TIIE SUNDAY OREGOXIAX, TORTLAND, MAY 3. 1903.
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WONDERFUL PROGRESS EN EDUCATION, AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURES AND GOON CLEANLINESS
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When Manila fell then for the first
time since the world began did a na
tion flushed with victory and mis
tress of the fate of conquered mil.
lions, turn her face from earth to
heaven, and, catching some of the
divine charity that Inspired the good
Samaritan set herself to lift a sub
ject people to a higher plane of prog
ress. Though the hand extended by
her In amity and brotherly love was
roughly thrust aside by those she
sought to aid, she clung to her policy
of disinterested, benevolence with a
tenacity born of conviction. She knew
her neighbor, and while the smoke of
battle still hung over the hills and
valleys of the Philippines and every
town and barrio was smoking with
rebellion she replaced the military
with civil regime and on the smolder
derlng embers of Insurrection planted
civil government.
JAMES F. SMITH,
Governor-General of the Philippines.
American Army. The town became
well governed, and the officials learned
rapidly in the practical school of af
fairs. This method is typical of the manage
ment of municipal affairs throughout
the Philippines. No phase of the gov
ernment of the Islands can as yet be
termed popular for the franchise has not
been extended to more than 16 per cent
of the people. Only those who can speak
English or Spanish, who paid taxes or
had held office In the past are at
present allowed to vote, the policy being
to extend the franchise as the natives
become more enlightened. They are
given every possible latitude In their con
trol of the towns and are pulled up only
when It is found Imperatively necessary-
The line Is closely drawn between the
municipal, provincial and national gov
ernment In the Islands. In the various
colonies the same principle of allowing
the general election of native governors
and other oftlcera and entrusting them
with the management of affairs has been
followed. They have been closely super
vised and whenever they have gone
wrong or acted foolishly they have been
called to account. They have been taught
and have shown a general readiness to
profit by that Instruction. Finally the
national privilege of choosing a Legisla
ture has been given to the natives and
In this they have shown themselves both
interesting and unexpectedly rational.
CONSERVATIVE
LEGISLATURE
THE election of the Philippine Legisla
ture and the course ii pursued during
the session that is just closed has proven
0 to the world that tho native has ability
of his own as a politician and can play
to both the gallery and pit at the same
time. The nearest approach to the draw
ing of party lines In the election was the
distinction of Progresistas of Federalists,
who avor the policy of the United
States and are willing to wait until fit
ness is proven before assuming unaiJea
the lines of government, and on the other
hand the Nationalista party, which
favors Immediate self-government by the
natives.
This party first appeared as the Partido
Nationalista Immedlatista or the Imme
diate National party. This showed pop
ularity and the lead was followed by
a party known as the Partido Nation
alista Urgentlsslma. or the most urgent
nationalist party. Not to be outdone, a
third party sprang forth and called itself
the Partido Nationalista Kxplosivista, or
tne explosively national party. This lat
ter party was as strongly national as it
was possible for men of any faith to de-
nominate themselves, but all three were
loud In their demands for immediate gov-'
eminent by the people who voted, and
those people wanting to do the governing
voted for them and they were elected.
. It so happens that if the reins of gov
ernment were given into the hands of
the present voting constituency of the
Philippines there would be no approach
to popular government, for but 15 per cent
of the male population have the franchise
at the most -liberal figures. The native,
however, has not yet grasped the Idea of
every man living under a government
having a voice in it, for there has always
been a ruling and a ruled class and he
cannot understand it yet. He cites with
the utmost seriousness the fact that
there are twice as many educated
Filipinos as there are offices to fill and
urges that there is opportunity for even
rotation among the government class.
The big idea has not as 'yet sunk In.
The explosively urgent. Immediate na
tionalists having been elected upon their
ardent declarations, became, upon the
meeting of the Legislature a very dif
ferent sort of 'men. They realized the
fact, that they were being measured by
the United States as to their ability as
a deliberative body and that their future
development and even their future ex
istence depended upon how they should
deport themselves. They were then play
ing for the favor of the wise men in
governmental affairs with whom rested
their futures and the fiery talk of the
campaign subsided. The Philippine Leg
islature became a dignified, even con
servative deliberative body. It made
good beyond the fondest expectations of
students of Philippine affairs who hope
to see a great nation built upon the site
of centuries of inactivity.
