PHILIPPINE HATS. 
101 
Italy, 93,466 ; China, including Hongkong, 91,381; Germany, 86,856; 
other European countries, 109,134;' all others, 2,659. The increase in 
1909 means rather more than the mere numbers indicate, because of the 
large size of many of the hats. 
The figures for the first six months of 1910, the latest at present 
available, appear to indicate a distinct change in the localization of ex- 
ports, the United States taking over 39.5 per cent of the hats, valued at 
over 49 per cent of the whole. More definitely, out of 215,246 hats 
valued at 123,281 dollars, the United States received 85,195; France, 
76,079; Italy, 19,327; China, 17,114 ; ; Great Britain, 7,540; Austro- 
Hungary, 4,358; Germany, 3,465; Australasia, 1,218; Belgium, 515; 
Hawaii, 420 ; and Guatemala, 15. The trade in the past has undergone 
such great fluctuations, that too much emphasis should not be placed on 
these figures. On the other hand, it is to be hoped that they indicate 
a permanent tendency to increased trade with the United States. 
The comparative position of this industry is little realized in the Phil- 
ippines. Taking for example the exports for 1909, a typical year, hemp, 
copra, sugar, and tobacco are in a class by themselves. But among 
secondary products, hats are second in • value only to maguey, and the 
latter is a very recent development and of importance to a smaller number 
of individuals. Furthermore, the repeated references in this paper to the 
export trade must not be taken to imply that this comprises the greater 
part of the output. For some localities, this is emphatically true, but 
there is also a considerable interisland trade in hats, a much greater 
one between different places on the same island, and local consumption 
is to be added. Statistics on these latter points are not procurable, but 
it is probably not far wrong to say that the export is about one-fourth of 
the total production. Speaking roughly, a distinction should be drawn 
between the hats exported in quantity and those which find their way to 
the local market. Ordinarily, the local market gets the most expensive 
as well as the cheapest. Coarse workmen’s hats of buri leaf or pandan 
are sold in great numbers at such prices as 15 or 20 centavos apiece; 
while a high percentage of the best hats are offered in Manila at prices 
depending on the seller and still more on his estimate of the buyer, but 
likely to run from 3 to 40 pesos per hat. The true price of these is 
often far above the average, usually from 1.20 to 20 pesos.' By far the 
greatest number of the higher grades exported go in small lots or singly, 
shipped by resident Americans to their home towns for sale, or as presents. 
Hats of the highest grades are after all very few in number, and while 
they give a distinct tone to the industry, are not serious factors in trade. 
The problem is to fix upon the material or materials from which hats can 
be produced in large quantity and at moderate prices, and at the same time 
be suited to the trade of the countries to which it Is proposed to export 
them. 
