The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-07

Of savageS in the Philippine Islands she
did 1t by ChristianiZing them, not by an
initiating them. Every ship load Of SOL
diers and settlers carried missionary
priests and fathers who Zealously
preached the glad tidings of the gospel,
teaching the natives the way to salvation,
thus comforting upon them a precious
boon in comparison with which all the
filthy lucre earned by the Spaniards in
trade was as glass beads and tawdry tin
SCI. That Is why Spain spilled less hu-
man blood in 400 years of rule in the Phil
ippines than we Americans have shed in
forty days. When we go to Cuba or the
Philippines and forbid their religious pro-
cessions, prohibit the ringing of the An
gelus morning, noon and night, or the
frequent tolling of the bells for the souls
of the departed (for which, God knows,
they have sufficient excuse in these
tines and send Protestant ministers to
preach a Christianity which the Philip
pine forefather adopted before Prot
estantism was thought Of when we do
this, l say, we are trampling on their
manners and customs and grossly insult
Ing their faith, just as did the sons Of the
Pharisee or the would-be A P. A. of thir-
ty years ago. And who knows but that
the Christ child who struck the naughty
Pharisee dead may humble the proud
American in the dust? He has the means
our returning troops the germs of fever,
smallpox, leprosy or the bubonic plague
Then men who have no respect for God
or the devil will Wither away for fear
Witness the recent panic caused among
us by the report of half a dozen cases of
smallpox in our city. For, let it be well
remembered the Filipinos, though we like
to call them savages, are, for the most
part, Christians. They worship the true
God. Their temples are the temples of
jehovah, and when we destroy these Chris
tan churches and insult the Christian
faith we are fighting against God and
His arm is not shortened that He NAV
not Wreak vengeance when His mercy is
exhausted.
II we would avoid the fatal blunders
we are making in our attempt at conquer
ing and celonizing densely populated ter
r1tories differing from US in language
religion, customs and traditions we must
keep out the warning sects of Protestant
ism. We must take with our navy and
army not only interpreters who may
break down thebarrier of language that
fruitful source of misunderstanding and
d1scord among the ignorant, but Catholic
priests who will at least explain to our
generals and commodores the origin
meaning and sacredness of Catholic cere-
monies and customs so that they may
not heedlessly or unsuspectingly trample
them under foot as the Pharisee's son did.
For assuredly no Catholic American in
this country could submit to the relig-
ious indignities our new colonists are
subjected to without FORGETTING every
principle of religious liberty ever imbibed
under our constitution.
The longer we continue our drastic
methods of warfare with the Filipinos
the more We increase the intensity of
their hatred for Americans and emphasize
the unwelcome fact that a permanent
victory can never be secured short of
complete determination; and every day it
becomes more apparent that the success
and prosperity of all the trusts in Amer
lea are not sufficient to induce or COM
pei our soldiers to shed their blood in
the execution of slaughter so gigantic
that in comparison with it Weylers deeds
of cruelty were mere child's play