Note 13 — Chapter XXXVI · Is Philippine Independence now Possible?

The editor of an American newspaper published at Zamboanga has accurately described the attitude of the native press as follows:—

“We have often referred to the great opportunity prevailing for the native press of the Philippines to aid the material and political uplift of the inhabitants. Conditions of race and dialect naturally conduce to facilitate this work for the native journalist. With few exceptions, however, the native press has persistently obstructed every effort toward general amelioration of the condition of the masses. Conspicuous efficiency in good government has furnished a target for its denunciation. Truth has been garbled, motives maligned, race hatred kindled, falsehood fabricated and sedition practised, encouraged and lauded. The public school system, the intrinsic foundation to free institutions, instituted under the military régime and constantly expanded under the civil régime, has been interpreted by the native press as a pernicious effort to oppress the masses by the enforcement of a foreign language upon them. The efforts to stamp out cattle disease and for the restoration of draft animals have been maligned as being oppressive to personal liberty. The sanitary measures which have so renovated the very atmosphere of the archipelago have ever been the mark of derision and violent attack. When cholera and plague have claimed their hundreds daily, efforts at prevention have persistently met with opposition from the native press. Officials with the most unselfish motives have been persistently insulted, slandered and maligned. The American flag, which is the only emblem giving assurance of safety in the home, peace from abroad, liberty of opportunity, and equality and justice before the law, has been constantly smeared with the opprobrium of a malignant, filthy native press. Progress of the Philippine people as a whole is retarded.”