The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1920-04-23

even these are not all unclvil1Zed.
Another fancy is that not until the
coming Of the Americans were school
buildings seen In the Islands, roads
built, or substantial houses erected.
Do you know that for hundreds Of
years the Filipinos have had colleges
and schools and that the University of
Santo Tomas is only twenty-five years
older than Harvard? That as early as
1865, out of population Of 100000
people, there were 841 schools for boys
and S33 for girls2 That in 1892, eight
years before the coming Of the Ameri.
cans, there were 2,137 schools2
ITO grant f-government to Luzon
under Aguinaldo would Like grant
ing self-government to an Apache res
ervation under some local chief" Thus
spoke former President of the United
States during the Filipin0-American
war. Exaggeration could be an excuse
at time when the dignity of the Am
erican people demanded the extinction
Of Filipino opposition, but do you know
that the Philippine Republic. before the
American occupation Of the Islands,
had the approval of prominent Ameri-
cans who were on the spot-like John
Barrett, Director of the Pan-American
Union, who compared 1t favorably with
the Japanese government? That Ad-
miral Dewey considered the Filipinos
better fitted for self-government than
the Cubans? That they had drafted
tint Mt oil oil oh nj nH
the approval of distinguished Repub-
licans like the late Senator George E.
HOar2 That before the coming of the
Americans they had produced national
heroes like the martyred Jose Rial,
by Republican congress
man, Representative Cooper, as the
noblest victim that has ever fallen into
the clutches of tyranny
And do you know that the Filipinos
have not had for huhdreds of years any
caste system, blood distinction or royal
and that, unlike their oriental
sisters, they are the only Christian peo-
pie in the orient?
People have pictured an ignorant |
mass Of Filipinos, illiterate, poor, liv- |
ing a life of servitude for few |
wealthy land owners and foreigners,
with no houses or farms or property
Of their own. Do you know that 70
per cent. Of the people above ten years
Of age can read and write and that this
of literacy is almost as high
as some Of the states of the Union?
That it is higher than in any country
Of South Anne RIGA, higher than the lit
eracy Of the Spanish people, and I'M
Questionably above that Of any of the
new countries recognized In Europe2
Do you know that there are a million
and half farms In the Philippines
and that SO per cent. Of these farms
are owned by Filipinos. In other words,
that out Of the 100000 Christian
Filipinos, 100000 Of them at least live
on their own farms, with houses of
their own, independent Of any absentee
landlord or foreign master? That 81
per cent. Of the urban property con-
sisting Of houses and lands is owned
BY the natives Of the Philippines, and
only 8 per cent. is in the hands of for
eigners? Yet these are facts cabled by
Acting Governor Charles Emmett Yea
Ter to the War Department from the
recent census estimates.
Having solemnly promised the Fill
pInos their independence and having
gone before the world as the champion
If self-determination, the Filipino peo-
pie cannot understand how America
can consistently refuse to make good
.hese promises.