The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-04-08
Bryan IS Favorably impressed with the
Northern Philippines and Their People

! No discussion of the religious situa-
ton in the Philippines would be COM
/ pfete without a reference to the indie
pendent Catholic church. of which
Senior Gregorio Aglipay is the head.
''Obispo Maxine" Aglipay is q native
Filipino 40 years old. with an intelli-
| gent face and fine presence. In three
and a half years he has eSta blished a
church with some 800 priests and
| about 700 congregations. He claims q
membership Of about 1000 600, but the
| clergy of the regular Catholic church
| do not concede nearly so large a fol-
lowing. In fact, they deny that he has
made any considerable impression
upon the Catholic population, and as
| there is no accurate church census IL
| is impossible to say in what proper
ton the Catholic membership is di-
vided between these two church or
| CARNATIONS.
As to the honesty of the average
Filipino. different opinions are to be
heard from Americans, but we were
told that less care was taken to lock
the doors than in America which
would indicate less fear of burglary
The Philippine court records would
embarrass US if we became too harsh
In our reflections upon the integrity
of the F'ilfpinos, for during the years
19O2-3-4-5 thirty off1ce-holding Ameri-
cans were found guilty Of shortage
and defalcations, the total amount en-
bezzled exceeding So goo gold. Bilibid
prison at Manila is the penitentiarv
FOR the northern islands and most q
tnlnk AID who receive more than q
jail sentence are confined here. There
are now about $500 prisoners in Bill
old, nearly 1,100 serving terms for
br1gandage. insurrectiOn, rebellion
ana sedition. the remainder for other
crimes. If the convicts average
years sentence each the number Of
natives sent to the penitentiary during
four years would have to be about 25.-
GOO to give the native population a
criminal class equal to the proportion
which the thirty convicted Americans
bear to the entire American popuIa-
ton in the Islands, and it must be re-
membered that the defalcations have
been among Americans selected be-
cause of their supposed character and
capacity. There have been many de-
falcatiOns among the fiscal officers
appointed among the natives. but not
knowing the total number of the Fill
pinos occupying fiduciary positions and
the number of Americans occupying
similar positions, 1 cannot make a
comparison. Our chief consolation is
to be found in the fact that Americans
guilty of dishonesty have been PROMPT
~ punished by the American officials
put this does not entirely remove the
stain which their conduct has brought
upon our nations good name.
I cannot conclude this article with
out expressing my appreciation Of the
courtesy shown me by Acting Cover
nor Ide, Secretary Ferguson the
members of the Philippine commission
and the other officials, civil and mill
tary. They were all willing to furnish
information, records and statistics re-
or riT hn Il
can authority. While mistakes have
been made, some of them expensive:
while there have been Outrages by the
consta bulary (Which is merely a ma
tive army Differed by Americans and
serving under another name). and
while there have been instances of
seeming Partially to Americans where
a conflict has occurred between them
and natives, l believe that the serious
evils to be complained of are not Der-
sonal but are inherent in a colonial
system, and cannot be eradicated so
long as such a system is maintained
The greatest need that I noted in
these islands is an increase in what we
call the middle class. but this need
is noticeable in the other Spanish coll
onies which I have visited and will be
corrected as education increase
among the masses. With more educa-
ton among the farmers there will be
improved methods of agriculture, and
with more education among the arti-
sans will come diversif1catiOn of in
dustry. This middle class will be a
balance wheel, as it were, to regulate
the machinery of society, and 1t will
furnish a public opinion which will
control official representatives.
Copyright, 1906. by Joseph b.
Bowles. Copyright in Great Britain.
All rights reserved.)