The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1911-04-20

manual ana tecnnicai training IN the
schools. 1t II not exhilarating to listen
to class Of Filipino boys and girls in
g provincial high school translatins
Caesar into English, which is pro-
nounced worse than the Latin itself, or
struggling with algebra or systematic
botany: but II IL difficult not to be
impressed by what one sees in any
school wood working and ircn working
department.
Ultimately, as we have seen, the
problem Of the Philippines is an agri-
cultural and Industrial one, and II II
manual training and agricultural IN
strrction which the individual Fill
pino needs.
Men in Government Service.
The United States has as yet had no
need Of a colonial service. The men
who are appointed to office in the
Philippines may be taken from any
walk of life, and are unlikely to have
had previous colonial experience. The
appointments are subject to the same
insecurity of tenure as most political
appointments in America, and there
| are no pensions. Few men, then, go to
| the islands expecting to find q career
in the colony, the majority accepting
/
a temporary employment which may
serve as stepping stone to some
| more desirable engagement at home.
| Under the circumstances 1t Is hardly
to be expected that the best men would
be available for the service.
It is your correspondents opinion
that at present the administration In
the Philippines Is better. more hard
working and inspired with a finer en-
thusiasm than any section correspond
Ing to 1t In numbers and Importance
OF the national government at WASH
ington or than any state government.
This is largely owing to the fact that
while on the one hand, politics In the
Philippines does not suffer Gas 1t does.
for instance, in HawaiD by being a
mere appendage to the party politics
OF the mainland, on the other hand
there are always present work enough
Of an engrossing character and larger
queStions of local Importance to oc-
cupy both the energies and the ilnag-
nation.
| The Present Uncertainty.
| II the United States is in earnest Gas
no one can doubt that she is) In her
desire to fulfill all her professions in
regard to the Philippines. she must, It
would seem, apply some less makeshift
! methods to their administration than
| she employs at present. 1t Is accepted
as impossible that any date should yet
be fixed at which she intends to avacu-
ate the islands. There does not seem.
however, to be any valid reason why
she should not commit herself to the
| converse statement and fix date be-
| fore which she certainly will not evacu-
ate them. Mr.. Taft has. indeed, gone
so far as to hint that 1t might be more
| than one generation" yet before the
people is fit for self government. If
that hint were to be crystalized by
congress into a declaration that there
| must be no talk Of independence for
| 20, Is or 80 years, with q clear under
| standing that no promise was implied
TO evacuate at that date, 1t would put
which at present hamper progress In
| the islands. It would, whatever inme-
date outbreak Of Indignation might DO
| provoked, allay the present agitation
| for independence. It would give to
capital the assurance that 1t could in
| vest in the Philippines within the
certainty of a reasonable term Of stable
government ahead. Above all. It would
make officials feel that 1t might be
| worth their while to look forward to a
permanent career in the Philippine
service.
Tho Reflex Value.
In conclusion. One may hear much
| Of what Is called the reflex value" OF
the Philippines to the United States,
by which is meant the benefit to the
nation Of being engaged in such q
| work as Is being done there. Tha>
| benefit is. perhaps. greater than any
American is likely rightly to appreci-
| ate. The American in the Philippines
often speaks laughingly Of the ignor-
ance OF his countrymen as a whole In
| regard to the affairs OF the world be-
| n% Col, h,it
perhaps only foreigner who knew the
| United States well at that time Is In a
position to realize how general that
| ignorance was and how far the Amer
! lean who has had experience In the
Philippines has travelled from the old
point of view. There are still, as has
been said, ignorance and Indifference
| enough in America; and 1t would be a
blessed thing for the world IL there
could be established some circulating
system by which the entire American
people could be pumped In sections
out to the Philippines, held there for
| awhile till they understood something
OF what colonial work and an empire
mean, and then pumped home again.
To the British visitor 1t seems that
not the least Of the reflex benefits
which service In the islands works is,
as has been limited above, that the
more the American lives In the Philip
pines and comes to understand the
orient the better he comprehends. and
the more he Is drawn to sympathise
with the work which Great Britain
has done, and is doing, In the world.
A proposal for Anglo American coop
GRAFTON all over the world, II not for
an active alliance in the cause OF peace,
would probably be adopted by the
American community in the Philip
pines by proportionally almost as large
a majority as 1t would receive In the
British isles themselves.
EIesy In Country Printshop.
He's taken thirty off the hook; It's quit.
tim time for SLIM;