One of the leading furniture manufacturers of Manila is authority for the statement that in wood carving the Filipino soon becomes the equal of the Japanese artisan. The Philippine Islands are so near the Equator that the heat of the sun in the middle of the day and during the almost twelve months of summer must be taken into consideration. When due allowance is made for climatic conditions and for the fact that the inhabitant of the tropics lacks the spur of necessity which ever urges on the dweller in higher latitudes, one is inclined to excuse any seeming lack of industry. Sure it is that those who come here from America and Europe do not as a rule do enough manual labor to enable a comparison between them and the natives.
Besides those who work in the fields, on the streets and in the factories, there is an army of fishermen and boatmen. Fish forms a considerable part of the food supply of the island, and these are brought from the ocean, from the rivers and from the lakes by a hardy and active people. Much of the commerce is carried by water, and the boats are manned by natives. Except where the Chinese have monopolized the mercantile business, the stores are kept by Filipinos, men and women sharing the labor as they do in France.
And speaking of the women, it must be remembered that woman occupies a much higher place in the Philippines than in any other part of the Orient. The Filipinos contend that even before Spanish influence made itself felt in the islands, woman was accorded an equal place with man and divided with him both the honors and the responsibilities of the home. However this may be, it cannot be doubted that at present the rights of woman and her position in the family and in society are respected fully as much as in continental Europe. Her influence is felt in industrial and political life as well as in the church. At one reception a lady law student delivered an excellent address.
[Illustration: THE ACCOMPLISHED WIFE OF A FILIPINO OFFICIAL.]
Under Spanish rule education was confined to a few. In fact, one of the indictments brought against the Friars by the natives was that educational facilities were denied to the masses. This, too, brought the Jesuits, the friends of education, into conflict with the Friars. But comparatively few of the people enjoyed the advantages of higher education, and these were a controlling influence in their respective communities. As in Mexico and in Cuba, the cultured men and women of the Philippines are thoroughly refined and polished in manner.