6i4 Forestry Quarterly. 



come as the lumbermen get far enough ahead to own their own 

 lumber fleet. 



As has been indicated we can expect a considerable decrease in 

 the cost of production all along the line, but it is not certain that a 

 corresponding increase in profits will follow. The market to-day 

 is practically at the mercy of the lumbermen, the demand being 

 far greater than the supply of native lumber and the only com- 

 petition being that of Oregon Pine. As more lumbermen enter 

 the field competition will lower prices somewhat, but with the 

 immense China market awaiting development and the market for 

 higher grades of lumber for interior finish in the United States, 

 it is reasonably certain that there will be a margin of profit far 

 exceeding that in the United States for 30 or 40 years to come. 



In speaking of logging as carried on in the Philippines it has 

 been said that the "slack rope system" is the only steam method in 

 use. This does not mean that it is the only practicable method 

 but simply that the men who have entered the field so far are 

 from the northwest portion of the United States and they 

 naturally installed the method with which they were familiar. As 

 lumbermen of wider experience and backed by more capital enter 

 the field, we may expect to see many of the specialized systems of 

 logging which have proved successful in the United States put in 

 operation here. Steep slopes, heavily forested to the water line, 

 if not too exposed to heavy surf, can be cheaply logged by a 

 modification of the pull boat system of the cypress swamps. A 

 large, strongly built scow with one or two donkey engines mounted 

 on it should be very successful in such a situation and will also 

 probably find a place in logging mangrove swamps for both 

 piling and timber. Steep slopes everywhere can probably be 

 handled by cableways of one kind or another, such as are pro- 

 duced by the Lidgerwood Co. Timber slides of various kinds 

 would be very efi^ective in many parts of the Islands, although 

 none are in use as yet; and driving by water, which is practised 

 to-day on only a very small scale, will probably become an im- 

 portant means of transportation where drivable streams exist. 



The development of the timber business as a whole is well 

 started, although as said above it is still in its infancy from the 

 American standpoint. The next few years should be marked by 

 a rapid advance leading to the exclusion of all foreign timber from 



