A Handbook of the Philippines

reakwaters, light-houses, etc. ? I'ost- offices and postal savings banks ? Efforts for the improvement of the public health ?Opportunities for Americans in all parts of the Philippines ? American enterprise beneficial to native industries ? Examples of profitable American activities ? Foreign banks ? Peace works of the American army ? Good work done by the newspapers?Salubrity of the climate ? Bibliography. THE Philippine Islands seem to-day on the threshold of a wonderful new industrial era.1 The construction of a thousand miles of up- to-date railroads; the improvement of harbors and the building of piers that offer the only direct transshipping facilities for ocean-going vessels in the Far East; the entrance of enterprising Americans into almost every line of industry and into every part of the islands; the stimulating initiative of the Philippine Government, and the expenditure of many millions ascash wages in return for useful industrial employment, ? these and other factors would seem to promise as bright a future for the Philippines as may be expected for any land in all the Orient. In short, the American era is preparing the land for a state of bustling activity which would have been impossible with the poor roads, inadequate transportation facilities, and crude or primitive methods of agriculture prevalent under the former regime. 1 "New era" is a term apt to be overused in describing the progress of hitherto undeveloped regions, yet present ...