The Anti-imperialistic League origi
nating in Boston has long agitated the
idea of immediate Independence of the
Filipino regardless of the lack of unity;
language, enlightment in the presence
of the old Spanish idea of class dis
tinction and a lack of an understand
ing of any sort of government with a
possibility of permanence. Fiske War
ren, representing that league, was on
the spot as a lobbyist. Dr. Dominldor
Gomez, a radical firebrand orator, de
livered a most Impassioned speech in
favor of immediate Independence but
by an almost unanimous vote it was
stricken from the record and the body
went quietly about the deliberation of
serious affairs. The Anti-imperialistic
League, which has done much to keep
up the spirit of unrest In the islands
by holding out a hope of Immediate In
dependence with every Presidential
election,- was entirely ignored. The
first act of the Legislature was a vote
of thanks to the United States for past
favors and an appropriation of 1,003,
000 pesos for public schools. The
action of the Legislature shows the
people to be learning their lesson with
wonderful rapidity.
The death rate has always been
something frightful in the Philippines.
This is not so much due to the climate
as to unsanitary conditions, in Manila
60 per cent of the babies, die before
they have reached the age of one year.
It is a densely populated city prac
tically without sewerage and taking'
water from the Mariquina River, a
stream that is lined with villages that
observe no precaution against pollut
ing it. Before the end of the present
year, however, a modern sewer system
will be in course of operation and a
water system bringing pure water
from the Interior will place the city on
an entirely different basis. It is ex- I
pected that next year the death rate
will be reduced to half of what it Is
at present.' Countless artesian wells
are accomplishing for the interior j
towns what a water system wili do for
Manila. American machinery makes
them possible. A striking example of
what may be accomplished is euuwn ;n
tho results that have been brought
about in connection with smallpox. In
Manila the natives . formerly died like
flies with it, but last year there was
riot a single death reported from this
cause. In a surrounding section of
country where the average toll to
smallpox was 6000 a year not a soul
died from this cause. In a single year
2,000;000 vaccinations have been made.
These lives are being saved outright
through American occupation, and with
sanitary methods Introduced the total
will run into the millions In a few
years. In addition healttirul conditions
will go far toward developing and
strentlienlng the race.
Before the" American occupation
there was little done toward such Im
peratively necessary worn as the iso
lation of lepers. They were known to
exist in considerable numDers through
out the islands, mingling freely with
their fellows and increasing the num
ber of sufferers. Instances were known
where they were stoned and driven
out of villages as in biblcal times.
Now, however, a colony has been es
tablished at Culion, a Deautlful and
healthful Island, and all those affected
are gradually being concentrated It
Is expected that in all there will be
found to be some 3000 cases of leprosy,
but when these are isolated contagion
will cease, and as those affected are
short lived, the disease may be wiped
out in the course of a few years.
AGRICULTURAL
OPPORTUNITY
THE greatest blow that tho islands
have suffered since the beginning of
the American occupation has been the
rinderpest, a disease among the domes
tic animals that carried off the greater
part of them and left the farmer with
out a beast of burden to carry or drag
his load. It has been found Impos
sible to replace the native carabas by
any cattle from the outside, as these
when Introduced mostly die before
becoming used to the climate. Amer
can machinery Is, however, being
rapidly introduced and is taking ihe
place of these domestic animals. It is
no uncommon sight to see a traction
engine drawing a gang of plows or an
Amelcan harvester threshing rice.
Agriculture has been materially in
terfered with because of this loss, but
the figures show that the value of the
export crop for the past six years ha3
been regularly 50 per cent greater than
H ever was during the SpaaUh repino.
In the olden times the avers go export
amounted to about J23.j0O.OU0 In value
while the average for the past six
years has been 132,300,000. This Is not
an Inconsiderable item as an Immedi
ate result of Yankee thrift, for so
short a period, and in the face of disas
ter such as is rarely met.
The islands are valuable primarily
because of the fertility of the soil and
upon this basis must be built their
future. - They are located in the tropics
and have a soil of unusual fertility.
