Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1920-02-26

mo, ! am not.
l am a Filipino" he replied.
"How's that?" asked the lady. II
thought they were all savages living In
the woods"
"Well, I'll tell you how ] came here"
he said. "A month before l left the
Philippines l vas living in the woods,
but the American Governor decided to
train them and send them over mere.
So here l am, just as you see" And
the st. Louis lady actually believed
him.
That is what you would call fancies
about the Philippines. The fact ia,
however, that the 100000 Filipinos
and their ancestors have been civilized
and Christians for 300 years; that the
~non-Christian population, according to
the census of 1918, is only 100000, 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 Filipinos have had colleges
and schools and that the University of
Santo Tomas is only twenty-five years
older thar Harvard? That as early as
1866, 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-government to Luzon
under A%guinaldo would be like grant
ing self-government to an Apache res.
ervation under some local chief" Thus
spoke a former President of the United
States during the Filipino-American
war. Exaggeration could be an excuse
at a 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 Of 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 self-government than
the Cubans? That they had drafted a
constitution at Malalos which elected
the approval of distinguished Repub.
,!icans like the late Senator George F..
Hoar? That before the coming Of the
Americans they had produced national
heroes like the martyred Jose Rial,
pronounced by a 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 hundreds of years any
caste system, blood distinction or roya'
families, and that, unlike their orienta
sisters, they are the only Christian peo-
pie in the orient?
People have pictured I'M ignorant
mass of Filipinos, illiterate. poor, llv.
ing a life Of se%rvitude for a few
wealthy land owners and foreigners.
with no houses or farms or property
Of their own. DO you know thai ~
per cent. Of the people above ten years
Of age can read and write and that this
percentage of literacy is allnos, AS higl
AS some Of the states Of The Union:
That it is higher than IN any country
OF South Ane RIGA. higher than the Int
eracy OF the SpaniS!! people. and Iii
~QuestiOnabIy above that of any of tn,
new countries recognized III Europe:
DO you o that there are a mill az
and a half farms IN The ihilippn mes
and that &c per cent Of these Anu>
are owned by ijliIhnu> In ufhrl n,:
that out OF the |! tfMN r"p en-. ~,
Fi!ipinoS. 900 OM nt lln.:. az -, li,,
on their OWL farms. with houses ni
their own, independent of ann as. go
landlord or foreign master: 'll,n 81
per cent. OF the Urban property con.
SiStinG Of houses and lands is owned
by the natives Of Me Philippines ,ii
only 9 per ccni. is IL the lHMh> II for
rignerS? lr, ties are facts cuhlr, b,
Acting = rrinr {! aries Emmett Yea
ter to the War Department from the
recent census estimates.
Having soIemnly promised the Fill.
pinoS their Independence and having
zone before the world AS the champion
Vt self-determination, the Filipino PEG.
pie cannot understand how America
can consistently refuse to make good
these promises.
rs 4 A r NE TILE Dill n n a =