In view of the provisions of the Army appropriation bill with reference to the sale and disposition of timber on public lands and of the hardship which would have resulted from their strict and literal enforcement, the following cablegram was sent to you on March 7, 1901: SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington: High price of lumber one of people's greatest burdens in present situation. Very little timber on private lands. People almost entirely dependent on purchase of timber from public lands to repair damages from war. If new legislation abrogates military governor's General Order 92 last year, fixing reasonable rates and proper limitations under which any resident can cut public timber, will produce greatest hardship. If so, ask authority to put imported timber on free list. Is cutting of timber for public works forbidden? Request opinion. TAFT. The following message was received in reply: TAFT, Manila: WASHINGTON, March 30, 1901. With reference to your telegram of 7th, it is considered provisions act Congress of March 2 do not interfere with existing system forestry regulations provided by Spanish law, as modified by military governor in General Order 92, June 27, 1900. Full discussion of subject forwarded by mail. Advise MacArthur. ROOT. The military order was accordingly allowed to remain in force until the following dispatch was received: TAFT, Manila: WASHINGTON, D. C., July 24, 1901-8.40 p. m. Secretary of War directs send by first available transport full and complete copies existing licenses granted by forestry bureau. Do not grant more licenses till you receive instructions. Report to date, and monthly, thereafter, amount forest products taken from public or private lands, also amount imported and exported after May 1. Send two sample sets forms used in forestry bureau. EDWARDS. These instructions were complied with. The issuance of all licenses for the cutting of timber on Government lands, except those issued to the poor for permission to cut, free of charge, the little timber and firewood absolutely needed by them, was immediately stopped, and licenses already issued were not renewed when they expired. This necessary action on our part worked hardship on a number of people who had, in good faith, invested money in small sawmills or in the construction of roads for dragging timber out of the forests. It tended to increase the difficulty of getting the lumber absolutely necessary for public works, which was previously very great, and to further raise its price, which was before so high as to be almost prohibitive, while the few owners of private timber lands were in a fair way to profit by a temporary monopoly. In view of these facts, the following cablegrams were addressed to you: SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington: MANILA, September 4, 1901. Would assist us to know when, if at all, timber licenses may again issue. Present effect is to give undue advantage to those with licenses unexpired. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington: TAFT. MANILA, September 18, 1901. The suspension of forestry licenses granting causing much hardship in Romblon, Masbate, and other places where people dependent timber cutting for livelihood. Is order intended to suspend gratuitous licenses to needy? To these answer was received as follows: TAFT, Manila: TAFT. WASHINGTON, September 21, 1901. With reference to your telegram of 17th September, Secretary of War authorizes further issue firewood and gratuitous licenses, especial care being taken in each case not to issue more than actual necessity demands. With reference to your telegram of 4th September, Secretary of War desires to know if practicable to insert in timber licenses limitation on amount to be cut thereunder. What do you advise as maximum? Our reply was: EDWARDS. MANILA, September 25, 1901. SECRETARY OF WAR, Washington: Greatest amount timber cut one year by one person or company 100,000 cubic feet. Commission thinks this small. Manila demand for lumber great. If limitation imposed, should not think 500,000 cubic feet for a year excessive. TAFT. We are now anxiously awaiting your decision and the subsequent action of Congress on this subject. Briefly stated, the situation is as follows: There are vast Government timber lands in these islands, variously estimated at from twenty to forty millions of acres. The lumber industry, as conducted up to the present time, has never made the slightest impression on them. More timber grows every year than it is at all possible to cut for lumber under existing conditions. That no destruction of the forests by lumbermen is occurring is shown by the fact that but 1,955,561 cubic feet of firewood and 2,469,930 cubic feet of timber (equal to 29,639,160 feet board measure) were cut during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1901. The forests produce valuable woods for every conceivable purpose, but with the general lack of skilled woodsmen to fell the trees, of draft animals to drag them to the sawmills, and even of the mills themselves, the price of timber has been and is remarkably high when one considers its abundance and proximity to the market. In Masbate, in the island of Sibuyan, and in many other provinces or islands there are large numbers of woodsmen who would be threatened with starvation should their one means of livelihood be taken away from them. War has destroyed hundreds of public buildings and thousands of private