Evening star., 1908-01-27

! greater measure o. popular self-govern-
| ment One of the coroliaries to this
proposition is that the United States in its
4 government of the islands will Use every
| effort TO increase the capacity OF the
FiHpinos to exercise political power, both
| by general education of the denseiy fSno-
rant masses and by actual practice. in
partial self-government. of those whose
| political capacity Is such that practice
can benefit 1t without too great injury
| to the efficiency of government. What
| should be emphasized in the statement OF
our national policy Is that We wish TO
prepare the Filipiros fo- popular self
| government. This Is plain from Mr.. Nc
kinleys letter of instructions and all of
his utterances. 1t was not at all within
his purpose or that OF the Congress
which made his letter part OF the law OF
| the land that We were merely to await
the organization Of a Philippine oligarchy
government and then turn the. islands
over TO il. On the contrary, it is plain.
| from all OF Mr.. Mckinley's utterances
and your own, in Interpretation oe our
national purpose. that we are the trustees
and guardians of the whole Filipino peo-
pie. and peculiarly of the Ignorant Masses
and that our trust is not discharged until
! those ma sscs are given education suf-
fciant to know their civil rights and
! maintain them against more powerful
/ class and safely to exercise the political
| franchise. This is important, in view
| of the claim, to which l shall hereafter
refer made by certain Filipino advocates
| of immediate independence under the
auspices of the Boston anti-imperialsts
| that a satisfactory independent Philippine
| government could be established under
governing class of 10 per cent and q
| serving and obedient class of 90 per
| cent.
| "Another logical deduction from the main
proposition is that when the Filipino peo-
pie s a whole. show themselves reasona-
| bly, f1t to conduct a popular self-govern-
ment. maintaining Law and order aad of
| fering equal protection of the laws and
civil rights to rich and poor. and desire
complete independence Of tina United
| States. they shall be given 1t. The stand
ard set, of course. IS not that Of nerfec-
ton or such a governmental capacity as
that OF an Anglo-Saxon people. but 1T GER
tainly ought to be one of such popular Pc
| ltfcal capacity that complete Independence
in its exercise will result In progress rather
than retTogression to chaos or tyranny. 1t
should be noted. too thai the tribunal to
decide whether the proper political ca
pacity exists TO justify independence is
Congress and not the Philippine electorate.
Aspiration for independence may we'll be
| one Of the elements in the makeup OF
people to show their capacity for it, bnt
| there arc other qualifications quite as in
dispensa5le. The judgment of people
as to their own political capacity is not
an unerring guide.
Present Condition.
| Peace prevails throughout the islands
! today in a greater degree than ever in the
history Of the islands. either under Span
| ish or American rule. and agriculture is
nowhere now impeded b.: the fear on the
part of the farmer OF the incursion OF
predatory bands Under the policy al
ready stated. inaugurated by the instruc-
| tions of President Mckinley to Secretary
| Root. in reference to the establishment of
temporary government in the Philips
| pines. community consisting of 10000
mo nnyata iY,1l0 fft,oY rY tr1n lie
| many of whom were in open rebellion
| against the government of the United
States for four years. with all the dis
| tuibances following from roEDer and
time to time, due to local causes. has
been brought to state Of profound peace
and tranquility in which the people as a
whole are Loyalty supporting the govern
is the first and possibly the most inlpor-
tant accomplishment OF the United States
in the Philippines
special chapter of the report is de-
voted to the political capacity and intel
lectual development of the Filipinos. The
Secretary says that one OF the principal
difficulties in vesting Filipinos with Off
cial power in municipalities was to insti
| in them the idea that an Office is not
| solely for private emoument.
| The efforts of the United States gov
ment.'' he says, ito teach the ignorant
their civil rights and to uplift them to
|
guild sympathy from many of the illus
| trados.' From them comes the only objec-
| tion to teaching English to the common
people. lest they lose their national char
| acter; as il It were necessary to keep the
people confined TO sixteen harbarous dia-
| lects in order that they shonld be dis
tinctly Filipino. The real motive for the
objection. whether conscious or not is
tain the relation of the ruling class to
/ the serving and obcdient class.
"The educated Filipino has an at
tractive personality. His mind is quick.
acute and active; he has poetic imagina-
ton: he is courteous in the highest de-
gree: he is brave. he Is generous; his
mind has been given By his education a
| touch of the scholastic 1Ogicism; he is a
musician: he is oratorical by nature.
An Aristccrat.
"The educated Filipino is an aristocrat
by Spanish association. He prefers that
his children should not be educated at
the public schools. and this accounts for
the large private schools which the re-
ligious orders and at least one Filipino
association are able to maintain, In ar
gung that the Philippines are entirely
| fit for self-government now. a committee
of educated Filipincs once hled with the
civil governor written brief in which
| 1t was set forth that the number Of illus
i
the offices-central. provincial and muni-
cipal-and therefore the country afforded
| two shifts of persons competent ia run
| the government. This, it was said. made
clear the possibility of a good govern
ment il independence was granted. The
ignorance of the remainder of the people,
admitted TO be Dense made no difference.
/ cite this to show of how little import
ance an Intelligent public opinion or an
educated constituency is regarded in the
community and government which many
of the educated Filpinos look forward 10
az a result of independence. l do nat
say that there are not notable excep-
tions to this among leading Fil!pinos. but
such persons are usually found among
! those who not impatient 10 lose
American guidance in the government.
! Indeed. l sratified to hear that the
| first bill which passed the assembly was
an appropr'a ion of a million pesos for
! barrie schools.
There is real difference between the
| educated and ignorant Filfpinos that can
/ not be overcome by the education O. one
! generation. They a capable people
| in the sense that they can be given a nor
NAL intellectual development by the same
kind of education that is given in our own
common school system. Now they have
not intelligence enough to exercise the
! political franchise with safety to them
| selves or their country: but ] do not see
| why a common school education In Eng
lisn. with industrial teaching added. may
/ not make the children of these people
capable of forming an intelligent public
| opinion needecd to sustain a popular gov
| {1,n inn hat ts,N