Palisadian., 1925-11-13
PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
HAVE NEW PROBLEM
Deserted Half-Breed Boys
and Girls in Sad Case.

New York.-The well-known human
nature, as Is pointed out everywhere
by every one every day, has not been
reformed to any great extent by the
equally well-known civilization. HUI
man nature, in fact, seems to be just
about the same old thing. doing the
same old business at the same old
stand However, human nature seems
to be like fashions and morals + this:
1t varies considerably with lool don.
For example, 1t does not surprise
an American woman social worker in
the Philippines to come upon a case
where an American mas deserted his
woman and children; American hus-
bands and fathers have been known to
do the same thing in the United States.
But it is rather startling to find the
same kind of case in the Philippines
complicated by the sale of a girl of
twelve-half American, with blue eyes
and freckled face-traded to a China
man for pig
American occupation of the Philip
pines since the Spanish American war
Of 1898 has given the islands the ma
terial benefits of civilization. Ameri-
can administration has added to the
prestige which the nation now enjoys
both in the Far East and the Near
East. The Philippines, nevertheless,
have not entirely escaped that result
of contact between a dominant race
and weaker people which world his
tory seems to show to be inevitable.
Serious Situation.
Americans in the Philippines, in
short, are now confronted by serious
situation that has not hitherto attract
ed public attention in the United States
the necessity of caring for several
thousands of abandoned and neglected
children of American fathers.
There are said to be $4,000 children
Of American blood among the 11,5O0,-
600 people Of the Philippines. The
American Guardian association of Ma
Mia, officially incorporated in 1921 to
deal with the situation, has 1000 listed
as in need of assistance. OF these
1000 are desperate" cases where
prompt aid is imperative if the boys
are to be saved from vagabondage and
the girls from immoral exploitation.
Says Mrs. Mary Frances Kern of Chi
cago and New York, who has returned
from a frst-hand study of the stua-
tiOn:
Foreign occupation always leaves
traces like this upon a country. 1t is
a marvel that these traces are not
greater in the Philippines, 10000 miles
from home as they are. With the
changes in the islands since American
possession, due to the shifting about
of our pioneers and to the Filipiniza-
tion of the insular government which
forced great numbers of Americans
from minor posts, many American men
were obliged to leave through sheer
necessity. Often they failed to re-
turn. And, above all, death has taken
very many.
'It is unfortunately true that the
Filipino women who have c0nsorted
with American men have largely been
OF the peasant class. Many of these
widowed or abandoned women, unable
by the hardest drudgery to earn more
than so cents day, have taken new
partners or drifted into immortality
The boys are left to care for them
selves. The girls are loaned to rela-
tives or friends. This is usually the
first step toward their immoral ex-
ploitation when they attain maturity
at twelve to fourteen years.
DepIorabe Conditions.
American women in Manila, sup
porters of the Guardian association,
break down and weep when they tell
Of girls of twelve found locked in
chicken coops because they would not
obey the demands of their masters;
girls of eleven blinded by disease;
girls of twelve traded to Cinnamon
for pigs. Cared for and educated,
these boys and girls will become de-
cent men and women and useful citi
zens-the bulwark of Americanism in
the Far East in years TO come"
The American Guardian association
Of Manila has annually expended from
$4,000 to $4,000, contributed by
Americans in the islands, and has been
able to care for about $50 boys and
girls. Now the demands of the situa-
ton have become too large for the
5000 Americans to meet
Gov. Gen. Leonard Wood of the
Philippines has asked the American
people to cooperate by raising a fund
of $2,000,0O0. This fund is to be in
vested in the United States, through
trust committee. and it's earnings dis
bursed through the American Guar
dian association of Manila. w. Cam
eron Forbes of Boston, former gov
ernor general of the Philippines, is ma
tional chairman of committees formed
throughout the country. Mrs Kern,
authorized by General Wood, has
opened headquarters at 8 West Forti-
eth street, New York city.