Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-06-30

Mia streets The first Jesuit procession
appearing publicly in Manila for years
was one that paraded after the occu-
pancy of the city by General Otis. 1t
was actually escorted and protected by
American troops General Otis is HIM
self Roman Catholic American
troops were not unwelcome to the
Jesuits. perhaps.
Long ago the religious order in ques
tion obtained foothold here, Thousands
of the natives were brought into the
church. The friars were undoubtedly
the scrubbiest lot of representatives Of
the church that even Spain could mus
ter. The Jesuits came in 1863. They
were educated, accomplished men.
They led correct lives themselves and
inculcated morality among the Tagalos
both by precept and example. They
also established schools and taught the
natives reading, writing and manual
training The gifted, lamented General
Jose Rial himself was favorite pupil
and friend of the Jesuit fathers. 1t is
recorded, moreover, of the Jesuits that
they always treated the natives Justly.
There came to be enmity between the
Jesuits and friars because of their diff
ferent ideas and methods. / am now
giving a bit of inside history of Manila,
setting down unvarnished facts without
a spark of prejudice one way or the
other in my own mind, as l hope and
believe. From the beginning the friars
devoted themselves to heaping up the
material good things of the earth and
accumulating vast quantity of prop
erty, which they took possession of in
the name of the church. The fertility
and boundless richness of the Philip
pines have not been exaggerated. To
the friars the islands proved a Klon-
dixie. Their method was to work about
equally on the ignorance and supersti-
tion of the natives. The confessional
was mighty weapon in their hands.
No doubt they found a reasoning which
satisfied their consciences in the course
they took. | have even heard an Amer
ican soldier here in Manila justify the
conduct of himself and his comrades in
running up in Tagalo shops bills four
times the amount of their pay and then
marching off and leaving the same for
ever unliquidated.
The friars told the natives they must
do this and that for the church or they
would lose their souls. By reason of
their corner ON soul saving the friars
took possession of scores of square miles
of the richest lands surrounding Ma
Mia. They said to the natives, ''Sur-
render to the church these lands or you
roast in purgatory." Next they allotted
to each family as much as the incom-
petent Tagalo hands could cultivate of
the lands that originally all belonged
to the natives and said, ''Now till this
ground and earn your living" other
wise purgatory again.
AT harvest time, at the confessional,
were revealed to the friars again all the
resources of the poor Tagalo.
"Hava you had good harvest this
yearf' was the seemingly proper ques-
tion asked of the copfessing one. II
the reply was;
''1es, father, thank God, we have
done well, - then
Remember the church, my son.
You must give to it in proportion to
your prosperity >
If not, then the threat of purgatory
or the lost soul again
Thus, according to that abominably
tiresome way history has of repeating
itseE, in 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 il 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 diiference) in the Philip
pines the despojlers were in many cases
the representatives of Christian
church, and that church has had to bear
the ignominy of their evil doing, and
wrongly. To hold the Roman church
for the performances of the