Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 8.djvu/454

 438 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The morals of the padres do not in all cases bear close scrutiny. It may be said in extenuation that the people here do not look at moral relations in the same way that we do. Fornication is common, adultery rare. It may also be said that the padres are from the soil and of the soil they reflect social conditions as they actually are. There could be no greater mistake, however, than to attempt to tear the people away from their church con- nections ; they would have, at present, nothing to fall back on.

It is interesting in going about the island to hear the stories told by the natives and by our army people. To most of the latter the Filipino is an animal on a decidedly low plane a " nigger," or, at best, an " Indian." To show the natives' cruelty we were told how General Maximo killed in a most brutal manner a woman who did washing for the American soldiers. The duplicity of the native priests was set forth in a story about one of the well-known padres, a short distance from here, one who was always declaring his great friendship for the Americans. This man is said to have written a letter, now on record, in which he offered to the Filipino general to arrange a dance, take the American lieutenant a man fond of balls and women to the dance and leave him ; the insurgent army could then appear and do the rest. They tell also of the murder of five Spaniards who had come in times of peace to Juberan to set school affairs in order. This commission was met by a brass band and every indi- cation of friendliness, but as soon as they got well away from the shore a hundred bolomen rushed out of the tall grass and cut them down. The Spanish government burned the town to the ground. A funny story is told that throws light upon the organization of the insurgent forces. Two brothers presidentes of adjoining towns came out to join the insurgent army. One came dressed as a colonel, the other as a lieutenant. The colonel began to poke fun at his brother, and finally told him to go back and dress as a colonel. The brother did so and was accepted as a colonel. During the latter part of the war rank was determined almost altogether by the number of guns a man could command.

On the other hand, the natives that I heard had no love for our army. We were told that in one town the lieutenant in charge