The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1907-11-16
" f. ~
FILIPINO RAILROAD MEN.
Natives in Manila Take Readily to
:. the Work of Operating Elec-
tric Lines.

The experiment made in depending
solely on native F1lipinos to man the
cars of the Manila Electric railway has
proved eminently successful. Although
this kind of help was used exclusively
in building the lines, which were opened
to traffic last April, it. was feared by
some that a certain we'll known ten
dency toward unreliability in the ma
tive character would manifest itself in
the new work.; more exacting than any
natives had heretofore been called upon
to perform in numbers since the Amer
lean occupation.
1T is generally known" said P. E.
Fansler, assistant to the president of
the New York company, by which the
system was built and operated, that
the natives are wonderfully quick to
learn up to certain point, where a
childish unreliability has blocked fur
Their progress in the attainment of a
thoroughly civilized status. That it is
rather matter of proper and well di-
rected tuition seems to be the lesson in
the present case. AS was generally an
tic1pated, the operating manager in
Manila, Mr.. Belden, met with instan-
taneous success in instructing the ma
i've mind in the technic of street car
operation, but contrary to general an
ticipation the usual bette noir-instabil-
|:ity-seems to have been quite thorough
ly overcome.
1T is felt now that the native has
lived up to the requirements of the job
fully as we'll as the white man could
have done under any conditions and
probably better, taking the climate into
consideration" said he. **It must be
remembered that to operate modern
electric car in the crowded streets Of
an oriental city, where the traffic and
pedestrians are absolutely at variance
and unaccustomed to so foreign an ele-
ment, calls for the full measure of steadi-
ness and resourcefulness to avoid acct
dent. 1t is fact that under these try
ing conditions the Manila Electric rail-
way is being operated with what may
justifa5ly be considered minimum of
accident and that through the demon
stration by the Filipino motorman Of
his full possession of those very quail
ties that the more cursory examiners
have declared to be wanting. Fully to
| appreciate the peculiar demand for
steadiness one must have had expert
ence in trying to progress through the
streets of a far eastern metropolis. Pc
destrians use the roadway very often in
common with vehicles and may gener-
ally be persuaded to make way only
when their lives are actually in danger.
| A narrow escape from death is uniform
ly treated as good joke, not only by the
observers, but by the principal as we'll.
Under the circumstances the almost
complete freedom from serious accident
in the operation of the line is decidedly
| noteworthy. The conductors, too, uni
| formly show the ability to live up to the
requirements of their work. They per-
form their duties expeditiously and with
tact and are, moreover, quite honest.
These facts are significant of the
possibilities in the native Filipino char
acter when given just opportunity to
display itself and will prove especially
interesting to Americans watching the
industrial evelopment of the islands, -