The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-11

misunderstood me. l am not speakihs against Catholicism, btu against certain wicked foreign class, who nav ing fattened themselves fin 'the flesh pots of Egypt" put nthe livery Of Heaven to serve the devil in. Tney were far from the wholesome restraints of the Vatican and motherland. Hence this tale of woe, but there never was any complaint against the natiVe priests. The dislike was to the alien. Corruption in public station was the rule; honesty the exception. Graft was systematized. Cheating grew grandi- loouent and styled itself policy. Money, whenever voted for internal improve ments was stolen by fat and pampered ofYfcials, to whom 1t was intrusted. It was appropriated but not distributed. For instance. in the year 1863 there occurred a disastrous earthquake, and 100000 was subscribed as a relief fund. Not one cent of this contribu- tion ever found its way to the sufferers.
 Education was almost entirely neg lected, although a law on the statute books made it mandatory to teach Spanish in the schools; but the local authorities. both temporal and spirit ual. refused to allow such instruction. Their policy was to keep the masses in ignorance, and by grinding the face of the poor to prevent the growth of any thing like national unity through a common language. The result was, in the Island of Luzon alone. as late as 1900 there were twenty different dia- 1ects, and not less than seventy tongues spoken throughout the archipelago. The various tribes. not only could not speak Spanish. but could not talk to each other. Liberty regulated by law" was not dreamed of. In the execution of law. either civil or criminal, there was no semblance of justice. Filthy lucre decided every legal issue. Men were thrown into frowning bastiles without charge or formal accusation. They had no right to face their prosecutors, to confront those who testified against them. nor to compel the attendance of their own witnesses. A trial under such circumstances was mockery During the few years imediately pre- ceding the last Filipino insurrection in 1S96-9S, executions of criminals, includ- ing political prisoners, were daily spec tacles on the Luneta. Beautiful Court ladies, robed in gay but richest apparel, full of mirth and joy, laughing at hu- man suffering. reclining luxuriously in handsome carriages. driven by coheros dressed in royal livery were conveyed every afternoon to the slaughter wall to witness the shooting or garoting of some unfortunate native. like the gifted Jose Rizal. the immortal patriot, unjust ly condemned to death for opinions his birth.
 The ignorance of businSss methods was lamentabie. The richl and power fui were virtually exempt frtlm taxation. The laws of economy were itnored. The burden of raising all reveAue rested heavily and exclusively uponfthe shoul- ders of the poor. taxes were laid on the necessities of life. None were imposed on luxuries. which the tao (common man) was never permitted to enjoy. No improvement in Agricultural imple- ments was even suggested. No progress in mechanical arts was shown. The most primitive means of cultivating the earth and carrying on works of con- struction prevailed. Compulsory labor was exactei and peonage existed in a most atrocious form. The Spaniards, like Weyler. took pains to extort all the money they needed to take back to Madrid. but cared not to leave bettered conditions behind them. Crude meth ods of raising and handling crops still exist; but good husbanjry and skilled machinery will ere long yield harvests more abundant and opulent than those now grown by the most intelligent and successful American farmers
 The lack of educational facilities to these benighted islanders, during the long and dismal period of the cruel Spanish reign, was deliberately planned. It was outrageous. ruthless oligar- chy, with refined subtlety. was thus enabled to create credulity and super stition on the part of the people. Even now, by simply playing upon the sense of awe and veneration. 1t Is easy to dominate them. For example it Is re- lated that certain knavish chieftain. staggering under a grievous load of poverty, made a fortune by using A megaphone. Through it he announced from hill overlooking a town in one Of the provinces that he was God AL mighty; and that 1t was his divine com mand that the natives should bring to him, without delay. all the good things they possessed In the shape of money. goods, flax. cloth, arms, bolos, fruits rice. potatoes. vegetables, grain ct cetera. These ignorant dupes so easily victimized. shrouded in religious mystery, cheerfully and with alacritv obeyed this unprincipled im'postor. Amongst the ladrones who have been hung here for highway robberies and murders, there have bene found six Jesus Christs, four Popes of Rome and several George Washingtons. These names were assumed by outlaws to en- able them to inspire the blind con fidence of these simple minded men, children of the Far East.
 In the annals in which are recorded the lasting events of the worlds his- tory there never has been chronicled a worse government than that which Spain swayed over the islands at the time Dewey's guns in Manila Bay thun- dered the downfall of her merciless thraldom over these possessions.
 Such were the conditions existing here when the treaty of Paris was ratified by the United States Senate, It imposed numerous and momentous obligations upon our great republic. toupching the control and dominion of the Philippines and the betterment of the Filipinos. These altruistic respon- abilities and duties we cannot now evade. even if we desired to do so. Benevolent assimilation" Is the term William Mckinley used in defining our policy in this connection. The diff fcult problem is squarely before us. We have bravely undertaken to try the experiments; yet we cannot shut our eyes to the conspicuous fact that these uneducated islanders are ignorant of both the science and art of self-govern- ment. That circumstance, however is