Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-09-14

Il
on q wide scale. Forced labor, exces.
sive and uncertain taxation, courts
which sold justice to the highest bid.
der, police fleeing the prosperous and
protecting the Iadrone for q per cent.
Iage Of his stealings, greedy church Of.
ficials charging for all services rem.
dered and spending their gains either
| In unseemly living or in the aggrand-
izement OF their ofdefs-all these
icauses combined to make a resort to
lying appear almost excusable.
III there Is anything that CRATES up
on the American 1t is the Incidence Of
| the Filipino With the terrific activ.
lity Of this western man, the seemingly
luntroubled idleness of the average
Filipino Is exasperating beyond mear
sure. II one Is open-minded ne viii
find several more or less satisfactory
explanations Of this habit OF taking
fife easy. The climate Is iinfavorable
to sustained exertion. II Is warm. Il
is continually warm There are no
long, cold winters against which both
food and fuel and warm shelter must
be provided Conditions make life
easy. The ever present bamboo and
nipa palm furnish material for the
frail house that shelters the house
hold from sun and rain. For from $40
to $50 he can build anything from a.
rude cottage to six.room house.
.The waters are alive with edible
creatures. Fish,, crabs, prawi1s and
other food products of the sea and
river can be bad at d minimum of
effort and at any time, day or night,
during every year. Rice is usually
plentiful and inexpensive a few days
work each month will either give suf-i
ffcient care to the crops to secure all
the rice the family can use, or earn
money to buy it. To the man so sit.
uated there is scarcely any way to
make severe and sustained industry
attractive. He sees no call for II. His
needs are few. I =. ~
The passion for gambling is a Sc
rious fault in the Filipino character.
This is the worst Vice In the country.
The natives do not drink to excess.
but as a people they are victims Of the
gambling habit. ,,. a.. -
sFayora BILE characteristics are many
The Filipino people are polite. 1t is
innate. Some one has said:
"Politeness is TO do and say
The kindest thing In the kindest way
and by this definition the Fflipfnos
can take high RANK among the people
of the earth. = ~ LII .,.z.s.r = =
Hospitality is a strong point in the
native, character. There is not a hotel
~, kt,a nt.;1i, ~, ~ fho1 1,,S4 10, - fhh
Filipino trade. Manila, with about
100000 people, has no such hostelry.
II Is not needed Every ono who comes
to the city stops with 'parientes' or
relatives; with amigos or with
friends. Nothing else is thought of
as possibility, In Honolulu hundreds
of Filipinos would starve to death
were II not for these 'parientes' and
amigos
Loyalty to family ties is another
praiseworthy characteristic of the Fill
pfno that is well-night uniyersal There
are no poorhouses in the islands. None
is needed. Every poor person is a
relative of some one. Somewhere in
the circle of relationship every de-
pendent person is made welcome to a
share Of such provision as can be sup
piled, and to a corner in the house.
no matter how crowded, and in all
this there is no making of wry faces
as though it were q hardship.
""An competent observers have re-
marked that the Filipinos have a natu.
raj aptitude for instructions, the chill
dren being mentally quick. Many
Tagalogs can speak several languages
and the English used by representa-
tive Filipinos in the United States is
noticeable for it's idiomatic excellence.
Their capacity for one branch of ele-
mentary culture is shown by the fact
that they knew how to read and write,
with alphabets Of their own, when they
D., #