The Philippines: Past and Present Volume II Part 57

[195] There were several different plans for the confiscation of the friar lands. The following shows the action taken in one instance, relative to the property of Spanish prisoners:--

"On February 2, 1899, the secretary of the treasury informed the governor of the province of Isabela that the property of all Spanish prisoners should be confiscated as booty of war."--P. I. R., 1302. 6.

[196] The following telegram was sent to the cabinet by the director of diplomacy, Manila:--

"December 21, 1898, P.M.

"Missed the train on account of government business. Beg of you to pardon my absence, and bear in mind my suggestion to look up an easy method of abolishing the law imposing a tax of 100 to 5000 pesos on foreigners, as not only unjust but impolitic at this time, when we seek the sympathy of the powers. I represent to the cabinet that such step is very urgent, because I have ascertained that members of the chamber of commerce have reported this tax to their respective governments in order to formulate a protest."--P. I. R., 849.

[197] This name is properly applicable to the civilized peoples only.

[198] P. I. R., 1097. 2.

[199] Ibid., 1157. 8.

[200] Ibid., 1018. 1.

[201] t.i.tle X.--Of Public Instruction.

124....

Elementary instruction shall comprise reading, speaking and writing correctly the official language which is Tagalog, and the rudimentary principles of English and of the exact, physical and natural sciences, together with a slight knowledge of the duties of man and citizen.--Taylor, 19 MG.

[202] "The Mastery of the Pacific," p. 122, A. R. Colquhoun, Macmillan, 1902.

[203] In this connection Bishop Brent has said, "The recognized leaders in the Philippines to-day, so far as racial qualifications are concerned, would have at least equal right to claim citizenship in Spain, China or England. Thus far, it is the men of mixed blood who are the politicians. The degree of capacity in the Filipino will not be revealed until the schoolboys of to-day are in active public life."

[204] Literally, "Filipinos of face and heart." The expression means Filipinos in appearance and in sympathies.

[205] "But there is no doubt that many of the Filipinos after all have a very warm place in their hearts for the Spanish people. How could it be otherwise when so many of the Filipinos are sons and grandsons of Spaniards? Much of like and dislike in life's journey is determined prenatally. On the other hand, the American women in the Philippines maintain an att.i.tude toward the natives quite like that of their British sisters in Hongkong toward the Chinese, and in Calcutta toward the natives there. The social status of an American woman who marries a native--I myself have never heard of but one case--is like that of a Pacific coast girl who marries a j.a.p.... But look at the other side of the picture. When an American man marries a native woman, he thereafter finds himself more in touch with his native 'in-laws'

it is true, but correspondingly, and ever increasingly out of touch with his former a.s.sociations. This is not as it should be. But it is a most unpleasant and inexorable fact of the present situation."--Blount, pp. 554-555.

[206] "We should either stop the clamour or stop the American capital and energy from going to the Islands. After an American goes out to the Islands, invests his money there, and casts his fortunes there, unless he is a renegade, he sticks to his own people out there. Then the Taft policy steps in and bullyrags him into what he calls 'knuckling to the Filipinos,' every time he shows any contumacious dissent from the Taft decision reversing the verdict of all racial history--which has been up to date, that wheresoever white men dwell in any considerable numbers in the same country with Asiatics or Africans, the white man will rule."--Blount, pp. 438-439.

[207] Blount, p. 105.

[208] Written September 15, 1913.

[209] The editor of an American newspaper published at Zamboanga has accurately described the att.i.tude of the native press as follows:--

"We have often referred to the great opportunity prevailing for the native press of the Philippines to aid the material and political uplift of the inhabitants. Conditions of race and dialect naturally conduce to facilitate this work for the native journalist. With few exceptions, however, the native press has persistently obstructed every effort toward general amelioration of the condition of the ma.s.ses. Conspicuous efficiency in good government has furnished a target for its denunciation. Truth has been garbled, motives maligned, race hatred kindled, falsehood fabricated and sedition practised, encouraged and lauded. The public school system, the intrinsic foundation to free inst.i.tutions, inst.i.tuted under the military regime and constantly expanded under the civil regime, has been interpreted by the native press as a pernicious effort to oppress the ma.s.ses by the enforcement of a foreign language upon them. The efforts to stamp out cattle disease and for the restoration of draft animals have been maligned as being oppressive to personal liberty. The sanitary measures which have so renovated the very atmosphere of the archipelago have ever been the mark of derision and violent attack. When cholera and plague have claimed their hundreds daily, efforts at prevention have persistently met with opposition from the native press. Officials with the most unselfish motives have been persistently insulted, slandered and maligned. The American flag, which is the only emblem giving a.s.surance of safety in the home, peace from abroad, liberty of opportunity, and equality and justice before the law, has been constantly smeared with the opprobrium of a malignant, filthy native press. Progress of the Philippine people as a whole is r.e.t.a.r.ded."

[210] On March 15, 1913, the a.s.sistant Executive Secretary had occasion to write the following letter to the Governor of Capiz:--

"My Dear Governor Altavas: I have to acknowledge receipt of your communication of the 28th ultimo, complaining against the Justices of the Peace of Jamindan and Tapaz for failing 'to salute' you when visiting said towns, although your visits were frequently announced in advance, and the Justices of the Peace were in town at the time.

"The theoretical principles of democracy prevailing under this government do not require such courtesies as a matter of law. It may be that, as your letter intimates, the Justice of the Peace should, as a matter of courtesy, call on you when you are in his town, but failure to do so in no wise const.i.tutes ground for complaint, and were we to take your complaint seriously and cause it to be investigated, we would be indeed in serious danger of receiving a lecture on democracy from either the Judge of the Court of First Instance or the Justice of the Peace himself.

"I believe that, under the circ.u.mstances, the best course to be taken in the matter would be for you to withdraw the complaint, for even if the Justices concerned admit the charges, no administrative action against them would be possible.

"Very sincerely, (Signed) "Thomas Cary Welch (Active Executive Secretary)"

[211] Munic.i.p.al building.

[212] Literally "authorities," by which is meant munic.i.p.al officials.

[213] Blount, pp. 296-297.

[214] This is a rather open threat to fight.

[215] Corrupt Spanish for "very bad American Government."

[216] "Const.i.tutional Government in the United States," by Woodrow Wilson, Ph. D., LL. D., pp. 52-53.

[217] I am indebted to the Honourable Gregorio Araneta, secretary of finance and justice, for a summary statement of the judicial reforms effected since the American occupation, on which this statement is largely based.--D. C. W.

[218] The engineer officer of the province.