number of towns, 1,137. These figures probably understate rather than overstate the actual number of inhabitants, civilized and wild. The American census, now in progress, will soon give us more rcliable figures. Looking to the future, and as a measure of comparison, we note that the recent census of the United States proper shows a growth from 5,500,000 to 76,000,000 in 100 yearsthat is practically a fifteen fold increase. If that rate is kept up in the Philippines the present pouplation of about 7,000,000 will be enlarged to 105,000,000 by the

dawn of the twenty-first century. Further, that increased population will be partially American born, and almost entirely Americanized, thus giving to the Orient a greater power for good than Old World bigotry and persecution has given to the New World through the Pilgrim Fathers.

RACES.

The inhabitants compose three races, in 84 tribes, as follows:

Negritos, 21 tribes, the aboriginals, 25,000. Indonesian, in 16 tribes, 252,200. Malayan, in 47 tribes, 5,699,400.

Of the 84 tribes, eight may be regarded as civilized, numbering approximately 6,000,000, all of whom are normally Christian, except the 268,000 Mohammedan Moros. Most of the tribes have different languages, laws and cus

toms.

OUR EDUCATIONAL WORK.

In spite of this and many other difficulties, we have already done a great work under Dr. Atkinson. There are 17 school divisions, covering 114,792 square miles, with 1,221 American and 3,100 Filipino teachers, and 25,000, chiefly adults, in the night schools. Two hundred thousand children who never before knew the meaning of liberty, now daily sing freedom's songs in English, and daily salute freedom's emblem the Stars and Stripes.

NATURAL RESOURCES OF THE ISLANDS.

The staples of the archipelago in their order of importance are hemp, tobacco, sugar, copra, coffee and rice. The other products are cocoanuts, chocolate, corn, wheat, indigo, peanuts, all the cereals and vegetables of the United States, cinnamon, cloves, nutmegs, mace, betel, betel pepper, tea, and all the variable products of the spice islands. The wonderful productiveness of the soil and diversity of climate make the Philippine Islands one of the richest agricultural regions of the world. Improved methods of cultivation and machinery will add millions yearly to this branch of wealth. This is of great importance