Governor TAFT. How long have you been engaged in that work? Señor GONZALES. Before the revolution I took full charge of the management of the estate, but before that time I had a great deal of knowledge concerning it, owing to my associations with it. Governor TAFT. What is raised on the estate? Señor GONZALES. Rice or palay. Governor TAFT. Is the land irrigated? Señor GONZALES. The majority of the land is irrigated. Archbishop GUIDI. Is it natural or artificial? Señor GONZALES. Natural. Governor TAFT. Do you use dams? Señor GONZALES. In parts of the estate we do. Governor TAFT. Is there first-class superior land in this 32,000 hectares? Señor GONZALES. We have a great deal of first-class land. Governor TAFT. What does the land produce per year per hectare? Señor GONZALES. From 90 to 100 cavanes per hectare. Governor TAFT. Do you know, generally, the value of rice land of the first class, as described by you, in the provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Pampanga, and Bulacan? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir; the maximum price in Pangasinan and Tarlac per hectare for first class superior lands is 200 pesos a hectare. Archbishop GUIDI. Do you mean to say that 100 cavanes per hectare is the max imum? Señor GONZALES. Some of the lands might produce as much as 20 cavanes more per hectare. Archbishop GUIDI. You should have mentioned the fact that you did not refer to those lands that were exceptionally productive. Governor TAFT. When you mention from 90 to 100 cavanes, is that the method of classifying superior first-class lands? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. You have doubtless hectares that will produce more than 100 cavanes, but I am speaking now of an average which permits a classification. Señor GONZALES. I so understood you when I answered. Governor TAFT. What is the price of the same kind of land in Pampanga and Bulacan? Señor GONZALES. In Bulacan the price of such lands is higher than in the other provinces. When close to a market and having an abundance of water for irrigation purposes the price may go as high as 300 pesos per hectare. Archbishop GUIDI. Do you refer to the Mexican peso at its actual present market value? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir. Archbishop GUIDI. Would the price of the lands have been the same several years ago when the value of the Mexican peso was different? Señor GONZALES. The price of the land several years ago was less than it is to-day; that is, about 250 pesos where it is to-day 300 pesos. The exchange value between silver and gold does not influence the price of land very much in the provinces, nor does the loss of cattle, even, affect the price of the land very much. What most affects its price is the demand for it and the lack of capital. Governor TAFT. How much do you or your father get of the gross products of the land as rental? Señor GONZALES. On first-class land, 10 per cent of the gross product; on secondclass land, 8 per cent, and third-class land, 5 per cent. Governor TAFT. Is that a fair statement of what smaller landowners would get from their tenants? Señor GONZALES. No, sir; the net profit which they get is from 12 to 14 per cent of the products. Governor TAFT. Is it a custom to make contracts for a percentage of the gross product? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir; also. In such cases the landlord gets 10 per cent. Governor TAFT. The reason why you and your father are content with 10 per cent is, if I understood you the other day, that your tenants have some peculiar ideas. Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir; and in order to avoid difficulty with our tenants we have lowered the price that is due to us as rent. Governor TAFT. Do you know anything about the price of land in Cavite? Señor GUTIERREZ. Señor Gonzales has simply testified what he believes to be the truth with regard to his own personal experience, and he has simply given his opin ions which have been based on his own personal experience. For my part I have already given my ideas on this subject and have shown that for the mere usufruct of the land as much as 200 pesos was paid per hectare. Governor TAFT. In 1882? Señor GUTIERREZ. Not only in 1882, but in 1892, 1896, and 1897-at any year when it was profitable to work the lands. Governor TAFT. My judgment is that Señor Gonzales, since you are expressing your opinion about his evidence, is probably the best qualified witness to speak, because he covers four of five provinces. He is a large landowner himself, and he is familiar with the prices that prevail in those four provinces. I would like to ask Señor Gonzales if his property in Pangasinan is convenient to the market. Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. In what way does it reach the market? Señor GONZALES. We have at Bautista, which is a railway station, a large market, and we also have another market at Dagupan. Governor TAFT. Does the growing of rice on land exhaust the land? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. Is the land in Pangasinan and Tarlac less worn by the cultivation of the rice which grows there than the land in Bulacan? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir; much less worn. Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir; it is more fertile. Archbishop GUIDI. Do not these lands produce other crops, like sugar cane, aside from rice? Señor GONZALES. They could produce it, but I have never engaged in the cultivation of sugar and therefore do not know whether it would be more profitable than rice culture. Governor TAFT. Do you know whether it has been the custom in the Philippine Islands on any large estates to use fertilizer or manure to make up for the loss in the fertility of the soil by reason of many years of crops? Señor GONZALES. I have no knowledge of any fertilizer being used in any province. Governor TAFT. Therefore if land has been used for one hundred or two hundred years for rice lands, it is not so good as land which has been used for only twenty or thirty years, is it? Señor GONZALES. There is a great difference in the production of such lands and the production of new lands. Governor TAFT. Is there danger that it may change its classification as time goes on and become second-class land instead of first-class land? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir. Archbishop GUIDI. I infer from what you have said that land which has been cultivated for a long time is not as good as land which has not been cultivated, if all other conditions are equal. Señor GONZALES. That is undoubtedly so. Archbishop GUIDI. In an hacienda which had lands that had been cultivated for a long time, and which yielded the same production as lands which had not been cultivated before which were capable of yielding an equal production, the latter should be preferred to the former? Señor GONZALES. Undoubtedly the latter would have the preference over the former. Friar MARTIN. How many hectares have vou under cultivation in that estate of 32,000 hectares? Señor GONZALES. About 11,000. Friar MARTIN. Have they been cultivated for a long time—that is, those that are at present under cultivation? Señor GONZALES. We have had more under cultivation formerly. Friar MARTIN. I think Señor Gonzales must know that in the provinces of Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija the population is very thin, and that in his haci endas there must be some difficulty in securing the requisite number of laborers or tenants to work the lands. Señor GONZALES. Yes; that is true. Friar MARTIN. You must also be aware of the fact that in Bulacan the conditions are exactly the opposite; there the population is very dense, and the very minute that one tenant leaves his piece of land there are four or five applicants for it. This does not happen in any of the other provinces mentioned, and therefore the land is in much greater demand in Bulacan than in the others. Señor GONZALES. It is true that the population is denser and that those conditions prevail in Bulacan, but at the present time the demand for lands is very meager, owing to the lack of money among the people. Friar MARTIN. I did not refer to purchases of land, but to the fact that there were plenty of people there able to work the land. Governor TAFT. Does the difference that you make between the price of land in Pangasinan and that in Bulacan arise from that cause? Have you not made allowance for that, and is not that the reason for the difference in price? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. Have you any interest, one way or the other, in the price of the land which we are considering the purchase of? Señor GONZALES. The only interest that I take in this sale which is going on between the religious orders and the Government is simply the interest that the owner of an estate takes who wishes to also sell his estate in any transaction of this nature. Governor TAFT. You would be willing to sell your estate, would you? Señor GONZALES. Yes, sir; at the price which I have indicated. TESTIMONY OF SEÑOR JOSÉ LUZURIAGA, MEMBER OF PHILIPPINE COMMISSION. Governor TAFT. Señor Luzuriaga, you are a member of the Philippine Commission? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. You are a citizen of the province of Occidental Negros? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir; of Bacolod, the capital. Governor TAFT. You have lived in Occidental Negros, as I understand it, all your life? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. Do yo own land in Negros? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir; I am the owner of three estates which are devoted principally to the cultivation of sugar cane and also rice. Governor TAFT. Are you familiar with the prices of sugar land per hectare in Occidental Negros? