Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-07-13

people were az bad as their professional
politicians Hundreds of priests and
good Catholic sisters and brothers in the
Philippines have devoted their lives
unselfshly to the attempt to improve
the condition of the natives, and,
verify, these shall have their reward.
Meanwhile high old times had the
friars in and about Manila. On the fat
of the land they lived, depriving them
selves of no material enjoyment They
even resurrected patriarchal institutions
and entered into picturesque domestic
relations, rearing dusky families, in
which the lick of the tar brush mingled,
so to speak, with the expression of
| Spanish pride and devoutness. Holding
thus the natives and the wealth of the
! country in their hands, the friars also
| gained control of government affairs in
Manila. They in time came to rule the
municipal authorities as completely as
| Tammanv boss ever ruled his followers.
The reader may take for granted that
the story here set forth is fact. | have
/ it from undoubted authority, long resi-
dents, those having no interest in the
tends of old Manila. one way or the
other persons who are now only glad
the Americans have got here.
The Spanish military and civil Off
GERS sent here for many years past have
j been too often a fit match for the friar
bosses. They have been spendthrift
| younger sons, fast livers, men who had
a shady record Mt home When every
] l,1
/ appointment was got for the reprobate
here. 1t was said to him. go now to
Manila and recoup yourself and don t
show your face at home again" Men
! like this proved plant tools to the
triars. They mostly entered readily in
| TO the plans of pickings and stealings
| and shared the profits. IT, as sometimes
| happened, an honest man came ont to
| fill an office and demurred at the exist
! ing order, he was called down instant
! ly 1t was said to him in short order,
"Submit or get out. If he was still
refractory, what then? Nothing easier
| than for Il friar boss or one of his tools
to complain Of the official at home, and
he was removed swiftly and silently.
No government monopoly in the middle
ages ever controlled a helpless people
more completely than did the friars
ring of the Philippines.
1t was the friars ring that at last
caused the instruction of the natives.
Of that shall tell you in another letter.
Meantime the ring has now to reckon
with the United States government. Its
| power has been broken. Its leaders
| dread the day of settlement. There are
today sneaking and lodging about Ma
Mia many of the friars in civilian garb.
! They put off their cassocks when our
| troops came here so as to be less easily
| recognized and pointed ont to our Off
GERS. The best thing to do and the first
will be to force them to disgorge their
| plumber. There need be no hesitation
in this. Our government has no right
| to confiscate or tax church edifices and
| the ground they stand on, according
to principle long established. But the
vast plantations, the houses for rent
and profit belonging to these men are
legitimate objects of taxation, and this
remedy may be applied without stint.
Perhaps in that way the friars can he
made to pay part of the expenses Of
this native instruction which they
brought on. 1t was they who maligned
the Americans 20 bitterly.
The bishop Of Manila, he who issued
the pastoral letter calling Americans
excrescenccs on the earth and the off
securing of creation, belongs to one of
these orders, the Dominican. Fate had
her revenge on him, however, when
after the occupation it fell to his lot to
ride in the procession with which the
American troops celebrated our victory
The influence of the church in the
Philippine affairs at present should not
be moderated. The natives can be met
and most easily reached through their
religious teachers. A Spanish bishop