Annual report. [1915]

34

school industry which tend to provide by home manufacture the
articles which are now imported from other countries; third,
the instruction which looks to the manufacture in large commercial quantities of articles which may be exported and thus
produce income with which to improve home conditions and
purchase from abroad such necessities and comforts as cannot
be made here. While these three classes are mentioned in the
direct order of their importance, in difficulty of accomplishment
they are in the inverse order.
The methods by which these economic aims are to be accomplished are both direct and indirect. Many of the conditions
of today may be improved directly by the exertion of the
people themselves; more furniture for the home, more abundant
and improved diet, better-kept homes, more adequate clothing;
but the improvement which is desired in the standards of living
depends not only upon greater exertion in such things as these,
but also upon increased money power with which to purchase
articles which can not be produced locally. In an agricultural
community such as the Philippines, the handicraft industries
offer a solution for this need; there is abundant leisure or idle
time between the seasons of planting and of harvest which can
be turned to advantage in the handicrafts. The Philippine industrial structure is, therefore, very favorable to such supplementary occupation. In addition, the Filipino possesses manual
dexterity to a marked degree, and the country has abundant
supply of raw material suitable to handicraft work.
The direct betterment courses of the public schools are housekeeping, cooking, sewing, garment making, loom weaving, woodwork, bamboo-rattan furniture, and gardening. The indirect
betterment courses, which are largely commercial, embrace
needlework, with embroidery, lace, and crochet; hand weaving,
such as mats, hats, baskets, and slippers; loom weaving; carving; furniture making; pottery; and other special courses.
Of the first group, the direct-betterment courses, conditions
have been such that sewing for girls and gardening for boys
have developed to a greater extent than the others and their
results are more evident.
Plain sewing is begun in the elementary stitches which the
girl learns to make in the first grade and is continued through
the four years of the primary course. Every girl is required
to take this work, which in the fourth grade culminates in the
making of the simple garments used by the family. To finance
this course, the materials used are generally furnished by the
family of each girl and the garments made are given to her for