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir; I can testify on that matter. Governor TAFT. How far from the sugar market is land in Negros? Señor LUZURIAGA. The local markets for the sugar grown on the estates in Occidental Negros are situated on the coast of that province. They are Silay, Saravia, Bacolod, Talisay, San Enrique, Bago, and Pontevedra, and on the southern coast Ilog, all of which are maritime ports; but from these local markets the sugar is shipped to the central market, which is situated in the town of Iloilo. Governor TAFT. Is it the habit of the vessels which carry the sugar to beachcome right up on the shore-and take the sugar from the estate directly to Iloilo? Señor LUZURIAGA. In some cases the lorchas are able to come right up to the estate, but as a general rule the sugar is shipped from the coast itself, where the boats come right up to the coast and are loaded there and take the sugar to Iloilo. Governor TAFT. How much is the ordinary gross product from a hectare of firstclass sugar land? Señor LUZURIAGA. That depends upon the class of lands. Sugar lands are classified into first, second, and third class lands. The product of first-class lands-that is, of the superior lands—is 80 piculs per hectare. But it must be borne in mind that that is the product of a good year. It will not produce that in ordinary years. Governor TAFT. I would like to ask you generally as to the classification of land. Do they classify land according to the production in the good years, when the conditions are all favorable, or according to the average through favorable and unfavorable years? Señor LUZURIAGA. As a general rule the classification is made on the basis of five years. It is calculated that in those five years one crop will be an extraordinarily good crop, two years will be ordinary crops, and two years bad crops. Governor TAFT. When you say first-class land will produce 80 piculs a year, do you mean in a good year? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes; I mean in a good year. The two years of average crops would produce about 60 piculs of sugar, and the two bad years I calculate would produce about 25 piculs; that is, on an average. Archbishop GUIDI. Is it the custom to renew the seeding of the sugar cane every year? Señor LUZURIAGA. In my estates I have always been accustomed to do so, but in certain parts of Negros, around Isabela for instance, they do not renew the stalks for three years. Archbishop GUIDI. Is this land not worth a great deal more? Señor LUZURIAGA. It was owing to the fact that it was not so expensive to cultivate. Governor TAFT. How much is sugar land worth to-day that produces 80 piculs in a good year? Señor LUZURIAGA. That also depends on the quality of the sugar. There are four classes of sugar raised in the island of Negros-first, second, and third class and the common or ordinary. At the present time they are getting an extraordinarily good price for the sugar. Number 1 sugar is worth in Iloilo as much as $6 a picul. There is a difference of 3 reals between No. 1 and No. 2 sugar, and from No. 2 to No. 3 of 2 reals. Archbishop GUIDI. I understood you to say that this was an abnormal price paid this year, but from my understanding of the matter, which I have based upon a reading of the newspapers, the reduction of the Dingley tariff will have such an effect on the Philippines with regard to sugar culture that the price of sugar will go still higher. Señor LUZURIAGA. The opening of the United States market is only one factor in the situation. The price is governed more by supply and demand; it depends altogether on the production of beet sugar in the United States and other places, and the production of cane sugar in Java, Cuba, and other countries. Archbishop GUIDI. The sugar planters of the Philippines would have this advantage, that they could export their sugar to the United States market without paying any duties, and it would undoubtedly have the effect of raising the value of sugar land in the Philippines. Governor TAFT. I want to speed the day when sugar can go from these islands into the United States, but the difficulty is that Congress has adjourned without passing such a law, and the reduction of 25 per cent on the Dingley law has made no appreciable difference. The prospect of further reducing the Dingley tariff 50 per cent, so the merchants informed me the other day, had the effect of increasing the price of sugar, but with the failure to reduce the tariff the price of sugar, I presume, has fallen. Archbishop GUIDI. But the fact that Congress has not denied that reduction in the tariff, but simply postponed action upon it, gives me to understand that there is a probability that Congress will in the future grant this reduction. At any rate, it is more reasonable to believe that the reduction will be granted than that it will not be granted. Governor TAFT. I sincerely concur in that. I believe that Congress will do it at the next session. I shall be very much disappointed if it does not reduce the duties on sugar and tobacco from the Philippines. But this is a little aside from the discussion. I wanted to get at the price of land in the Philippines at the present high price of sugar. Archbishop GUIDI. The point I wish to make is this: Señor Luzuriaga has said that this was an abnormal and extraordinary price for sugar this year. This extraordinary and abnormal price will in the future be an ordinary price. Governor TAFT. What is the difference between the price of sugar in Negros and the price in Iloilo? Señor LUZURIAGA. Fifty cents. Governor TAFT. So that the price is $5.50 a picul on the land where it is produced? Señor LUZURIAGA. That was the price in the months of January and February, but now it has lowered a little. At present we can get only $4.60 for No. 1 sugar on the hacienda. Governor TAFT. Let us take it in round figures, $5 a picul in Negros. Would that mean that a hectare would produce 400 pesos a hectare value of the gross product? