Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1913-11-07

CHS WIZ lCSOAtC0 ~ ply SA~~A
punishment to enforce discipline
were hailed before native justices
of the peace on criminal charges,
and general demoraliza ton was
the result. Matters went from
bad to worse until finally the At
torney General was asked for an
opinion as to just what were the
rights and liabilities of the teach
ers. He advised, in an exhaus-
tive 6pMion, that under both
Spanish and American law teach
ers in the public schools stood
in loco parents to their pupils, and
had the right to reasonably and
moderately inflict corporal pun
ishment upon them when neces-
sary as a means to preserve dis
cipliue in the schools. Unfortu-
uate1y for the schools. however,
the authorities through difference
to a mistaken idea of the atti-
tude of the people, and in further
ence of a molly-coddling policy
suppressed the opinion.
Fortunate for educat ton in the
islands there is now man at the
head of the department (Hon.
Newton ". Giibert) who is ex-
perienced in public affairs-hav-
ing been a member of Congress,
and who has the saving grace
of common-sense Ia rarity with
educators) along with great
deal Of natural ability, and the
department is receiving at his
hands that efficient and practical
administration which it has
heretofore sadly lacked. He has
taken a decided stand for indus
trial education and training,
which every business man in the
islands has all along insisted was
the primary need of the people;
for while all education may be
good that which counts for most
in this age is the education the
possessor can transmute into the
practical and material things,
that make for his own success in
life, and the welfare, comfort,
and progress of the human race.
AGRICULTURE AND LABOR.
The resources of the Philippine
Islands are primarily agricul.
tural. It is to the soil the peo-
pie must look for their wealth,
maintenance, and the greatest
development of their country.
Thus far, aside from war,
pestilence, and drought in GER
tain localities, the agricultural
development of the islands has
been greatly retarded by lack Of
efficient labor, and capital. The
native is lazy and improvidert,
and has but little regard for the
virtue and dignity of labor. Un-
der the influence and example of
the Spaniard he was taught to
look with contempt upon the man
with the hoe, and not without
reason, for in those days his
labor was compulsory and prac-
tically without remuneration, in
consequence of which manual
labor became to be regarded as
degrading. Furthermore his
environment. and the climate in
which he lives, conduces to, and
more or less excuses, his 1aziness
and improvidence. The nee
essity for food, shelter, and cloth
ing, is after all the incentive to
labor. Clothes are useless en-
cumbrance in a climate where
the thermometer never falls be-
low sixty-two degrees, and are
practically worn only by the in
habitant of the towns and cities
because the law requires it, and.
perhaps through some feeling OF
regard for conventionalities. The
islands abound in fruits, and the
rivers and seas teens with an
infinite variety Of the most choice
fish,. and with little effort the
native can build himself house
with the bamboo and nipa, which
abound everywhere. In fact 1T
is the one country in the world
where man can live without work,
and which seem to have been
excepted from the curse pro-
nounced by God upon man, that
by the sweat of his brow he
should earn his bread. s
We have tried to inculcate into
the native some sense of the nec-
essitv and dignity of manual
labor; and as means Of encour-
aging them in agricultural
pursuits the public lands have
been thrown open to occupancy
and presumption by them; the
science of agriculture is taught
=. A. ..l1s, c-Loo1c ae.d flara