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Philippine Opportunities 



In previous issues Hardwood Kecokd has published exhaustive 

 articles dealing with the dendrological and geographical condi- 

 tions in the Philippines. Major George G. Ahem, director of for- 

 estry in the Philippine Islands has just issued a bulletin under the 

 above caption telling specifically of opportunities for investment 

 in the Philippiue forests. 



The virgin forest area of the islands approximates 40,000 square 

 miles, of which more than ninety-nine per cent belongs to the gov- 

 ernment. This represents a stand of over 203,264,000,000 board 

 feet and is divided into five main groups, namely, the dipterocarp 

 forests, the molave forests, the mangrove forests, pine forests and 

 the mountain-top forests, the first two being the most important. 



About seventy-five per cent of the virgin stand is in the first 

 group. This group can be divided into three classes — the yacals, 

 the apitongs and the lauans. The first class represents timber 

 of a hard, durable character and of great abundance. The second 

 class corresponds in a way to the hard pines of the United States; 

 they are used for heavy construction purposes. The last group is 

 the most valuable of the three and can be compared structurally 

 to the soft pine of this country. Wood of this type is found in 

 competition with our finishing lumber, and in the Philippine Islands 

 is taking the place of imported species for furniture manufacture. 



The molave forests correspond generally to the hardwood for- 

 ests of the United States. Under this group are founil woods for 

 general construction and also for furniture manufacture and similar 

 lines. They represent practically the chief value of the Philippine 

 forests. As a rule the commercial forests are either near the 

 beach or at a short distance inland where they can be made acces- 

 sible by short lines of railroad. The forests in immediate prox- 

 imity to the coast are being rapidly destroyed by the farmers and 

 small operators with limited capital. Lumbering in the future will 

 be expensive in forests some distance from the coast, where 



modern logging methods will be necessary. One of the chief dif- 

 ficulties is the extreme cost of transportation to the market and 

 the company not owning its own boats is handicapped at the start. 

 When transportation facilities from the log to tjje consumer are 

 owned by the operating company, the cost of carrying lumber to 

 Manila should not exceed from $3.50 to $4.50 a thousand board feet. 



There is no export duty on lumber or manufactured products, while 

 sawmill and logging machinery from the United States is admitted 

 free, and forest products from the Philippines admitted free to 

 this country. 



The available labor for woods operations and sawmill work 

 has proved itself very efficient. The Filipinos have a natural apti- 

 tude for handling machinery and are easily taught. The cost of 

 labor runs from twenty-five to seventy-five cents per day in gold. 



The bulletin gives an approximate idea of prevailing stumpage 

 values in the Philippine Islands, as based on government charges. 

 The cost of Philippine timber ranges from $1 to $5 per thousand 

 feet; lauan, which sells in Manila for $30 per thousand in the 

 form of lumber, can be bought on the stump for $1. The cheap- 

 ness of Philippine stumpage is still more marked in the fine cabi- 

 net woods. Five dollars in gold represents the highest value of the 

 finest cabinet woods in the Philippines. 



The bulletin contends that the entire Philippine market could 

 be secured by local manufacturers if there were sufficient well- 

 equipped mills to take care of the trade. It also claims that Phil- 

 ippine manufacturers could successfully compete for trade in 

 Seattle and other western cities, in China and Japan and as far 

 as Australia. The chief difficulty has been with the introduction 

 of Philippine cabinet woods into this country, that there are no 

 lumbermen in a position to supply a strong demand; as a conse- 

 quence the fine Philippine woods are little known in the United 

 States. 



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If the often-rc]>eated statement that "this is the day of the 

 specialist" is literally true, it would appear that the dimension 

 stock manufacturer would be among the most successful operators 

 in the hardwood field. He is a specialist in the most exact sense, 

 and if he specializes along the proper lines, he has acquired 

 knowledge not onlj' of manufacturing but of selling and informa- 

 tion that makes him valuable not only to his own concern but to 

 consumers as well. 



In other words, the dimension stock man, more than anybody else, 

 needs to study consuming conditions. The sawmill operator can 

 cut plain oak, poplar or ash in four-, six- and eight-quarter thick- 

 nesses, send out a stock-list to several hundred possible buyers and 

 under ordinary conditions can move his product without difficulty. 

 He is not required to know exactly what the operations of those 

 who use the stock are, and as a rule he does not acquire very exact 

 information on this subject. 



Many hardwood firms, it might be added, have begun to learn the 

 advantage of making more of a specialized study of the buyer's 

 needs and since trade has been less active than it was in 1907, 

 it has been worth while to adapt one's stock to the peculiar de- 

 mands of the factory man. This is merely by the way, however, 

 and only emphasizes the fact that the dimension manufacturer has 

 been compelled to make such a study all along in order for him 

 to remain in the business and to make a success. 



It is perfectly true that under favorable conditions a man oper- 

 ating a plant for the cutting of hardwood lumber to dimensions 

 desired by consumers, could make money without any special exer- 

 tion in the direction of determining what would best suit his cus- 

 tomers. He would be given the order, with the required dimen- 



—34— 



sions indicated, .-ind it would be simply a matter of adjusting his 

 machines so as to produce the stock. But here is the point : 



In the dimension factory there is much more waste than any- 

 where else, for obvious reasons. Unusual widths and lengths 

 required in work of this kind cannot always be provided without 

 leaving odd sections of boards behind. Prices may be sufScient 

 to cover the waste, but in many cases they are not enough to 

 enable the manufacturer to throw the residue into the furnace 

 and not pocket a loss. It is another case of "What will he do 

 with it?" 



The only answer to that question that will be individually satis- 

 factory and economically sound involves the sale of the short 

 lengths and strips to factories which can use that particular ma- 

 terial, perhaps worked over to the exact dimensions which are 

 needed. In other words, the manufacture of dimension stock re- 

 quires a re-working to sizes that will consume the material which 

 otherwise would be denominated waste and chucked into the fuel- 

 box. And how is the manufacturer to determine the proper han- 

 dling of this stock without making a real and analytical study of 

 the consumer's proposition and applying his own to it? 



The incident was recently cited by a man who is regarded as 

 an expert in the hardwood field, of a dimension stock manufac- 

 turer cutting mahogany to sizes required by his customers. Much 

 waste was involved in the operations, in spite of the exceptionally 

 wide boards which are available in mahogany. The waste was cut 

 into bits and sold for kindling wood or burned. When the manu- 

 facturer was asked to explain why ho was causing this dreadful 

 waste of valuable stock, he said: "I'd rather burn or give it away 

 than sell it for loss th;ni it is worth." 



