The Era-leader., 1920-05-06

20 k\> luel SOu LluSl
eTxeem.r be Chinese" she
'>''~ ' ""' "No, am not.
I am Filipino" he replied.
"How's that?' asked the lady. Il
thought they We're all sayages living in
the woods"
"WelI, III tell you how came here"
he said. "A month before left the
Philippines I 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.
That is what you would call fancles
about the Philippines. The fact is,
however, that the 100000 Tilipinos
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 population Of 100000
people, there were S41 schools for boys
and 833 for girls? That in 1892, eight
years before the coming Of the Ameri.
cans, there were 2,137 schools?
"To grant self-government to Luzon
under Aguinaldo would be like grant.
Ing selt-goyernment to an Apache res.
ervation under some local chief" Thus
spoke former President Of the United
States during the lipino-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 CT 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. |
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,
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 royal
families, and that, unlike their oriental
sisters, they are the only Christian peo-
pie in the orient?
People have pictured an ignorant
mass Of Filipfnos, illiterate, poor, liv.
Ing life Of servitude for few
wealthy land owners and foreigners,
with no houses or farms or property
Of their own. Do you know that 20
per cent. of the people above ten years
Of age can read and write and that this
percentage of literacy Is almost as high !
as some Of the states of the Union?
That 1t is higher than in any country
IT South America, higher than the lit |
eracy Of the Spanish people, and un.
luestionably above that of any Of the
lew countries recognized in Europe? |
Do you know that there are million
md half farms in the Philippines
md that sc per cent. of these farms
re owned by Filipinos. In other words, L
hat out Of the 100000 Christian |
100000 of them at least live
n their own farms, with houses of
heir own, independent of any absentee II
andlord or foreign master? That oil
er cent. Of the urban property con.
listing OF houses and lands is owned
y the natives Of the Philippines, and :,
My 9 per cent. is in the hands of for
igners? Yet these are facts cabled byI
citing Governor Charles Emmett Yea.
er to the War Department from the
ecent census estimates.
Having solemnly promised the Fill. \
mos their independence and having t
one before the world as the champion
I self-determination, the Filipino peo-
lie cannot understand how America r
an consistently refuse to make good O
hese promises. II