The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1901-12-21
TRUTH ABOUT FRIARS
IN PHILIPPINES

General James F. Smith. justice o
the supreme court of the Philippin,
islands, has written for the Catholic
Truth society valuable pamphlet en-.
titled Catholic Missionaries in the
Philippines" Few Americans have
had such opportunities to study relig-
ious and social conditions in the Phil
ippines as General Smith He left San
( Francisco in May 1898, as colonel of the
First California volunteers. After a
/ brilliant career in the army he was
| promoted to be brigadier general. and
! was soon afterward selected to be gov
ernor Of the island Of Negros. His ad-
| ministration on that island was most
successful. He won the loyalty of the
! natives and their friendship, and peace
reigned throughout the island. Finally,
on the organization of the first supreme
court of the Philippines he was select
ed to be one of its members-a position
which he was eminently fitted to fill as
he had occupied a leading position at
the bar of San Francisco before the
outbreak of the Spanish-American war
This mans opinion on the friar
question is ten times more deserving
of respect than all the statements
made by newspaper scribes, travelling
preachers and preiudiced writer's. He
knows the conditions and his high po-
sltlon demands that he speak truth
fully. The pamphlet is a complete vim
dication against all charges of avarice
and ignorance levelled against the
friarS
Here is what he says about the work
of the friars:
Her missionaries gathered the tribes
into villages and towns, formed coun-
ellis for their government (Which, what
ever might have been their deficiencies.
had at least the merit of being actu-
ated by some higher principle than |!
mere brute force), cut down the prime |
val forest. uprooted the impenetrab |
jungle anG taught their charges to cul-
tivate the soil and to make for them
selves a permanent habitation and a
home. Churches were built. Christian
instruction impaired, and, when the de-
sire to wander had given way to set
tied habits, schools were established
and the simpler forms of education in
The work of civilization was
SLOW, necessarily so, but the progress
was steady and healthy and all that
could be expected until about the close
II the eighteenth century After that
spain began to experience the full eff
ect OF the reaction resulting from the
national eXertions in the
lfteenth ond sixteenth centuries and
alled, except in the larger towns and
ltleS to give the opportunities for the
lgher education which conditions JUS
flied and the thirst for further knowl-
dge among the native peoples demand
d. Universities, colleges and schools
nat would bear favorable comparison !
nth other institutions of learning in
he world had been established by the
ellg1ous orders in Manila, Iloilo. Cebu
nd Zamboanga, but beyond those the
ABILITIES for acquiring the higher edu-
alton were not many. Almost every
own, 1t is true, had its government
;hool, but its teachers, as a rule, were
oorly paid by the government, and,
Ot being highly instructed themselves.
lly the rudiments of education were
aparted by them. In the large cities
st mentioned, however, where edu-
ltlon was not dependent on the mu-
ficence of the government, but on in
itutions in charge of the religious or
rs and endowed with means to sup
'rt themselves, education made
lghty strides. A visit to the institu- =
ms of learning, richly gifted with
cry means to furnish superior in
'uction, cannot fail to convince an
partial observer that the Catholic
ssionaries, far from being the foes
learning, spared no pains to impart
and that the statement so often
lde that they sought TO keep the na- g.
es in ignorance is the fevered pro
ct of prejudiced mind. The schools
leges and universities of Manila and
Ter cities have produced native doc
s, lawye ers, authors, chemists phar-
-cists, engineers, painters, sculptors, +
:, of splendid ability, and not even y
jaundfced investigator can refuse ~
them the respect and consideration 4
ich learning, without regard to the !
or of its possessor, commands all
wide world over 4
Ie quotes facts and figures to prove e
t the friars were not fabulously IN
althy. The lands which they own I
re reclaimed by them during three I
turies and "one fairly good land
bber in California could have an
ed as much land in thirtieth of
time"
he article is an important state
1t of the question. It should be
ely disseminated throughout the
ted States. Copies are cents each
81 per 100. May be had from the
holic Truth society, room 81, Flood
ding, San Francisco, Cal.