The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1902-05-30
Washington
Day by Day

Washington. May %. = Especially = SO
much of scandal, directly or Indirectly, is
connected with the name of Captain Nc
Donald as brought out in the Senate
Philippine examination that a false i'm
preston has arisen in some places par
ticularly in the South that the officer re-
ferred to is Captain John B. Mcdonald
of the regular army, and West Pointer,
who was born in Alabama and has nu-
merous friends and relatives in that
state and Mississippi and Georgia.
The Captain Mcdonald referred to at
such great length in the testimony of one
O'Brien, a non-commissioned officer,
served as a volunteer In a Massachusetts
regiment in the Philippines. and is now
in private life at his home In Massachu-
sets. being no longer connected with the
army or the public service. He has dis
proved OBrien's wild assertions about
American cruelty to Filipinos.
Captain j. B. Mcdonald of the United
States Cavalry whose honored name is
to some extent being confused with that
of the Massachusetts, volunteer, is one of
the most distinguished officers of his
rank, or indeed of any rank who has re-
turned from the Philippines. All news
paper readers will remember that while
leading the charge of his own men in bat
tie against the Filipinos, Captain Nc
Donald was shot entirely throgh one lung.
but he continued to lead the charge until
the enemy were routed. and the day was
Donald then fell exhausted and it be-
came necessary to convey him on litter
sixteen miles to a point where he
could receive surgical attention. Very
naturally the friends of this brave and
distinguished army officer from the South
prize too greatly the honor that attaches
to his name to suffer that name to be
confused with another; though the Mas
sachusetts Mcdonald does not appear to
have done any wrong while on military
duty.
In relation to civilizing the Filipinos, a
New England spinster scnool teacher
has written a very interesting letter to
her friends in Washington, dating II in
the Negroes, Philippines. Proceeding, she
says:
I'VE teachers are like so many Micaw-
bers waiting for something to turn up
Promises of officials to furnish something
with which to work have failed to mate
rialize. Somebody made some money out
of this educational movement. At the
outset $4,000 was spent for books, which
were sent around to probably half of
the towns in the archipelago. 1t would
be no exaggeration to say that fully $780,
900 of that was money thrown away, for
1t went for books that can't be used here
in decade We have here histories that
no child in my school will be able to I'M
derstand in five years. Biographies that
dismiss the Philippine Islands In two sem
fences and arithmetics that no child will
be able to work with until he has had at
least two years training in English.
This might be forgiven and attributed
to the ignorance of the needs when first
sending out books were 1t not that only
recently we have received another INSTALL
ment Of books equally valueless. One set
consists Of nature studies-extracts from
John Burroughs Charming as John Bur-
roughs is he loses much in being set up
in sections and transported to the Philip
pines. If he dealt with palm, bamboo and
mango trees, his writings might appeal
to young Fiipinos. but the young Fill
Pine has no more conception of squirrels
and chestnuts and oaks and naples than
he has of electric cars and roof gardens.
THE educational problem Is not the
least of the Filipino problems. 1t will
take decades for the results to show,
and meanwhile the work goes on with
much expense and equal discouragement.
In various sections there is opposition to
the schools on the part of a strong infiu-
ence. have heard that in Mindanao the
opposition is quite strong, and the report
was that the schools in Manila have all
fallen to pieces-whether from that cause
or some other don't know.
Far off as the results seem and dis
couraging as the work often appears. I
really believe that the future salvation
of the archipelago lies In the educational
-a-a-a -a,