Government a coconut plantation should bring in "dividends ranging from
10 to 75 per cent. from the tenth to the hundredth year." And this being
printed in 1913 figured the price of copra at 3-1/2 cents, whereas it
brought 4-1/2 cents in 1918, so the prospect is still more encouraging.
The copra is half fat and can be cheaply shipped to America, where it
can be crushed in the southern oilmills when they are not busy on
cottonseed or peanuts. But even this cost of transportation can be
reduced by extracting the oil in the islands and shipping it in bulk
like petroleum in tank steamers.

In the year ending June, 1918, the United States imported from the
Philippines 155,000,000 pounds of coconut oil worth $18,000,000 and
220,000,000 pounds of copra worth $10,000,000. But this was about half
our total importations; the rest of it we had to get from foreign
countries. Panama palms may give us a little relief from this dependence
on foreign sources. In 1917 we imported 19,000,000 whole coconuts from
Panama valued at $700,000.

[Illustration: SPLITTING COCONUTS ON THE ISLAND OF TAHITI

After drying in the sun the meat is picked and the oil extracted for
making coconut butter]

[Illustration: From "America's Munitions"

THE ELECTRIC CURRENT PASSING THROUGH SALT WATER IN THESE CELLS
DECOMPOSES THE SALT INTO CAUSTIC SODA AND CHLORINE GAS

There were eight rooms like this in the Edgewood plant, capable of
producing 200,000 pounds of chlorine a day]