THE MODERN FILIPINO.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 25 January 1911, Page 2

THE MODERN FILIPINO.

A correspondent of "The Times," who is contributing a series of articles on the Philippines under United States governinent, refers to the education policy. He .says : "'The first object of education in the -,* Phillippines is, of course, to make the Vilipinos an English-speaking people. /'simultaneously their characters are to be iuilb"'iip, and they are to be instructed ,ii the beauties of Occidental civilisation in general. But 'a Filipino's ideal of education . . .is one which fits .iim to be a gentleman among his peers,' and any American will tell you that the first effect of' education on a Filipino is to make him consider himself too good to do any work. In Spanish days the great mass of the natives went barec'ooted, with their shirt-tails outside their pantaloons (if they wore any), and ohey stood aside for any white man whom they met. To-day the streets, not only of the city of Manila, but of ;he Christian Isalnds, are thronged with tapper youths clad in immaculate .vhite, with high collars and faultless veckties, with shoes hot uncomonly of patent leather, and with well-oiled hair, .vhich, in most of their otherwise imjccupied moments, they are combing .vith the aid of a pocket hand-mirror. These youths do not stand aside for my white man, and least for any Americans. In them at least democratic docrine has borne fruit.

"In considering whether it is worth il ve must bear in mind that the future A the Philippine Islands, if they are to have any worthy future, 'depends on the ievelopment of their natural resources. The problem is fundamentally an agricultural problem ; and the one thing foi .vhich the high-collared, paten-leather-ihod product of American education has •omplete. contempt is' anything in the orm of agricultural labour. "On the other hand, the Filipino ,/outh, given the chance, develops undeliable aptitude for many .crafts. He is :ommonly a clever draughtsman end mer :hanic, and makes an admirable, chaufreur or driver of an electric train, showng a steadiness of nerve in critical moments at least equal to that of the white man. The policy of the civil Goernment has been, and is, to employ lative assistants as largely as possible n all departments, and where six years igo there were more American employees n the "Government service than Filipinos, there are now nearly ' N 2QOO mori Filipinos.' than Americgns.„ All authoriies agree in saying that, while (as frorr. uialogy one would expect) they' show a ack of originality and initiative, thej ire extremely quick-.to learn and to imitate, and so long as the work'" is congenial need only general guidance to make admirable office hands and clerica-' issistants.

"That the Filipino especial!-- when :here is an admixture ,though slight, of Spanish or ;otherr European blood, is capable of developing into an individual af a very high type, there is abundant evidence ; as.in the examples of many of he men now consicpous .in the public life of the islands.. These men, however, were not educated under the American regime. The chief,-though; is. we shall see, not the only fruit of hat, however reluctant one may be to ;ay it, • in its influence on the national haracter is this crowd of dandified and se-collared youths in the streets of Manila. More hopeful, it may be, for the future is the influence which is snowing itself in the women—in the school teachers scattered through the m'ovinces, and the trained nurses, —but ; n them it is a case of.sesnon res, laudj,nda, Asa factor in moulding thenational character or destiny their operation can only be gradual. It is these /ouths who [ represent the new Filipinism. They ,are showing great aptitude for (joliticsr especially in the trickier and 'ess admirable details 'of politics as ualerstood in the United States. Most :>f them dream of being great orators and '.eaders of men. Few, probably, would be scrupulous about the means by which they attained their ambition; for, by frequent confession of their own leaders, they are unstable in political principle ind easily corrupted."