Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-08-11
ADMINISTRATORS Policy in
Philippines is the Best.
CHAUTAUQUA ADDRESS
A BETTER EDUCATION MUST PRE-
CEDE sELF-GovERNMENT.
Anti-Imperialists and Other Critics
Arraigned-All Filipinos Should
Have Common Tongue.

retary of War William II. Taft arrived
here today and this afternoon addressed an
audience of several thousand, defending
the policy of the government in the Philip
pines Secretary Taft said, in part:
The problem which the government or
the United States is attempting to work
out in the Philippine Islands is one In the
course of which 1t encounters the severe
criticism of conscientious critics who oc-
cupy exactly opposite standpoints. The
English student of colonial government Is
fixed in his view that we have pursued
wrong course In the Philippine Islands by
comforting upon the people much more
popular control than was wise and by at
tempting to give them an education. which,
instead of tending to improve matters, will
tend to create popular agitation and dis
content and constant conspiracy and plot
ting against the government. On the other
hand, American critics. who like to
describe themselves as anti-imperlallsts'
condemn the course of the United States
in the islands on the ground that sufficient
self-government has not been extended to
the Filipinos and that immediate prepara-
ton is not being made to abandon the
islands to an independent government.
Now IL sometimes happens that the con-
currence in condemnation of ones course
of people having exactly opposite views is
a fairly good indication that the course
taken is somewhat near that golden mean.
that line of average good, which should be
the object of all practical legislators and
governors. i venture to think it is SO in
the present case.
have at various times discussed the d.
lemma which was presented to the United
States after the battle of Manila bay and
the taking of the city of Manila the sign
ing of the protocol and when the question
arose as to what form the treaty of peace
,nlx . Il. ,nt NO n
review the discussion which has convinced
me that the course which was taken. to
wit that of assuming sovereignty over the
islands. was the only course which was
honorably open to the United States. The
transfer of a people from sovereignty like
that of Spain. in which the church and the
government and the state were so closely
united that the possessions and functions of
each 1t is at times very difficult to dis
tinguish. to sovereignty like that of the
United States, in which the church and
the state must be separate. has presented
n number of most interesting questions for
reimbursement and settlement, and these
questions have been much complicated by
the political bearing which the hostility of
the people toward the friars and the friars'
ownership of large agricultural holdings
had upon the situation. l should like, II
time permitted. to discuss what has been
done in the settlement of these religious
questions and to show, as / could show,
how they are being satisfactorily adjusted.
due to the patience. liberality and absence
of nSfrow sectarian prejudice on the part
of Catholics and Protestants alike interest
ed in the matter, but my present paper can
not include this interesting history for lack
Of time l have reviewed the peculiar his
tory of the Philippine people with view or
explaining what Is necessary In their ecu,
cation to make them self-governing. and
/ have written this paper to show why
think the problem Is one possible OF solu-
ton
Due to Their History.
What I should like to emphasize is the
peculiar character of the Filipino people,
due to their history. The Spanish stats
tics show that about per cent of the peo-
pie speak Spanish, and that the remainder
speak some local dialect. One of the most
reliable authorities on the subject Is Mr.:
Barrows present general superintendent OF
education in the islands. He was for some
time the chief of the bureau OF chronological
survey and he has probably done more
than any one else since our advent 10 tie
islands, certainly in investigating and learn
ing the diversity of language. race and GUS
toms of the natives. In his last report,
the one for 1903. he points out that In the
territory occupied by the Christian Fill
pinos there are twelve different dialects.
He says:
The question has been frequently raised
whether these Filipino Languages are suf-
ficicntly related so to fuse into one COM
mon tongue. and the bureau of education
has received its most vigorous criticism In
the United States because of its alleged at
tempt TO supplant and destroy what might.
in the opinion of absentee critics. become
national and characteristic speech. Such
criticisms could only proceed from pro-
found ignorance of the nature of these lam
guages and the people who speak them
All of these dialects belong to one COM
mon Malayan stock. Their grammatical
structure Is the same. The sentence IN
each one OF them is built up in the same
way. Tho striking use of atiixes and suf-
fixes which gives the speech its character
is common to them all. There are, more
over. words and expressions identical to
them all. \ hundred comon words could
readily be selected which would scarcely
vary from one language to another: but
the fact still remains that while similar in
grammatical structure. these languages are
very different In vocabulary-so different
that two members of any two different
tribes brought together are unable to con-
verse. or at first even make themselves I'M
derstood for the simplest steps of inter
course. The similarity In structure makes
II very easy for a Filipino of one tribe to
learn the language of another but never
theless these languages have preserved
their distinctions for more than three hun
dred years of European rule and in the
face OF common religion and in spite OF
considerable migration and mixture be-
tween the different tribes. This is true
where different populations border one an
other as elsewhere. In no case is there
any indication that these languages are
fusing. The Filipino adheres to his ma
tive dialect In its purity. and when he con-
verses with a Filipino of another tribe or
dinarily uses broken Spanish These Ian
guages are not destined To disappear or 10
fuse. nor are they destined to have liter
AIRY development"
Common Tongue Needed
The people, whose means of communica.
ton are limited to n native dialect with
little or no literary knowledge, confined &c
few provinces. even if they are able tc
read and write in that dialect, are so lin
TIED In their opportunity for obtaining in
formation that they cannot be said to be II
communication with the modern world a
all. Now the Spanish estimate is tina
a hnIlt IL .--.r.I-. IL