OTHER INDUSTRIES
Fishing.—Philippine waters abound in food fishes of all kinds. However, the amount of fish caught is not even enough to meet the local demand. Fishing is mostly done in shallow water, the methods employed not being adequate for deep-sea fishing. There is great need for modern equipment for purposes of deep-sea fishing. The islands are still a heavy importer of fish products. The City of Manila alone consumes ₱4,000,000 worth of fresh fish a year.
There are various sea products of the islands, which can be profitably exploited, such as oysters and other shell fish. Raw materials for canning purposes are available. Oil and tomatoes could easily be procured that possess good preserving qualities.
Alcohol.—For the manufacture of alcohol the Philippines offer an abundant supply of raw materials. There is the nipa sap from nipa palms which are found in extensive groves in water swamps. There is the discarded molasses from the sugar mills amounting annually to 7,000,000 gallons. There are fruits, especially bananas, which could be grown in unlimited quantities and manufactured into alcohol. To these, may be added wood-waste and sawdust from the lumber mills.
Cordage.—The manufacture of cordage is another profitable Philippine industry with the promise of a constant world demand. The islands have all the natural advantages for the extensive development of the industry. Abaca, sisal, and maguey affording strong fibers can be grown in abundance. At present the islands are an exporter of cordage. In 1915, 454,621 kilograms were exported; in 1918 the export rose to 2,209,064 kilograms valued at ₱1,733,968, in 1921 the export 2,631,953 kilos valued at ₱1,099,378. Most of this was exported to British East Indies, Hongkong and the United States.
Paper and paper pulp.—The industry which for some time has interested the Government and private individuals, and for the development of which nothing substantial so far has been accomplished, is the paper and paper pulp industry. There is at present a large demand for paper pulp in America, Europe, and Japan. According to authorities on the subject, the spruce wood, which forms at least two-thirds of all the woods converted into pulp, is being exhausted. Very recently newspapers in the United States gave accounts of plans to develop the forest resources of Alaska to supply paper pulp for the production of paper. The world’s annual paper production is about 8,000,000 tons, and it is estimated that for every ten years there is an increase in demand amounting to 25 per cent.
The Bureau of Science has made an exhaustive study of raw materials available in the Philippines for the manufacture of paper pulp. The investigation shows that there is an abundant supply of raw materials for the manufacture of paper. Among these are bamboo (caña bojo variety), cogon grass, and abaca waste. These materials contain all the elements for the manufacture of an excellent pulp product. The supply of bamboo and cogon grass is almost unlimited thruout the Islands. Bamboo fiber is eminently fitted for the manufacture of pulp used for the making of book papers and for certain grades of writing and lithographic materials.
Cattle raising.—There are extensive grass lands suitable for cattle raising in the islands. Seventy five per cent of the country is a rolling expanse of upland territory to the foot-hills with an elevation of 4,500 feet. Aside from forest areas, there are extensive pasture lands such as the grass-covered hills of Nueva Vizcaya, the Mountain Province, and the green plateaus of Bukidnon in Mindanao. There are now cattle raising projects in those places but there is plenty of room left elsewhere.
Girls Embroidery, Paco Intermediate School, Manila
Embroidery.—Hand embroidery in the Philippine Islands has been known for over four centuries, having been introduced by Spanish, French, and Belgian nuns, who taught this artcraft to the Filipino women in their convents where exquisitely fine work was done, mainly for Church altars and tapestries used for decorations.
At the present time there are scattered over the Islands, but chiefly in central Luzon, thousands of men, women and children engaged in this enterprise, which is a means of adding to their income, but is not considered the mainstay of their livelihood, as they work only when they prefer to and not of necessity.
France and Belgium, where the embroidery industry was crippled by the war, are coming back into the field, but it is a question whether they will ever again be able to compete with the Philippine Islands in the quality and price of goods. The Filipinos also excel in fine art work done on piña (pineapple fabric) and silk.
In the Philippines, embroidery is a part of the curriculum of all the schools, so that every girl student learns how to embroider from an early age.
Girls Embroidery, Paco Intermediate School, Manila
The demand for Philippine embroideries greatly exceeds the supply. At present the greatest demand is for ladies’ underwear, but there is also a tremendous demand for infants’ and children’s underwear and fine frocks. The making of children’s dresses, especially in the larger sizes, is probably the most complicated of all handmade merchandise, not only in the fine embroidery stitchery but also in the cutting and sewing. This class of workmanship is finding favor by leaps and bounds in the United States.
Embroidery Factories There are about forty embroidery factories in Manila, the entire output of which is practically absorbed by the United States. Recently new markets have opened up, notably India, Australia, and China, where the dainty work of the Filipino women has been much admired.
The following figures show the growth of the embroidery industry of the Philippines during the years indicated:
| Year | Values of exports |
| 1913 | ₱352,338 |
| 1914 | 324,912 |
| 1915 | 735,303 |
| 1916 | 2,328,024 |
| 1917 | 3,929,318 |
| 1918 | 4,319,501 |
| 1919 | 6,913,004 |
| 1920 | 15,623,567 |
| 1921 | 10,696,207 |
| 1922 | 6,514,597 |
Perfumes.—The Orient, since the most ancient times, has been famous for perfumes, and in this regard the Philippines are not behind from other oriental countries. Over two scores of aromatic oils from plants have been studied by the Bureau of Science and found to be available for perfumery and medicine; and, as exploration progresses, undoubtedly others will become better known.
