Perth Amboy evening news., 1905-11-14
RICH IN FIBER PRODUCTS.
Plenty of Material in the Philippines
for Manufacturing Delicate
Textile Fabrics.

An investigation of the vegetable
1bers OF the Philippine islands has been
completed by H. Taylor Edwards, Of
The Manila bureau of agriculture, the
results of which are embodied in the
following:
There is probably no country OF equal
size in the world having a greater va
riety of wealth of vegetable fibers than
the Philippine islands. These fibers are
of every class and of every description.
They are obtained from the best of the
largest forest trees and from the slender
stems of twining ferns. aIheir uses
range from the manufacture OF the most
delicate and beautiful of textile fabrics
to the construction of cables. furniture
and houses. AS an article of commerce
the one fiber, Manila hemp. exceeds in
value the combined values OF all other
products of the islands. AS, a factor in
the domestic economy of The Filipino
people, the fibrous plants Of field and
forest furnish. with the exception of
food. nearly all the necessities of life.
The relative position THAT the vege-
table fibers hold among abe various
agricultural products Of the Philippine
islands is a subject that is neither clear
~ nor generally understood. The de-
veiopment of the various branches of
the fiber industry will. in mo- iT1consider-
able degree, determine the frs5ure indus
trial condition OF the islands. Until
very recently there has been practical
ly no machinery, no modern methods OF
cultivation, no introduction Of i'm
proved species and varieties of plants.
and yet even under these u~nfavorable
conditions, the production of fiber has
grown to be the leading industry of the
islands. To-day the vegetable fibers
and fiber products form the most i'm
portant source of wealth of the archi-
pelago.
But two fibers are now exported from
the Philippine islands. Manila hemp
and maguey. The latter has been, NJ
to the present time, of comparatively
little Importance, the annual exports of
maguey fiber amounting to something
more than 1000 tons. Manila hemp,
however, is not only the leading article
of export. but it constitutes more than
two-thirds of the total value of all eX-
ported products.
THE production of Manila hemp. is a
weil-established and very profitable in
dustry, the development of which re-
quires only an Improvement in methods
of cultivation and the introduction of
ibe~r-extracting machinery. Maguey is
a comparatively new product. and its
value is not as yet well-known
throughout the islands. Cotton and
kapok (tree c~otton) are widely distrib-
uted and have a general local use. Coir
(~cocoanut fber) is produced in enor-
nous quantities. but 1t is not utilized,
because Of the lack of fber-eXtracting
machinery. Jute grows in several of the
provinces. but is not produced in guam
titles sufficient for export. These six
vegetable ibers. which are among the
most important commercial ibers in
the world, are all Philippine products,
and can be economically and profitably
produced throughout the archipelago.
THE methods employed in the pro-
duction of leading Philippine ibers are
slow, wasteful and certainly behind all
ideas of modern agricultural develop
ment. Certain definite lines of i'm
provement, such as the more careful
selection of plant varieties, a more thor
ough system OF cultivation and the
traction of fiber by means of machin-
cry, are urgently needed. a develop
ment of the fiber industry along these
lines will be a long step toward the full
fllment of the first and greatest need
of the Philippine islands, the establish
ment of the col Aon the solid basis
of material proSS