RECENT FOREST PROPAGANDA IN THE PHILIPPINES 745 



it variously estimated at from thirty-odd to eighty. It is largely a mat- 

 ter of personal judgment to decide whether the speech of a given 

 locality composes a distinct dialect in itself, or whether it is merely 

 a variation, a "patois," of a neighboring one. While the number and 

 disparity of the different dialects have undoubtedly been often exag- 

 gerated (they are all of Malay origin except that the Negritos, and 

 even in any two of the most dissimilar at least 30 per cent of the 

 words have a common root), still, taking the most conservative and 

 optimistic view permissible, the fact remains that what is plain to the 

 Ilocano, for instance, is utterly unintelligible to the adjacent Panga- 

 sinan — unless, of course, he happens to have acquired the dialect of his 

 neighbors; and the same is true with the Pampango, the Ibanag, the 

 Tagalog, the Bicol, the Cebuano, etc., not to speak of the numerous 

 dialects spoken by the pagan tribes in the mountains throughout most 

 portions of the archipelago and by the Moros and wild tribes in Min- 

 danao and Sulu. 



Next in importance, in numbering the difficulties, comes the matter 

 of illiteracy. The majority of Filipinos throughout the archipelago 

 can neither read nor write. Just what the true proportion is at present 

 is not accurately known ; but it is undoubtedly large.* Thus the circU'. 

 lation of newspapers and periodicals — the most obvious vehicles for am 

 educational campaign — is small outside of the principal cities and' 

 towns, and if the mass of the people are to be reached, they must be- 

 approached not only in their own dialect, but verbally — in conversation; 

 and in public meetings. I think it will readily be admitted that these 

 two factors in themselves present difficulties that might well discourage 

 the newly arrived American forester, who in his previous work had 

 always been able to take for granted, without a thought, the presence 

 of these seeming requisites which are so conspicuously lacking in the 

 Philippines. But these are by no means the only difficulties. I have 

 already referred to the slow and unsatisfactory means of communica- 

 tion with many of the regions in which most forest users dwell, and to 

 their inherited customs of forest abuse. And finally we have to bear 

 in mind the inadequacy of the personnel at the Bureau's disposal and 

 the pressing amount of other work which must be performed — duties 

 which leave but little time available for an educational campaign. 



*The Census of 1903 (Vol. II, p. 78) states that 55.5 per cent of the population 

 over 10 years of age could neither read nor write; 24.3 per cent could read, btit 

 not write, and 20.2 per cent could both read and write. How much these figures 

 have changed in subsequent years is difficult to estimate, but probably not enough 

 to make any material difiference for the purposes of this discussion' 