Ilang-ilang.—At least one Philippine essential oil, namely ilang-ilang, has enjoyed a world-wide fame among perfumes for several years. Although the oil is extracted also from the flowers of the same tree in other oriental countries, the Philippine product always has brought and still does bring the highest prices in the perfume trade in Europe.
Patchouli oil.—Another oil that has been known in the Orient for thousands of years and in Europe for centuries is patchouli oil. This, while of no commercial importance in the Philippines at present, has a peculiar interest to the botanist, for while the plant is cultivated in many parts of the Orient in considerable quantities, there is no record of its flowering except in the Philippines.
Rattan.—The thirty odd kinds of rattans, and the climbing members of the palm family, furnish strips and reeds for the manufacture of furniture. Considerable exports in rattan were made during the war; and, should the rattan be prepared and graded in a manner similar to what is being done in Singapore, this item of export alone would not only be increased, but much higher prices would be received for the product. Rattan strips are used in enormous quantities all over the Islands as tying material for houses, bridges, wharfs, boats, fish weirs, and so forth, besides being almost the only material used for tying bales of Manila hemp, tobacco, sugar bags, and similar commercial packages.
Shoes.—The shoe industry in the Philippines is in its infant stage. The exportation during 1919 was only 2,368 pairs of leather shoes and 674 pairs of canvas shoes, worth ₱20,695 and ₱2,351, respectively. Shoes, however, that left the Islands through the military, probably worth more than the amount given, are not included. On the other hand over ₱5,000,000 worth of shoes of all kinds were imported in 1919.
There are two factories in the City of Manila manufacturing shoes by machinery. Filipino laborers are employed and have proved competent to undertake all phases of the manufacture of shoes. These factories are making shoes that compare very favorably with the better-grade shoes made in the United States, using only the best imported leathers and other necessary materials from the United States. The two factories have a capacity of about one thousand pairs of shoes per day.
Besides the two factories mentioned, there is also a considerable quantity of shoes manufactured in small shops throughout the City of Manila and the provinces that make their shoes entirely by hand and use a great deal of material produced in the Philippines, especially sole leather and portions of the upper leathers. These small shops turn out products of good quality and make most of their shoes on individual orders.
Hats.—The making of Philippine hats is almost a household industry. Hats manufactured here are as durable and as beautiful as those produced in Panama. Philippine buntal, buri, hemp, and bamboo hats make attractive and comfortable wear. The towns of Baliuag, Bulacan, and Lucban, Tayabas, have become famous for the excellent hats they produce.
The hat industry in the Philippines, although exploited only to a small extent, made it possible for the Islands to record exportation on this product in 1919 amounting to 1,470,026 pesos as compared with only 753,942 pesos worth of hats imported for the same year.
Of the 1,470,026 pesos’ worth of hats sent out of the Islands in 1919, 1,280,968 pesos’ worth went to the United States. With the increasing popularity which Philippine hats enjoy in the American market, hat exportation to the United States is expected to reach greater proportions. China, with its hundreds of millions of souls, many of whom have already begun to wear hats, is also a big potential market for this Philippine product.
There is one large hat factory in the Philippines which manufactures straw hats, wool hats, and also umbrellas. Its actual annual production reaches half a million straw hats and half a million woolen hats.
Matches.—There is one match factory in the Philippines which supplies a portion of the local need, averaging 70,000 to 80,000 tins annually. One tin contains 1,440 small boxes. This factory has been in operation since eighteen years ago. The Philippines imported last year matches worth 949,205 pesos, while its exports of the same product were only 33,207 pesos.
Pearls.—Pearls abound in Philippine waters, especially in the neighborhood of Mindanao and Sulu. The Japanese go as far as Sulu to fish for pearls. Merchants from Paris and London come to the Islands to get their supply of pearls.
Until 1910 the pearl industry of the Philippines was totally in the hands of Moros and Chinese in Mindanao, who sent their pearls directly to Singapore for sale. After that year jewelry houses in England and France sent their representatives here to purchase pearls, and since then large quantities have been shipped directly to those countries. At present not even one per cent of the pearls fished in Philippine waters remains in the Islands. The rest are shipped out of the country to be manufactured into beautiful jewels, which are sent back to the Islands to be sold at high prices. In 1919 the Islands exported raw pearls valued at 152,543 pesos, while the manufacture pearls that were imported were worth 155,150 pesos.
Buttons.—The raw materials used for the manufacture of shell buttons are trocha, pearl shell, green snail, and the chambered-nautilus. The Islands have an abundant supply of these shells. They are found in the waters of Jolo and also in the vicinity of Sitanki, and the regions farther north, such as the Tañon Strait and along the coasts of most of the Visayan Islands; some are found along the coasts of Pangasinan and Ambos Camarines.
In 1918 the United States alone imported 2,500,000 pesos’ worth of buttons; the Philippine exports of this product showed only 251,144 gross in quantity, valued at 231,811 pesos; while the Islands imported buttons worth 119,787 pesos. Japan is supplying one-half of the button importation of America. In 1922, imports were valued at ₱216,086.
There are two button factories in the Philippines. These two companies use only a very small portion of the suitable material that could be obtained. The annual supply of shells which the Philippines produces is 1,000,000 kilograms. The two local factories use less than 300,000 kilograms a year. This limited local demand for shell and the better prices offered abroad result in the Philippine supply of shells being exported to other lands.
It is estimated that a small button factory, destined only for the local trade and capable of producing fifty gross of buttons daily, would require an investment of about 20,000 pesos, exclusive of the cost of buildings.