Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1902-01-04

civil service board, who has returned
to Washington, speaks very interest
ingly of the condition of the service in
the islands. says the New York Post.
The merit system has been well es-
tablished there, but, of course, is sub
ject to the usual inequalities and crude
nesses of such enterprises in their ex-
perimental stage. Both whites and ma
tives have been admitted to public
employment through the competitive
examinations. The difference between
the races appears most plainly in the
character of work each is naturally
best fitted to do. The natives are
clever at tasks which are essentially
mechanical. Many of them are skilled
penmen, for instance, and in drafts
manship they excel, but in matters
requiring sound discretion or technical
knowledge they are deficient. Their
work of any sort in which precision is
of chief account has to be scrutiniZed
with especial care. A pretty good evil
dence Of the stage Of clerical efficiency
reached by the FilipinoS is the record
of the examinations up to and includ-
ing May 81 of the present year. OF
those natives who applied none passed
the stenographer's or typewriter's ex-
animation, though there were five ap-
plIcations for the former and fourteen
for the latter. In bookkeeping there
were twenty-seven applicants, but
only one passed, and so on. In the eX-
aminations corresponding to the basis
examinations in this country, prac-
tically nothing more than the three
RS" G. per cent OF the applicants
passed the lowest grade, so per cent
the middle and less than IS per cent
the highest
All the natives take their examina-
tons in Spanish, that language and
English being the only ones used
among the official class IN the islands.
The native tongues alone are spoken
by a large majority of the natives,
while the more intelligent and better
educated know Spanish as well. In
deed, the only classes of natives who
could be of any use in clerical places
understand Spanish, and most of these
are studying English also with great
industry. All official records and pro-
ceedings, of course, are in English.
and our tongue is spreading over the
more thickly populated parts of the
islands with such rapidity that the
coming generation, If the Philippines
continue under control of the United
States, will have a good practical COM
mand of it Even the newsboys now
cry their papers in the streets of Ma
Mia in English, and the natives gen.
orally seem to delight in practicing
their linguistic accomplishments on
any stranger wearing the appearance
OF an Americana" albeit all they have
learned to say may be Good morn
ing" or How do you do?" The fears
entertained in many quarters awhile
ago that the language barrier would
prove an irremediable menace to the |
happy relations of the races seem
therefore to have been groundless.
The more ambitious natives, al !
though taking their examinations in
Spanish and often making pretty bad
fist of them, are willing to work hard
to get ahead and attend diligently
the night schools established to pre-
pare candidates for government en-
ploy. Thus far It has been imprac-
ticable to appoint even the best of
them to clerical positions of RESPONSE |
bility. The lower places, however,
which they are competent to fill, en-
brace, including laborers, about four
fifths of the whole number. The pay |
and privileges in the civil service at |
large are graded according to the re-
spective importance of the places. |
This is what makes the natives ap- |
pear to suffer so by competition with |
the whites; but the reason offered for |
this discrimination is that the white |
clerk cannot live as the native does |
and must pay more for everything. |
Sometimes the difference seems harsh, |
especially when the drop from the |
white to the native salary is very sud |
den- Not long ago. for instance. sew
eral ex-soldiers of the United States |
army were called upon to resign places |
worth $50 q month to make room for |
native employees at $3.50. To the |
native this was a pretty large salary, |
the figures under Spanish rule rang |
ing from SO upward. But they found |
1t hard to understand why they should |
not have $50 n month like their white |
predecessors. Moreover. the discharg
ed men could see no reason why they /
should give up their places to natives
who could do the same work no better. /
1t was fruitless, perhaps. in their state
of mind, to try to make them appre-
ciate the fact that the governments |
policy is to use Filipinos in all the
civil branches for which they are COM
petent.
The principle which regulates the
difference in salaries holds good also
in the matter OF vacations. Mr.. Kig-
gins is of opinion that white civil
servant who takes care of himself has
no necessary difficulty in living in the
Philippines. He must adapt himself
reasonably to his environment, and he
will then get along. But It is neceS-
sary for him to go away from time to
time and refresh himself with a taste
of life in another climate. The an
nual leave for the higher grades of the