Lighthouse Construction in the Philippines

In a country like the Philippines, made up of many hundreds of islands separated from one another by deep and wide arms of the sea, and provided by Nature with numerous good harbors, the water routes are, and must continue to be, the main highways of trade and travel. To them as trunk lines the roads and railroads serve as necessary feeders, and are generally built with a view to providing the shortest and cheapest means of reaching the nearest good harbor. This access to a port is the commercial question of first importance in a country whose home market for its chief products is small, and whose prosperity and very existence as a civilized land depend upon its trade with nations overseas.