They are much larger than the Chinese cattle now in common use, walk faster, are extremely gentle and make superior draught animals. Their flesh is excellent. Cattle raising in Mindanao on a large scale is certainly possible, and offers a most attractive field for investment. The establishment of a great silk-growing industry is dependent only upon the necessary capital and initiative. The Bureau of Science has laid the foundation for it by conclusively demonstrating that silk worms, and the mulberry trees on the leaves of which they thrive, flourish here. Worms have now been grown for six years, and have never suffered from any disease. Filipina women and girls, with their deft fingers, would make excellent help for silk culture. Indeed, the opportunity to engage in it would be a great boon to them in many parts of the islands where they now lack profitable employment. Manufacturing is as yet in its infancy. There are a number of regions where very cheap power can be had by hydraulic development. That the Filipinos make good factory labourers has been abundantly demonstrated in existing tobacco factories, a hat factory, a match factory and a couple of small factories for the manufacture of tagal braid, [183] all in successful operation. With plenty of good labour, cheap power and abundant raw materials, important manufacturing industries should be developed. I will not discuss at length the possibility of engaging profitably in trade. Such possibility exists wherever commodities are bought and sold, and here as elsewhere profits or losses largely depend on the abilities of individuals. But the question of the trade relations, present and possible, between the Philippines and the United States is one of very great importance. In the next chapter I show the enormous increase in the total trade of the country since the American occupation, and the rapid growth of trade with the United States. Next to rice, cotton goods form the most important element in the consuming markets of the islands, and the rapidity with which the United States is gaining control of this trade is well illustrated in the following table, showing by years the value of such goods imported since 1904:-- Importations of Cotton Cloth