The Daily Worker Newspaper, December 5, 1925, Page 12

|} Reply of F ilipinos to Gov. General Wood By CIRILO MANAT, Ph, B. Law School, University of Chicago. Chairman, Filipino Independence Com- mittee of Chicago. OV. GENERAL WOOD is truly a man of character, And in the words of Mr. Bell, “He has magnetism. He has brains. He is not only a milit- ary man, but also a thinker and a statesman.” Nevertheless, his counsel will not be gulped and swallowed en toto by the Filipino people, unless they for- get their long struggle for justice, their investment of blood and sacri- fice, of life on the sacred altar of lib- erty, enriched and hallowed by the memory of their heroic dead, Allow us then in behalf of truth and justice to throw the light of reason upon the seamy but honeyed masterpiece of General Wood. Boiled to a nutshell, his recent ut- terances may be summed up thus: “In ‘behalf of christianity, I am op- posed to giving absolute independ- ence to the Philippines, not only now put for all ages and for all times.” In his own words, America must stay in the Philippines “jndefinitely.” If the Philippines is near America (as is Cuba),:he would be willing to have the Filipinos try liberty. In other words since the Philippines is etern- ally and permanently located in the Orient—far from America—he would not be willing to have us try liberty. wert are the reason given by Gen. Wood to justify his conviction? “Because,” he says, “strife, disorder, and bloodshed would be the immed- iate results of Philippine Independ- ence.” What a rabid prophet of dis- aster! What an inconsistent critic is General Wood! In one breath, he says the future is replete with disas- LABOR IN THE FAR. EAST (Editor’s Note—The fifth instal- ment of Labor in the Far East tells us of the victory of the workers and the losses of the imperialists. What went before: 1. The Workers’ Strike the Backbone of the Entire Nationalist Emancipation Move- ment. 2. The Revival of China’s La- bor Movement in 1914. 3. The Tex- tile Workers and Their Struggle Against the Capitalist Offensive. 4. The National Anti-Imperialist Cur- rent and the LaBor Current in the Shanghai Strike.) ee 8 PART V. HE first results were extremely favorable to the fighting Shanghai workers. Such points of the settle- ment between the Chinese Seamen's Union and the Japanese shipping com- panies, as the reinstatement of all the strikers, the payment of wages for the entire period of the strike, the forthcoming negotiations for wage advances, signify an indisputable and important, tho not complete, victory for the Chinese seamen. The Textile Workers’ Union apparently came to a similar agreement with the Japanese textile companies (full information is not available at this writing). The negotiations on behalf of the Japanese company which were con- ducted by the Japanese general coun- cil, granted these concessions. The “paradise for employers” mentioned in the report of the British consul is apparently disappearing in China, The PHILADELPHIA ter, and then in the next, he says: “T have visited 50 centers of life and motored extensively in the rural re- gions. I carried no arms. Not a wea- pon of any kind was needed in my party.” Wherefore, we ask General Wood, where will this foretold disaster come from? We can not believe that we can be peaceful now if tomorrow we shall cut each other’s throats. We be- lieve, and it is reasonable to believe, that we shall remain peaceful here- after as we have been in the past. Al- low us to remind our ardent benefac- tor that America too had strife, dis- order, and much bloodshed during the civil war, If so, why expect too much of the Filipinos? N the next place, he argues that since the work America.set out to do is only begun, because the Filipin- os are still in their backward condi- tion, America should stay in the Phil- ipines indefinitely. Is General. Wood honest? ‘Terribly honest. If so, he must have forgotten his report, page 20, to the late President Harding in 1921 that the progress which has been made in the twenty-three years of American occupation is extraordi- nary. This report made President Harding say that the progress of the Philippines is without a parrallel in the history of the world. On page 21 of the same report, General Wood declares that altho Oriental in blood and birth, they (the Filipinos) are essentially: Western in religion, in form of governm .t, and in ideals and aspirations. This was in 1921, a year after the Harrison ad- ministration. If then we are back- ward today, the direct, immediate, and irresistable cause must be Gen- eral Wood himself. In other words, Filipinization before his regime was not a great folly as he would have you believe, for, if it was a great folly no good results would- have followed it. If we are backward now under his regime, it is because he has assumed the role of a Louis the XIV and has usurped the constitutional perroga- tives of the Philippine legislature. If we are non-constructive now, it is be- cause he vetoes every constructive measure our legislature proposes, the most notable of which is his veto of the appropriation bill for the exten- sion of education thruout the iand. It is because he wants to gamble the natural resources ct the Philippines to Wall Street. It is because he wants our’ national bank, our rail- roads, our sugar centrals, our mines, our rubber, farmlands, all managed by the American capitalists. It is be- cause he is Americawizing us as he sees fit. This is more pernicious and criminal folly, when it is imposed up- on and against the will of an alien, foreign people. Such Americanism as is preached by this grandiloquent exponent of imperialism is a carcin- omatous cancer to democracy. HAT is the noble work, with all its investment of blood and treas- ure and twenty-five years of idealistic labor, set out by America that is to- day only begun? “To