The Philippine Archipelago

Author(s): Jas. J. Walsh

Source: Records of the American Catholic Historical Society of Philadelphia ,
SEPTEMBER, 1901, Vol. 12, No. 3 (SEPTEMBER, 1901), pp. 362-368
Published by: American Catholic Historical Society

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44207801

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 BOOK REVIEWS.

The Philippine Archipelago.* A collection of geo-

graphical, statistical, chronological, and scientific data, re-
lating to the Philippine Islands, collected from former works,
or obtained by the personal observation and study of Fathers
of the Mission of the Society of Jesus in the islands. Wash-
ington : Government Printing Office, 1900.
This work consists of two volumes in large octavo of, re-
spectively, seven hundred and eight and four hundred and
seventy pages, containing nearly four hundred plates and one
illustration in colors. Besides, there is an atlas in folio con-
taining thirty maps, executed, under the direction of the
Jesuit Fathers in charge of the Observatory at Manila, by
native Filipino draughtsmen. The atlas has been adopted by
the United States Geodetic and Coast Survey as the basis for
the geographic and hydrographie study of the islands by the
United States government.
The whole work has been spoken of by the Assistant Secre-
tary of State as the Spanish Appendix of the report of the
Philippine Commission. It was written by the Jesuits in
charge of the observatory at Manila because when the first
Philippine Commission began its labors in the island they
found the Jesuit Fathers in possession of a lot of priceless
information that had been collected from books and by per-
sonal observation during a long period of years. Ultimately
any one who desires authentic information as to present
conditions in the Archipelago, its resources, the character of
the people, and the recent state of science therein must con-
sult this work. It is eminently complete and constitutes a

* El Archipiélago Filipino, Coleccion de Datos Geográficos, Estadísticos Cronológicos

y Científicos, Relativos al Mismo, Entresecados de Anteriores Obras ú Obtenidos car la
Propia Observación y Estudio por Algunos Padres de la Misión de la Compañía de Jesús
en Estas Islas. Washington : Imprenta del Gobierno, 1900.
362

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 Book Reviews. 363,

magnificent answer, providential in its opport

who fail to appreciate the work that the relig
been doing in the Philippines.
The personal reasons for the publication o
stated by Father Algué in the preface, relate t
" We were moved [such are his words] tę wr
above all, by the love we bear the country it
the true state of affairs in the islands to be better known and
be judged at its real value. We were further induced to write
by our love for Spain. History shows, and the world will
recognize it very clearly some day, that Spain has done a
great good to the Philippine Islands. The benefits conferred
have not been, we confess, without a mixture of disadvan-
tages. The good has, however, far outweighed the evil and
our gratitude cannot but be frank and outspoken. A still
further reason for the writing of the work was the circum-
stance that because of existing conditions in the Philippines
all the Jesuit missionaries in the Archipelago were united
together in Manila. This made it not only possible, but tempt-
ingly easy, to undertake the work, because men were gathered
together who had personal information from all parts of the
islands. During our reunion we were eminently desirous of
undertaking a work that would be at once of public utility
to the country and a mark of our feelings towards the new
government which since its installation in Manila has been
extremely kind to the Mission of the Society of Jesus, and
has conferred on the Jesuit establishments in the capital not
less consideration and generous assistance than did the govern-
ment of Spain before the change of régime
The Jesuits' gratitude has been nobly expressed in a book
that honors them and their benefactors. These volumes will
undoubtedly and deservedly take the place of acknowledged
authority in Philippine affairs.
Other reviews of the work have spoken mainly of the scien-
tific aspects of matters Philippine. It seems but proper that
the Records of the American Catholic Historical Society
should especially discuss the points of. historical interest that
the work contains. A new and very large field for the Catholic

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364 American Catholic Historical Society.

historian of America has been opened up by our acquisition of

the Philippines. Much of the history of the country is involved
in the history of the religious orders that have been at work
in the islands under whose care civilization and Christianity
have been introduced. While the natives of the country colo-
nized by the great commercial peoples have melted away before
the fierce sun of a civilization too advanced for them, the
Filipinos have in large numbers been raised out of their pris-
tine barbarism and yet have continued to increase in numbers.
The attempt has not been made to complete the full cycle of
the evolution of civilization in a generation or two. The
work of uplifting has been done gradually. Many things can
be misunderstood in the process. Many abuses seem to have
existed without good reason. The result, when we think of
the practically total disappearance of the Indian in America,
of the Maori in Australia, and the decline in numbers of the
Sandwich Islanders, cannot but impress us with the idea that
while there are ways and ways of introducing civilization, the
only true one is that which uplifts the native race and does
not merely wipe it out to replace it by the victorious Cau-
casian.
Two very interesting historical questions are involved in
the history of the inhabitants of the Philippines as we find
them at present. The first concerns the races of which the
people are composed and the manner of their emigration to
the islands. The basis of the population of the island is
undoubtedly the negritos who came originally from the Afri-
can continent. The Philippine Islands were populated from
other islands, especially from New Guinea, to which the black
race first came. Ethnologists, especially those who base their
opinion upon anatomical cranial peculiarities have disputed
this. Even Virchow for a while seemed to be of the opinion
that the basic race was not the black race. Gradually, how-
ever, the view has gained ground that the negritos of the
Archipelagos are true negroes.
After the black race the most important element of the
population and the most influential factor in the production
of mixed races is the Malay race, which came principally from

