The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1920-03-13

1 AAo~
am a Filipino" he replied.
Flows that?" asked the lady. Il
thought they were all savages living In
the woods"
well, I'll tell you how came here, u
| he said. "A manth before l left the
Philippines l was living in the woods,
| but the American Governor decided to
catch as many wild men as possible,
train them and send them over here.
| So here am, just as you see" And
! the st. Louis lady actually believed
him.
I That is what you would call fancies
about the Philippines. The fact Is,
however, that the 100000 Filipinos
and their ancestors have been civilized
and Christians for 800 years that the
nOn-Christian population, according to
the census Of 1918, is only 500 900, and
even these are not all uncivilized.
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 Fiiipinos have had colleges
and schools and that the University OF
Santo Tomas is only twenty-five years
older than Harvard? That as early as
1885, out Of a population of 100000
people, there were S41 schools for boys
and 1873 for girls? That in 1892, eight
years before the coming Of the Ameri-
cans, there were 2,137 schools?
ITO grant self-governlnent to Luzon
under Aguinaldo would be like grant
ing self-government to an Apache res
ervation under some local chief" Thus
spoke former President Of the United
States during the Fiiipino-American
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 it favorably with
the Japanese government? That Ad-
miral Dewey considered the FilipinOs
better fitted for seif-government than
fhe Cubans? That they had drafted u
the approval of distinguished Repub-
licans like the late Senator George f.
Hoar? 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 Fi!ipinos
have not had for hundreds Of years any
caste system, blood distinction or royal !
families, and that, unlike their oriental
sistert they are the only Christian peo-
pie in the orient? .
People have pictured an ignorant
mass Of Filfpinos, illiterate. poor, liv-
Ing life Of servitude for a few
wealthy land owners and foreigners,
with no houses or farms or property
per cent. Of the people above ten years
IF age can read and write and that this
OF eracy is almost as high
rs some Of DE states of the Unionr
That 1t is higher than in any country
If South America. higher than the lit
sracy Of the Spanish people, and IN
above that Of any OF the
lew countries recognized in Europe?
Do you know that there are a million
ind a half farms in the Philippines
md that So per cent. of these farms
ire owned by Fllipinos. In other words,
hat out of the 100000 Christian
Tilipinos, 100000 Of them at least live
N their own farms, with houses of
heir own, Independent Of any absentee
andlord or foreign master? That 81
per cent of the urban property con-
listing of horses and Iands IL owned