Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-10-05
REASONS THAT RULED
SELECTION OF SCHOOLS FOR THE
FILIPINO STUDENTS.
Denied That Protestant Institutions
Were Selected in Preference
to Catholic.

Mr.. William A. Sutherland. Superfntend-
ent Of the Filipino students in the United
States, with the approval OF the War De-
! partment. has written an open letter to Mr..
Joseph A. Weber of Philadelphia, secretary
of the Federation of Catholic Societies. in
answer to a series OF articles In certain
members of the Catholic press. in which the
charge is made that Secretary Taft, Col.
Edwards and those having those matters
in charge have selected UNCONVENTIONAL
Protestant schools for the education of the
Filipino government students. to the exciu-
sion of Catholic schools. with the DELHI
crate intention Of PROSECUTING the said stu
dents. or as one paper states 1t, for their
'protestantization.'
Attitude Of the Authorities.
Mr.. Sutherland remarks: TT is scarcely
likely that such men as Secretary Taft and
Colonel Edwards, the former so highly COM
mended as unquestionably just and high
minded in his treatment Of the delicate at
fairs Of the relation of church and state
gate the late Archbishop Guidi and Colo
mel Edwards, who for several years was an
efficient and highly honOred instructor in
one of the leading Catholic colleges Of the
such men would have tolerated such pro-
cedure as that charged They have not
been called upon to do so.''
In the course of his letter Mr.. Sutherland
tells in detail the reasons for the selection
of certain educational institutions for the
education of the Filipino students. and
says, in part:
"Altogether several hundred institutions
have been considered and investigated more
or less in selecting those for the Filipino
students to attend. will say that Tor Sc
lecting every school that is now attended
by them, there have been definite. tangible
No chOfca has been haDhaZdrQ.
There has been no more intention nor any
less) to disregard the Catholic schools than
there has been to favor the Protestant
schools
The Institutions Chosen.
"As some changes in schools have been
made since the original list was published
I here give complete list of those schools
now attended by the government Filipino
students:
Drexel Institute. Philadelphia. Pa: Penn
sylvania School of Industrial Art. Phila-
Chester, Pa; State Normal School, Tren-
ton. N. j.; Eastman Business College,
Poughkeepsie. N. Y; Massachusetts Insti-
Of Sesno Boston,
University. ithaca, N. Y: Oberiin College
Oberlin, Ohio; the Technical School. Uni
versity of Cincinnati. Ohio; High School,
Ann Arbor Mich; State Agricultural Col
School, Indianapolis, Ind; State University.
Bloomington, Ind; Purdue University, La
fayette, Ind: James Milliken University, De-
catur, ILL.,; State Normal School, Normal
ILL.,; State Normal School. DeKalb, H.;
Dixon Business College. Dixon, ILL.,; State
Agricultural College. Ames. Iowa; State
University. Columbia, Mo-; State Univer-
sity, Knoxville. Tenn
From the above list one acquainted with
the nature of the various schools will see
that not single sectarian or denomination
al school, Protestant or Catholic, is incud-
ed. 1t cannot be said, certainly, that the
state institutions are UNCONVENTIONAL. and
the private schools in the above list
not UNCONVENTIONAL for the reason that no
attendance upon religious services is
quired, nor is any official notice taken by
the authorities of the schools, of the re-
ligion of the pupils nor any attempt made
by them to influence in any way, that ]
know of, much less to coerce, the students
in their religious practices.
ITO the above list should now be added
Santa Clara College, located at Santa Clara,
Cal, at which two of the students recent
ly arrived have just been placed. This is
the only denominational or sectarian school
which has been selected for the Filipino
students. and it is Catholic 1t is also the
only boarding school at which any Of the
students have been placed, 1t being the
uniform practice to utilize for our purposes
only such institutions as may be attended
by the students while boarding In private
families.
Sectarian Influences Ignored.
II will say definitely. without possibility
Of contradiction. that no school now attend
ed by the students at the expense OF the
government has beer selected either for it's
religious influences nor on account of the
lack Of them.
I'm the absence of any stated preferences