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 peo- 

 ple's welfare most at heart may con- 

 gratulate the Filipino on this state of 

 mind. Give him a piece of land to cul- 

 tivate, 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 Phil- 

 ippines, not a proletariat, but every- 

 where 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 val- 

 ley 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 knowl- 

 edge 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. 



THE AMERICAN PURPOSE IS TO 

 DIGNIFY LABOR 



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 PRESENT WORK 



The latest reports obtainable from the 

 province show that we have about 2,000 

 primary schools in operation. These 



