The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1913-03-14
Ex-REBEL CHIEF
NOW A FARMER
Experience of AguinaIdO Is
Fine Example.
SHOWS CHANGE IN ISLANDS
Wonderful Industrial Advancement
Has Occurred In Philippines During
Past Few Years-Splendid Schools
Have Trained People In Work of Pro-
duction-Teacher Tells of Work.

Past Few Years-Spendd Schools /
Have Trained People In Work of Pro-
duction-Teacher Tells of Work.
Aguinaldo, erstwhile rebel leader,
engaged in farming and in the manu-
facture of a special brand of hemp
braid for hats, is the enticing picture
of Philippine industrial conditions
drawn by ]. c. Muerman, formerly di
vision school superintendent of Cebu
T. l., now rural school specialist in
the United States bureau of education
Aguinaldo's peaceful pursuit is typi-
cal of the change that has taken place
in the Philippines during the past few
years
Mr.. Muerman describes entertaining
~ the remarkable educational advance
in the islands since the day the first
American teachers disembarked from
the United States transport Thomas a
dozen years ago Unhampered by aca-
demic tradition and face to face with
problems Of education that were as
big as civilization itself. these edu-
Gators and those who followed them
have gradually developed a system Of
Filipino schools under Filipino teach
ers that is rapidly transforming the
social and industrial life of the islands.
Industrial Training Good.
Compulsory industrial training fit
ted for the needs OF everyday Filipino
life, is the most distinctive feature OF
the island schools The Americans
have carefully studied the possibilities
of the valuable raw materials album
dainty at hand in the islands and are
able to show the Filipinos how to
make the most of them. Every Fill
Pine schoolboy is required to do GER
tain amount of work with native
woods and fberS. Every one must
learn to till the soil by actually doing
1t in the school garden and in a plat
Of his own. and every Filipino school
girl is taught certain essentials Of sew
ing and other home making arts. All
the children in the schools are obliged
to pass through this period of ele-
mentary training in the everyday tasks
Of life.
Lacemakins School.
Most significant in the scheme OF in
1ustrial education is the recent estab-
lishment of the Philippine school of
household industries Two hundred
women from different parts of the is
and We're brought together at Manila,
shown how to adapt their native skill
IN embroidery and lacemaking to the
demands of foreign markets and then
sent back to their homes to form cen.
] ters of industrial progress in their
! own communities The government
} has established a sales agency to dis
pose OF the commodities thus produced
D One Filipino woman who was train
. ed in the new school has 500 women
working under her and is receiving
from firms in the United States orders
D for thousands of embroidered shirt
? waists and handkerchiefs. The beau
y dful pima cloth, made from pineapple
. IS one product to which special atten
= ton is paid Before the Americans
: came this cloth sold for from 10 to 81
0 cents a yard. The demand for it i,
, now such that it brings from $3.50 t.
0 IS a yard
n Hustle and 5ustle New In Islands.
3 The hardest thing American teach
ers in the Philippines have to cOnten,
n with says Mr.. Muerman, lis tn
: American spirit of hustle and hustle
7 The American is in too much haste
% He wants to get everything done a
0 once. He tries to overturn in Il few
) weeks the traditions of centuries. An,
/ yet, coming into a country where tn
" ideal tends to be that of manana-
~ never do today what you can by an
y possibility put off till tomOrrow-h
4 has really made astonishing headwa
Is in transforming the Philippines into
z country of today, where things NOV
20 with something like American hurry
50 The old folks shake their heads an
50 sigh for the good old times. but tn
~ Young people, boys and girls alike, ar
- glad to take advantage of the NOR
* efficient methods. They play America
25 games and accept the educational OF
D. portunities offered them with egu,
% adaptabflity, and it is through thei
IL that the new Filipino civilization
50 making its way irresistibly.
IL "Aguinaldo, with his hemp weayin
20 md agriculture, may be a less hero
o. figure than the willy general who for s
* long eluded the American armies, jul
so rs clean streets and city high schoo
o. somehow make less noise in the co
cert of the powers than the roar
20 guns in Manila bay. but when the re
20 history of humanity is written it CO
35 scarcely leave untold the story of Il
20 unsef1sh efforts of America to carr
81 The light of education to the Phil
~ lines."
%