Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1908-10-28
SERVANTS IN MANILA.
Native Laborers Learning to Work
More Steadily Than Formerly.

Native Laborers Learning to WORKS
More Steadily Than Formerly.
| New York Times.-One frequently
hears American and foreign resi-
dents of the Philippine islands, es-
pecially in Manila, inveigh upon
the ignorance and carelessness of ma
tive servants and employees as ex-
amples of general Filipino incompe-
tency. But one hears similar animal
versions anent the servant problem
in the United States, yet no one ia
miliar with our country would think
of concluding therefrom that Ameri-
cans are inferior in industrial ca
pacity.
So to get at the real industrial cap
ability of the Filipinos it is necessary
to inquire of persons who have en-
ployed them on large scale through
considerable period of time, and
who are able from previous expert
ence with labor in other countries to
compare actual results. The most
extensive experience with native IN
skilled labor in the islands has been
that of the large contracting COM
panies. This experience has not been
free from disagreeable incidents. Not
withstanding that these companies
| had at their command the best pro-
| fessional talent in the world and
came to these islands fortified with
ample experience in great undertake
ings elsewhere, they have found it
necessary to gradually adapt their
former methods to suit such condi-
tons. This decision was reached only
after the men on the job had tried to
follow their customary ways with I'M
satisfactory results. Their experience
has been a process of experiments
| in trying to get the best results out OF
native labor, and succession OF
compromises between socalled Amerl-
can methods and conditions peculiar
to this country and people. With re
suits rather than method always in
mind, they are evolving a system
which imposes upon the Filipino as
much of American method as he can
assimilate and employ to advantage.
Under this treatment the native
laborer is undergoing an evolution.
The man who formerly worked an
average of perhaps three days in
week, now will work five or six days.
Where he used 20 knock off on every
little feast day, he now lets most of
them pass and sticks to his job. This
change of disposition is significant,
for it is an indication that habits
which have in the past been so detrl-
mental to industrial progress are
not so deeply incrusted as was feared,
but will yield to tactful application OF
the same forces that elsewhere slim
ulate humanity to new efforts. IN
the early days of American expert
ments with Filipino labor, if work
man quit in the middle of week, his
wages would be locked and he was
refused employment when he applied
again. This system is practicable
where it is understood, but the Fill
pino does not now understand it, and
its application caused such dissatis-
faction that it was necessary to mod
ify it.
In railway work the men are paid
by the day and are paid in fult
whether they work six days or one
day in a week. If Pedro wants to at
tend a fiesta or go fishing he does so,
and when he again reports at the
dump he is put to work without COM
ment if there is vacancy, and his
desertion is not scored against him
SO far as he can tell. But Jose is
Pedro's neighbor, and Jose is OF a
more industrious habit, and works
regularly. In time Jose's wife has
better gown than Pedro's wife; his
children wear shoes and stockings on
Sunday and have some little Injuries
which Pedro's children cannot afford.
Some day when Pedro returns to
work after a brief vacation leave ne
finds his place on the gang taken py
a new man. Is he discharged? he
would have been five years ago; put
now he is not. He is told to come
around and when there is vacancy
he will be put to work again. Inls
occurs a few times; Pedro's WlIe De
gins to remark upon her position as
compared with that Of the wife OF
lose. who always works. Pedro does
not find loafing so satisfactory as II
used to be: he begins to regard MS
iob as q good thing, and thinks twice
before he runs the risk of being
crowded out of it. The influence OF
these adapted American methods IS
being strongly felt wherever they
have been introduced in the Philip
pines.