The Salt Lake herald-Republican. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1909-1918, 1909-08-14

a
ter. 1t viii require a long time to elimi-
nate this notion from the minds Of the
Filipinos. They share it in common
with the peoples Of the Latin nations
Of Europe and with our cousins Of Eng
land. A cOllege-bred man may work in
a machine shop in the United States
and nothing will be said Of it. But il is
only in the United States that such
condition exists. In time the Filipino
viii be brought to the American idea,
perhaps. Already the boys and girls
in the schools have been taught that il
is consistent with their dignity to carry
their own books, and to dig in the gar
den.
The Filipino is a Christian, and has
been so for centuries. While he is an
Oriental in race and habits of life, his
mind is controlled by Europeon ideas.
He is the most Occidental of Orientals,
but ne is enough of an Oriental to be
tenacious in his grasp on the particular
western notions which he already has.
They are Spanish, and just as far away
from ours as are the ideas of the Vene-
zuelans.
But, the fact is, the Filipino will work
If he has the opportunity. He viii not
do cOOlie work, and the American who
expects to make a fortune in the Phil
hpines from the profits on the labor Of
Filipino poems Is doomed to disappOint-
ment- He might as well try the game
in Ohio. The Filipino will work when
the work is of a kind that suits him.
An American tobacco man, a high Of
hcer in the trust, after a trip through
the Manila tobacco factories, declared
that he had never seen better work
men in his life. The railroads, the
electric plants, the steamships, all tes-
tify to the Filipino's ability TO work.
The bureau of printing in Manila is
another REPUTATION of the charge that
the Filipino is essentially lazy and in
competent. The bureau is one of the
best and neatest print shops under the
American flag. All of the work is done
by Filipino craftsmen and apprentices
under the direction Of American in
structOrs. There are 300 FilipinOs and
sixteen Americans in the bureau now.
They do all kinds Of work, from photo
engraving and multi-cOlor process plate
printing down to ordinary linotype
composition. The work viii stand be-
side that produced by any print shop
in the United States, and every bit of
it is done by Filipino labor.
The passion of Filipino boys and girls
to obtain an education is the constant
theme of the teachers. Parents viii
make the most complete sacrifices to
send their children to the schools, and
the pupils themselves endure hunger
and suffering and sleeplessness to get
learning The manual training schools
and the agricultural SCHOOLS are teach
ing the people a new doctrine concern
ing labor, and with the increase Of
needs brought about by wider educa-
ton, the Filipino viii go to work for
his own sake. But he will never go to
work as a coOlie. The reason is a good
one. The Chinese or japanese or Hindu
cOOlie must work to live. The Filipino
may retreat to the backwOOds, plant
some banana trees and live to be a
hundred without doing a stroke of
work.
Yet the Americans Of Manila do not
like the little brown brother" and the
FilipinOs of Manila, the educated ones,
return the dislike with interest. They
prefer the rule of old Spain, cruel as it
was. Spain did not attempt to educate
the common people up to their class.
Spain received them as social equals.
Spain married their daughters and Oc-
casionally let them in on a bit Of graft.
The Americans will have nothing to do
with them socially, and while the Unit
ed States gives them many offices, Bill
bid prison is the sure portion Of him
who attempts a little grating on the
side The Manila American wishes to
exploit Filipino labor. The government
will not permit it. and the Filipino will
not fall in with the plan. Therefore he
"cUsses' both the government and the
Filipino. The educated Filipino also
wishes to exploit the common classes
of his people. The government will
not permit il, and therefore he "cusses"
the government and hates the Amer
leans.
Out in the provinces, so testify the
men and women who work for the civil
government and who teach in the
schools, the Americans and Fiipinos
are very friendly. The Americans are
trying to aid the FilipinOs. not trying
to exploit them. The Filipinos know
this, and are grateful In Manila there
is great friction between the nation
alities. In the provinces, witness all
the Americans except the soldiers, the
relations are friendly and are becoming
more so as the purpose and intent Of
the American government is made more
and more clear to the masses Of the
people. In the Philippines every Amer /
lean who has gone among the people /
and lived with them, declares that the
little brown brother" is a child of great
promise and worthy of the helping hand