STONE INDUSTRY. 215 



dealings with the treasury are carried on through him. This 

 man keeps a hst of the men who wish to cut stone during his 

 holding of the license. He also has a written agreement with 

 many of the workers to the effect that they will report to him 

 the case of any man they catch trying to defraud the Govern- 

 ment of the amount of the tax on sales. Whenever an article 

 made by any of the men is sold, the fact must be made known 

 to the licensee, who keeps an account of sales and settles with 

 the municipal treasurer at convenient intervals. 



At the present writing there are on the licensee's list of stone 

 workers 62 names. Examination of the municipal treasurer's 

 books showed that 36, or over one-half, of these men own agri- 

 cultural land in San Esteban. All but 10 of the remainder are 

 said to own land also, either in some other town, or in conjunc- 

 tion with some relative in whose' name the land is recorded. Ten 

 of the workers own land appraised at 200 pesos or over in San 

 Esteban. The majority of the landowners among the stone- 

 cutters own but a small piece, which is insufficient for their 

 needs. Out of the 62 stone workers, 8 are in the habit of going 

 to Pangasinan annually for the rice harvest, spending two or 

 three months on the trip. One is in the habit of going to Ka- 

 gayan for the same purpose. Both the landless men and those 

 who own but a small piece are accustomed to work a part of the 

 time for local farmers for wages or on shares. 



Moreover, almost without exception, the stone workers are 

 fishermen. Some wade about near shore with small nets. 

 Others go out on small rafts from which they catch fish, 

 usually with hook and line, but sometimes also with nets. Nets 

 and rafts are made by themselves. The quarry-workers do not 

 as a rule sell fish. They only fish enough to supply their own 

 families. 



It is obvious from these statements that none of the stone 

 workers is a specialist. They divide their time between at least 

 three means of livelihood; fishing, stone- working, and farming; 

 the last Is their habitual and most important employment. 

 Stone-working is a mere by-occupation for slack times with 

 almost all. Two or three men like it and have attained more 

 skill than the others. The great majority prefer to farm when 

 they can. 



THE DISTRIBUTION OP THE PRODUCT. 



The distribution of the product is effected with the same 

 slackness as the production. It may almost be said that the 

 workers pay no attention to it. There is at San Esteban no 



