Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

ECONOMIC SECTION

69

we are now. This increase is to be desired, because if now
there is noticed a marked taste for commerce among the youth
of our land, the confidence in our own government will propel
that taste. This increase should be encouraged in all possible
ways, giving the Filipino merchants facilities to develop themselves, means of transportation and methods of quick and cheap
communication, a net of roads and fluvial communications
which makes it easy to enter ports and other principal centers
of distribution as well as the remote communities in the interior
centers of production, and above all providing credit facilities
the most extensive, because the Filipino merchant does not
possess big capital such as his foreign competitors do.
This is the reason for our insisting on and advocating one
time or other the maintenance of the Philippine National Bank
as a propulsive institution of commerce, of agriculture and of
industries. This is why, recently, only last month, the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands has renewed and
reiterated the attitude more insistently in view of our approach
to the longed for freedom. It is fundamental to preserve the
bank once the Philippines becomes independent because it is
necessary for a great well-balanced economic development, which
requires not only the productive growth of our natural resources and the encouragement of industries but also the commercial activities of the Filipinos. The National Bank is a
manifestation of the paternalistic policies of the Government
and has been founded precisely to help the economic development of the country in its agricultural, commercial and industrial branches by and for the Filipinos. It is necessary to
mobilize the disposable capital of the country which is actually
available for mortgage, endowing the Filipino merchant with
all the disposable pecuniary help. The almost absolute preponderance of foreign elements in the domestic commerce, especially in the basic products of the country, such as rice, would
be changed under the new order.
If the constant eagerness not only of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands, but of the country in general
has resulted in a gradual increase of Filipino participation in
business this eagerness will be the more pronounced when we