The Grangeville globe. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho) 1907-1922, 1920-03-11

eXseo.x.r be Chinese" she
mo, am not.
! am a Filipino" he replied.
Flows thatT. 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 | 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 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 u.s.
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 than 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 government to Luxon
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 Filipino-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-llke 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 a
constitution at Malalos which elected
the approval of distinguished Repub-
leans 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 Republican congress
man. Representative Cooper, as the
nobest 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 royal
families, and that, unlike their oriental
sisters. they are the only Christian peo-
pie In the orient7
People have pictured an ignorant
mass of Filipinos, illiterate. poor. liv-
ing a life of seryitude for a few
wealthy land owneys 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
Vi age call Ttdu anu write anu lDdI lllls
percentage 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 Europe
DO you know that there are a million
and a half farms in the Philippines
and that 90 per cent. Of these farms
are owned by Filipinos In other words
that out of the ll,OO0 900 Christian
'ilipinos. 100000 of them at least live
pn their own farms. with houses OF
their own. Independent of any absentee
landlord or foreign master? That 81
Ier cent of the urban property con
;isting of houses and lands is owned
, " the natives OF the Philippines, anC
l My 3 per cent. is In the hands Of for
, gners? Yet tlese are facts cabled bJ
, >cting Governor Charles Emmett Yea
. pr to the War Department from tbs
lent census estimates
Having solemnly promised the FIJI
,'los their Independence aud having
one before the world as the champion
Z INSTRUMENTATION the Filipino PEG
lie cannot understand how Americ;
IN consistently refuse to make goot
hpS' promises
Innate OF THE PHILIPPINES