The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-10
TRUTH ABOUT THE PHILIPPINES
Letter From an American Resident
Without Prejudice

gentleman of eminent position and re
nafkable ability, who has spent many
months in the Philippines and made
more careful investigation of condition.
,here ana reported them with more in.
| utpenuence and accuracy than anv write
m mliose observations have been printed
| mat he is a close observer and abb,
| writer the letter itself bears proof: thai
ne is a man of unimpeachable geracity
ana integrity / can testify from personal
knowledge. The whole letter is in nv
possession and in the authors own hand.
writing.
His name is withheld because the letter
Is written only as a personal letter from
one friend to another. and not for pub
LEGATION; and his position. as well as the
privacy If the communication. makes it
| improper for me to make it public.
1t is dated philippine Islands. Decem-
| Der L, 1900. and after the Introductory
! sentence is as follows:
Dear Judge: / notice by your
! letter, even the intelligent man that you
are. that you are yet talking about our
! looking after them Cthe Filipinos) until
they are fitted either to be admitted into
! the Union or given self government
/ and, of course, you are not to blame for
this condition of mind; you are entirely
/ dependent upon the papers and maya
] zines. etc, for material to form your
| opinions But let me say to you, judge,
/ honestly and candidly, If you were de-
pendent on the same sources for your
/ knowledge of the people of the old circuit
you reside in you would say the same
| coming out here and running hurriedly
around among these people and writing
! them mp and passing judgment on them
would be dead sure to pass the same kind
of judgment on the people of j, W,
+, and W counties if they were to
find those counties, with the same people
they now have, situated in some other
country OF the world, and large major
ity of them would declare that they are
| incapable of self-government if they were
to go and visit them where they are and
without ability to speak their language.
we, of course, have savages and semi
savages here-several millions of them
but even a large majority of them are
much more capable of casting an intelli-
gent vote than are more than that many
cotton-held negroes in the South today
But the saVages and semi-savages live
to themselves away off in the forests. and
in frontier regions and maintain their
own governments las our Indians always
did. And besides them there are the peo-
pie over here-the people of the country
the TagaloS and Nisayans: and | should
say the Tagalos and Visayans include
people called, locally, by other names,
just as some of our people are called
Alabamans and some Virginians and
some Nermonters. and there is not any
more difference between those of the diff
ferent names in the Visayan class and the
Tagalo class. respectively, here than there
is between those | have mentioned there
in the United States, either in language
or anything else. The TagaloS and Nisay-
ans have different languages, but they are
very similar; something like high Dutch
and low Dutch for instance. | imagine.
All Tagalos coming in contact with vi
sayans learn their language almost at
once, and vice versa. And you probably
think their languages are languages of
saEaSes, or, at most. semi-civilized people.
You probably do not know that each has
its history, literature. poetry. etc. and
hundreds, in fact thousands of schools Gf
we include private schools and classes,
etc.)
AT the Visayan College. at Cebu. over
400 young men are being educated, and
when 1 visited there last spring four of
them were studying Spanish as one of the
modern ldngua geS they thought it profit
able to learn. The rest of course were |
studying in Nisayan just as people in our |
schools study in the English language
Cebu is the city in which the Spanish !
Catholics established their first church /
and school over herein about 1921 about /
three hundred and seventy-nine years |
they have had churches and |
schools there ever since: and still have |
them. But the savages still stick to /
their Own schools and language and lit
erdture. etc. that they had when the Span
ish found them here in 1921 And practi-
cally the same thing can be said of the
Tagalos, hut probably greater per cent
of the Tagalos learned Spanish.
Now, of the Tagalos and Visayans
there are about 100000, and they are law
yers. doctors, druggists. merchants, art
lists, artisans, farmers bankers, Ctc lust !
the same as the people called Virginians
are, and they live at home in families
just the same as Virginians do.
Now. judge. | am not afraid that Won |
VIII misunderstood me, but a casual read |
er of the nonthinking class would come 70 |
ne conclusion from what l have written
above that l claim that these people are
Just like Virginians. and the equal of
NiTginians: and would pitch into me
ut once and contradict me. up and down.
and call me a fool and if | were to an
sWer their assertions and contentious
etc. l would have to admit that these
people are not white, and that they (at
least great many of themD go bare
ooted. and that they dress so as to look to
me and You and my critic like guys and
that they can't talk as to express an
intelligent thought to an American Of
ordinary education. who does not know
heir language, and that their principal
liet is rice, and that it is very common
or them to sit on the floor in a circle
EheH eating their meals, instead of on
mars at tables. as we do; and that if
you meet one in the street riding in his
buggy or other vehicle he will turn to the |
eft instead of to the right and If one |
# them motions with his hand to another
o indicate to him that he wants him to |
ONE to him he will do it with the ends
# his fingers pointing down, etc.
- That is they belong TO a differ |
mt civilization, and thousands of years
II character building and civilization,
construction on lines essentially different
rom the lines of our civilization. have
made them a different people from us; J
nut thar is not saying that they are bet :
er than we are, or as good; but most
ools think that it is a conclusive proof I
hat they are not good as we are and
hat God has made us his agent-'humbIe {
instrument they hypOcriticaIly express it
TO make them perfect by making them
ust like us. i
The long and short of the whole matter
5 that they are today capable of self I
overnment as we are. l do not mean by o
nat that they have the capacity to give | l
$ q gop'' government. tAnd if they were
Omitted thousand
lie to govern us as we are to govern our !
elves, we would say that they had no ! p
iSht to give us good government or =
ny other kind They could not give us ?
S good government We can make v
nd maintain ourselves, and quite likely u
ley could not give us as good "A gov o
rnment as we could give them and | do o
ot think that they can govern themselves .
$ well AS we can govern ourselves: that =
J. their government Gf they governed l,
iemselves) would probably not be equal u
what our government of ourselves at 81
Dme is: at least ii would not be as good
our estimation according TO our Views {
such things But none of these things c
uch the matter of self-government. II
There is no question at all in the mini Il
any Intelligent person who has had an | c.
'portunity to study things here on the h
ound, ana has done 50. but that these ! u
,ople are capable of lf-government F
Id thousand times more capable to II
Vern themselves than we are to govern ~
EN-. We are simply not capable of gov al
ming them at all. We cannot undoE- pi
ana them nor they US. We can govern SC
g people of Canada, or of England or al
arnany. or Denmark. or Norway, or st
veden or We could cut off the States of re
Nv York, Kentucky. and California tn
Il mike provinces of them and govern | DC
EN-. We could do these things because st
is possible for us to understand all at
ese peoples. They belong to the same Al
,ilization with us. We know that we su
uld cut off States this way and govern re
an because we have done it YOu re- fig