RECENT FOREST PROPAGANDA IN THE PHILIPPINES 751 



ment to catch and hold the interest and attenion of the crowds. The 

 results would more than justify the expense; but for the present, at 

 least, such plans must be consigned to the limbo of things hoped for. 



Obviously, it is much too soon to attempt a complete summing up of 

 the results obtained. Although the ground-work had been laid during 

 many previous years, and much excellent work had been accomplished, 

 a general, systematized, active propaganda was impossible until hardly 

 more than a year ago, and one of the tests of its effectiveness must lie 

 in the permanence of the results, and not in merely transitory success. 



Viewing the situation as a whole, however, it seems that there is 

 already clearly manifested good and substantial ground for a healthy 

 optimism. The number of Filipinos in private or official life who 

 have a clear understanding and appreciation of forestry is small, but 

 it is appreciably larger than ever before. Another evidence that the 

 efforts are bearing fruit is shown by the increasing frequency of edi- 

 torials in the Filipino papers emphasizing and calling the attention of 

 their countrymen to the importance of greater support to the cause of 

 forest conservation ; and it is shown no less by the scarcity of attacks 

 in the local press, formerly by no means infrequent, upon the activities 

 of the Bureau and its personnel. Letters to the Bureau from the 

 assemblymen and from governors and other provincial officials show 

 in general a cordiality and a spirit of sympathetic co-operation which 

 are not found in similar communications of previous years, when the 

 work of the Bureau was newer and less well understood. Never be- 

 fore have the provincial prosecuting attorneys, the justices of the peace, 

 the judges, and even the Bureau of Justice, taken so firm a stand to 

 assist the Bureau of Forestry by acting promptly and firmly to bring 

 about the punishment of illegal forest destruction, in order that each 

 conviction may prove a deterring example in the future. The forest 

 charges are being collected more effectually and with fewer misunder- 

 standings and complaints than at any time in the past, and the treas- 

 urers in the provinces and municipalities are showing a greater interest 

 in and knowledge of this particular portion of their duties and a more 

 cordial spirit o*f co-operation with the forest rangers. 



But it is naturally in the Philippine legislature that the real test is to 

 be looked for, and the most encouraging feature of the whole situation 

 is to be found in the fact that here the success has been most conspic- 

 uous and most complete. While the Philippine Commission still held 

 unshared legislative authority, and when a majority of its members 

 were Americans, the Bureau had often a hard fight to maintain its in- 

 tegrity, its independent organization, and its popularity. But there 



