Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-08-23

lumber for building purposes must be
shipped there from our Pacific coast
The Philippine Islands, on the other
hand, are covered with hard wood tim
| Der of the rarest and most valuable
varieties. Mahogany, for instance, has
become so scarce near home that the
ingenuity of wood workers is taxed to
the uttermost to find substitutes for it
Here are thousands of acres of virgin
mahogany forest, with trees 200 feet
high and thick through in proportion.
A number of soldiers and officers from
one Of the northwestern regiments are
organizing company here to start, so
soon as their time expires in the army,
a colony to go to Mindanao cut down
mahogany trees, square the logs and
ship them to the States and to Europe
to be worked up, There will be millions
in this trade SO soon as Americans take
hold and open it up, for here is mahog-
any enough to supply the world for the
next century. Near Manila mahogany
is abundant, but not so easily got at.
The logs are so heavy that they will not
float, but sink like lead or iron when
put into the water. They must there
fore be loaded upon scows or schooners
and conveyed to the place of shipment.
How it would wake the echoes here to
have mahogany logs in these slumber-
ing forests hauled from the woods by a
steam engine and cable, as is done in
forests in the States sometimes The
scarce and beautiful ebony wood is
among those found here, likewise the
fragrant sandal wood and the camphor
tree.
OF the luscious cocoanut and cacao
(chocolate) tree groves have spoken in
a former letter. Every day see india
rubber trees 25 feet or more in height
growing in the yards here, their stiff,
brilliant green leaves glistening with
the sheen of summer sea. These are
of the same kind as those box plants we
keep in our windows at home in the
winter, because they are the only grow
ing thing that will withstand the united
attack of gas, coal smoke. dust and neg
lect. Here they tower native and glori-
ous There are natural groves of them.
only waiting to be tapped to yield
fortune to Americans SO soon as this
unpleasantness shall be over Other rub
Der groves can be planted to come on
when the old ones are gone. Only the
white mans all conquering vim is
needed.
The most dainty and exquisite textile
fabric, more beautiful than silk, is the
pima, or pineapple, cloth, made by the
natives here 1t is scarcely possible to
obtain it at all in the States, and here,
with the raw material all about it is
scarce and expensive simply because
the natives are too lazy and Indifferent
to make it in quantities large enough
TO give it an established place among
commercial wares. Some of the en-
broidered pima cloths are worthy place
in art collections the world over The
only thing d native Filipino woman
can do well, so far as have been able
to find, is to embroider. and this she
learned from the Spanish nuns, bless
their gentle, antediluvian soulsl
Suppose, merely to amuse yourself,
you glance over the following list Of
articles produced here. 1t is only par
tial list, bear in mind:
Rice, sugar and tobacco in immense
quantities; manila hemp which is not
hemp at all, but banana plant fiber,
ditto bamboo canes, from which the
light and graceful baskets, furniture,
etc. now so much in demand, is made
so abundant as to be great nuisance;
indigo, mangoes melons in great vari-
ETY., bananas, the most abundant and
delicious to be found anywhere; indian
corn, coffee, cotton, peanuts, potatoes |
and yams, all the ordinary garden vege-
tables, tar and turpentine, honey, Gin
namon, many medicinal herbs, and |
plants yielding dyestuffs in rare and
splendid colors. Orchids and botanical
specimens of the choicest flourish lux
.lriantly as we'll In no corner of the
globe could students investigating
parties find more of profit. interest and
pleasure.
As to the mineral wealth of the Phil.
ippines nobody knows what it ia. The
interior Of these islands, occupying an
area of ia, 1875 square miles, are as un
explored as the Mississippi river region
was when the pilgrim fathers and
mothers landed on Plymouth rock.
Coal has been found on at least half
a dozen of the islands. In Albay, the
province occupying the south end of
Luzon, are veins 90 to 25 feet thick
The mountains of Luzon are rich in
iron and magnetic ore, some of which
contains so per cent of pure metal. In
many parts of Mindanao, too, iron ore
has been found. There are deposits of
quicksilver on Panay, the island in