Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/70

Rh 48 The National Geographic Magazine of these men, it is apparent that what they really want here is a great body of unskilled labor, dependent for living upon its daily wage, willing to w 7 ork in great gangs, submissive to the rough handling of a "boss," and ready to leave home and family and go anywhere in the islands and to labor at day wages under conditions of hours and methods of labor set by their foreign employers.

Now the Filipino detests labor under these conditions. It is probably true that he will not work in a gang under a "boss," subjected to conditions of labor which appear to him unnecessarily harsh and onerous. And, looking at the matter in a broad sense, I am not sure but that those who have this people's welfare most at heart may congratulate the Filipino on this state of mind. Give him a piece of land to cultivate, especially if he can be assured that it is his own ; let him choose for his labor the cool dark hours of the early dawn and evening ; let him work in his own way, unharassed by an over- seer, and the Filipino will make a fairly creditable showing as a laborer. We must recognize these preferences of his. I believe we should accept them and should seek to develop here in the Philippines, not a proletariat, but everywhere the peasant proprietor. Where-ever we find the Filipino the possessor of his own small holding, there we find him industrious and contributing largely to the productive industry of the islands. I have in mind one beautiful little valley in the Ilokano country, famous for the quality of its tobacco, where the land-tax collections showed a year ago 2,200 small independent properties in a single municipality. Now it is with this peasant-proprietor class particularly in mind, and trusting in the outcome of our efforts to greatly increase this class, that we must lay out our course of primary instruction. If he has his small home and plot of ground, the possession of English, the ability to read, the understanding of figures and those matters of business which affect him, and even the knowledge of other lands and peoples will not draw him from his country life and labor. It will, I hope, increase his con- tentment as it increases his independ- ence, and as it raises his standard of life and comfort and increases his desires it will make him a better producer and a larger purchaser. Just now his mind is influenced by the evil example of his past instructors, who, while they taught him much that was good, taught him also that labor was vile.

But this attitude toward bodily labor which so disgusts Americans with the wealthy and more cultivated class ap- pears to be not a racial feeling, but a result of Spanish training. If we look at those Malayan tribes which escaped the Spanish civilization — the Igorrotes in the north and the Moros in the south — we find that the man skillful with his tool and cunning of hand en- joys additional reputation. Moham- medanism has never despised the artisan or the tradesman, and this may some- what account for it ; but, anyway, in Mindanao and Sulu one constantly finds that even the datto, or petty king, may be a famous forger of weapons and spend many hours each day beside his anvil and bellows. I have in mind a salip, or religious leader, on the island of Basilan whose fame is widespread as a builder of boats. These facts should encourage us to hope for a change of attitude on the part of the people toward learning and practicing manual trades, even though at the present time such teaching has met little favor with the Filipinos, the young elega?ite of Manila disdaining to soil his fingers with the grip of a tool.

The latest reports obtainable from the province show that we have about 2,000 primary schools in operation. These