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. What is that land which makes a gross product of 400 pesos a year in good years worth, as land is sold in Negros, per hectare? Señor LUZURIAGA. Owing to a very special condition of things down there, that land which produces 400 pesos a year per hectare is to-day worth not one-half of that sum. That is due to the special circumstances down there and the lack of money. It simply involves the principle of supply and demand. Governor TAFT. Do you know whether there is any greater lack of money in Cavite than in Negros? Señor LUZURIAGA. I understand there is a great scarcity of money in Cavite province, so much so that I have been given to understand that one-half of the inhabitants there are engaged in robbing the other half. The lack of money is very much felt in Occidental Negros, and it has had this effect on sugar cultivation, that onefifth of the land is now devoted to sugar culture that has been devoted two years before. Archbishop GUIDI. I take it that the present conditions that prevail in the islands are altogether abnormal, and I do not think we can base any argument on these abnormal conditions, because there may be a change any day. Perhaps to-morrow things may regulate themselves, and it is impossible to make any calculations on such an abnormal situation. Señor LUZURIAGA. The trouble is that we have been living under these abnormal conditions four or five years and we are within them yet. Governor TAFT. What, as a rule, is the price of first-class land in Negros to-day, per hectare? Señor LUZURIAGA. As a rule, from 100 to 150 Mexican pesos per hectare for firstclass land. Archbishop GUIDI. If these are the prices paid in these abnormal times, what was the land worth during normal times? Señor LUZURIAGA. About 100 pesos. Archbishop GUIDI. Do you refer to the land here? Several witnesses have testified that the land was worth 200 pesos. Señor LUZURIAGA. My remarks applied to the island of Negros. I know a great many estates that are now advertised for sale in Negros. They are simply given away almost. Governor TAFT. Are there some sold there? Do you judge from the prices actually brought? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir. Governor TAFT. Is your estimate based on that? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir; you can search the records down there and find my statements to be based on sales actually made. Governor TAFT. And I understand that for the purposes of growing sugar Negros is just as convenient to the sugar market as Cavite-or is that so? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir; that is true with regard to the markets, and I doubt whether there are any lands in Cavite that are as fertile and as good for sugar cultivation as in Negros. Governor TAFT. How is it with reference to Pampanga? Señor LUZURIAGA. In Pampanga there are no lands that are equal in fertility or in productivity to those in Negros. I have seen some of the land in Pampanga. Governor TAFT. Is Iloilo as convenient to Negros as Manila to Pampanga? Señor LUZURIAGA. Yes, sir; the market of Iloilo is only about three hours away. Governor TAFT. Is the expense of raising sugar, in proportion to the value of the product, greater or less than that of raising rice? Señor LUZURIAGA. Proportionately, the expense of cultivating sugar cane is much greater than cultivating palay. Governor TAFT. What is the comparative expense of the two? Señor LUZURIAGA. In good times in Negros we could produce 1 picul of sugar at an expense of 3 pesos, Mexican. Now the expenses are very much greater, owing to the fact that the locusts have appeared down there, the cattle have all died, and the cultivation has to be done entirely by hand. The price of labor has also risen. Governor TAFT. What do you calculate it is now? Señor LUZURIAGA. All expenses could be covered I think, approximately, by 4 pesos; that is, including all expense of placing it in the market. Señor GUTIERREZ. I can not agree with Señor Luzuriaga with regard to his statement that formerly the cost of raising sugar was 3 pesos per picul. Señor LUZURIAGA. I refer to the time immediately before the outbreak of the revolution, not to twenty or thirty years back, when the price of labor was so very much cheaper than it is now. Señor GUTIERREZ. I do not think that the expense of raising 1 picul of sugar could ever have exceeded from $2 to $2.25, Mexican, and I, myself, who have had experience as a sugar planter, have never exceeded this sum. Furthermore, there was a great difference between the cost of raising sugar between a native and a foreign planter. The native planter was able to either hire his labor at a much cheaper price than the foreign planter or else he worked his land on shares, and working on shares is a very much cheaper method than working it by day labor. TESTIMONY OF MARIANO BUNZALAN. Governor TAFT. What is your name and where do you live. Governor TAFT. Have you lived at Rosario most of your life? Governor TAFT. Are you a farmer? Señor BUNZALAN. Yes, sir; I am an owner of agricultural lands. I live at Rosario, Governor TAFT. Is Rosario on the hacienda of San Francisco de Malabon? |