The Elbert County tribune., 1909-05-27
AS A KINDERGARTEN
HOW UNCLE SAM RUNS THINGS
IN THE PHILIPPINES.
People Arc Being in a Measure Taught
Backward - Many Difficuities
That Are in the Way Of
Independence.
BY MARTIN EoAN,
Managing Director Manila Til

Sam has on his hands the largest class
in elementary politics that is in tute-
lage anywhere in the world, and the
remarkable fact Is that 1t is being
taught backward. With confidence and
recklessness that shocked the other
colonial administrators Uncle Sam be-
gan his course of instruction by grant
ing In an hour all the substantial
rights and privileges enjoyed in our
own democracy. and within the next
few hours he created all the machinery
that goes with the democratic form of
government. Then he asked bewil
dered people in to see the wheels go
around. told them the wheels were
theirs and asked them to get busy in
learning them, keeping them in repair
and keeping them going. 1t wasn't
quite as bad as the Nevada mine-0wn-
er who. In a moment OF glee, superin-
duced by intoxication, placed an In
dian in his automobile and turned It
on. because many Filipinos can run
motor cars, but 1t was somewhere in
that general neighborhood.
The great mass OF the Filipino peo-
pie were without particle of political
experience and. worse still, they were
without preparation for 1t. They had
lived for several centuries on what
can best be described as a personal
government. the chief influence in
which had alternated through the ages
between the Spanish government and
the church of Rome. They had often
been very we'll treated and they had
sometimes been very badly treated.
Individual liberty was ever more or
less of a hazy dream, although the
system of laws in effect has been pro-
nounced by many of our own jurists
to be about the best that could in all
the circumstances have been devised
District conditions even in the capital
bore close resemblance to the feudal
system of Europe. There were hun
dreds of local leaders who exacted al
legiance and various kinds of tribute
from their followers and who treated
their henchmen and servitors much as
the feudal lords did the men who held
under them. The system had none OF
the fixed conditions of the feudal re-
gime, but in its small way its opera
tion upon the individual was largely
the same. Nor have we entirely abol-
ished the system
Nor was political ineptitude the only
handicap. There was no common Ian
guage-Spain never conquered the 20
local dialects--experience and tradi-
ton were against the American, 1t
was Mr.. Kipling's east and he himself
has said the twain shall never meet,
and there was a rebellion that had en-
u IL.
and everything that was foreign. None
of these, however, had any effect upon
the easy confidence of Uncle Sam, and
before the smoke OF battle had cleared
away he began opening schools and
establishing local self-government.
The advancing and receding line of in
surrection repeatedly destroyed his
work, but he kept right on, and in the
end he had the satisfaction of seeing,
in form at least. the complete estab-
lishment of his system. His resolve
was to reach the individual, down to
the lowest tao, educate him, show him
what his individual rights are and how
to maintain them, and train him for
part in responsible political govern
ment- Local and municipal govern
fore provincial self-government was
brought into being and that had not
found its feet before all the people
were given a large share of control of
the central government by the crea-
ton of a general assembly endowed
with wide powers.
Political knowledge was an early
requisite in the plans and hopes of the
hothouse government and every pos
sible method was resorted to in order
to properly inculcate 1t. Every avail
able MAJ was taken into the govern
ment and when he had learned its
ideals and methods he in turn became
a teacher. Students were sent to the
United States to study the system at
its sources and large numbers of men
were sent home to our country for per-
sonal study. And at an early date
there was a start made In party poll
tics. When 1t became apparent that
the Aguinaldo revolution was a for
lorn hope, a number OF leaders of the
Filipino people turned to the newly
created American government, and
for various motives volunteered their
services to aid in lifting and restoring
the PROSTATE country. They were wei.
coined in a broad and charitable spirit
that forgave and forgot everything
and were put to work
These men were almost Immediately
banded together in the first political
party that came into being in the Phil
ippines under American rule. They
took the name of the Federal party, or
Partide Federal, as they called them
selves. and despite all that may be
said of their career. the American
government and the American people