ANNIVERSAR7 NUMBER 1919 



Some Industrial Possibilities of the ^Philippine Islands 



By DR. ALVIN J. Cox, Director of the Bureau of Science 



Being a Memorandum prepared for the information of the Secretary of the Interior. 



(The Philippine Bureau of Science;, Manila. P. I., 

 has available for those interested detailed information 

 regarding each of these industries. Inquiries may be 

 addressed to the Director, Bureau of Science, Manila. 

 THB EDITOR.) 



A few days ago you requested a memoran- 

 dum with regard to industrial, economic or 

 sanitary information in the Bureau of Science 

 which has to do with the development of the 

 Philippine Islands which is insufficiently used 

 and which should be carried further to make 

 it of the greatest benefit. I desire to em- 

 phasize the fact that there is extensive in- 

 formation along many lines in the Bureau 

 of Science which effect a large annual saving 

 to the inhabitants of these Islands if it were 

 utilized. Some of this has been published 

 and is of permanent record, but the time of 

 employees is so taken up with the regular 

 work of the Bureau that there is still insuf- 

 ficient publicity. The means at hand are 

 entirely inadequate to put the people of these 

 Islands in touch with the information of the 

 Bureau of Science. The best, and, probably, 

 the only way most to interest those to whom 

 the introduction of new methods and of de- 

 sirable modifications of existing methods is 

 most important is by actual demonstration. 

 All of the information which the Bureau of 

 Science has been able to collect and work out 

 along lines all tending to improve sanitary 

 conditions, to develop the valuable resources 

 of the Philippine Islands, and to develop both 

 old and new industries work which should be 

 carried on at all times has been accomplished 

 after the regular routine work of the Govern- 

 ment, consisting of hundreds of thousands 

 of different examinations, analyses and jobs 

 of every variety, and coming from every 

 branch of the Government, has been attended 

 to. Some of the subjects along the line in 

 which you have expressed an interest are as 

 follows: 



1. Paper pulp. In the paper-pulp in- 

 dustry there has been an advance in the cost 

 of all raw materials and there seems to be 

 no immediate prospect of a change in the sit- 

 uation. The great industries in the United 

 States alone are demanding, and will con- 

 tinue to demand, a supply of paper pulp 

 much in excess of the consumption previous 

 to 1916. The demand will tax the capacity 

 of the mills there to the utmost. 



2. Drying coconut by sulphur treatment. 

 This method of drying coconuts is exceeding- 

 ly simple and consists, briefly, in putting the 

 opened nuts on trays and subjecting them in a 

 closed space to the fumes of burning sulphur for 

 from twelve to twenty-four hours. After this 

 treatment the nuts are put under a shed to 

 dry, the completion of which requires four 

 or more days according to atmospheric con- 

 ditions. The on\y apparatus required is a 

 wooden box of proper size, a few trays, and 

 a 4-wheel car mounted on a wooden track. 

 The box is made sufficiently tight only to 

 permit the escape of enough gases to allow 

 enough additional air to enter at the bottom 

 to keep the sulphur burning. The box is 

 105 by 210 by 270 centimeters, being of suf- 

 ficient size to accommodate about 1,500 

 nuts on 16 or more trays w.ien placed on the 

 car and separated enough to permit free cir- 

 culation of sulphur dioxide fumes. One end 

 of the box is a door hinged at the top. The 

 car has the simplest framework mounted 

 on two pairs of cast iron wheels 25 centime- 



ters in diameter. The track should be about 

 twice as long as the box, so that the car may 

 be pushed in and out of the box and the load- 

 ing and unloading be done outside. About 

 5 kilograms of sulphur are sufficient for one 

 thousand nuts, and when these nuts are put 

 on trays, they occupy about 2.5 square meters 

 of floor space. 



There is no doubt an available supply of 

 sulphur. I have estimated that the annual 

 production of coconuts in the Philippine Is- 

 lands does not exceed 431,387 thousand nuts. 

 If all the nuts grown in the Philippine Islands 

 were cured by the use of our sulphuring pro- 

 cess, not more than 2,000 tons of sulphur 

 would be consumed annually. In 1915 the 

 United States Geological Survey reports 

 that during the calendar years 1911-14 Japan 

 exported to the United States 16,185, 24,505, 

 15,317, and 21,913 tons of sulphur, respec- 

 tively. From this it will be seen that Japan 

 annually imports into the United States alone 

 ten times as much sulphur as would be re- 

 quired for sulphuring all the coconuts of the 

 Philippine Islands. Sulphur is also availa- 

 ble in the Philippine Islands as shown in the 

 Bureau of Science Mineral Resources for 

 1911. A demand would develop the Philip- 

 pine sulphur resources, but even though 

 no sulphur were available locally, it could 

 be imported into the Philippines cheaper 

 than into the United States. The average 

 price of sulphur should not exceed 50 pesos 

 per ton under normal conditions. 