homes. Within the past five years many bridges have been swept away by floods or have been burned, and few of them have as yet been rebuilt. The necessity for timber has never been so great here as it is to-day, and it is of the utmost importance that all unreasonable restrictions upon its cutting and marketing should be removed. We are constantly in receipt of communications from municipalities asking for entire exemption for a period of years from the payment of charges on timber from Government lands. We do not consider such sweeping exemptions advisable, because a law can be devised which will exempt the man who can not afford to pay for the timber and firewood he must have and will reach the man who can afford to pay. We do feel strongly, however, that the reasonable and legitimate development of the forests of the State, on terms advantageous to the Government, should be authorized. The real cause of the disappearance of our forests is to be found in the widespread practice of burning the tall grass known as "cogon" during the dry season, which destroys vast numbers of young trees; and in that of making so-called "caingins" or clearings by felling the forests, burning the trees where they lie and cultivating the soil until weeds invade the clearings, then abandoning them and repeating the same operation elsewhere. While General Order No. 92 contains provisions against these practices, their enforcement has not been sufficiently strict, nor have the penalties imposed for their violation been heavy enough. A more stringent regulation will be adopted in the near future, and its enforcement made obligatory on the presidents of all municipalities as well as on the insular constabulary. The only legislation enacted by the commission with reference to the forests in these islands has been for the purpose of increasing from time to time the force of the forestry bureau, which has in hand their protection and the collection of the amounts due for timber cut on public lands. Every increase in this force has been followed by a corresponding and gratifying increase in the revenue collected. The monthly salary list at present aggregates $3,404.66. The collections in the month of August last aggregated $14,654.10 and for September $15,564.29, the sums named being in United States currency. Forestry officials are now on duty in the provinces of Cagayan, Pampanga, Iloilo, Union, Albay, Zambales, Tayabas, Bataan, Tarlac, North Ilocos, Ambos Camarines, Pangasinan, Bulacan, Leyte, Rizal, Batangas, Eastern Negros, Western Negros, Capiz, Antique, Masbate, Romblon, South Ilocos, Cavite, in the districts of Zamboanga and Cotabato in the island of Mindanao, and at Jolo. Much work remains to be done in the way of the collection and identification of our forest trees. The wealth of our material is shown by the fact that a forestry official, sent to Zamboanga to make a collection of the leaf, fruit, and flower of each of the different varieties of forest trees found in that vicinity, returned in three months with wood and leaves from 423 species, and by the further fact that the forestry bureau has already raised the number of known tree species in the Philippine Islands from 300 to 665. It becoming known to the commission that gutta-percha, the most valuable of forest products, was being exported in considerable quantities from Cotabato and Zamboanga to Singapore by way of Jolo, without paying any charges, act No. 165, prohibiting the clearing of vessels carrying forestry products which had not paid charges, was passed. In view of the great commercial importance of gutta, two men were sent to Cotabato to collect the gums from all guttaproducing trees in that region, together with leaf, fruit, and flower, where practicable. The severe and long-continued illness of one of the members of this expedition seriously interfered with its success, but a considerable number of gum and leaf samples were obtained. The former have already been submitted to the War Department for investigation as to their properties, and the latter will be identified as soon as possible. At the same time an agent of the forestry bureau was dispatched to the Straits Settlements, Java, and Sumatra, under the following instructions: Dr. P. L. SHERMAN, FORESTRY BUREAU, Manila, P. I., May 23, 1901 Special Agent of the Forestry Bureau, Manila, P. I.: SIR: The following resolution was adopted by the United States Philippine Commission, May 18, 1901: On motion of Commissioner Worcester, Resolved, That Dr. P. L. Sherman be appointed special agent of the forestry bureau, at a salary of $150 gold per month, to go to the Straits Settlements, Java, and, if necessary, to Sumatra, and to investigate methods of obtaining gutta-percha, paying especial attention to the new process of extracting it from leaves, bark, and twigs. Resolved, further, That Dr. Sherman be allowed his necessary and actual traveling expenses while engaged in this investigation. In compliance with the above resolution, you will proceed to Singapore at your earliest convenience, and on arrival at that place will investigate the production of gutta-percha and rubber in the Straits Settlements, paying especial attention to the new method of extracting gutta from twigs and leaves, as well as from the bark of trees which have been felled for some time. Your investigations on the subject of production should cover all the different trees of that region furnishing gutta or rubber, and, so far as |