7 CHAPTER XIII CHINESE OR FILIPINOS ? Two Views Strongly Advocated-Is the Chinese HO shall be the manual laborer in the Philippines? WH This is the question which divides Americans in Manila more than any other. On the one side stand the business men who have gone from America to invest capital or to manage property. Almost without exception they say that the islands cannot be properly developed by native labor; with them stand nearly every traveler and writer on the question from Juan de la Concepcion, two centuries back, to Archibald R. Colquhoun, one of the last men to appear in print on this theme. Opposed to this view, resolutely and by resolutions, stand Governor Taft, his associates on the Commission, Government contractors and others who see a menace in Chinese labor. Concepcion said of the Philippines: "Without the trade and commerce of the Chinese, these dominions could not have subsisted." "The Chinese are really the people who gave the natives the first notions of trade, industry and fruitful work," says another writer. "They taught them, among many other useful things, the ex traction of saccharine juice from the sugar cane, the manufacture of sugar, and the working of wrought iron. They introduced into the colony the first sugar mills with vertical stone crushers and iron boiling pans." Dr. Brown, already quoted, makes this comment: "It is difficult to find a rational reason for excluding the Chinese. They came to the Philippine Islands before either Spaniards or Americans. They are more numerous than we are. They have settled in homes and in longestablished houses. Through their intermarriage with the Filipinas, they are introducing a more virile strain into the native blood, so that the strongest type of character in the islands to-day is to be found in the ChineseFilipino mestizo. They are industrious, peaceful and law-abiding. They pay more taxes in proportion to their numbers than any other class. They could not be banished without throttling the trade of the islands, and they are so absolutely indispensable to industrial and commercial development that unless our American capitalists and employers can have the benefit of their labor, the Philippines can never return to the United States half of what they will cost us." Professor J. W. Jenks, who has studied the Chinese question in nearly every Oriental country, declares that in all these countries the Chinaman is clearly needed; indeed he has been practically indispensable to their industrial development. Professor Jenks opposes the prevailing opinion in America when he adds: "Moreover, he does not seem to have made the condition of the native worse; rather he has raised their standard of living. He has been willing to do the work that they were unwilling to do, and his diligence and thrift have supplied capital OPINION OF COLQUHOUN 131 and a consequent demand for the lighter, more pleasing kinds of labor, which they are willing to perform. Besides that, this greater prosperity has furnished a demand at higher prices for the products which they, as independent land-holders or fishermen, were willing to supply. The conditions in the Philippines seem likewise to demand outside assistance such as the Chinese can give better than any other people." Mr. Colquhoun, the English writer, is stronger in his statements, declaring without reserve: "There is no one who believes the Filipino to be capable, unaided, of doing anything for himself, and the history of Malayan peoples in every case supports this view. They are neither a commercial nor industrial race by instinct, and although agriculture has been their avocation, they employ to the present day the most primitive tools. All the progress made by Malayans in any of their habitats may be traced directly to Hindoo, Arab, or European influence, and especially to actual discipline on the part of the dominant race. The intense aristocratic prejudice with which the race is permeated lost its picturesqueness under the Spaniards through the destruction of tribal organization, but was retained and intensified in a contempt for commercial and industrial pursuits. The Chinese and their half-breeds became the merchants and petty traders of the islands and also the only skilled workmen. They swelled the ranks of local politicians and undermined the social and commercial fabric of society with their secret societies and their talent for intrigue." On the other hand, against all of these opinions the Philippine Commission stands with the Filipino. Its view of the problem may be gathered from this statement |