154 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



5. The forests have been opened up 

 by the most up-to-date American 

 method of logging controlled by log- 

 ging rules. 



6. The establishment of forest re- 

 serves has been taken as the keynote of 

 the whole policy of the bureau, and the 

 preliminary work is being pushed with 

 the utmost vigor. 



7. The money for starting a rangers' 

 school has already been appropriated 

 by the assembly. 



V AN OPENING FOR AMERICANS 



All these most interesting problems 

 present a splendid opportunity for 

 Americans of the right sort to do some 

 work which is sure to be of benefit to 

 the islands and so, indirectly, to their 

 own country. Of course, it would be 

 useless to deny that the climate is less 

 favorable for active \\x»rk than that in 

 the states. This only means, however, 

 that a man must take better care of 

 himself in the Philippines to keep in 

 ordinary good health than he would 

 have to do in the states. If he does 

 take care of himself, there is no reason 

 why he should suffer in the slightest 

 from the dift'erence in climate. Of 

 course, the government will, sooner or 

 later, have to open its eyes to the tact 

 that if it wants a continued supply of 

 good men, it will have to oft'er higher 

 inducements. At present the salaries 

 are but a small fraction of what they 

 are in India, though the distance to the 

 Philippines is far greater, and the cost 

 of living much higher. The period of 

 service should be greatly increased 

 and a pension provided for a certain 

 numbers of years' active service in the 

 islands. This would largely increase 

 the force — a thing at present much to 

 be desired — and would give it a more 



permanent character. Americans would 

 then be eager to take up a work which 

 for keenness of interest is unsurpassed 

 anywhere in the world. 



VI CONCLUSION 



The forest problems in the Philip- 

 pines are of far more importance than 

 in most countries. On account of the 

 hilly nature of the islands (which are 

 mostly volcanic), the preservation of 

 the forests on the upper slopes is an 

 absolute necessity for the protection of 

 the water supply. And there is also 

 strong evidence to show that forests 

 not only regulate the run-off and retain 

 water in the soil, but actually influence 

 the total quantity of rainfall as well. 



In the Philippine Islands, as in no 

 other country in the world, does the 

 solution of the forest problem involve 

 the solution of the land question. Upon 

 the proper handling of this question 

 depends the agricultural development 

 of the country and hence the welfare of 

 a people almost wholly dependent upon 

 agriculture. 



The work being done by the Bureau 

 of Forestry is such that no less a per- 

 son than Doctor Treub, the most emi- 

 nent botanist in the tropics, in speak- 

 ing about forestry in tropical countries, 

 said that the Americans had made 

 more real progress in forestry in the 

 ten vears in which thev have been in 

 the islands than any other nation in 

 all the time in which they have been 

 in the tropics. 



It should, therefore, be the proud 

 duty of every American to give his 

 hearty support to work so well done and 

 upon which in such a vital degree de- 

 pends the whole future development 

 and prosperity of a people whose best 

 interests his country has pledged its 

 honor to care for. 