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 Book Reviews. 365
the other islands of the Indian ocean and from the Peninsula
of Farther India. The Malay elements in the population are
very difficult to determine, because the race is found almost
nowhere in a state of purity. The Mongolians from China
constitute a third important element of the native Filipino
population.
These elements are in certain parts of the islands so inex-
tricably intermingled that it is difficult to recognize the com-
ponent races.
A fourth and very interesting element of the population
is composed of the so-called " Moros," or Moors. These are
a mercantile people, who came to the islands some time before
their discovery by Magellan, though it is hard to decide just
when. They brought with them the Mohammedan religion,
succeeded in scattering it rather widely among the people,
and obtained positions of influence in all the islands to which
they gained entrance.
This question of the coming of the Moros, or Moors, to
the island; their work of proselytization, the commercial in-
stincts that led them, and the length of time it took them to
acquire their influence constitutes the second of the interesting
historical questions in Philippine affairs.
The religious history of the islands after the introduction
of Christianity is, of course, of extreme interest. It cannot
be written, nor be properly judged from the stand-point of the
outsider. How much religion has done to raise the Philip-
pine people can best be appreciated perhaps by realizing how
much church architecture has meant for the development of
sesthetical feelings among the people. In this, as in the work
of the Church in the Middle Ages in Europe, there has un-
doubtedly been a great and powerful, though silent and easily
negligible, power in action. Some of what this has meant can
be appreciated from the illustration of the present work, which
pictures churches in various parts of the Archipelago.
Thirty years ago Jules Ferry said that Germany by annex-
ing Alsace and Lorraine had not acquired new territory, but
merely an infecting sore on its body politic. How well the
Germans have healed that sore the world knows well. It

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366 American Catholic Historical Society.

would seem that the United States, in the acquisition of the

Philippine Islands, is put very much in the same case. Let
us hope that the result will be as happy. We have not suc-
ceeded in solving the race problem that was forced on
us by the result of the Civil War. Only now, after thirty-
five years, are we beginning to understand and to recognize
generally the terms of that problem. In the Philippines not
-one, but a series of new race problems have been acquired.
The question of races of lower degree, in contact with civili-
zation, is the Sphinx puzzle of modern culture. What shall
become of the Filipinos under United States protection is a
mystery. The first element, of course, is the question of edu-
cation. The missionaries who know the natives well sum up
present conditions as to the possibilities in intellectual attain-
ments of the natives and their education as follows:
" Speaking in general, it is conceded that the Filipino race
is inferior intellectually to the European races. This does
not prevent native Filipinos, however, from demonstrating
greater aptitude for certain work and especially for manual
occupations in which the active use of the intelligence is very
little required. They are, for example, usually very good pen-
men, good wood-carvers, engravers, and the like. In such
occupations, given equal instruction, they surpass Europeans.
It must be recognized, moreover, that they are very clever at
the reproduction, putting together, imitation, modification, ac-
commodation, and even the invention of apparatus, instru-
ments, and machines for definite purposes. Duly instructed,
many of them become and have become skilful mechanics. In
the use of their hands they easily excel foreigners who come
in contact with them.
" In the fine arts they are wanting in genius, inspiration, and
power of conception. Usually, too, they lack sentiment and
good taste. But they reproduce and copy, with great fidelity
and exactness, anything beautiful which they see. In music
and in poetry their defects are not so noticeable. They pos-
sess a certain force and variety of expression, which is missed
entirely in their painting and sculpture. It must be remem-
bered that in strictly scientific and abstract knowledge there

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 Book Reviews. 367

have occurred among the native Filipinos

above the general average of humanity. In a
our municipal Athenaeum certain of the natives
distinguished themselves in purely intellect
competition with Spanish fellow-students
is true in other institutions of learning h
all the professions, and even in the facultie
educational institutions, there have always b
pinos and Indians of pure race who have
guished positions and merited renown by
attainments."
How closely the natives resemble our own negroes can read-
ily be seen from this delineation of their characters. Our
failure with the negro so far should make government wary
of anything but practical suggestions as to technical training
if the Filipino is not to be uplifted and not merely spoiled by
useless faddism in education.
It is a curious coincidence that the missionaries should have
independently come to the same conclusions as to the educa-
tion of the Filipinos that have been reached by educators in
the South, and particularly of the negro race, who best know
the conditions. It is the best guarantee of their clearness of
vision and lucidity of reasoning in a great practical problem.
The writer on Ethnology in the work says, -
" We believe that, to solve the problem of the education
of the Philippine people, the following opinions will be found
of practical service:
" No department of knowledge, however, lofty, sublime, or
abstract it may be, should be consfdered as above the native
Filipinos. The mere question of race must not be allowed
to decrease the opportunity the native may have for education,
since experience shows that aptitude for the very highest
studies is not lacking, at least among chosen members of the
race.

" It is of the greatest importance to arouse and de

special attention in agriculture, in the manual arts,
encourage the acquisition of the technical knowledge nec
for the advance and improvement of these methods of g

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368 American Catholic Historical Society.

a livelihood. Agricultural and technical schools should be

established at various well-chosen points of the Archipelago,
and model workshops, especially for the carving and engraving
arts, should be fitted up. If technical instruction can be*ob-
tained without much expense there is no doubt that the Fili-
pinos will take advantage of it and that the results will very
soon be perceived."
Jas. J. Walsh, M.D., Ph.D.

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