Editorial

Title

Editorial

Language

English

Source

Volume II (Issue No. 6) December 1913

Year

1913

Subject

Handicraft industries

Sustainable development

Rural development

Community development

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

EDITORIAL. The Government of the Philippine Islands has undertaken to establish home industries throughout the Archipelago, not with the idea that they will in any measure supplant agriculture or other existing industries, but that they rhe promotion of may supplement these industries. There are indu^trUiesh°ld certain seasons in all parts of the Islands when those who follow agriculture as a pursuit are thrown out of work awaiting the return of the season for cul tivating and planting the fields. During these periods of inac tivity, which vary in the different parts of the Islands, the family income could be increased if opportunity were offered by organized industries where handicraft articles could be disposed of. But probably the greatest and most immediate need is for the establishment of industries which may be carried on by women at their homes. There are in the Islands probably from two to three millions of women who could with advantage take up some form of home work such as embroidery or lace making. It is in this large field that the Philippine Government, and especially the Bureau of Education, has undertaken to establish industries that will affect the general welfare and pros perity of the entire country. An active and well-directed effort is being made to revive the ancient cottage industries and to establish new ones in many countries of continental Europe, especially in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Russia, and Italy. The Governments of these countries are spending large amounts of money in establishing these industries—in training workers, investigating the cost and sources of material, markets, and, in fact, every phase of the industry. The home industries thus established are the means of directly increasing the earning capacity of the family and of improving the living conditions and prosperity of the community. The Government of these Islands has undertaken to establish home industries along lines similar to those followed in the countries of continental Europe. Local materials, as well as foreign, are used in fabricating a variety of articles well adapted to manufacture in the homes of the people. It is the policy of the Bureau of Education to train a large number of workers in one or two industries in a locality, to assist in organizing these workers into productive centers, and to aid in connecting these centers with a market. 419 420 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN It is the policy of the Bureau of Education to fit the in dustrial work of the schools to local conditions in all possible ways in order to make the instruction of practical value to the pupils during and after their school days. Work to^iowY1*1 The followins P°ints must therefore be taken conditions.' into consideration in determining the kind of in dustrial instruction that should be given in any particular school. 1. Grade of culture of the community.—This fact should not be overlooked since there is a vast difference between the in herent capacity of the children of the Manobo people and those of the Pampangan people in the matter of handicraft activities. While the Manobo children are entirely familiar from infancy with the industrial processes of native handicrafts, the Pam pangan children are not, having been taught by circumstances to depend to a certain extent upon foreign importations to sup ply them with the necessary implements, tools, and utensils used in their daily activities and occupations. The children of most of the Christian provinces are more or less unfamiliar with the weaving of useful articles and the carving of wood and other materials to express certain inherited symbolic and artistic ideas. 2. Materials available.—Children should be taught to utilize the raw materials that grow near their homes, making with them, first, articles of household necessity, such as hats, mats, baskets, clothing, furniture, utensils, and implements; and second, articles for export between municipalities, provinces, and to foreign countries. The making of articles for export to foreign countries should not be overemphasized at the expense of properly fitting up the homes and thereby raising the stand ard of living. It is important that the quantity of raw materials available should be considered before deciding on a line of work for a community. In certain communities where this fact was not considered the supply of raw materials has been exhausted and pupils who have learned to make certain articles in school can not continue making them after finishing their course. Such materials as bamboo, rattan, buri, pandan, ticog, banban, abaca, coir, maguey, and a few more are' found in practically inex haustible quantities in certain localities, and industries may be built up on them with safety; but where the supply of these staple raw materials is limited, care should be exercised as to teach ing their utilization. EDITORIAL 421 3. Needs of the home.—The immediate needs of the average home of the community should be considered in planning the kind of work to be taught in any school. 4. Transportation.—Transportation facilities must be given careful consideration when determining industries largely in fluenced by this element. Nueva Vizcaya, for example, could not afford to import abaca from the Visayas and export abaca coiled baskets in competition with those made in an abaca district. 5. Number and capacity of pupils.—The number of pupils in any school, their age, and capacity should always be considered' before deciding upon the kind of work to be taught them. 6. Occiipations of the people.—This element should be given weight. Isolated, thinly settled, agricultural communities are not suitable places for the introduction of Irish crochet or em broidery. Such work is better suited to congested districts where there are many women with nothing to occupy their time outside of the simple tasks of the housekeeper in the tropics. The amount of spare time on the hands of a community and the time of year when it occurs are elements to be counted. 7. Relative prosperity of the community.—Prosperous com munities will take more kindly to the higher and finer types of work, as a rule, since the necessity for making a living is not so pressing and leaves more time for the consideration of adornment both of person and home. The above-named points are by no means all that must be considered before each child can be given the course best suited to his own case, but consideration of the question along the lines indicated will suggest other points to those whose duty it is to direct the energies of the children into the best channels. During the school year 1912-13 over 300,000 Filipino pupils received instruction in some form of industrial work. The pre ceding figure represents over 93 per cent of the average monthly enrollment and includes practically all children in Figure^Vnd^ public schools between the ages of 7 or 8 years and Forecast. 18 years, or thereabout. A distribution of this number into classes of work will show something like the following: 20,000 pupils taking trade and shop work; 115,000 engaged in gardening and farming; 84,000 girls receiving instruction in housekeeping and household arts, to which may 422 THE PHILIPPINE CRAFTSMAN be added some 13,000 being trained in lace making, the same number in embroidery, and over 6,000 in cooking; 14,000 girls and boys becoming skillful in the weaving of hats; 30,000 in the making of mats; and 74,000 in the weaving of baskets. This numerical showing involves some duplication since some pupils pursued more than one line of industrial work. All of this work is of a practical character; articles are being made for home use, to be disposed of in local markets, and for foreign export. New industrial materials are being discovered and utilized to an increasing degree, and new uses found for ■ materials formerly known; the industrial intelligence of pupils is being developed and trained through the preparation of ma terials, the fabrication of articles according to definite and ac cepted standards, and the necessity of meeting the requirements of trade. The outlook of teachers is also being broadened and stimulated through the medium of the technical magazines and publications which are widely circulated throughout the Islands; industrial institutes and exhibitions are giving teachers and pupils clear and comprehensive ideas of methods and plans of work; constant effort is being exercised to eliminate useless and undesirable effort along industrial lines; the design element in industrial work is receiving recognition and artistic standards are being raised. And not only are home needs receiving atten tion through such subjects as housekeeping and household arts, the manufacture of bamboo and rattan furniture for the home, and the increased production and consumption of vegetables and legumes, in home and school gardens, but also the demands of trade outside the Philippines are being considered and production and standards of work being adjusted accordingly. The present trend is encouraging and indicative of a brighter future for the Filipino people. There have been many wasted hours and days in the past; materials have not been utilized, pos sibilities realized, nor commercial intelligence sufficiently de veloped. Agriculture will continue to be the mainstay of the Filipino people, but household industries are gradually but surely being implanted in the homes of many of them. The question of supply and demand and the establishment of business relations between producer and buyer are now the principal factors await ing solution. When these shall have been satisfactorily settled— and they are being increasingly so as each month passes—we may look forward to a state of economic and commercial inde pendence on the part of each Filipino family comparable to that existing in the homes of the artisan workers of Switzerland, Germany, and Belgium.

pages

419-422

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