Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-05-29
WrtkMALAYS WORK?
Continued from First Page)

now the Chinese have it almost to the ex-
clusion of the native. Formerly all the
carabao drivers were Filipinos; now the
Chinese are steadily driving them out Of
the business. ~ a
A Poor Class of Chinese.
The Chinese in Manila have not the repu-
tation for business morality which their
mercantile countrymen enjoy in many other
places. 1t is said that many of the Chi
| nese in the Philippines were in the begin
ming ordinary coolie laborers from Annoy,
who have escaped from day labor into the
field OF small shop-keeping, and in their
new sphere of activity have tempered with
their scales swindled the natives, adulter-
ated and discredited the native products
which they handle and often failing in
business have disappeared in the ocean of
China leaving worthless debts and exas-
perated creditors. They are credited with
succeeding as traders because they CO.
operate and stand closely together They
remit their earnings to China and have
no interest in the land where they live,
and are not considered to be good citizens.
Spain applied the principle of the Dutch
culture system in very oppressive shape in
the Philippines in the cultivation Of tobac-
co as government monopoly If this
system, even when cruelty enforced has
the merit of forming the habit of work, the
Filipinos have enjoyed this opportunity of
acquiring the habit. The Spaniards, how
ever, do not compare with the Dutch as
capable instructors in agriculture.
Ramon Lala defends his countrymen
against the charge of Incidence other than
the lassitude which is bred in every one
Europeans included, by the tropical heat.
Causes of Filipinos' Apparent Laziness
In explanation of the Filipinos' apparent
laziness, he says:
Deprived by the Spaniards from all ac-
tive participation in the affairs of gov
eminent and robbed of the fruits Of in
dustry, all incentive to advancement and
progress was taken away. He therefore
yields with composure to the crushing con-
ditions of his environment. preferring the
lazy joys of Incidence rather than labor
for the benefit of his oppressors.
In the more civilized districts where
modern and humane business methods pre-
vail hundreds of thousands are employed
to the profit both of themselves and their
employers
Unwillingness to work without pay In adj
vance which is sometimes cited as render
ing unsatisfactory the Filipino laborer, is
pronounced by Lala to be Undoubtedly the
result Of generations of Spanish robbery,
where these people We're forced to labor for
their ENTHUSIASTICALLY the priests
having no reward save the lash or promises
of golden crown in heaven
If Lala's diagnosis of the case Is accurate.
it is easy to see how without any great
trouble we can largely increase the Fill
pino's working efficiency by supplying the
fnn Of full r;t, TO 70 ND
erty and the enjoyment Of the fruits of
his toll.
Protection OF the native Malay against
the Chinese does not require the absolute
exclusion of the latter. AS we have seen,
there are quarter million of them in
Java, largely in mercantile pursuits in the
large cities, very few engaged in plant
ing; but their number is Insignificant COM
pared with the mass of the population.
They not aA-pervading and dominating,
as in the Straits Settlements. where Fore
man pronounces them to be obstinate,
self-wiled and riotous' wherever he
adds, 1.-The Chinese settle they exhibit
disposition to hold their footing, if not
to strengthen it, at all hazards. by force II
need be. In Sarawak their secret societies
which threatened to undermine the pros
perity of that little state, had to be sup
pressed by capital punishment. Since the
British occupation of Hong Kong, in 1S41,
there have been two serious movements
against the Europeans. In Singapore the
attempts of the Chinese to defy the govern
ment have met with only feeble measures
of repression
Evils of Chinese Domination.
Henry Norman in The Peoples and Poll
tics of the Far East confirms Foreman's
suggestion that fresh difficulties are raised
by a solution of the labor problem in the
east which permits unlimited Chinese i'm
migration.
He says: This question of the relations
of foreigners and Chinese presents much
the same general aspect in Hong Kong as
ii does in Shanghai. Here too, the Chi
nese merchant is crowding out the British
middleman: here, too, 1t cannot be very
long before the bulk of the real estate of
the colony is owned by Chinese. Every
day they are advancing further into the
European quarter, and Chinese merchants
are among the richest men in the COM
munity. In every dispute between the Chi
nese and the government said a well-in-
formed resident to me, the former have
come off victorious By and by, therefore,
we shall have virtually a Chinese society
under the British flag, ruled by British
governor.
ITO my thinking Hong Kong is in more
danger from the Chinese than from any
other quarter. Kowloon City is a mass
of roughs; Canton is the most turbulent
and most foreigner-hating city in China;
10000 Chinese could come down to Hong
Kong in a few hours; and a strike Of Chi
nese servants would starve out the colony"
Concerning the Chinese resident in Hong
Kong Norman quotes from s. B. J.
Skertchly late Of her majesty's geological
survey, who says: THE sad fact has to be
faced that some 100000 Chinese are living
voluntarily among us for the sake of the
facilities the colony offers. and that they
hate US, despise us and fear US at the
same time
This comment was based upon the be-
havior of the Chinese during the plague,
when they resisted every effort to cleanse
and purify the city, and to isolate the sick
in hospitals. They threatened to fire the
city, and to poison the water supply, and
the publication of the Chinese quarter was
accomplished only through the menace of
a British gunbeet which covered the quar-
ter with it's guns while British volunteers
performed the labor of saving the plague