Evening star., 1901-04-09

was something after this fashion: When
a new gobernadorcillo was named the
and say that he ought to impose a fine on
the gobernadorci1lo because he did not keep
the roads within his jurisdiction in proper
condition. Acting upon this, the provincial
governor would impose the fine and the
gobernadorcilIo would apply to the parish
friar to fntercede for him with the gov
ernor. This the friar would do, asking the
provincial governor to remit the fine,
would ingratiate himself with the goberna-
dorcillo, and also show to him what q
power he had over all the political authorf-
ties. If the friar happened to be at outs
fze his influence over the gobernadorcillo to
the end that the latter would show him all
the orders that he received from the pro-
vinciai governor before he executed the
same, and if any Of these orders met his
views he would instruct the gobernadorcilio
to obey them: If not. he wotSd tell him to
pay no attention to them. f-matters came
to crisis the friar would advise the gober-
nadorciilo to either take to the woods or
to come to Manila and become q guest of
the monastery of his order there. and then
he would prepare charges against the pro-
vfncial governor and have 1t signed by all
the principal peope in the pueblo.
Great Local Power.
"Ano.her method of the friars related to
the collection of their fees or stipends.
of their different districts from the parish
baptismal register, and purposely avoided
any reference to the death register; conse-
quently, whoever was baptized in that
place could live forever, and was always
returned as being alive and a resident of
that place, even though he had died or
moved and he compelled the cabezas ba-
rangay, who were the tax collectors, to
turn over to them their stipend based upon
these public returns and If they failed to
turn the stipends over on the ground that
no such population existed they were put
IN jail through the friarS and bereft of
their position. The basis for the payment
of the stipend to the curates in former
times was the population, and every year
list of the population of the pueblo was
made up ostensibly by the gobernadorcillo,
but the only statistics there were in these
puebios were the parish registers kept by
the friarS, and the friarS compelled the
gobernadorcillos, therefore, to come to
them and let them wise the lists that were
sent in to the provincial governor, and nat
urally increased them so as to increase
salary
so. to swell the taxes they robbed the
cradle and the grave?"
They augmented the cradle but dimin-
ished the grave. The friars had a system
of blackmail by which they held the rod
over all the citizens of pueblo about
whose habits and closet skeletons they
learned through making little girls of from
five to six and seven years of age, who
could barely speak, and who We're nat
urally and must have been sinless, come
everything that they knew of the private
life in their own homes and in places that
they might visit"
A Specific Instance,
Nozario Constantine, a lawyer, gave the
following case of priestly immortality:
They carried things in this regard with
very high hand, for II they should desire
the wife or daughter OF a man, and the
husband and father opposed such advances
they would endeavor to have the man de-
ported by bringing UP false charges of be-
ing q hlibuSter Mason, and after sue
ceeding in getting rid OF the husband they
would, by foul or fair means, accomplish
their purposes, and l will cite a case that
actually happened to US. 1t was the case
of first cousin of mine. Dona Soponce
who married a girl from Baliuag and went
to live in Agency, and there the local
friar curate, who was pursuing his wife
got him the position rs registrar of the
church in order to have him occupied In
order that he might continue his advances
with the wife. He was fortunate in this
undertaking and succeeded in getting the
wife away from the husband and after
ward had the husband deported to Puerto
Princesa, near Jolo, where he was shot as
an insurgent, and the friar continued to
live with the widow and she bore him
children. The friars name is Jose Martin
an Augustinian friar."
Gen. Hughes on Schools.
Brig. Gen. r. P. Hughes, U. S. V, COM
manding the headquarters at noilo, Canay,
was asked as to the school work in his dis
trict. He said:
eve have schools, 1 think, probably In 90
per cent of the towns that We occupied. In
1loilo We had quite a struggle to get a
school. They had burned the town and we
had no school houses and no place to put
them l had census of the town taken as
to the school children of school age. ]
found that there were about 500 in taking
this census. L had it taken by officers sc
as to find out the facts. They inquired il
the people would send their children volun-
tar1ly. They were usually asked IL English
would be taught. and when told it would
be they stated they would go. We had tc
build school house, and when that was
finished we opened the school, think or
the 1st of September or the 1st of August
OF the 500 that Were of school age, withou,
making it compulsory at all, they have now
ABS in the school"
Have you encountered any trouble ir
your schools because you did not give re.
ligious Instruction.
Not at ALL
ANY complaints among the priests?"
we did not hear any, and the people
nave nave not SHOWN any disposition to keeI
their children away On that account, not s
particle. 1t Is purely voluntary I wanted
| to try to find out how MANY of the 5N
would go, and We have 43S / asked as t(
| the shortage, and they said some Wer,
| large enough to have to work"
| Has the result been similar in Cebue,
THE school results in Cebu have no
been satisfactory, mainly due to the fact
think-1 discussed it with the town coun
Gil to find out what the matter was-anf
| the main obstacle to the better conditjo,
of schools there is due to the fact tha-
we cannot get English teachers. I hav,
tried and cannot get them