The Philippines: Past and Present Volume II Part 45

Philippine independence is not a present possibility, nor will it be possible for at least two generations. Indeed, if by the end of a century we have welded into a people the descendants of the composite and complex group of human beings who to-day inhabit the islands, we shall have no cause to feel ashamed of our success.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII

WHAT THEN?

It has been urged by one cla.s.s of our citizens that we abandon the islands because they are a source of military weakness, and that we guarantee their independence, which in plain English means that we hold ourselves ready to fight for them! They insist that with our Caucasian origin and our years of hard-earned experience, we are not fit to govern them, but that their Filipino inhabitants, who are the Malayan savages of the sixteenth century, plus what Spain has taught them, plus what they have so recently learned from us, are fit to govern themselves and must be allowed to do so under our protection.

In other words, having brought up a child who is at present rather badly spoiled, we are to say to the family of nations: "Here is a boy who must be allowed to join you. We have found that we are unfit to control him, but we hope that he will be good. You must not spank him unless you want to fight us."

It has been suggested that we get other nations to agree to the neutralization of the islands. Why should they? Are we prepared to offer them any tangible inducements, or do we believe that the millennium has arrived and that they are actuated by purely altruistic motives in such matters?

Blount quotes with approval the following statement of Secretary William Jennings Bryan:--

"There is a wide difference, it is true, between the general intelligence of the educated Filipino and the labourer on the street and in the field, but this is not a barrier to self-government. Intelligence controls in every government, except where it is suppressed by military force. Nine-tenths of the j.a.panese have no part in the law-making. In Mexico, the gap between the educated cla.s.ses and the peons is fully as great as, if not greater than, the gap between the extremes of Filipino society. Those who question the capacity of the Filipinos for self-government forget that patriotism raises up persons fitted for the work that needs to be done." [213]

This sounds well, but will it bear a.n.a.lysis? We are now being furnished a practical demonstration of the results achieved by people like the Mexicans when they attempt to conduct a so-called republic. Whether the gap between the extremes of Mexican society is as great as that between the extremes of Filipino society depends on what one includes under the latter term. If one limits it to the Christianized natives, the statement quoted is true. If one includes the non-Christians which const.i.tute an eighth of the population, it is not true.

Would the United States care to a.s.sume responsibility for conditions in Mexico without any power to exercise control over the government of that country? Those who demand that we guarantee the independence of the Philippines are advocating a thing precisely similar to this, except that torture and burying alive do not seem to be in vogue in Mexico, and would be practised in the Philippines again, as they have been in the recent past.

Can any one fail to grasp the fact that the following statements of Bishop Brent embody solid common sense?

"Finally it must be recognized that the Philippine problem cannot be settled without reference to its international bearing. Neutralization has been proposed. But can American or any other diplomacy secure the neutrality of the Powers? Would it mean anything if promises of neutrality were made? Is it not so, that though no existing military power, East or West, would fight America in order to secure possession of the Philippines, there are at least two nations which would seize the first opportunity for interference if American sovereignty ceased? Can America afford to protect a government halfway round the world, which she does not actually and constructively control?

She has found it difficult enough with one near at hand. It appears to me that it would be a measure of quixotry beyond the most altruistic administration, to stand sponsor for the order of an experimental government of more than doubtful stability ten thousand miles from our coasts. When the Philippines achieve independence they must swallow the bitter with the sweet, and accept the perils as well as the joys of walking alone. There are national risks involved even in a limited protectorate to which I trust America will never expose herself."

We stoutly a.s.serted in 1899 that the Filipinos were not fit to govern their own country, and this was certainly then true. If in the short s.p.a.ce of fifteen years, with leaders who have so recently committed almost incredible barbarities still in the saddle, we had rendered them fit, we should have performed the most wonderful political miracle that the world has ever seen. But the age of miracles has long since pa.s.sed. While the Filipinos have advanced more in the last fifteen years than during any previous century of their history, what they have gained is by no means ingrained in their character, and they yet have far to go. It is our duty and our privilege to guide and help them on their way. We should hold steadily onward disregarding the hostility and the murmurings of selfish politicians, and looking hopefully to the future for substantial results from the broad and generous policy which we have thus far followed.

