39 



this mollusk has not been worked out, although the Bureau of 

 Science is trying to establish new beds and to extend the old 

 beds. 



Besides the actual development of the marine products, these 

 could afford the raw material for many household industries 

 and thus increase the earning capacity of the people, enabling 

 them to buy better and more fish, and to improve the entire 

 food supply. 



RELIEVING POPULATION PRESSURE 



Population is not evenly distributed and development is by 

 no means uniform throughout the Philippine Islands. In some 

 regions, as in Cebu and Siquijor, there is considerable over- 

 crowding, while in other regions, as in the Island of Mindanao, 

 there are vast stretches of fertile land not yet occupied. In 

 Cebu and Siquijor apparently all the land is in cultivation that 

 is capable of yielding a satisfactory harvest. Indeed, I saw 

 many fields of corn or other crops that are too steep and stony 

 to be tilled profitably, or to support the right sort of family life. 



The farmers try to grow two and frequently three crops of 

 corn on the same land each year, but the yield of all three crops 

 is pitiably small for one crop. The land was originally fertile, 

 but much of it is so sloping that, under constant tillage, the 

 surface has become very badly eroded. The supply of vegetable 

 matter in the soil is practically exhausted by long use without 

 manure, and the soil is left without power to withstand the 

 severe droughts that are common at some season of each year. 



At first thought, the remedy would seem to be to induce a 

 part of the people now in the overpopulated regions to move 

 to the unoccupied lands. This, however, I am told is not easy 

 to accomplish with the home-loving Filipino, besides, such a 

 remedy would be only temporary at best. No country has been 

 helped permanently, much less saved, through the emigration 

 of its best stock. And the people who emigrate to a new country 

 are the strongest and best people, and the weakest are left 

 behind to become the parents of the next generation. Some 

 plan, therefore, must be evolved under which the people may 

 support themselves well where they are. 



It is true that if the farm crops were wisely rotated, if the 

 fields were better tilled, if improved seeds were planted, if fer- 

 tilizers of the right sort were applied, and if all the other things 

 which the Bureau of Agriculture recommends were done, the 

 harvest would probably be sufficient to support very comfortably 

 all the people now living in these regions. But it is idle to 



