The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-03-12
AsUNALDO's REFORMATION
Changes Accoanrt1shed in the Philip pines Since American Occupation.


 AguinaIdo, erstwhile rebel leader, engaged in farming and the n1anufac- ture of a. Speoia1 brand of hemp braid for hAtn. 1s the euGicing picture of pn13ipplne induzer4a1 conditions drawn by T. c. a6uer1nen. formerly division school supeE4ntendent of Cebu, P. L. now a rHraa-sohool specialist in the Du3ted st@tes Bureau of Education. Asnana1do.s peaceful pursuit is typi- cal o4 the change that has taken paane in the Philippines during the past few years.
 MT. 1GHeCman describes entertain lngly the remarkable educational ad- vance in the ialands since the day the first American teachers disembarked dozen years ago. Unhampered by acadernic tradition, and face to face with problems of education that were as big as civilization itself, these edu= cators and those who followed them have gradually developed a system of Filipino schools under Filipino teachers that is rapidly transforming the social and industrial life of the
 
 islands.
 Compulsory industrial training, fit ted for the needs of everyday F'ili- pino life, is the most distinctive feat ure of the island schools. The Amer. jeans have carefully studied the pos abilities of the valuable raw materials ab1ndant1y at hand in the islands, and are able to show the F'iHpinos how to make the most ek them. Every F-i1- iptno school boy Is required to do a certain amount of work with native woods and hbers; everyone must learn to till the soil, by actually doing it in the school garden and in plot of his own; and every Filipino school girl is taught certain essentials of sewing and other home-makfng arts. All the children in the schools are obliged to pass through this period of elementary training in the everyday tasks of life.
 Most signidcan: in the scheme of industrial education is the recent es- tablishznent of: the Philippine School of Household Industries. Two hun dred women rom different parts o4 the islands were brought together at Manila, shown how to adapt their ma tive skill in embroidery and 1ace- making to the demands of foreign markets, and then sent back to their homes to form centers of industrial progress in their own communities. The Government has esta blished a sales agency to dispose of the com mod1ties thus produced. and so far the demand has greatly exceeded the sup ply. One Filipino woman who was trained in the new school has 800 wo- men working under her and is receiv- ing from firms in the United States orders for thousands of embroidered shirt waists and handkerchiefs. The beautiful Ping cloth, made from pine apple, is one product to which special attention is paid. Before the Amer jeans came this cloth sold for from 10 to 50 cents a yard; the demand for 1t is now such that it brings from $1.50 to &S yard.
 ''The hardest thing American teachers in the Philippines have to contend with,' says MT. Muerman, ''is the American spirit of hustle and bus tie. The American is in too much haste. He wants to get everything done at once. He tries to overturn in 8 few weeks the traditions of cen- turies. And yet, coming into a coun- try where the ideal tends to be that of Manana-never do to-day what you can by any possibility put off till to- morrow-he has really made aston ishing headway in transforming the Philippines into a country of To-day. where things move with something like American hurry. The old folks shake their heads and sigh for the good old times, but the young people, boys and girls alike, are glad to take advantage of the more efficient meth ods. They play American games and