Many of the politicians want independence under a United States protectorate, by which they mean that their country shall be turned over to them to do with as they please, with a fleet of American warships lying conveniently near to see that they are not interfered with while thus engaged. It would be the height of folly for us to enter into any such arrangement.

We must help the Filipinos to attain for their country commercial prosperity, so that its revenues may be more adequate for the support of government. Before commercial prosperity can exist, the people must learn to employ modern agricultural methods and modern machinery in bringing considerable portions of the present enormous uncultivated areas of fertile land to a state of productivity.

We must set right standards and insist that they be lived up to. The way to stimulate healthful development of the Filipinos is to let the apples hang high and make them climb for them, not to tell them to hold their hats and shake the tree.

This policy of setting right standards has already been very successfully pursued in the education of Filipino doctors, Filipino nurses, Filipino surveyors, Filipino printers and Filipino teachers.

A Filipino should never be appointed to public office merely because he is a Filipino, the clamour of politicians to the contrary notwithstanding. He should be appointed only if, and because, he is fit. Such a policy, unswervingly followed, will do more to promote the real interests of the civilized inhabitants than will all the concessions that could be made in a thousand years.

And what have we ever gained by concessions to Filipino politicians? Can any one point out a single instance in which they have aroused that feeling of grat.i.tude, or even that sense of obligation, which may fully justify the adoption of measures that would otherwise be of doubtful utility? No!

This fact is well ill.u.s.trated by the att.i.tude of the politicians toward the Jones Bill providing for the establishment of the Philippine republic on July 4, 1913 and independence in 1920.

Hardly were its terms known in Manila when various politicians announced that the Filipinos did not want to wait until 1920, they wanted independence right then!

An editorial in the number of Speaker Osmena's paper, El Ideal, for March 19, 1913, contains the following significant sentence:--

"We accept the test to which the Jones Bill subjects us, because we have full confidence in ourselves. Afterward, we shall do what is most expedient for us." [214]

Grat.i.tude does not enter into the make-up of the average Filipino politician, and we must learn not to expect it. We must do what ought to be done because it ought to be done, and not look for appreciation to a small but very noisy body of men who curse us for standing between them and their prey, as we have stood from the day when Dewey first forbade Aguinaldo to steal cattle until now.

It is just as easy to win the grat.i.tude and the affection of the common people of the lowlands as it has proved to be in the case of the wild men of the hills, but if we are to do this there must be a radical departure from the present policy, and we must deal with them directly.

In this connection it is instructive to study the career of James R. Fugate, Lieutenant-Governor, by appointment, of the sub-province of Siquijor. In spite of wretched health, he has done work of which he and his country have just cause to be proud. No one can fully appreciate it who does not know conditions as they were when he went there and as they are to-day. Siquijor has been converted into a checkerboard by good roads and trails where formerly there did not exist decent means of communication. Dysentery and typhoid fever ravaged the island during each recurring dry season when drinking water was almost un.o.btainable in many places, and what could be found was really unfit for human use. There are now fine public baths in the towns. Beautiful drinking fountains for men and animals are to be seen, not only in the larger centres of population, but along many of the princ.i.p.al highways.

Munic.i.p.al officials have been taught their duties and perform them well. A complete telephone system connects the lieutenant-governor's office with all parts of the island. Siquijor was formerly completely isolated from the outside world, but now has cable communication. Fine schools have been established, and swarm with children. The man who has brought about all this is beloved by the people whom he has helped and protected. They cannot bear the thought of his leaving them. What is the explanation of this phenomenon, when the inhabitants of many parts of the islands seem to remain unmoved by the many advantages which they now enjoy, and murmur against those to whom they are indebted for them? The answer is simple. Mr. Fugate speaks Visayan about as well as he does English, and there have been no intermediaries between him and his people, who consequently understand that they owe to him the benefits which they have received.