India, China, Japan and other sections
of the Far East have been farmed until
the soils are exhausted, yet the mouths
are to be fed and the Philippines are
virgin and can be made productive.
There is an unlimted market for every
thing that may be produced, for In
this part of the world, In which lives
the bulk of Its population, there is a
market at the very door.
There Is a forest primeval in the
Philippines that covers an area greater
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than New England and offers hard
woods and ordinary building timber of
quality and in quantity. China is badly
in need of railroad ties and all sorts of
structural materials, - as Is Australia,
and in the Philippines these are ready
for the axe. The Government has
taken charge "of the lands and Is ad
ministering them from the standpoint
of scientific forestry, allowing only the
mature trees to be cut and as a result
there will be possible an annual yield
of ripe timber that will but improve
the forests as the years pass.
Sugar cultivation is hot deemed the
best thing for the future of the island3,
as it will lead to a centralization of
power in a wealthy few and the degre
dation of the masses. As the United
States is carrying on the work In the
Philippines from the standpoint of the
philanthropist it is rhougnt best to en
courage the tendency toward increas
ing the numbers of small farmers who
own their own land anJ work it. rather
than the big planter. In the mean
time the United States puts up the
tariff- bar against the introduction of
Philippine sugar which the local manu
facturer maintains he needs for his
own protection. Tho friends of the
Islands in return say that they would
like sale In this country for an amount
of sugar so limited as to produce no
effect on the market, tne object being
the Immediate limited financial aid to
the archipelago. This has not yet been
granted. Hemp, tobacco, rice and other
small crops are regarded as navlng a
more direct bearing upon the future of
the native and offering him greater
profits and better living.
When the Philippines were first
taken over by the United 3tates a
policy for their control and flnul dis
position was mapped out by President
McKlnley. That policy looked to the
government of the Filipino for his good
rather than his exploitation of and to
the gradual extention to him of self
government as he proved himself
capable of It. There has since been
little advocacy on the part of any
party for any change of that policy and
it has been iiioly adhered to and it
is the only thing looked for in the
future. There have been ttlts one way
and another as to methods and time,
but the principle has not baen changed.
The insular bureau of the War Depart
ment keeps l'.s finger upon tho native
pulse and when the right beat is folt
the boon will be. granted; b'U compe
tence must first be proven.
When the- educational system that has
been inaugurated, primary and political,
has ground for 30 years it is held that a
new generation with undreamed of pos
sibilities will be in charge of affairs. It
will be an educated English-speaking
generation and the whole of the islands
will have been drawn together by the
bond of a common language and a com
mon Interest. The educated class as at
present existing will have been submerged
and have ceased to exist as a ruling class
aside from the masses of the people. The
virus of selfgovernment by the people will
have sunk deep and In this Isolated cor
ner of the world in the heart of one of
the oldest races the earth has known will
be produced a form of government de
veloped to its utmost by a viril young
race of the West. Such a race as the
Filipinos educated into the operation of
a republican form of government will be
a novelty that will lend interest to the
deliberation of students of government.
The idea of the public a's to who bears
the expense of the multitude of service
that is being done the Filipinos is er
roneous In the extreme. The fact stands
that the greater part of the burden rests
upon the islands themselves and the ex
penditure Is merely guided by the Insular
Bureau. The United States does not pay
a cent toward the maintenance of the
public schools; toward sanitation, toward
Industrial development. All these ex
penses are met out of funds raised by
the islands themselves. The- service of
the Americans in this .'respect is merely
in the administration of affairs. They
show the people how to get the right
things for themselves and do not extend
their aid so far as to create a crutch
that will go toward preventing the natives
from walking alone.
WHO PAYS THE
FREIGHT?
THE taxes out of which the wonderful
transformation Is being brought about
are, however, not so heavy upon the
masses of the people as were those undor
which they labored during the Spanish
occupation and for 250 years made so
little progress. The wealthy, who escaped
under the Spanish regime are more
reavily taxed now than then, but the
masses pay less. There seems no ques
tion as to the respective benefits.
