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Show H ? .- I Tie Truth About I So-Called Wild t , Tribes oi The P Philippines I JBy Jose P. Malenclo ot he Philip- pine Press Bureau, Washington,) Some twenty Filipino mountaineers, mountain-eers, picked up from the wlldVof Luton Lu-ton and exhibited In their sylvan attire at-tire in the St. Louis exposition have drawn nioro crowds than all the other oth-er exhibits featuring Filipino civilisation civili-sation and havo given America the 'impression that tho Philippines aro a jungle teeming With naked, longhaired, long-haired, head hunting people whose creed and culture find their summum manifestation in tho prlmltlvo bow and arrow. A number of money-mak-k ing adventurers have shortly after toured tho country, taking with them .the self samo alleged samples ot Philippine humanity and have exhibited exhib-ited them here and there within the confines of this republic, charging " Jf 20 cents or thereabouts for a "look- Mj: see." Naturally here was something W super-novel to tho oyes of tho cuiio- I loving American, especially in these ' ' days when naked Sioux- and Hotten tots have become a rare sight Indeed, In-deed, And In proportion as tho cof-'' cof-'' fers of tho exhibitors wero being fct . filled to overflowing American opln- ftk ion of tho Filipinos and .things Phil- Si? ". ippine was being enlightened nega tively. A little later a couple of cute Ut-; Ut-; tie volumes appeared in tho book- world and were systematically advertised, adver-tised, repoto from the tint let M the last with pictures ot naked, longhaired long-haired Ncrltos in the actual poso ot releasing an arrow from the string 'of their bow or terpstchorlng to tho tune ot'the venerable gong! Simultaneously with these exhibitions exhibi-tions Philippine independence was bo ing agitated. Intcnlonally or unintentionally, unin-tentionally, maliciously or otherwise those exhibitors did more harm to the Philippine cause than all the other oth-er campafgns against It launched In open ground. Since then the American press havo written editorial after editorial alleging al-leging unpleasant terms that Independence Inde-pendence cannot be the birthright ot a people primitive In all respects and still In tho ago ot. savagery. Thus, even In the hey-dey ot tho twentieth century when distance Is said to havo been annihilated by the wonderful creations of men's minds whon peoples peo-ples are supposed to be fairly well acquainted with the wondrous transformations trans-formations ot nationalities faring else where than in one's Immediate environment, envir-onment, when happenings from one pari ot this planet are communicable to all other parts with lightning like rapidity even In this wonderfully enlightened age, there are such things as an entire nation being flagrantly misrepresented and the misrepresentations misrepresen-tations taken for granted. What, then, Is the truth about the so-called wild tribes or the Philippines? Philip-pines? Aro they savages Irretrievably? Irretriev-ably? Arc they Busceptlble of being civilized? Must their presence prevent pre-vent the recognition of tho righteous claims of tho Philippine nationalism? The following facts nro submitted to candid Americans: MJMHKIt IS SMALL Thero are about GOO, 000 pagan peoples In the Philippines. This number Includes every non-Christian' tribe from Luzon to Mindanao. It Is one-twentieth of the entlro population popula-tion which Is 10,500,000. Whon, therefore, writers speak of a people just being redcomed from the abyBS ot savagery, the statement applies only to the Insignificant portion of the tntlre population of the archlpel-ego. archlpel-ego. It does not apply to the other portion, tho ten million civilized and up to the minute Christian Filipinos, transformed Into mediaeval Europeans Europ-eans long beforo the Americans camo today fast being Americanized and actually conducting a republican form ot government unbaffled by its intricacies. Yet the general impression impres-sion ot America is that all the inhabitants inhab-itants of the Philippines are as fresh from the paleolithic stage as a newly hatched chick Is from its egg. The most numerous of the socnlled pagan tribes aro the Igorots of Luzon Lu-zon and the Moros ot Mindanao. Tho latter, however, aro Mohammedans and have a civilization of their own. EXPKKTS IX SOIL