Certain evil politicians of Negros Occidental, whom he robbed of their spoils, attacked him with characteristic persistency and ingenuity. A young man of clean life, he was accused of adultery and of seduction of minors. Although he could at any time have had a better position at higher compensation; although he gave much of his inadequate salary to the poor and defenceless; although he carried on public works at a fraction of the cost of similar undertakings in neighbouring provinces, he was charged with profiting by government contracts and with the malversation of funds of the sub-province. All of these attacks failed miserably. His real offence was that he had stayed the hand of the oppressor, and let the people go free.

In many, if not in most, of the Christian provinces we have utilized the services of Filipino politicians who are openly opposed to the policy which we are endeavouring to carry out, and have thus placed between ourselves and the people a screen of shrewd and hostile men who can communicate with them as we cannot, who play upon their ignorance and their prejudices as we would not if we could, who keep them firm in the belief that all their troubles are due to the "mucho malo gobierno Americano," [215] and that all the advantages which they enjoy have been wrung from the unwilling and unjust Americans by the courage and political ingenuity of the local politicos. For this condition of things we have ourselves to thank, and these are the men who would be governors under "self-government."

When the Federal Party was formed, a large number of conservative Filipinos came out into the open and risked their lives to aid in the termination of war and brigandage, and the establishment of peace and tranquillity. At the outset we rewarded many of those who escaped a.s.sa.s.sination by appointing them to public offices which they seemed fit to fill. In a few instances we even helped the families of those who sacrificed their lives to the cause of law and order. A little later, anxious to show that we were willing to let bygones be bygones, political offices, so far as they were within the gift of the government, were distributed practically without regard to the previous political records of the recipients. In taking this high att.i.tude we a.s.sumed that the generous treatment thus accorded our late enemies would be appreciated by them and would win us their confidence and cooperation. We showed our ignorance of the men with whom we were dealing when we allowed ourselves to expect such a result. They interpreted our generosity as an evidence of fear, and each new concession has served only to whet their appet.i.tes. For years we gave profitable government advertising to vicious publications which never for a moment ceased to attack us. If there is any one lesson which should have been brought home to us by our experience it is that in the Philippine Islands this sort of thing does not work as yet. In this, as in most other countries, there are just two political parties, to wit, the "ins" and the "outs." Public office is ardently desired by a large percentage of the educated Filipinos who dearly love to exercise authority, and will do without scruple what seems necessary to get it.

We have gone too fast and too far in conferring on the people power to elect their officers. A larger percentage of the public offices should have remained appointive, and should have been filled either with Americans or with Filipinos of recognized ability who were really in favour of the policy which the government was carrying out. Open and active opposition to that policy should have been made ground for prompt removal from office. The men who risked their lives to help us were ent.i.tled to recognition and reward, and to the protection which the knowledge that such recognition is being accorded gives in a country like the Philippines. Left out in the cold, they turned against us when they saw our political enemies filling fat offices, and why not? Such a course was safer and more popular, and they thought that we might then be willing to buy their allegiance, judging by our dealings with others!

It has been claimed that the intelligent, highly educated cla.s.s are a unit for independence. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it would be uncommonly hard at present to prove this fact.

Some time since, I sat beside a very distinguished Filipino at a public banquet. He made a speech in which he expressed the conviction that independence in the near future would be a most desirable thing. When he sat down I said to him, "What would you do if you got it?" His reply was, "Be still! I would take the first steamer for Hongkong!" His att.i.tude is typical of that of a large group of opportunists.

