The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-07-22

great educational work in the Philip
 pines
 This is high hope. or belief. But is it wise 10 do anything tending to such
 consequences, unless We intend permit . ting the FilipinOs, when they are edu- cated 10 this point, to have indepen- . denCe? Otherwise will not such educa-
 ton breed discOntent and restlessness, perhaps insurrection? We hear some
 times here at home talk of the impolicy
 of educating boys and girls So that they have aspirations for different lot than that into which they were born. or than they are destined to occupy in the so- ciaI scale. But what is such a mistake,
 if it be a mistake, compared with the
 education of a whole people numbering millions to a state of mind or, as Presi- dent Schurman says, to a political phi losophy which will induce national un- happiness, and possibly insubordina- tion, to the sovereignty which it is in
 tended to make perpetual? Can we
 safely do any such thing? Would it not
 be more prudent, and in a just sense
 benevolent, to instil into their minds
 the political philosophy of Europe in- stead of that of America?
 It must be remembered, too, that l whatever dangerous notions of liberty
 and independent self-government they
 already hold have been developed in spite of the influence of the Spanish ed
 ucational system, which certainly con- formulated G4.nh aS1T1t much stronger and more rapid will be the
 growth under more favoring auspices? It is a question whether they are not | now educated too much for their con tentment under any foreign sovereign ty, even the most benefcent. For these people are not savages, nor pagans, nor illiterate. In the report of the com
 missioner of education of the United ! States this is abundantly demonstrated. What President Schurman says will have to be taken into serious consider
 ation. The only method consistent
 with an education modelled on American lines that can be expected to prevent
 such consequences is a method of gov | ernment that will persuade them that | they are better off under our sovereign ty than they could be under their own. l Any system that exploits the wealth of
 their country, for the benefit of foreign CTS chiefly, will not have this favorable
 result on the convictions of the popula-
 tion. They naturally regard this
 wealth as their own, and not ours. Even if they acknowledge that they are yet unable to develop and market it on
 their own account, they will, being hu-
 man and in a large degree civilized. | prefer to have 1t remain unused until they are able to develop and market it.
 not carried away by strangers who have
 no interest in their welfare that is not | measured by the profit to be made in
 despoiling them. They are intelligent enough already to desire to share in any exploiting of their country, and to have a voice in the contracts that may be
 made. They know also, that they may
 need all their resources to support their
 government when, if ever, they become independent.
 It must be borne in mind that all the education which we speak of as given,
 as if it were a missionary undertaking pdlu TOT py LIle pcOple Ol lHlS CuuItly, is at the cost of the Filipinos. We use the revenues of the islands in paying for it. It is as if the schemes of north
 ern men for educating the ignorant
 part of the population of the southern
 states were supported by tax which
 we had power to compel those states to
 levy for the purpose. There is no gift
 in the business, but only a requirement.
 The teachers who have gone from the United States have been induced by
 the promise of higher wages than they l were receiving at home. The Filipinos
 pay the wages, although they have no potential voice in selecting the teachers | or assigning them or regulating their | wages. Perhaps they are content to have it so. If they are not content, they must have it so, since we will it | for them. And are we doing it, as | President Schurman intimates, with the certain effect of stimulating them to | seek absolute control of their own af- | fairs ?-Boston Herald.
 !