CULTIVATIOX In Intensive cultivation of tho soil in the way the Igorots cultivate tho steepest mountain side this world and age have yet to look for their superiors. Ono has to boo tho rice terraces ot tho sub province ot Ifu-gap, Ifu-gap, rising like giant steps up the sides of tho steep mountain canyons to a height of three thousand feet or more, it ho must reallzo tho colossal colos-sal Industrial undertaking, the marvelous mar-velous engineering accomplishments of those simple people. In the words of an American writer, those, terraces "present an inspiring sight; nnd viewed In connection with tho prlmltlvo prlm-ltlvo conditions ot tho people there Is nothing comparable to thorn In the world. Tho pyramid of Cheops or tho tallest 'skyscraper' In Now York would nppcnr Insignificant bosldo the clour-cut, Herculean achievements of the ancestor worshipping Igorote." FAST UKIXtS CI.VILl.KI) Tho pacific conquest ot tho mountain moun-tain peoplo ns well as ot tho Moros of Mindanao is fast being achieved. Head hunting Is" now' a dim vision of tho past. Tho Moro bandits of tho sonth havo settled down. The land where Pershing first mado his name h being completely transformed. Tho creed of Jesus Christ is enlisting proselytho nftor proselyth, ulnlo trade and Intercourse ro hur :ug with their stimulating- touch. The summer capital ot tho Philippine Philip-pine Islnnds (Ilagulo) is locatod In the heart of tlio mountains of northern north-ern Luzon where Igorots abound. ! Dally multitudes of them can ho Been coming down from their lioinca among am-ong tho Pine trees bringing tho products pro-ducts of tholr plantations to tho market mar-ket buying of tho Christian Filipinos Filipin-os whatever objects attract tholr taste, and otherwlso mingling peacefully peace-fully with tho visitors from tho lowlands. low-lands. Dally, they can bo soon serving serv-ing as wnlters in hotels, employed as mossongors and salesmen In stores, or acting as gluldes through tho fast nom of tho mountains. In recognition ot their civic virtue, the charter of tho city provides that thero shall bo an advisory council to bo composed compos-ed of Igorots. Igorots play baseball and tennis; they send their children to school. Many of them aro Intermediate Interme-diate graduates nnd many moro aro in tho high schools. Ono Igoiot Is about to rccolve his degree of Doctor of Medlcino In tho University of tho Philippines. TIiobo who nro Christians Chris-tians bear American unmes, (such us Clapp, Irving, etc.) nnd nro proud of It. Tho same piocess goes on simultaneously simul-taneously In tlio fertile Island ot Mindanao and elsewhere where noa- Christian peoples can bo found. Thousands of pesos nro appropriate.! overy year from thu pockets of tho ten million Christian Filipinos and spent for the nnn-Ctirlstlan tribes In tho form of schools, hospitals and agricultural ag-ricultural implements. Teachois doctors and nurses from all over th Inlands nro carrying a message of goodwill wherever they go. Tho mm-Chrlstiau mm-Chrlstiau peoples nro actually ropio-sented ropio-sented In the national luglslatuio ot tho Philippine Islands, there being ono Igorot and two Moio congressmen congress-men In that body. "Wo aro one In spirit and ono In blood," said tho 'foremost citizen of the Moro peoplo, Senator Hadji Hutu. si'nsciuin:i to tiii: LIIiF.ltTV LOAN In tho second Liberty loan, tho Igorotcs alonu subscribed $17000. They gav It for tho "Great white Apo beyond the seas (Woodrow Wll-Bon). Wll-Bon). n free man fighting for treo men." hey gave It on tho plea that tho Great Apo was asking thum all i a1 m "to help him win freedom for all , H tho world." Consider the extremo H poverty of theso bravo and promlslni; H people; consider their distance from H tho arena of conflict; think of tholr jH mounlalu huts and of tholr scanty H knowledge ot world affairs; and then ' H omnHuro tho BPlendldness of tho gift ' oaafl by tho spirit back of It- H It will surely bo a question of on- H ly a decade or so when the non-Chris- H tioii peoples or tho Philippines will H bo completely won over to thu ,vay.i H and manners ot civilized races. B B Ing immuned from modlaovnl Intlu- 9 ences, nnd bulng reared exclusively i tS5 under tho ambient air ot American- i tpfo ism, they ate, destined to bo a nibs'. Wet, vigorous element In tho processes if l ig Philippine natloiialiBiu. trW |
