The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-02-28

HARDsHlPs ENCOUNTERED BY THE
AMERICAN PEokCCCUES.

disappointment and Discomforts Endured
The Ouiosnoss OF the Filipino Chill
dron 10 Learn-uopefui Aspects Of the \
sltuauon-Native Characteristics.
Reports received at the War Depart |
ment indicate that the sending OF |
American school-teachers TO the Phil |
ippnes Will prove a very interesting |
experiment. writes the Washington |
correspondent of the New York Post !
Many OF them knew little OF what
they were going to; but, on the whole,
they seem TO take the discomforts ana
hardships incident TO the life there
cheerfully One woman now IN the
archipelago says that she was swim
died" with the Philippines-that they
nre not what they were said to be.
! She expresses herself as disappointed
that she is not able to have the COM
forts that she had last year in q col
lege dormitory.
one very sad thing In the teaching
force has been the death from the
effects of an operation Of w. S. Davis,
Of Colville, Wash. He leaves wife
and five children. lie went out at
salary of $500. Another man went
out for $1,000, carrying a wife ana
four children another a wife ana
three children. When It Is remem-
bered that living expenses there are
fifty per cent. higher than here, It Will
be seen how much missionary zeal the
teachers need to show.
It IS remarkable, all accounts agree
how quickly the Filipino children
learn English. There are perhaps
500 Filipino teachers who are having
, one hour Of English a day. A normal
, school has been opened with an at
/, tendance Of about 25O Fllipinos. A
, trade school and an agricultural col
, lege also have been started. All these
o movements have gone on with very lit
, tie noise 1t would have been much
+ easier for our educators to establish
q high schools and colleges since the cry
T. for education from the sO-called lead
o ing Filipinos" Is understood at the
4 War Department to mean a demand
4 for high schools, so that they Will moi
>. be obliged to send their children into
i Manila. In the past higher education
u has been obtainable only at great eX
p pense. and the so-called educated
4 class" has been an exclusive one. Thu
/. American plan has been, rejecting TIT
,s theories of democratic government
l. to look out that every pueblo and bar
school
/ This starting at the bottom and build
n inc up is a much harder thing thai
Y the reverse process would be, sine
there is a question always as to whetl
g er the upper classes are particular
o. anxious that the lower classes shout
10 be instructed The Filipino Pres
O. dent, returning travellers say, Away
V. promises to do just as he IS asked, br
III fails usually to do what he promises
pc Still there is much, according to d.
% partmental advlces, that Is hopeful
n the situation. The chief dificultiC
81 seem to be insufficient municipal FUND
II. and a hesitancy on the part of oil
n Philippine officialdom to take the IN
as tiative and way down at the bottor
II. perhaps, an Indifference and a feeliT
N that the G neral Government ougl
Id to do everything. The American Go
IL eminent has done a great service
ar giving these people the one thing,
&C. the shape of English instruction, whic
no will, Of itself, be a unifying inhuenc
al About as much English is now spok'
lie as there was Spanish in the SPANS
elf times.
INF Many persons believe that the Anne
.er lean physician may yet become
n. great n factor In Philippine develo
NV ment as the American teacher. T
I'd trained physician of this count
nd ought to contribute something imp'
nt- tant on tropical disease, especial
nj. an.gebic dysentery, which now seer
for to be so fatal there. Americans S
I'D that 1t is surprising to see the ign
oil ance prevailing among the foreign d.
avv tors In the tropics; that the avera
Filipino physician never opens DO
or makes any special study after gr;
uation. At the age of about ten
! Filipino begins a so-called medi
course, which Is nothing more than {
mentary in character, but because
studies something for seven years
believes he is superior to the Americ
y. doctor who has a course Of only f
''i0 years.
The Filpinos, as a class, the retu
tile Ing War Department officers say,
in a certain sense clearly; they ba
ain frequently, but they are not very
leot in their bathing place II
and housekeeping and home sanitation
wretched although the women are