The expense to the United States is,
however, sufficiently great and her sacri
fice sufficiently appalling to entitle her to
credit for a monumental and unselfish
work. There are maintained in the Philip
pines 12,000 soldiers. There is the neces
sity in the United States for maintaining
a standing Army under any conditions
and as there are no other battles to fight
these men had as well be in the islands
as In Fort Sam Houston. The additional
expense of keeping them there over what
it is at home is, however, about $5,000,000 a
year. Aside from this there is the sacri
fice of some thousands of soldier lives in
battle and from disease that are to he
charged up to the Filipino account. The
soldiers were glad, however, to take their
chance in the jungles, for it gave the op
portunity for a fight, the first lqve of
the Anglo-Saxon and the soldier's glory.
Some lost in the gamble, but not grudg
ingly. There is the first $20,000,000 paid to
Spain that must be charged up to tho
Islands. There are $5,000,000 in the ac
count in a direct expenditure in the pur
chase of the estates owned by the Cath
olic Church. This is another example
of the magnificent accomplishments of
the United States for the Filipino people.
On these church lands dwelt 60,000 of
them as virtual serfs, while today they
are homesteadlng these same lands in
small farms and becoming property citi
zens. It Is a part of the great, plan
to put the land In the hands of tho
people and make them an independent
agricultural nation.
A considerable sum is being spent at
Manila for fortification, but this may not
be charged to the Island because of the
fact that It is done In the establish
ment of our security In connection with
the naval base at Sublg Bay in the East,
for which this country has striven for
many years.
AWAKENING
T
them.
HE Philippines are awakening to an
appreciation of what is being done for
The Americans are no longer dis
trusted and regarded as tyrants against
whom eternal vigilance must be main
tained in an effort to avoid oppression.
The little brown people are putting their
hands in those . of the busy Yankee and
asking to bo allowed to follow where
he leads. At the latest election of gov
ernors about half of those who were
elected stood on a platform following
the plan of tho Americans for inde
pendence only after it was earned and
not for one or more generations. Tho
idea that a sale of the Islands Is pos
sible Is finding always less place in tho
mind of the native. He is coming,
through oft-repeated reassurance, to
have absolute confidence in the sincerity
of his protector and tiir.t the only thing
that will prevent him standing ultimately
as a citizen of an ' independent country
will be his own declaration in favor of
remaining under the same guidance pcr-
' manently.
All these tilings have been done in ten
years. Since chaos has been brought
into order there has elapsed but half
that time. Yet a populous nation' is be
ing adapted to a new mould and is al
ready assuming its shape. This In. spito
of the fact that the development of na
tions is considered an age-long process
beset with difficulties that only great
time can remove. The rapid growth hot
house method has never before been
tried, but the indications point to the
accomplishment of one of the greatest
tasks of the nge in record time. America
has proven ' herself original and on a
bigger scale than ever before in her ap
plication of national phllantrophy. Has
there ever been given a bigger push to
world advancement?
EUROPE GROWS TIRED OF ITS GYPSIES
Conference Meets In June at Berne, to Get Rid of Strollers.
A
LWAYS a wanderer on the face of
tho earth, the Gypsy is once more
to face persecution.
The united effort of Europe is to be ex
erted to drive from the continent the
mysterious, nomadic race of beings, whose
life has been the inspiration of great
literature and stirring music.
"No home but the road, no life but
pleasure, no roof but the sky," the
Gypsy's dream of happiness is no longer
to be realized in Europe, for next June
a conference of representatives of all the
powers will meet at Berne to decide on
the best means of getting rid for all time
of the picturesque bands of strolling peo
ple whose history goes way back to the
most remote ages.
It Is a need for a universal system of
policing the continent that has forced
repressive measures to be adopted against
the Gypsies.
Recent attacks, successful and unsuc
cessful, on the lives of monarchs have
fired the police of the continent to re
newed efforts to guard against anarchy.
No one ever accused the Gypsy of be
ing an anarchist. He is too Indolent, too
easy-going, to take an interest in poli
tics. He cares nothing about who gov
erns the country, or how tne wealth Is
distributed, as long as he can go from
place to place in his decorated wagon
and get enough to eat to keep life in him
self, his wife, his children, his horse and
dogs.
For the rest, give him but .he sunshine
and the open air; wealth can be dis
tributed any way at all, unjustly or
Justly; monarchs can be good or bad, he
cares not at all: he has neither country
nor politics. His last thought would be
to take life as a means of bringing dif
ferent political conditions.
