6i2 Forestry Quarterly. 



vision is used throughout and while employers complain of the 

 grade of labor attainable it is probably more effective dollar for 

 dollar than the labor used for the same purpose in the United 

 States. The first companies to install steam logging methods in 

 the Islands naturally worked under great disadvantages while 

 training their woods crew. This was in part due to the ignorance 

 and habits of the Filipinos they were compelled to employ, but also 

 equally due to the incompetent and inadequate American super- 

 vision. Furthermore many of the American loggers placed in 

 direct supervision of Filipino labor either failed or refused to 

 understand the Filipino and did not work in harmony with their 

 crews. This was to be expected considering the type of men 

 often employed as logging bosses. However, the employers soon 

 realized that competent Americans in charge of the logging were 

 indispensable and offered salaries that attracted the high grade 

 men. These men being anxious to make good, studied the pro- 

 blem from both the logger's standpoint and that of the laborer and 

 by patient work have developed extremely efficient Filipino crews. 

 As the average Filipino is not nearly as strong as the average 

 American "lumber jack" it was found necessary to employ more 

 men for each operation, such as skidding, swamping, yarding, train 

 hall, etc., than would be employed in the States. Also each of 

 these operations should be supervised by a competent American if 

 the best results are desired and if the general operation is large 

 enough to admit of the expense. This will become less and less 

 true as higher grade Filipinos enter the field, as they are bound to 

 do, and the employer has already found that a good Filipino is 

 many times better than a poor American. The school system of 

 the Islands is rapidly turning out men of all grades who speak 

 English and if some of these who like outdoor work can be picked 

 up by the lumbermen to fill minor supervisory positions they 

 would be invaluable, not only in the capacity of crew bosses, but 

 as interpreters for the American employees. These men would 

 understand both the American and the Filipino, and would do 

 much to smooth out difficulties arising from imperfectly under- 

 stood orders and would aid the American to hold his crew 

 together. 



The millman in the Islands has met with practically the same 

 difficulties as the logger and they are traceable to the same causes. 



