The Delta independent., 1902-08-22
FILIPINO CHARACTER
DESCRIBED ev AN ARMY OFFICER
Both Friend and Enemy at the Same
Time-Stranser Is Safe Under His
Roof-WilI Require Years to Reach
Our Standard Of civilization-con
ditions In luzon Improving,

Our Standard Of civilization-con-
ditions In Luzon Improving.
Denver. Aug. 10.-The Republican
this morning prints an interview with
Lieut.. c. w. Gordon of the Eighteenth
infantry. who has served three years
with the Sixteenth infantry In the
Philippine islands. and who arrived in
Denver yesterday. To-day he will as
sumo his position as first lieutenant of
the company at Fort Logan. He had
many thrilling experiences In the
islands and says he is thankful he was
able to get away from the far East
alive.
Yesterday he came In from San Fran
cisco. where he has been confined in.
the hospital for the last month or more.
He left the island Of Luzon about the
middle OF June and has been busy
travelling up to the time of his arrival
In San Francisco.
II went to the Philippine islands in
the spring of 1899 with the Sixteenth
infantry" he said. 'and have been
stationed in the province Of Cngayan,
In the northern part of the island OF
Luzon. We were to Il large extent cut
Off from the rest of the island and did
not know much assto what was going
on In any part Of the country.
''The Filipino. l presume. is getting
TO be better known in the United
States since so many soldiers have re-
turned To tell OF him. But do no,
think that one can know him thor
oughly until he has met him In his
native land can say one thing about
him. and that is he can lie ones friend
and enemy at the same time and per-
form both functions the most graceful
ly OF any Individual that | ever knew.
There Is no question that the Filipinos
are hospitable. and while you are un-
der the shelter of his roof you are per
f.ctly safe but after that II Is well TO
look out.
They are peculiar. and II will take
many years to bring them up TO the
standards OF civilization that prevail In
this country. Al present the Filipinos
do not have an adequate conception Of
the rights and privileges of an .Amer!-
can citizen. and 10 ,le, know what II
means 10 enjoy the liberty that he
longs to the average citizen OF the
United States.
But takin. |, all In all. conditions on
the Island are improving. This Is crpc-
cIally 50 In the matter of garrisons for
til. army. II is getting 80 now thai the
barracks are being made "a that they
are fairly hahltable. When ! went
there we had 10 endure many hardships
which sound all right now in the tell
ing. but ai the time were anything but
Interesting.
''Thc Flipinos speak all sorts Of Ian
guages and they are Of all Kinds OF ori-
gin. I suppose there ar. nearly 100 Ian
l.., t... l.t, In lao
section where ! was stationed there
were Mt least four. The better class.
OF course. speak Spanish. and most OF
them can understand II. Their own
languages are mixtures. mostly found
I'd on the Malay roots and in'crmix.
lures OF Spanish and Chinese. To
communicate with the people Is one OF
the difficulties that have 10 be encoun-
tered nj first. They once had AN alpha.
bet Of their own. hut those that are
able 10 read and write now Use the
Spanish alphabet. In fact, there are
very few that can write. much less
read.
1 WIS stationed seventy miles from
where General Funston captured
Aguinaldo. and the detachment under
my command has made several eNpedi-
uons after the willy Filipino. ON one
expedition there were four men
drowned out OF seyeuiy-five. 50 II was
rather perilous task to go after the
man In his own country where he could
easily Ipirench himself in the woods
Fnnston's way was the only way. be-
licvc. that the man could have been
captured. and think be deserves all
the credit for IT,
Three weeks before Aguinaldo was
captured the detachment under my
command was considering making an
expedition to capture HIM. hut for some
rctson we did not go. We were at the
time the nearest troops TO the scene.
''Onc Of the difficult, things that the
authorities in the Philippine islands
have TO contend with is the cholera
and smallpox. The people hide the vic
tins OF the disease and II some of those
afflicted die they are thrown Into the
river or are secretly buried. This
makes II most difficult, TO fight the dis
ease. While there never was n great
amount of cholera in the islands. stIll
II was spreading rapidly at the time
left. Most of the eases were isolated
ones.
with the gradual Introduction OF
new ideas. believe some day the FIJI
pinos will he able to hold their own
with the civilized nations of the earth.
At any rate. they Will become as much
civilized as Oriental people can"