But there is no doubt at all that the
camp of the Gypsy with it's easy iree
dom, its rough good fellowship, has often
been a shield for the desperate criminal.
The band never examines too closely into
the comings and goings of those who com
pose It. The make-up of the company Is
ever changing and a newcomer is little
marked as long as he be orderly, and will
do his share of the little work tnat Is
performed in these migratory homes.
Hence the escaping criminal, the murder-contemplating
anarchist, who would
find himself watched in the cities, at the
railroad stations, boat landings, etc., and
his coming to the home of royalty re
ported In advance can make his way In
Gypsy camp with only small danger of
detection. The progress may be slower,
but the result Is surer.
It is a stern remedy that is about to
be applied, merely because in isolated In
stances the criminal has- taken advantage
of the free llfo of the Gypsy camp to use
it for a cloak. But the order has gone
forth, and the attempt to be inaugurated
next June will be the most systematic
ever known.
The task will be an enormous one, for
the pleasure-loving brown man, with his
love for music and bright colors, "his un
conventlonality in dress, his wild cry for
personal liberty, has spread all over the
continent. It is said that there are no
less than 750,000 In Europe, and. It must oe
remembered, that this enormous total has
been reached In spite of the fact that for
a large part of his history the Gypsy
has been an object of suspicion and of
persecution in many countries.
In consequence of the unwillingness of
the Gypsy to give statistics about him
self It has not been easy to ascertain the
totals in the various countries. But in
anticipation of the conference at Berne
a careful effort has been made to get
figures, and the following do not v. y
markedly from the exact totals:
Austro-Hungary, 300,000: Turkey. 100.
000; Greece, 10.000; Bosnia, 20,000; Russia,
150,000; Italy 50,000: Portugal and Spain,
200.000; France, 10.000; England, '5000.
In this motley aggregation is included
the descendants of a dozen races, for the
Gypsy, though he preserves certain char
acteristics, is really the composition of
the world's lovers of complete freedom.
Perhaps at first there was a people, a
separate and distinct nation. Many au
thorities agree that there, was. Some say
the first of the race were descendants of
the Saracens put to flight by the wars
of the Crusaders.
Tne most tenable theory, however, is
the one which places the original cypsies
in India, and proclaims them descended
from the caste of the Pariahs. Scorned
at home, and held to be the ldwest, they
longed for a condition in life where they
could be free of the scorn and exactions
of those above them. Then some of the
daring packed their tents and started on
their long pilgrimages. Others followed,
and the Gypsy proved happy. Ho had lit
tle, but he needed little. Freedom's joy
made up to him for exposure and fre
quent hunger. Moreover, he had come
from little and was content.
But by a curious contradiction, though
he fled to get away from his native coun
try, the Gypsy held to the native custom
tenaciously. He scorned to learn the
language and customs of those whose do
main he traversed. Ho remained clan
nish, lie guarded his own tongue; what
little religion he believed he continued to
practice. In vain various governments
as a solution of 'the problem sought to
educate them, to make citizens of the
dark-skinned wanderers, to force them to
pay taxes and become part of the civil
ized communities. The Gypsy was loyal
to his life in the open; he smiled alike
at promises or menace.
His cart was his cradle, his home, his
hospital and his bier.
From the old tribal days descended a
fixed belief in the authority u, the head
of the house. The father is master oZ the
faintly, and over the fathers reign the
chief of the band, whose dictates are
obeyed, and who has the power of in
flicting punishments cither by person
al chastisement, quarantine or banish
ment from the camp, the kind of pen
alty depending largely. 1 course,, on
the gravity of the crime.
The Gypsy child, while getting only
the teaching of the mother and that
only until the age of 7, is far from
being the hopeless illiterate that might
be Imagined. The Gypsy Is a natural
born dancer, musician and seeress.
Clzst. in his famous rhapsodies, has
wonderfully committed to music the
wild harmonies loved of this people
that dwells in greatest numbers In
Austro-Hungary.
Undoubtedly the concerted European
movement will drive large numbers
from the other side to this country,
Mexico and South America, there to
continue the. strolling life, which is
theirs by choice and from which no
man's dcereo can permanently turn
them. Kansas City Journal.