The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-02-25
Opening UP New Industries i'm the Philippines
Df FRANK G. CARPENTER,
Washington. D.

Z I N this. my last letter on Unclo Sam
In the Philippines. l want TO suy
Something Of tho new money-mak-
ing possibilities which are being open
I'D up by tho government. have al
ready written OF the fortunes in the
development of homp. sugar and rice.
and also of the great cocoanut groves.
which annually yield from 81 to So per
tree, have written OF this public
works. the roads and now railroads.
and something of tho other work which
10 now going on.
SO, far but few favors have been CIV
en- to forsigners, and by this | mean
americans and Europeans. Uncle Sam
has gono oil the motto THE Philippines
Tor the Filipinos." and he has practi-
cally shut out the islands from foreign
exploitation. AS q result tho material
DEVELOPMENT has psen slow, but the
archipelago has been held as u great
savings bank. In which it's resources
are being kept for the people. 1t SIS
question whether thay would not be
better off if outside Investors were al
lowed to come In and build up the
country.
Fifty Thousand New rubber Trccs.
Just now one of the now things in
prosps ct liz the establishment of a rub
Dor Industry. The Department of Agri-
culture believes that the islands are
= well =itted for that, and different kinds
ofrubber plants and trees were brought
In three or four ycars ago and planted
in about eight different provinces.
The varieties chosen were many The
most of ihcm came from Ceara, and
they included not only trees. hut shrubs
and vines. Th:rc were also some Para
rubber trees brought from the Amazon
Valley. The Ceara rubber did not do.
tut the Para rubber trees, which pro-
ducc nearly all the rubber Of COM
;ncrcc, have thrivcn, and the Bureau
OF Agriculture has arranged to dis
tribute 10000 Para seedlings TO tho
aroper localities. These sc .dings are
aow growing III the government nur-
aerics and they VIII be Lut out und .r
the direction OF the bureau and careful.
~ watched. It they do az well as is
expected we shall have a rubber export
from tbs Philippines which will form
ono of the most valuable assets of the
islands. 81 IS the Para rubber that has
been introduced Into Malaysia and the
Dutch East Indies. having created u
sTcat boom. which has caused spccula-
zion In London and thtoughou, tho
Last
Developing the silk Industry.
another great possibility tor the
Philippine Islands Is In silk culture.
IL Is Known that the silk worm has
boon grown there from generation 10
generation aud Mr.. Charles II. Banks,
OF the Bureau Of Science, at Manila.
says that nine crops OF cocoons can
be annually produced. This Is about
tour times as nany as some OF the
other silk countries have. and there is
now under way movement 10 breed
up race cf SILK worms Their. which
Will outlay all others. The Bureau Of
science IS making book 10 instruct
the people how 10 build up tho indus.
try II gives directions as 10 how to
raise the cocoons, how 10 feed the
young worms and also how to prepare
tie raw silk Tor spinning. IS IL il
now, lire ISLANDS import tho most %;
Heir raw silk from China and they
mix II with the iibr,s OF the islands In
weaving Just cloth and other cloths
VI high price
The bureau OF Agriculture gays that
nc mulberry tree can be grown all
oyer the Philippines, and that IL viii
furnish food for tho worms within two
years after planting. a thrAc-yca old
tree will give enough leaves for u
thousand SILK worms, ana TWO and one
half acres viii support one thousand
trees. which will feed more than three
million SILK worms. This nurh,r OF
worms should produce several thousand
ROUNDS OF cocoons. In short. It Is es-
,imated that the silk business will
yield something like a thousand dol
lars an acre, ard that II will steadily
grow az 10 the profits. Connected with