Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1899-07-28
+. ''Remember the church. my SON.
You mnst give to It in proportion to

"Remember the church. my son.
You must give to It in proportion to
your prosperity"
RI II not, then the threat of purgatory
or the lost soul again. $50 90
Thus, according to that abominably
tiresome way history has Of repeating
itself, in a similar manner Columbus
and his Spaniards plundered and cheat
ed the natives in the West Indias, the
white man in the United States robbed
and rooted out the Indian, and English
men and Dutchmen in South Africa
laid violent hands on the lands and the
gold of the negro. Worlds over it is
the same. These friars who have been
so bitterly blamed are neither better
nor worse than the average man when
he has things all his own way-only
(and note the difference) in the Philip
pines the despoilers were in many cases
the representatives of a. Christian
church. and that church has had to bear
the ignominy of their evil doing, and
wrongly. To hold the Roman church
responsible for the performances Of the
friars in Manila would be as unjust as
to declare that the whole American
people were as bad as their professional
politicians. Hundreds of priests and
good Catholic sisters and brothers in the
Philippines have devoted their lives
unselishly to the attempt to improve
the condition of the natives, and.
verify, these shall have their reward.
Meanwhile high old times had tho
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,
go 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 az
Tammany 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
feuds 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
been too often fit match for the friar
bosses. They have been spendthrift
younger sons, fast livers. men who had
shady record at home. When every
other resource had been exhausted. an
appointment was got for the reprobate
here. It 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
friars. They mostly entered readily in
to the plans of pickings and stealings
and shared the profits. If, as sometimes
happened, an honest man came out to
fill an Office and demurred at the exist
ing order, he was called down instant.
IT,. It was said to him in short order,
''Submit or get out" If he was still
refractory, what then2 Nothing easier
than for friar boss or one of bis tools
to complain Of the official at home and
he was removed swiftly and silently.
No government monopoly in the middle
ages ever controlled 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.