Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1919-05-01
BY MANUEL l.. ofEZON.
President of the Philippine Senate
and the Philippine Mission,
now touring the United

President of the Philippine Senate
and the Philippine Mission,
now touring the United
States.
| Especial Correspondence Of The
ArgusD
Washington. April 29.-Independ-
ence, the great ideal Of the Filipino
people, is now as ever the supreme
goal 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 a role. the
Filipino people. with fine self
restraint" to use the words Of Sec
rotary Baker, "refrained from ac-
tive discussion of this question,
deeming it inopportune at the time,
and threw all Of their energies and
all of their resources into the COM
mon sc2le with M people of the
United States" in the firm belief
that the war espOused by America
was peculiarly their war - a war
for their rights, FOR their own in
Observation-Disclosures as it was
the avowed or.ect of thu people of
this country to wage a war against
autocracy for the right and liberty
Of nations whether small OF great
Now that this war has so happily
come to an EN- he people of the
Philippt,.y- islands feel that the day
is here when thew should bring be
fore the government and people of
the United States the question of
their national independence in the
confident expectation that it will
nd ft1G
and speedy solution.
There are two main reasons why
Philippine independence should be
granted at this time. In the first
place, the conditions imposed by
the government of the United
States as necessary prerequisites
to the granting of our independence
have been fulfilled, namely, that
stable government max be estab-
lished in the islands In the sec
Ond place. the recognition of Phil
ippine independence is the logical
sequel, the inevitable consequence
to the stand taken by the United
States in the recent world war.
Government Now Stable.
We shall now briefly refer to
some of the conditions in the is
the assertion that there is now a
stable government which will be
maintained under an independent
Philippine government. Peace and
order reigned throughout the arch
ipelago under this government
which in practice was maintained
wholly by Filipino officials. Dur
ing the war the United States had
to call practically every American
soldier from the Philippines, and
the Filipinos not only kept peace
and order during this time within
the boundaries of the Philippines,
and thereby supported the Ameri-
| can flag, but went even further
They placed their national guard
at the disposal of the federal gov
eminent for service in Europe, and
out of their modest resources they
oversubscribed their quota of every
Liberty loan, they contributed lib
orally to the Red Cross and they
offered a Submarine and a destroyer
to the United States
There are also some critics who
assert that once the strong hand of
the 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 Spain was
the extension of popular education
and that among the first laws en-
acted by the Philippine republic
during its short existence was the
establishment of compulsory uni
versal education in the Philippines.
Filipino parents, in order to pro-
vide for the education of their chill
dren, do not hesitate to make all
kinds of sacrifices. The people as
whole are a unit in their desire
to promote the interests of educa-
ton 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 hands, mention may be
made of the fact that in the last
session of the Philippine legisla-