New-York tribune., 1905-08-01
PHILIPPINES AND INDIA.
AmenHan and English Colonial Ser
Uices COmpared.
To the Editor OF The Trio,n..

To the Editor OF The Trioirna
or. referring TO your edlorial OF July "a entitled
I'IHins ioF Fuohc Service" may raise ques-
uon as TO whether II Is an error 10 saw that %
the Philippines conditioned larrsIv ~ ~. -
spoiis idea %? Those best informed on the subject
by actual contact with the conditions saw that The
contrary Is the case Shortly before Colonel
Sanger resigned Assistant Secretary OF War
under Mr.. Root he sent me 4 letter vrrftfa, "a H.
oy Colonel Edwards chief OF the Bureau OF In
su4ar Affairs, In which the chief asserted that
politics had not been allowed 10 influence appoint
ments To the colonial service. Colonel Edwards
yo1 Will admit is an officer whose arduous Iabo-s
and Intelligent and comprehensive reports have
entitled him to the grateful regard OF every Datr
otto citizen
Your editorial also quotes AIeyne Ireland on the
relative qualifications OF our own civil servants IN
the East and those in the British Eastern service
There Is difference. but Mr. Ireland exaggerates
H. You quote Mr.. Ireland as saving that our ex-
animation FOR the Philippine service "except IN
SO lar as IL relates to languages does little more
thah exclude persons who cannot read and write
No, doubt Mr. Ireland thinks no such discourage
llsls eInoarrass the East Indian serviae, but the
Iact IS. the East Indian career is so much less at
udcuve than 1t formerly that the brightest
men DO not enter #; their opportunities are SO
niuch better at home that often. after passing
Ihelr examinations. they withdraw In the hrsr
place. the highest appointment OF all the Gov
erhor Generalship is liable TO be political Lord
hyt'oh felt he must resign on the superseding OF
the beaeonsneld administration by that OF Glad
stone IN 1880 and General Sir John Lawrence was
the only civilian trained in the service who ever
became Niceroy. General Sir George Chesney ex-
plains how the attractiveness OF the service has
largely disappeared In his Indian Polity' he
says:
Owing 70 the fan Of the rupee. the position OF
taTy has for the last Or -four years been be-
eeenalng more aGutely embarrassing The status
Service, the highest and most highly paid branch
precated and a rrrSarEabIs sToJ5,s - 49, -o5r-
on from it. men ara retiring Into private life,
Under Section 20 OF the Act of the PhiIippIns
Commission Of Sep1mber 1s 1900. opportunities are
improving in service: while the quotation al
ready given. from great authority Indian
affairs. makes II clear than IN India they de-
terioratirg- And it is laHsntable. considering the
varied knowledge with which candidates TOR that
service equip themselves
The uEtrustworthinsss of GIr Ireland as an au-
thority on the problems that confront Us in the
East illustrated by article contributed BY
him to The Outlook" late IN 1904. article that
now constitutes Chaptc- XIII Of his recently pub
hshed work. The Far Eastern Tropics" That ar
tCle attempted 10 compare the results Of educa-
tionaI methods introduced by Us into the Philip
pines with those in operation IN certain British
colonies-to our dissdvantage- He gave figures
asserting that IN Barbados the school attendance
was about per cent OF the population. in British
Guiana about per cent and in the Philippines
recently expressed by Secretary Taft shat eur own
showing was credtabIe
IN January The Outlook published a letter Of
mine calling attention TO certain obvious fnlrrni-
ties in Mr. Ireland's comparison His resorting for
his comparison to Barbados and British Guiana
both at the antipodes from the Philippines would
Of itself seem strange; but when IL is considered
that Guiana had population, noted in The
Statesman's Year Book for 1856. OF less than 25-
GO. and that the whole WiGdward Islands group
Of which Barbados Is one had less than 313e0G tho
comparison seems farcical. The similarity also
fails in that neither Guiana nor Barbados IS o
crown colony but each is governed representative
ly. with an appointed Governor. II in going 70
Manila he had called India. right on has vay.
he might have found country with a population
excluding the native states ard Burrnah. OF over
2300o0OtO and with many conditions closely analo-
gous TO those in the Philippines: but. then. the
facts would have been against him. by the
latest statistics the proportion OF school attend
TO population IN India is less than per cent.
Notwithstanding that condition Of peace has pre-
vailed there for about fly years while 1t is less
than three years since such condition was pro-
claimed be prevalent IN the Christianized por~
lions OF our Eastern possessions
GEORGE r BISHOP.
New-York. July "a 1853
The Tribune did noe say that politics had been
allowed 10 influence appointments in the colonial
service, Mr. Bishop seems 10 think. bur
something entirely different: namely. that the
Civil Service at home and in the dependencies
was conditioned largely by the old spoils idea
That Is, the system Is hanpered in its scope by
the tone OF public opinion, which withdraws
from competition places which should be COM
pettive and refuses support to examinations of
the highest character. Within the field opened
10 IL the merit system may be faithfully enough
executed. but it's usefulness has been restricted
both here and in the Philippines by the spoi.s
traditiOn.-Ed.
ENOn In EOr MEArAE2