The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-03

the Philippine Senate and the Philip l pine Mission, now touring the United 1 States.)
 l Washington, May 3-Independence, | the great ideal of the Filipino people,
 is now as ever the supreme goal l toward which they aspire. For years | they have been laboring for this | cause. During the recent war in which
 America has played so great and so
 successful Q role, the Filipino people 1 with fine self-restraint," to use the
 words of Secretary Bal.er, "refrained from active discussion of this ques-
 tion, deeming it inopportune at the
 time, and threw all of their energies l and all of their resources into the | common scale with the people of the
 United States in the firm belief that
 the war espoused by America was pe- culiarly their war-a war for their rights, for their own independence l inasmuch as it was the avowed object | of the people of this country to wage | a war against autocracy for the right | and liberty of nations whether small 1 or great Now that this war has so | happily come to an end the people of l the Philippine Islands feel that the l day is here when they S. ould bring | before the government a-nd people 1 of the United States the question of ] their national independence in the
 confident expectation that it will re- ceive proper recognition and just and speedy solution.
 There are two main reasons why l Philippine independence should be | granted at this time In the first place, the condition imposed by the government of the United States as l 4a he 17+- 1 ing of our independence have been 1 fulfilled, namely, that a stable gov- 1 ernment may be established in the i islands. In the second place, the re- 1 cognition of Philippine independence | is the logical sequel, the inevitable 1 consequence to the stand taken by the ! United States in the recent world war. We shall now briefly refer to some 1 of the conditions in the islands which | furnish ground for the assertion that 1 there is now a stable government ] which will be maintained under an independent Philippine government. l Peace and order reigned throughout 1 the Archipelago under this govern | ment which in practice was maintain | ed wholly by Filipino officials. Dur | ing the war the United States had to call practically every American sol dier from the Philippines and the
 Filipinos not only kept peace and or 1 der during this time within the boun- 1 daries of the Philippines and thereb supported the American flag, but went | even further. They placed their Ma | tional Guard at the disposal of the 1 federal government for service in
 Europe, and out of their modest re-
 sources they oversubscribed their | quota of every Liberty loan, they con- | tributed liberal1y to the Red Cross, | and they offered a submarine and | destroyer to the United States.
 1e has been generally asserted by opponents of Philippine independence that If the government of the Philip | pines were placed in the hands of the l Filipiros, some of the non-Christian I inhabitants of the islands, the Moros, would resist that government, and the
 rest of the pagans would be abused
 and mistreated by their Christian | countrymen. For the last three years | these less fortur ate Filipinos, num- bering only 500,O00 out of the popu-
 Iation of lO,0O0,0OO, have been under l the care of a government controlled | and managed by the Christian FiIi-
 pinos- The local governments in the 1 territory inhabited by the Moros are l administered by both Christian Fill pinos and Moros, and there is more peace there now than ever before. l Flaw and order,", reported Governor Carpenter of the Departn of Min l danao and Sulu, "now obtain through l out the 'Mohamme edan Philippine ter ritory." In the annual report of the | Goyernor-General of the Philippine 1 Islands to the Secretary of War for 1917, the following statement ap- pears: Peace and continuing good l order existed at the close of the year l throughout the non-Christian Prov | inces. No band of outlaws exists in
 non-Christian territory" There are
 more schools, better roads, and a l larger area of land under cultivation
 among the non-Christian population than ever before. All this took place under the administration of the Sec
 retary of the Interior, MT. Palma, a
 Filipino, who is the highest official in the Philippine government in charge l of this territory.
 | There are also some critics who as- | sert that once the strong hand of the l United States is withdrawn from the islands popular education will be
 abandoned. Such critics of course forget or are ignorant Of the fact | that, prior to American occupation Of | the islands, one of the most insistent
 requests made by Filipino leaders in 1 Spain was the extension of popular | education and that amongst the firts | laws enacted by the Philippine Re- | public during its short existence was | the establishment of compulsory uni versal education in the Philippines | These critics further forget that the 1 United States won the confidence Of | the F'ilipinos among other things be- | cause of the policy of furthering pop ular education, and in this respect all American administrators found from the very beginning the cordial and active cooperation of the people. Filipino parents in ortier to pro-
 vide for the education of their chiI- dren, do not hesitate to make all kinds of sacrifices. The people as a whole are a unit in their desire to
 promote the inteIcsts of education in
 the islands, As an eloquent proof of
 the attitude of the people toward the
 public schools and as an indication of
 the fate of education in Filipino