found a christ- ian Filipino nation that will insure the deployment of christianity for the re generation of the world.” This utterance is highly commend- able. It is the expression of the noblest and loftiest, But why should America, the mother of liberty as the term is understood in the world tdday, impose upon the twelve million lib- erty-loving Filipinos a foreign govern- ment, deriving its power not from the consent of the governed but from the United States congress—a legislative body in which the Filipinos have no voice—just to insure the deployment of christianity? We are surprised to see General Wood sounding the clarion call to such declaration of policy. No pres- ident of the United States ever thought that it is America’s duty to Chinese worker, whom the Japanese} in the Pacific. Each day of the Hong- capitalists could only recently merci-] kong strike alone, according to the lessly exploit without meeting resist-] Hongkong correspondent of the Lon- ance, whom the Japanese foremen|don Times causes a loss of 250,000 could beat and intimidate with im-} pounds; the Hongkong losses for the punity, had begun to rebel. than that, he even set up trade unions, |to 15 Worse |two months’ strike are equal at least million pounds. Wholesale formed councils and federations that | bankruptcies have*become the order must not only be recognized, butj of the day in Hongkong, and even which even force one to retreat. the most solidly established firms are This victory of the Chinese workers |experiencing serious difficulties ‘and is the more obnoxious to the Japan-jcutting down their forces. Panicky ese bourgeoisie, that it will undoubted-| Hongkong has been bombarding ly be reflected in Japan itself and|London with telegrams demanding strengthen the revolutionary wing _of|immediate military intervention in the Japanese labor movement. do not know the exact losses sustained by Japan in the three months of the strike and in the boy- cott of her goods, As has already been mentioned the 1919 boycott re- | sulted in the trade between Japan and China being reduced by 40%. The losses caused by the present strike and by the much more effective boy- cott are undoubtedly incomparably larger. This, apart from the general political motives, lie at the root of the present Japanese “leniency.” Japan’s decision to seek a recon- cilliation with the Chinese workers thru serious concessions greatly weakens the position of the British capitalists in the strike. The losses sustained by Great Britain are tre- mendous. This is seen in the drastic falling off of the exports of the Lan- cashire textile industry, in the com- plete paralization of British shipping TAKE NOTICE! The International Labor Defense presents the Workers’ Theater Alliance in a production of two plays: “VICTORY,” by John Lassen and Simon Felshin “A SLAVE WITH TWO FACES,” by Mary Carolyi Davies | There will also be a VIOLIN RECITAL BY OSCAR LYMAN at THE EAGLE’S TEMPLE, Broad and Spring Garden | Wednesday, December 9, 1925. humanity to christianize the world. The Filipinos may well ask the Amer- ican people to scrutinize Gen, Wood’s declaration of policy. It should not be forgotten that to declare this prin- ciple, he ought to be a president of the United States, Moreover, the United States con- stitution itself insures religious lib- erty. The principle is well settled and long established in modern de- mocracies that the church and the state are and ought to be distinct and separate. And yet, here. comes, the apostle of christianity, Gen. Leonard Wood, in his military garb and im- perial regalia, telling us that it is treason to give political liberty to the Philippines to the detriment of the torch of the christian faith. To him. the result would be lamentable! What a jejune jeremiade! The doctrine that church is paramount and supreme over the state belongs to -thé dark and middle ages. It isooutworn and has no place in our modern world. W. claim that it is treason and a crime to civilization to disregard the righteous cause of the Filipino people, just because christianity needs to be deployed. F the constitution of the United states is right, the Orientals have every right and liberty to remain pa- gan if they want to. The Filipinos are ninety per cent christian, We challenge General Wood to show a better nation of devout christians. ‘We are, as he says, peaceful. We practice the ten commandments, Rape, adultery, burglary, divorce, murder, etc. ad infinitum are almost unknown in the Philippines. These are the antithesis of christian virtues and yet they abourd in the Occident- al world. The other Orientals are not ninety per cent christian. But can the western world deny that the Chinese have far superior virtues than those who talk of christianizing the world? Hongkong, the crushing of the Chin- ese Bolsheviks, of the Moscow “ban- dits” who have sbized power in Can- ton, who destroy civilization and culture, léad China to its doom, etc. But London is “reluctant.” True, fresh troops have been brought up to Hongkong from India, a special war- ship loaded with hydroplanes arrived from Malta. Still, London is prac- tically inactive. Moreover, London is actually preparing “treason” and seems to be inclined to compromise, to make concessions to the “rebel- lious slaves.” Off the Press on December 5 The Movement for World Trade Union UNITY By TOM BELL. In this brief, concise booklet the worker will find a most complete, interesting picture of the factors involved in the move for world trade union unity. The steps already taken, the basis for the movement, the differences of principle, the bodies involved—all this valuable and essential information for every. worker is here presented for the first time in one com- * plete booklet. Add this pamphlet to your — library—take a number to your trade union. 15 CENTS. THE DAILY WORKER PUBLISHING CO.