Arizona republican., 1902-08-17
THE FRIAR LANDS
Status of the Monastic Orders and
 the Philippine Natives.

Tn question of the disposition of the friar lands in the Philippines is one that is agitating not only parties most interested, the Vulcan and the govern ment of the United states. but all per sons, no matter of what creed or po- litical faith, are watching the outcome of the negotiations with deep interest.
 Governor Taft has left Rome, appar- ently not having come to any definite arrangement regarding the disposal of the friar lands, but the negotiation pending between the vatican and this government have not been concluded, and it will probably be several months before the question is settled one way or the other.
 That the friars themselves would bit terly oppose disposing of the lands, is but natural for it would mean the re- movaI of the last vestige of power over the natives of the islands, power that has been despotic even since Spain first ruled the archipelago; and even civil law has been subservient to the laws of the church. The archbishop was the supreme power in the islands, and he used his authority for the glOrificatiOn and the enrichment of the church. The authority of the civil or military gov ernor was nominal, and was swept aside when in conflict with the ecclesi- aStical authorities.
 It is not the Catholic church itself that the natives of the islands object to. They are all devout Catholics and love the church, and no other religion will ever gain the sway over the F'ili- pinos that the Catholic church has.
 It was rather the domination of the Spanish friars and priests that the na- tiveS objected to, and the despotic power wielded by these Spanish frars was one of the direct causes of the revolution. not to shake off the power of Spain, but to remove the influence of these powerful monastic orders.. To be successful meant nothing less than the overthrow of Spain. for wherever Spain rules the power of the church will never be diminished.
 The natives tolerate the various re- ligious orders of the Catholic church the Dominicans, Augustinians, Fran ciscans, RecoletoS and any of the other religious orders. It made no difference whether the friars and priests were French, Germans, Americans or of any other nationalty-it was not that: it was the Spaniards who used their garb of sanctity to eXtort and wrench the last copper from the hand of the dying Filipino, under preteXt of ushering him into eternity with mass; it made no difference if the coin was the means of saving the poor native from death by starvation.
 The greed of the friars grew as they gained power over the souls of the na- tives. If a native gained the ill will of a priest he was thrown in jail on some trumped up charge and his prop erty confiscated. If the oppressed one had the courage to protest against allowing his property to be seized, and appealed to the courts for redress. the chances are that he would be banished or re- moved. The courts had no power against the church, for the civil off cials were content to eXtort from the natives what the church had over- looked. It was a case of the churcr having the first whack, then the civi officials, according to rank, took what was left until there was nothing tt take.
 The oppression of the church is re lated by Frank Ernest Gannett, wh,