The Forrest City times., 1909-05-07

| and frequently, to rid themselves of
 the pests, they build fires under their l houses and sleep away the hot troriral night in the stifiing smoke. While tha i tpFer classes are abstemious he low
 CT orders drink much of the native
 vino, which is made from the san 1 of the cocoanut and nipa trees and 1 the men are often brutal to their wo,,-
 en and children. Now all this is not l written about the savage or uucfyiIfzad i tribes in the islands, but about those 1 people more properly known as "Ffni. pinos," who loudly claim an advanced
 stage of civilization and cry vocifer
 ously for Independence" And think
 the most hopeful person must admit l that il is a recitation of real and not I faneied evils. The Filipino Iaborer k l still far below even the lowest stems l or the relative degree of prosperity | and happiness. Yet in spite of all his 1 ills he is happy, but this is because he
 mas not yet developed far enough 10
 achieve either self-pity or self-analysis. l lie pears his pain. when 1t comes. as A l dumb animal does; and forepfs if as l quickly when it goes. When the hour
 or death descends he meets if stoical.
 ", partly because physical pain dulls
 ms senses, and partly because the in.
 stlnet of fatalism is in him in snite
 of his Catholicism.
 Of course this poyerty-stricken con 1 dition Is largely his own fault. He has ] apparently an ineradicable repugnance
 To continued labor. He does not look
 forward to the future Fathers and
 mothers will sit the whole day playing the guitar and singing. or talking after
 the iashlon of the country. when there
 IS not bite of food in the house. when their own desires begin to rein
 force the clamors of their children they will start out at the eleventh l aour to try to earn the days where
 With To live. The more intelligent of the laboring element attach them selves as clientele to the rich land
 holding families. They are by no
 means slaves in law, but they are in
 fact. and they like it. The men are agricultural laborers. the women seamstresses. house servants. wet
 nurses and general servants. and when
 their children grow up they are scat tered out among the different branches or the ruling family as maids and
 vaiets. In well-to-do Filipino family Of ten or twelve children there will be a child servant for every child in the house-ill-fed little creatures. since the Filipino is merciless in what he eXacts and thrifty in what he gives trained at seven or eight years of age 10 look after the clothing. the room, and to be at the beck and call of another child ofttimes younger than . themselves They go to school with their little masters and mistresses. carry their books, play with them and perform any menial task that needs to
 be done For this they receive the scanuest dole of food on which they can live few cast-off garments and a i stipend of % cents United States currency per annum. which their pa rents carefully collect and spend. Pa. rents and children are satisfied. be- cause little as they get il is sure. Parents especially are satisfied. be- cause thus do they evade the duties and responsibilities of parenthood. If there eyer was land where legisla- tion was needed on the subject of child labor, it is here Children are overworked from infancy. They do all the work of the islands. and the last drop of energy and vitality is gone
 out of them before they reach man. hood or womanhood. Indeed, the first
 privilege of manhood or womanhood
 10 them is to quit work. The result of American occupation has heen a raise in the price Of agricultural labor. and
 in the city of Manila of all labor But in provinces the needlewoman and use servant still work for incon- i c~ DIV small prices When ar. ms ed in the islands, in 1901. seams
 tress worked nine hours day for 20 cents gold and her dinner Now. in
 Manila, q seamstress working for an
 American woman receives from 90 10
 - cents day and her keep Span
 iards. Filipines and Chinese pay less.
 because they know how A provincial Filipino pays his Coachman two dol.
 lars per month and cook $150 An American for the same labor pays four
 dollars to eiah, dollars for the cook
 and from four dollars to six dollars
 fer the coachman. As before stated.
 the subordinate servants in Filipino
 family gel next To nothing. because of
 the utilization of child labor. .neri-
 cans will not allow children It. work X provincial Filipino can support quite an establishment on about $40 month whereas il costs an American from two 10 four times as much 10 support the same kind of a menage. This is due partly to our consumption
 of expensive canned foods, partly to the better prices paid for labor, but chiefly to our desire to feed our serv,
 ants and retainers better
 One Of the curious phases of Filipino life is the multiplicity of resources
 which the rich classes possess. A rich land-holder will have his rice fields, his sugar mill. his vino factory and his