Evening star., 1943-07-25
Why Filipino, , /.
Fought to Last
- ;:
For America
By James G. Winso
Before Butoon and After


fBobbS- -MerriH) =
Walter Marquardt and Alice Hol-
lister, Midwesterners, met in the
summer of 1901 on the ship carrying
the pioneer batch of American
school teachers to the Philippines.
They found the newly acquired
American Territory in the final stage
of pacitication with the krag. On
Christmas eve, 1902, Mr.. Marquardt
and Miss Hollister, then teachers in
Leyte, in the Visayas, were mar
ried. Mr.. Marquardt rose to the
dictatorship of the Philippine
Bureau of Education and later be-
came textbook publishers repre-
sentative in Manila, a position he
held until his return to the United
States shortly before the japanese
invasion.
OF the Marquardt- -Hollister union
was born Frederic Sylvester, the
author Of Before Bataan and
After" His parents sent him to the
United States for schooling. Four
teen years later, in 1928, after he
had finished college and had worked
as a reporter on an upstate New
York daily. he was back in Manila
as staff member of the Philippines
Free Press. Later, he became as
sociate editor of the paper. exertcd
great influence on its policy and
tormat. He was yacatiOning in the
United States when the Pacific war
broke out.
Mr.. Marquardt's book emphasizes
the mass education Of the Filipinos
and the development of public
opinion in the Philippines.
Before the elder Marquardt ar
rived in the Philippines, American
soldiers no longer needed in the job
OF paclfication by force were en-
gagged as teachers. 1t was discovered
early that one teacher was worth a
regiment OF soldiers in pacifying the
Flllplnos, who had almost knocked
out the Spaniards and resented the
imposition of another white mans
rule.
The author gives no end Of credit
for the success of the mass educa-
tlon program to the American policy
OF attraction. 1t certainly was one
OF the reasons for the amazing. out
come Of the Philippine American
experiment in international rela-
tlonshlp, which blossomed in
Bataan, where FiIipinos Gid some
thing no other subject people have
cone in this War-fght for their
white rulers until the bitter end.
The book is very easy to read
because it is full of intimate, in
terest!ng stories about the pronli-
nent personalities of the last 13
years of the American regime. Mr.,
Marquardt describes Henry L. Stim-
son as "an icicle' in the tropics,
whose greatest achievement as
Governor General was the healing
OF wounds opened during Manuel l..
Quezon's fight against Mr.. Stimson's
predecessor. Dwight F. Davis. the
unhappy exile spent most of his
time crusading against graft. Theo-
dore Roosevelt, jr.. unusual for one
OF his tribe, instituted stringent
economies, thus making possible the
balancing of the government budget
during his successors administra-
ton.
Frank Murphy, first of the Frank
I'm D. Roosevelt appointees. helped
usher in the Philippine Common
wealth with his liberalism and
charm, and became the last Cover
nor General and the first High
Commissioner. Paul v, McNutt IS
most remembered for his inGepend-
ence-by passing proposal for real
lStlc re-eXamlnatiOn" of the Philip
pine problem, purportedfy to permit
a sound lnsular economy and to
keep Japan out, and yet he became
great friend of President 0uezon.
But, according to Mr.. Marquardt,
Francis B. Sayre, although a Phil
lppine independence advocate, con-
Stantly riled President Ouezon until
the japanese invasion with his pro-
feSSorial attitude and unWelcome
attempts to lecture the experienced
Filipino leader on how to run a
government.
Mr.. Marquardt describes Quezon
as "a symbol Of democracy at work.
After watching him for l3 years,
the author concludes that if Quezon
was a dictator, then certainly he
was the worlds strangest." 1t is
true, says Mr.. Marquardt, that he
built monollthic party structure,
but the purpose was to place in
Office all the ablest Filipinos during
the independence preparation pc
riod.
The contents of the Free Press,
which published some of the strong
est criticisms ever made of Quez0n,
was testimony to the fact that the
Philippines enjoyed freedom of the
press equaied only in England and
the United States. Mr.. Marquardts
chapter on the Free Press and its
OWner-edltOr, r. McCulloch Dick, a
British citizen now interned by the
japanese. is probably the best in the
book. I'm sure there was no pub
lication quite like the Free Press in
the World,' says Mr.. Marquardt.
Published weekly in Englith, with a
format like the Saturday Evening
Posts, it W2s baSicallv a news maga-
Nne, Whlcn began Is years before
Time. The basis of Mr.. Dicks edi-
torial policy was "a square deal for
the FiliplnoS. a radical idea
10 years after Dewey" On the other
hand, the Free Press was suspected
by many Fllipinos Of opposition to
Philippine independence 1t became
the most prosperous paper in the
Philippines because it was independ.
ent, fearless, fair, the most Interest,"
ing and the best edited.
Mr.. Marquardt's book Is a valuable
addition to the mounting testimony
that the work done by Americans
and Filipinos in uplifting an i'm
provished. misgoverned, disease-rid-
den, war-torn Philippines into a pro-
greSsive, prosperous, robust denoc-