BoletiÌn mercantil de Puerto Rico. (San Juan, P.R.) 18??-1918, 1902-05-17
Philippine Se|t0Ne|nllent.
Views of Representative John F
Shafroth of Colorado-Some
Plain Truths-Not Like
Apaches.


The "Rocky Mountain Ne VS." Of Den
yer, Colorado in the United States, prints
the following opinion on the Filipino
fitness for self-government from the pen
of Congressman John F. Shafroth:
Are the Filipinos capable of self-go-
vernment?
If the intelligence of the Americans
be takes as the standard by which the
capacity for selfgovernment is to be
determined, then it is very doubtful
whether any o,her people are capable
of establishing and maintaining a re-
publican form of government. Every
country has peoples of high and low
or er of intelligence, and if we are to
assume that the men of lowest order of
civilization are to rule, we might ex-
clude from self-government every ma
ton on earth. 1t is the experience of
mankind, however, that the intelligent
classes in all countries rule. That be-
ing true, there are very few peoples
who are not capable of se1f-government.
It was Henry Clay who said that it was
impossible for him to conceive of
people who were incapable of self-go-
verpment.
OF the republics of Central and South
America, it is safe to say that, although
they may not be as perfect in the ad-
ministration of affairs as the United
States, yet they have given to the people
governments far better and freer from
acts of tyranny and oppression than the
governments which preceded them.
The general impression exists among
many Americans that the Philippine
people are savages. A visit to the
islands will certainly dispe1 any such
illusion. The members of the llnciviliz-
ed tribes of the archipelago are few in
number compared to the total popula-
ton; they are fewer in proportion than
were the tribes of Indians in America
at the time of the establishment of our
republic. They rove in bands and are
as hostile to the Filipinos as were the
red men to our forefathers. When
find behind the prescription desks of
the numerous drugtores of the islands,
even when kept by Americans and
Englishmen, Filipinos compounding
medicines taken from b tiles labelled
in Latin; when see behind the coun-
tefs of banks having large capital ma
tives acting as bookkeepers and as re-
ceiving and paying-tellers; when / find
them as merchants and cleks in almost
all lines Of business, as telegraph oper-
ators and ticket-agents, conductors, and
engineers upon railroads, and as musi-
clans rendering upon almost all instru-
ments high-clasS music; when am told
that they alone make the observations
and intricate caloula lions at the Manila
observat ory, and that prior to the in
Surrection there were 2,Ioo schools in the
islands and 5000 students in attendance
at the Manila university; hen find
the better class living in good, substan-
tial, and sometimes elegant houses, and
many of them pursuing professional
occupations, / cannot but conclude that
it is a base SANDER to compare these
people to the Apaches or other Amer
lean Indians. Even the civilizing test
of Christianity is in their favor, as a
greater proportion are members of the
church than among Our own people.
vi buC OyOOOOJO VI luudD1LdIlIS, MI.
Sawyer, in his work on the Philippine
Islands, asserts that $4,000 are Chris
tan natives.
But even as to the Indians, as un-
civilized as they may be, our Govern
ment recognizes that it produces bet
.er condition OF things to let them gov
srn themselves, and thereby we even
-ecognize in them a capacity for self
government. We do not rule them, we
make treaties with them, as we do with
1ations. We do not appoint a COVER
lor or commission to govern them, nor
udg S to administer laws among them,
lor police force to maintain order.
Ne let them select their own chiefs
Junish their own criminals, and in
very way govern themselves, so long
S they stay on their reservations.
The instinct of self-int crest implanted
q man makes him ordinarily better
gent in managing his own family and
fairs than would be one of greater
billy or higher education without that
1ter,st. And, as with man. so with
atoms, that same principle of self
sktefment ordinarily makes each ma
on most capable of managing its
fairs to the advancement of its own
eessss No better illustration Of this