The record-union., 1898-06-11
OF THE NATIVES IN THE PHILIP
PINES.

In some of the advices from Manila
1t has been stated that the insurgents
In the Philippines were moved to their
the ,friars backed by, or at least not
rebuked by the Spanish Government;
that these were not successfully re-
sisted, however; until the rebels became
Freemasons, when they were enabled
to counsel in secret and thus pull to-
gether and make themselves felt
This is error. Masonry, as we under
stand it, could not be prostituted to any
political ends, and no lodges could be
chartered under any such system. The
Chinese have organizations among us
that are secret, and which go so far
AS to defy the laws of this country.
They claim that they are Free Masons,
Odd Fellows and the like. But it is all
pretense, as every one knows.
The fact is that the rebel organiza-
lions in the Philippines are those of the
Catapunan society, a very powerful or
ganization, and having it's chief mem
which is Manila Bay It is a secret
political society, as Joseph T. Manix
in the Review of Reviews describes
in detail. He says there is Free
Masonry in the islands, brought from
Spain, but that Masonry has not con-
tributed dollar nor an effort there or
elsewhere to any revolutionary purpose,
and he denies that there is any relig-
ious significance in the instruction.
The Catapunans have membership of
1setween 10000 and $4,000. Each mem
Der makes a weekly contribution and
the aggregate of these collections is
used to supply the insurgents with the
munitions of war.
: The charge that the Masons have any
thing to do with it is absurd, ridicu-
lous. Mr. Manix gives us a clear state
ment of what the insurgents have de-
manded of Spain, but vainly. These
demands are: Representation in the
Spanish Parliament Reform of the
onerous land and tax systems Cur
tailment Of the civil powers Of the
Friars. Recall of dishonest and tyr
annous Spanish officials and the estab-
lishment of honest and economic gov
eminent.
Had these reforms, all just, been con-
coded six months ago, the Filipinos
would not to-day be in revolt Now,
he asserts, they would not compromise
on any terms. Some of them may be
Influenced by the Friars who preach to
them that the Americans are making
war upon their religion. But Mr..
Manix, himself a Catholic and familiar
with conditions in the islands, declares
his belief that these efforts will not
bear fruit to any considerable extent,
Mr.. Manix describes some of the
grewsome affairs when rebels were
publicly executed. and to show that
even the native soldiers were in sym
pathy with the insurgents, he says that
they aimed in a manner not to kill, no
one of the soldiers desiring to be guilty
Of killing one to whom his sympathies
went out Thus the executions became
horrible wounding affairs and several
volleys would have to be fired to secure
the death of the victims.
One Of these executions he saw, when
thirteen Catapunans were shot to death
in the presence of thousands Of people
with women waving their handker-
chiefs and laughing and sporting over
a str oil Of fta ,yio+
ways, he says, when it is announced
that the victims are dead, the bands
strike up.lively music and there is gen.
.eral jollfty manifest, especially by the
women standing up in fashionable
equipages and waving their parasols
and handkerchiefs.
Manix declares that the F'ilipinos,
however lacking in intelligence, cannot
be characterized as savages. OF the
100000 people half of them inhabit
Luzon. the chief island. The Tagals
are copper-colored. short of stature
and of the Malay family. They are
the more advanced and influential peo-
pie, with many intelligent and ambi-
AlSuS AtSA dAHOAS lLSili, Altli WHO got
their start in the schools established by
the monastic orders, whose political
domination has been one of the chief
causes of the rebellion.
They are as industrious as the Chin
ese and Japanese, but more easily con-
trolled and less criminally inclined.
They are amenable to discipline when
they have confidence in their leaders
and advisers and respect for them. The
leading men and women, he says, are
charmingly courteous in manner; rude
ness, assumption and boisterousness are
entirely lacking in their temperament.
Charles Johnston in the same journal
says that the trouble in the Philip
pines has been that Spain honestly tried
to make Christians of the Malays. They
succeeded to the ear but failed totally
as to the heart Discovering this, the
Spanish then sought to enrich them
selves at the expense of the natives.
and the Malays turned against them.
Domination has broken the hearts of
these people
It now remains for better plan to be
tried, in his opinion, namely to let race
genius have it's way; to let the natives
live their own lives, which they love
In their dumb way as we love ours.