There is a considerable body of intelligent, conservative Filipinos who believe, as do the vast majority of well-informed Americans, that independence at this time would be an unmitigated curse in that it would necessarily be temporary, would result in grave disturbances of public order, would bring foreign intervention and the occupation of the islands by some nation with purposes far less altruistic than ours, and would put the possibility of real, permanent independence off until a time so remote as to be far beyond the range of our present vision. These men will state their att.i.tude freely in private conversation with those in whom they have confidence, but hardly one of them has the courage to go on record. Why should they? We have seen that in the old days those who opposed the views of Aguinaldo and his a.s.sociates were given short shrift and that thousands of them were murdered in cold blood, while those who actively opposed the American military and civil governments were without exception freely pardoned when further opposition became impossible, unless guilty of crimes of the gravest character. Nay, more. Under the amnesty proclamation there were turned loose from Bilibid Prison hundreds of murderers, some of whom had taken the lives of scores of human beings. Little attention has been paid at any time to the violation, by Filipinos, of their oaths of allegiance to the United States, and now, when we discover one of the periodic incipient insurrections frequently organized by intelligent natives for the sole purpose of wringing hard-earned pesos from the peasant cla.s.s, we seldom punish severely even the vicious leaders. It is idle to suppose that these facts are lost upon the conservative Filipinos. They know that if independence does not come no punishment will be meted out to them for remaining neutral, or even for actively advocating it, but that if it does come, and they have opposed it, vengeance swift, sure and dire will smite them. They are afraid, and they have the best of reasons to be afraid, because we have announced no definite policy. Let it be authoritatively stated that American sovereignty will be maintained in these islands for a long period and those who actually believe that there is not a strong element among the Filipinos who favour such a course will get a real surprise.

At present, however, our ears are deafened by the clamour of the noisy politicians, who claim to represent "the Filipino people." In this connection Bishop Brent has pertinently observed:--

"If desire implied ability, the clamor for independence on the part of the Filipinos, which just now is more widespread then at any time in their history, would be the signal for our withdrawal, but only their achievements can determine their ability."

Before we can safely declare the Filipinos ready to try the great experiment of self-government we must bring them to the place where they no longer regard bandit leaders as popular heroes but are able and determined to maintain a state of public order such that life and property will be safe. We must wean them from their present hostility toward legitimate foreign business interests. We must teach them that agriculture comes before art; that a public office is a public trust; that the enormous potential wealth of their forests is worth preserving; that the poor Filipino must be encouraged to own and till his own land, not held as a slave or peon. We must go on training physicians, surgeons and sanitarians so that the public health may be adequately protected and individual suffering relieved. We must be sure that our wards have developed the understanding and courage necessary successfully to oppose the great waves of epidemic disease which constantly threaten their country from without. We must train up Filipino engineers, to-day almost completely lacking, in sufficient numbers to make possible the construction of the public works needed in future and the maintenance of those which already exist.

There must be chemists and bacteriologists to do the routine work of the government, to make the investigations necessary to safeguard the lives of the people, and to facilitate the development of the resources of the country. Finally, there must be a sufficiency of just judges, of honourable lawyers, of able administrators, and of legislators unswayed by the childish motives which so often influence those of to-day.

Most important of all, we must bring the Filipino people to the place where they can go on properly teaching their children and their youths.

The day when all this will have been done of necessity lies far in the future, and if, when contemplating this fact, we sometimes grow weary, we should remember that the task, though a mighty and unprecedented one, is well worthy of the best energies of a great nation. It can never be accomplished through partisan politics.

In considering our duty to the Filipinos let us not forget the fate of him "who putteth his hand to the plough and turneth back." The old, old rule applies to nations as well as to individuals.

We are giving the Filipinos a fair chance to develop every latent ability which they possess. In the very nature of the case, their future lies, and must lie, wholly with them. There is no royal road to real independence, much less is there any short cut. Our Filipino wards must tread the same long, weary path that has been trodden by every nation that has heretofore attained to good government.