In the tapahan method of drying copra it 

 frequently happens that the coconut .meat 

 begins to mold before the drying is begun, 

 and before the drying has proceeded far 

 enough to inhibit the growth of mold, consi- 

 derable deterioration has taken place. In 

 the sulphuring process the nuts can be sub- 

 jected to sulphur fumes before mold has start- 

 ed to grow. The action of sulphur fumes 

 (sulphur dioxide, sulphuric acid anhy- 

 dride) is to kill all mold spores and to soften 

 the cell walls of the coconut meat so that 

 the moisture comes out readily. 



With proper organization and routing of the 

 work, the labor cost when the sulphur method 

 is used will not exceed that in the tapahan. 

 Compared with the tapahan method the 

 sulphur process offers the following advan- 

 tages: 



(1) The copra is preserved and bleached 

 by the sulphur fumes and yields exception- 

 ally white copra. 



(2) There is no loss of oil during the pro- 

 cess of sulphuring and drying. 



(3) An exceedingly uniform product is 

 obtained. 



(4) A greater weight of copra is obtained 

 from a given number of nuts. 



(5) The keeping quality of the copra is 

 improved. 



(6) The process is exceptionally clean. 



(7) The oil expressed from the copra is 

 practically colorless, is free from rancidity, 

 is pronounced equal to, or better than, the 

 best Cochin oil, and will sell for two or three 

 cents a pound more than ordinary oil (at two 

 cents a pound there is a difference of about 

 3.75 pesos per picul of copra). 



The disadvantages of the sulphur meth- 

 od are: 



(1) A small outlay for sulphur. 



(2) A longer time is required for drying. 



The expense of sulphur is negligible and is 

 probably more than counterbalanced by the 

 increased weight of the product owing to the 

 fact that there is no deterioration of the oil 

 by organisms, not to mention the numerous 

 other advantages. The length of time re- 

 quired is more than counterbalanced by 

 the superior product which will command a 

 much better price when produced in suffi- 

 cient quantities so that it may be manufac- 

 tured into edible oils. 



3. Papaya, gum. A study of the proper- 

 ties of papaya gum made from latex of Cari- 

 ca papayi has resulted in improving methods 

 for preparing this important commercial 

 product. The results already obtained show 

 conclusjvely that gum may be made in the 

 Philippines which is equal, if not superior, 

 both regarding color and activity, to any 

 now on the world's market. The constant- 

 ly increasing demand for papaya gum as a 

 substitute for pepsin and the well-known fact 

 that satisfactory gum is difficult to obtain 

 assure a steady market for a high-grade Phil- ' 

 ippine product. 



When I was in the United States in 1915, 

 I discussed papaya gum especially with Dr. 

 J. M. Francis, of the Parke Davis Co., De- 

 troit, Michigan. He says it is impossible 

 to get any unadulterated papaya gum in the 

 United States. One very active sample which 

 they received contained 48 per cent starch 

 50 per cent papain, and 2 per cent pepsin. 

 Doctor Francis says that the consumption 

 of papaya gum in the United States alone 

 amounts to several hundred tons annually 

 and will increase, if a reliable product can be 

 obtained. American firms have been dis- 

 couraged in this industry by the adulterated 

 products. The American Digestive Fer- 

 ments Co., New York City, is another firm 

 dealing in papain. 



In 1915 I wrote to the United States Bu- 

 reau of Chemistry asking them to endeavor 

 to stop the importation of adulterated papa- 

 in, and, when this is done, there will be no 

 demoralization of the market. 



_4. Tanning materials. The value of tan- 

 ning materials imported into the United 

 States has increased from 1,600,000 dollars 

 in 1900 to 6,500,000 dollars in 1911, and tan- 

 ners are becoming each year more depend- 

 ent upon imported material. Bark from 

 the better species of Philippine mangrove 

 trees contains 30 per cent of tannin, and a 

 net profit of from 50 to 60 pesos per ton can 

 probably be made on tanning material de- 

 rived from the mangrove swamps in the Phil- 

 ippine Islands. The commercial develop- 

 ment of the Philippine mangrove swamp 

 areas, estimated at 207,000 hectares or 2 per 

 cent of the Philippine public forests, is pos- 

 sible. The exploitation of these mangrove 

 swamps involves an economical disposal of 

 the wood. This can be done if the tanning 

 industry is associated with a firewood, piling, 

 and distillation industry. The Bureau of 

 Science has completed, and is about to pub- 

 lish, results on the destructive distillation 

 of Philippine woods, which show a compa- 

 ratively easy method of disposal of wood at a 

 profit and one which produces valuable prod- 

 ucts such as acetic acid, methyl alcohol, tar, 

 and excellent foundry charcoal, provided a 

 suitable market for the products is established. 



