The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-08-09
Mapila.--rh.re il At present no Phil.

4
ippine nation, and there can be none
until the many tribes constituting the
1000, ooe or 100000 Inhabitants OF the
lisland anaalgamate. To amalgamate
they must have eorfimon language.
Thar language 10 being donated 70
them by the Americans AZ French
IL the lingua ffanca Of the courts OF
/ Europe, so English is the language OF
commerce In the sea ports OF the
Orient, and 1t Is rapidly becoming the
common tongue OF trade In interior
Asia as well as Malaysia and Austria
llasia. It ts therefore the most widely
useful language for the Filipino.
II nothing occurs TO interfere with
the work now in progress In the
Philippines the various peoples Of the
islands will be brought closer to-
gether within ten years OF American
occupation than they were In three
centuries of Spanish defamation. This
Its true because no effort was made
to make the Spanish language the
tongue Of the tribes throughout the
archipelago. Intelligent Filipinos real
i lixe that the hrst step toward ma
ftionalixation must be the Improvement
Of relations between the various d.
visions of the islanders. and that there
IL no more rapid manner Of doing
| this than by acquiring q vehicle OF
accommodation.
1 Ethnologists may speak OF the
eighty four tribes In the Philippines
as being racfaliy Homogeneous, but
they are in reality . heterogeneous
group Of peoples sptaking thirty or
to those speaking another. II one were
to ask . Manila Filipino who the
Fiiipines are, the reply would be that
they are the Tagalogs. A Bicoi, q
Benguet Igorot. q yisayan, an Ilo-
cano Moro or representative Of
any one of score Of other tribes
night make an entirely different am
swer.
Between the so-caiied Indonesians
Of the interior of Mlndanao, who are
supposed to be OF mixed Caucasian
blood, and the Negritos who are abort
gines Of a pure Meeroid type. there
is as wide q difference ~ there 10
between the Bedouin Arab of the North
African deserts and the Sudanese. The
Tagalog. with heritage of centur-
les of Spanish influence. has nothing
| In common with the wild tribes that
| constitute considerable part Of the
population Of the islands. Because Of
physical stamina due to residence In
the hill country, these wild tribes
| would be a source Of military strength
- thOJ ohc4h& UCCVAN y QAEt Oh ~
nation devoted to the cause Of inde-
pendence. Equally az far apart as the
Malayan mountaineers Of northern
Luzon and the civilized TaKalogs, are
the peacefully Inclined visayans and
tbs bloodthirsty Moros. to whom the
killing Of Christians Is q Roman holi-
day.
Approximately one tenth of the Fili-
pinos spoke Spanish when the Amefi-
| cans took charge Of the islands. The
most widely spoken tongue was the
Visayan. but Tagalog was the polite
language of the islands, and that
spoken by the dominant race. Al pre-
sent about 100000 school children are
studying English. SO great a number
OF young Filipinos have learned the
language since the system of instruc-
ton was inaugurated, that in even the
remote provincial towns the traveller
| may nearly always find a diminutiye
brown brother" who can converse
with him. This young person 10, al
ways an "Americanista." He has
learned TO love. his American teacher,
ana mas discovered the faisity Of the
fantastic tales OF the inhuman cruelty
and r1pacity of the Americana" which
were circulated few years ago.
me Filipino child who enters school
entirely ignorant of English is able
within few days to understand the
direction of his teacher, and within
q year he has q vocab ulary sufficient
to express ordinary wants and ideas
The second year pupil who lives.
perhaps, In the heart of the Luzon
highlands, and whose father has but
recently been persuaded that head
hunting is open to objection upon ethi-
cal grounds, IL able to tell the Ameri-
| rrfC oh -
rest in his barrio After the third
year of instruction he is found read
ing New York magazine or an Is
land newspaper printed in his adopted
tongue. His letters In English may
be written in a style suggesting Wal
lace lrwin's Letters of a Japanese
Schoolboy," but like that precocious
fictional investigator of affairs. he Is
cleverer than his grasp OF grammar
would indicate.
At the time of the. beginning of the
American occupation the masses of the
Filipinos felt that Spanish had been
wrongly withheld from them. They
asked for English as a political con-
cession. When IL was proposed to
bring 500 American teachers to the
islands the Filipinos. earnestly re-
quested that the number be doubled.
The request was granted. There was.
therefore, an agreement that English
was to become the common language
of the Filipinos under American rule,
an agreement designed to illustrate
the principle Of Partnership as con-
trasted with domination"
That there has recently been In
evidence a certain ahount of opposi-
tion to the adoption of English is
the natural result of the activities of
demagogie Filipino politicians of the
"ilustrada" class. These agitators talk
Of immediate independence and urge
the uselessness of learning the Lam
guage of the Americana" AS a mat
ter of fact IL the Americans were to
withdraw Immediately after having
made English the common language,
the Filipinos would be in possession
of a valuable asset. Spanish has
never been their language and, IL
learned, would never be as useful to
i them as English in communication
with other nations.
That there has recently been a
falling off in the interest of adult
Filipinos in English is pointed to as
an evidence of the uneonquerable dis
like of the islanders for the Ameri-
cans. and an illuminating demonstra-
ton of the Filipino's total lack OF
gratitude. But the Bureau OF Educa-
ton insists that this condition Is
closely related to the failure of the
insular government to provide suffl-
Client funds to keep open the night
schools established i've years ago in
the larger towns in the Archipelago
AS the Manila night schools still re-
naming open. are well patronized. the
Bureau OF Education seems to have