The San Francisco call., 1899-01-15
FILIPINOS
AS CITIZENS
Continued From Page Twenty-One.
lie office as among the rulers of free

lie office as among the rulers of free
America.
Annexation will possibly have the pc
culiar effect of changing family names
in the Philippines. AS paterfamilias,
the Filipino has no superior, here or
elsewhere; for nowhere, I verify be-
lieve, is there more family affection
than among the natives of my country,
but the mother is really the head of the
home; her word is law and she gives
the surname to her offspring, who hold
her in peculiar awe. However, the
elastic nature of the Filipinos will
easily adjust itself to new conditions,
and will retain it's inherent virtue.
I do not believe, as some of my coun-
trymen do, that the Filipino will dis
appear before the incoming tide Of
American emigration, as did the Amer
lean Indian. There are good reasons
for this belief. One Is, we are of the
tropics tropical, and not even a hun
dred generations could completely ac-
climatize the American, nor adapt him
to the conditions of this sultry zone.
There is no more danger that we will
be supplanted by the Americans than
that the Dutch will supplant the Ma
lays in Java. The body of the popula-
ton must ever be native-born and in
that physiological necessity and eth
biological fact lies our national saliva
ton. Therefore, even in the event of
American annexation, the Filipinos will
in the main rule themselves; nor can
any one else do it SO well.
The Filipinos are by nature agricul-
turists. The farm suits them better
than the store or factory. The Chinese
and the foreigners, indeed, almost
monopolize the trade of the islands; the
natives being in the main producers,
or else in the professions. And right
! - ,,,1n Af-t1J iAxy
for American commerce; for the carry
ing trade of the islands, as well as the
various kinds of manufacture will soon
! be in American hands, and the chances
for large profit will soon draw many
| investors to those golden shores.
The hemp, tobacco, sugar, lumber, in
digo, rice and cocoa industries will thus
alone receive a magnificent impetus
and the production Of these articles Of
export will be stimulated, SO that with
! in five years their yield will be in
creased threefold. Hitherto there was
little incentive to work hard for one
self, since the profits were shorn for
the benefit of the oppressor. Woe to
the Filipino who prospered; he was
! fieeced in a thousand ways by the Of
ficials of the state and of the church.
Thus ambition was atrophied and en-
| terprise of every sort was dwarfed into
apathy Foreign investors also were
similarly encouraged, and many were
only allowed to leave the scene of their
improbable investment after they had
lost their last dollar.
Millions of acres of arabic land are
yet untitled. They wait an era of de-
mand to impel them to fruitfulness;
and America will create that demand
by an increasing commerce, that will
rebound to her double advantage. For
in exchange for the products of the is
lands, she will give the thousand and
| one articles of civilization manufac-
tured in America. Send us prayer books
and missionaries for our rice and hemp
If you wish; but keep out American
liquors and American politics. No one
can drink the strong beverages of the
temperate zone in the Philippines and
live Many foreigners, it is true. in
sist upon their arrival in Manila on
calling for whiskies and brandies; but
such indulgence is sure, even if con-
tinued only moderately, to superinduce
q fatal fever, or some other tropical dis
ease. Many Of the foreigners who
have died there owed their deaths tc
the daily tipple alone. For this reason
the climate has not been so dangerous
to the natives of wine drinking coun-
tries, like France and Italv. American
troops should be cautioned in regard