The daily sentinel., 1908-09-30
The letter follows:
Cadiz, P. l., Aug. 8,

The letter follows:
Cadiz, p. l., Aug. 8, 1908.
Dear Henry: answer to the in
quiry if, in my opinion, American
push and methods can be made to
win in the development of the natural
resources of this archipelago, | will
say, yes, provided the one doing the
pushing lives long enough to teach
the natives his methods. or has sense
enough to utilize the material as he
finds it.
It is useless to dream of any one
developing these resources by his
own labor or by the employment of
white labor; it must be done by ma
tive labor
AS | wrote you before, the man
who tries TO make occidental notions
fit oriental customs is up against a
very hard proposition and especially
so in the handling of native labor.
If one has the knack of utilizing
the native labor TO the best advant-
age there are some wonderful oppor-
tunities here under any common
sense methods. 1t is not enough to
teach the workmen the best way to
do things and to work to the best ad-
vantage. but they must be kept con-
tented. must have their amusement
have more interest in them than for
the amount of work you get out of
them.
One American said, "Why do the
natives not take to me? | never did
them any harm" The explanation
is easy. While he never did them
harm he has no more sympathy for
them than he has for rats. He does
not need to tell them as they can
feel it.
We who are used to American
standards of labor get impatient with
these people sometimes when they
can't do quite as much as we can. We
do not stop to realize that the Am
erican gets about ten times more
money for a days work than the
iaborer here for the same class of
work
The man who is always blankety
blanking the natives as lot of cat
tie. beasts and savages, and feels
that way, will never make a success.
He complains that they are not like
Americans. If you tell them to do
anything you have got to see that
they do it." Sure thing, That is
one of the prices of cheap labor. A
man must know what has to be done,
must be able to show the natives how
They are quick to learn and are
good at any class of work that does
not require discretion, originality or
much Judgment. Under good super
vision. taking into account the dol
lars and cents part of il, their work
is very satisfactory.
The time has come when American
methods are necessary to develop
some of the resources, especially the
forests. In former times the>logging
was done by rolling the logs into the
water and when too far to be rolled
they were dragged by carabas. Even
with animals they seldom handled
logs more than two, feet in diameter
The most and the biggest trees in the
largest forests belong to the lanan
family and are not mature until
they are more than two feet in dia-
meter. The lumber from the young
er or immature trees is of an inferior
quality but that from the mature
trees is good for any use.
The impression was prevalent in
the islands that lanan lumber was no
good.
An American company put in log
ging engines that would drag logs
that were five and six feet in diane
ter. logs that could not be budged
/ by all the carabaos that could be
strung ON the trail. AS result a
/ fine class of lumber was produced
| from these big trees. The preJudices
of the people against lanan had to be
overcome so the red lumber was call
ed 'balacbacan" and the white
"almon." Now not enough of this
lumber can be produced to meet the
demands.
The forestry bureau prohibits the
cutting of trees under 6 inches in
diameter, SO this preserves the imma-
ture trees for future generations
gives the market the lumber and is
an advantage to those using modern
methods of logging.
Another modern method that is 8
success here is gold dredging. o.
course. New Zealanders have III,
credit of having the first successful
gold dredges but they are our neigh
bors and kin and we have so man,
successful gold dredges in Americ;
that we feel that the method is ours
Here are two instances where success
would have been impossible withou
modern methods.
The woods. and the rivers, are full
of just such opportunities,
Your affectionate brother.
CLAYTON.