The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1913-05-08
VOLUME XXXVII. NO. 20

lzaJion have the islands today clean
from all epidemic diseases and, from
a sanitary standpoint, about on a
par with other countries.
The government of the islands to-
day is republican in form and is the
same as that found in the United
States. The laws are made for the
Philippines by central government
located at Manila. and consists of
two houses known as the Philippine
assembly and the Philippine COM
mission. The Philippine assembly
corresponds to our house Of repre-
sentatives and is composed entirely
of Filipinos who are elected by the
people of the Philippines. The
Philippine commission corresponds
to our senate and consists of Ameri-
cans and Filipinos appointed by the
president of the United States. In
all of the provinces and in the munic-
qualities the government is entirely
in the hands of the Filipinos and, in
this respect, they are just as free
and just as independent as are the
people of any city or state in the
United States. Courts of Justice
have been established in every city
in the islands. American judges
and Filipino judges have been ap-
pointed to all of the courts of first
instance, which correspond to our
circuit courts in this state, and in
each municipality in the islands
there is Justice court presided over
by a justice of the peace as in the
United States. The judges in all
of these courts have been taught to
deal out Justice to all, rich and poor
alike, and the day of the cacique
has gone by. The bureau of
science, located in Manila, is max
ing research and investigation con-
stant]y and passing upon all food
products that come into the islands,
and has rendered invaluable service
to the bureau of health in cleaning
the islands from disease. The bu-
reau of public works is perhaps the
largest bureau in the insular service,
and the work done by this bureau
is, perhaps, second only to that done
by the bureau of education in the
islands,
| Roads have been constructed all
over the Philippines from the north
to the south. There is a line of
roads connecting every municipality
on the island of Luzon and, in the
southern islands, they have built
roads between all Of the principal
cities. These roads are all first
class and are, perhaps, better than
the roads found throughout the state
of minnesota. We have organized
in the Philippines a civil service
similar to that of the United States.
All employees of the government
secure their positions through the
civil service, and in this way the
Filipino has been taught that merit
instead of pull will be the basis upon
which appointments and promotions
are made. Freedom of speech, of re-
ligion and of the press have been es-
tablished, and the Filipino has made
great use of them. The American
government, in addition to the
above, furnishes the Filipino a pro-
lection from the outside and from
within that they never before have
known.
The public school system estab-
lished in the Philippines is, perhaps,
one of the best under the American
flag. We have university, normal
schools, high schools, trade schools,
schools of agriculture, intermediate
and primary schools. The buildings
in which these schools are housed are
reinforced concrete in most cases,
and are permanent structures that
would be credit to the schools of
any country. The government, real
izing the needs of the country, has
introduced and places especial en-
phasis upon vocational instruction in
all of the public schools. While the
schools give a classic education, as
is given in our American schools,
particular time is spent upon practi-
cal instruction which has for it's aim
the preparation of the Filipino to
meet the battle of life when he
leaves school. In the primary
schools every boy is expected to do
a certain amount of Industrial work
before he is allowed to pass into the
intermediate grades. In the inter-
mediate schools classes are organized
in industrial work of all kinds, each
school providing for such instruction
as will best meet the needs of the
locality in which the school is
located. In the high school the
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