Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1902-04-21
FORESTRY IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Graduates of American Forestry
Schools Sent to the Islands.

Graduates of American Forestry
Schools Sent to the Islands.
When the United States took pos
session of Manila the decripit Spanish
bureau OF forestry was handed over to
our care. Then came the difficult task
OF reorganizing the bureau and estab-
fishing an efficient forestry service I'M
der American guidance. The man Sc
lected for this work was Capt. George
P. Ahern, of the 9th infantry, who was
appointed director of the forestry bu-
reau at Manila, and the success which
has been attained shows the wise
choice made in the appointment. Capt.
Ahern is a graduate of West Point and
of the Yale law school, and has for
some years been an enthusiastic ad-
| vOcate of forestry in this country.
Under his energetic management the
success of the Philippine forestry
service is assured.
| 1t soon became evident that the
great need of the Philippine bureau
| OF forestry was a corps of young
Americans, with a forestry training
| which would enable them to fully de-
velop the great natural forest re
sources of the islands. 1t was with
the view of obtaining these men that
the Taft Philippine commission senc
Capt. Ahern to the United States in
May OF the past year. AS a result of
this visit six professionally educated
foresters sailed for Manila November
I in
airy. This number, although small,
will make quite gap in the ranks Of
the small band of foresters now exist
I ing in this country. We have now,
however, two fully organized schools
of forestry, one at Cornell with SO
! students and one at Yale with 80 stu
dents; hence we may soon hope to
have supply of professional forest
ers sufficient for the existing demand.
The inducements and opportunities
offered by the Philippine forestry serv-
! ice are, however sufficiently alluring
| to draw small per centage of our
graduates for some time to come.
The New York state college of for
estry this year furnishes the largest
| ice. It's contribution consists of two
members Of the senior class, Messrs.
Clarke and Klemme, who were suf-
| ficiently advanced to pass the civil
| service examinations; , Mr.. ,Hagger,
/ German trained forester who has been
manager of the college forest in the
Adirondacks; and Mr.. Bryant, the first
student to receive forestry degree
| from an American forest school. who
leaves a position with the New York
state fish, forest and game commits
sion. From the United States
bureau of forestry Capt. Ahern Sc
cured the services of Messrs. Hare
ford and Griffith and of S. N. Nicely,
civil engineer.
| The duties of these men will be of
varied nature. Briefly stated their
| first work will be to learn what they
have in the way of forest products,
determine the possible uses of the
| woods, and to look up markets for the
forest products stop, too, must be
put to the illegal cutting and selling
of the rich tropical woods. Under the
|
| cut on government land and no reve-
nue. paid on it. At Manila a laboratory
| for the study of timber physics and
| for wood-testing will be established, in
which will be determined the values
and properties of the many woods
found on the islands. In addition, a
botanical classification of the existing
species will be carried on. There are
at present 665 species classified and
over so varieties of the rubber tree
| identified, but much work is yet to be
done along these lines.
That the bureau will be successful
| from a financial standpoint is evident
from recently published figures: The
Spanish forestry bureau at it's best
never collected over $12,50O per month
(Mexican money!. Under the Ameri-
can regime $4,000 (gol6 per month
was received at the very start while
the total received in revenues during
the first fiscal year was $4,000. AT
present the revenues are about $4,000
(Mexican) per MONTH";. A. Sterling
in Scientific American.