The Washington herald., 1913-05-25
Filipinos Are Flirting NTH Japan

this for l have grown to like them),
that they do not get their independence,
at least at the present time" This was
the prevailing sentiment and II exists
because the American attitude toward the
Filipino is not one of exploitation but OF
altruism.
MOham me- d a nism at the Gate
Hon. George H. Fairchild, who has
the welfare of the Filipino at heart.
stated that IF the United States steps
out of he islands it means the aban-
donment of the Philippines to Moham-
mechanism and a backward step for the
Anglo-Saxon." This is undoubtedly
true. for the Moros in the southern is
lands would never stand for rule by
Filipinos. / have this knowledge first
hand from Maj. Whitney. in the heart
of the Moro country, who is about to
be made Governor of Jolo. He said:
The Filipinos will never get any peace
from the Moros." The poiiticos claim
they are the same flesh and blood as
the Moros, and would, therefore. be
able to control them better than either
Spanish or American, but this is not
true; the Moro appears to have strain
of wild Arab blood in him. The Fill
pinos would not dare to stand up and
resist a Moro attack, so much do they
fear their prowess. The name Moro
to a Filipino, even today, will cause
him to shudder. This is a question
with which the republic of the Philip
pine Islands would have to deal. and
the Filipino, who would be called on
to do the fighting. knows what il
means.
At the present time the Filipinos
have complete self government" in
their provinces. OF course. the Gov
ernors of these are Politicos, who have
set themselves above their own people
and l venture to state from personal
observation that the American political
boss is tame proposition compared
to them. The long and short of IL is
that democratic government does not
prevail today in the provincial govern
ment. and If there were to be independ-
ence there would be still less national
democracy.
The Futile Philippine Assembly.
who would be president of the new
republic? The other tribes fear the
strength of the Tagaiogs, and would
not allow one of them TO be president,
while the Tagalogs would balk at the
idea of having a Visayan in the chair.
And the Moro wouldn't stand for
either. The thoughtful land owner,
who has his honest livelihood at stake,
thinks of these things, and realizes the
chaos which would inevitably be a con-
comitant to independence.
The Philippine assembly as II exists to-
day accompIishes little. Very few laws
can be put through, owing to the diver
sity in interests of the tribes represented.
1t is an actual fact that the assembly
has been unable to agree upon an ap-
preparation bill of the last two years.
and if it were not for a clause in the
constitution making the appropriation
bill of the previous year applicable to
the present year, in event of failure to
pass a new one. the assembly would
have voted no money since 1910. This
bill OF 1910 is still in effect, but it is
totally inadequate for the growing needs
of the government. All Filipinos except
the politicos recognize in this foretaste
of what would happen should the Ameri-
cans withdraw.
Treason and Japanese Spies.
The politicos come forward as patriots
and they succeed in fooiing some people.
But in reality they are willing to ex-
plot their country as they find II easier
to play politics than TO work great
many of them go SO far as to appear
to be guilty of treason. They are leasu-
ing themselves with the Japanese. A
great deal of this is done through Hong
kong by a politico who does not dare
to return to his own country. Japan
is known to have spies throughout the
islands and while 1 was there this year
the blue prints of our Notifications at
Corregidor Island at the mouth of
Manila Bay were stolen. and later found
in the possession of a Jap while he was
in the act of making a copy of them.
That the voice Of the politico Is the
only Filipino voice heard in this coun-
try is unfortunate. There are over $780,
600 people in the islands who disagree
with him and either do not know about
the howl he is making in this coun-
try or II they do, through fear of pres
sure he may bring to bear on them at
home, do not dare to get up and voice
themselves. Independence for the Phil
ippine Islands would. not be indepen-
dence for over 100000 of them. 1t would
be. the turning over of the government
to an oigarchy. sitting all chance for |
democracy, and with the chance that
these few might betray their country to |
Japan for a personal consideration.