RECONNAISSANCE IN PHILIPPINES AND BORNEO 373 



with the minimum of time and expense persisted even after the loca- 

 tion of the most valuable and accessible tracts had been completed. 

 Dr. F. W. Foxworthy, formerly Chief of the Division of Investigation, 

 Bureau of Forestry, P. I., pointed this out in a report prepared during 

 the latter part of 1916, In a summary at the end of his report he 

 lists 26 detailed reconnaissance reports which were prepared by va- 

 rious officers of the Bureau between 1901 and 1916. These reports deal 

 with a total of 3,473,748 acres and the estimates of stand are based on 

 only 5,203 acres of valuation survey, or approximately 0.15 per cent of 

 the area reported on. In only six instances were estimates based on 

 over I per cent of the area prepared. It is not my intention to decry 

 the usefulness of these reports. They have served their purpose and 

 served it well, as the expansion of the lumber industry of the Phil- 

 ippines abundantly testifies. The data which appears in these reports 

 and the knowledge of forest conditions which the writers acquired 

 in their preparation have made possible the publication of the many 

 valuable bulletins of the Philippine Bureau of Forestry which serve 

 as the foundation for similar work elsewhere. They have also helped 

 to make possible the general estimation of the timber resources of the 

 tropics such as was given by Whitford in his article, "Tropical For- 

 ests and the War," which appeared in the May, 1918, number of this 

 Journal. 



But data such as the above must be considered as only the founda- 

 tion for the acquisition of more detailed and accurate data. Whitford's 

 estimate of 6,150 billions of board feet as the standing timber of the 

 tropics is of great value from a broad economic standpoint. It shows 

 us what we can eventually expect to draw from the tropics and 

 conversely gives a lead toward the conservation of our home supplies. 

 We have satisfied ourselves that the tropics contain vast supplies of 

 merchantable timber, but this is only the beginning of the work. The 

 utilization of this wealth is a vastly larger problem and it cannot be 

 proceeded with until accurate data as to many accessible forest tracts 

 are at hand. No investor can be induced to undertake the promotion 

 of a lumber company in the tropics upon the mere assurance that 

 the total stand runs into the thousands of bilHons of feet. His interest 

 will be awakened, perhaps, but he will desire definite facts and 

 figures and these data can only be obtained by intensive reconnaissance. 

 The time for extensive hasty examination only is passed, and if the 

 work which has already been done is to achieve its purpose we must 

 proceed with more detailed and costly surveys. 



