Regenerating A Race
With Tools And Bibles

( Originally Published 1918 )
Source: Antiques Digest
http://www.oldandsold.com/articles28/ancient-people-4.shtml

" Any Filipino who can scribble dog verse is a songster, a new Shelley, a budding Omar Khayyam. The population of the Philippines is ninety-nine per cent. poets and one per cent. farmers."

So wrote a critic of the Filipinos. He would not be correct in making such comment to-day. The work of the United States in transforming millions of easy-going, tropical " poets " into progressive farmers, manufacturers, and merchants is an achievement with few parallels in history.

Only eighteen years have elapsed since the United States began its work of civilization in the Philippines. The changes that have been wrought are such as would require a hundred years in the ordinary development of nations. And so silently has this big revolution been effected that many Americans still stand unaware of it. In fact, little is known in this country concerning the Philippines. Men who return from that part of the world complain because some people in America do not seem to know whether the Philip-pines are one of St. Paul's Epistles or the plural of philopena.

A Boston business firm wrote to Manila on June the eighth and again two weeks later, saying on the latter date that they had received no answer to theirs of the eighth and insisting upon an immediate reply. This must have proved diverting to the Manila firm in view of the fact that to transport a letter to the Philippines and bring back a reply to America re-quires at least two months. A New York business house referred an inquiry from Panama to its agents in the Philippines, assuming that the two places were near neighbors, never dreaming that they were on opposite sides of the earth.

The Hub of the Oriental Wheel

The Philippines are a group of three thousand islands. The Orient circles around them like a gigantic wheel of which the Philippines form the hub. The islands of the Pacific lie on the east; the islands of Malaysia and Australasia on the south ; Siam, Burma, and India on the west; China and Japan on the north.

The population of the Philippines is more than eight million and there are more than eight hundred million people within the sphere of influence of the islands. Therefore a colossal experiment in regeneration at this point has more than local significance. It means much in hope and example for the entire East.

The missionary problem of the Philippines is vitally; affected by the work of the United States government. It is not as necessary for the church to conduct certain lines of work as in some mission fields because the government has adequately provided for those needs. While the United States certainly has many industrial situations at home which are far from Christian, and unfortunately some of these have been carried into the Philippines, yet on the whole the influence of the American occupation of the islands has been exceedingly helpful. Although entirely separate, church and state are working hand in hand for common ends. The aim of both is to help the Philippines to avoid falling into those disastrous industrial en-tanglements which have caused endless trouble, and to establish just and friendly relationship among those who toil.

The Land of Continual Spring Fever

The Filipinos of twenty years ago were people of a languid and easy-going temperament whose ambitions were fully satisfied when their stomachs were. In such a comfortable land, where food grew so abundantly, and the weather was so warm that shelter and raiment were largely unnecessary, the stern qualities which characterize men of more vigorous climates were not developed. Farming methods were very crude. A wooden plow scratched the earth, seldom turning it for a depth of more than two or three inches. Only the great fertility of the soil made a successful harvest possible. " Many of them farmed," says one investigator, " like good Saint Isidore who prayed all day and left the field to the care of the angels."

Living was on a low plane. The more prosperous native was called a shoe hombre because he had reached the pinnacle of wealth which made it possible for him to buy and wear shoes. Those who did possess money did not dream of investing it in useful undertakings. Instead they buried it or bought diamonds. Conditions differed widely of course in different parts of the islands. The Igorots and other wild tribes knew nothing of modern civilization. In other sections the natives had learned much from the Spanish.

The man who is most familiar with the metamorphosis, Dean C. Worcester, Secretary of the Interior of the Philippine Islands, describes the old-time schools as in some cases actually teaching idleness. The education given was of little practical value. I found Igorot children in Lepanto studying geography. I asked a boy what the world was and he replied that it was a little yellow thing about the size of his hand ! This was a fairly accurate description of a map, the significance of which had utterly failed to penetrate his understanding."

The child of any well-to-do family would be followed to school by a servant carrying his books. A scandal would have spread all over town if a child of good family had been seen carrying so much as a pad and pencil in his own hand.

There was a widespread contempt for manual labor. Those who had any aspiration desired to become orators, poets, lawyers, doctors, or government officials. Many who had secured professional training in law or, medicine never practised their professions. They found it more pleasant to live in genteel idleness, re-posing on the prestige which their titles had given them.

Learning the Meaning of a Square Deal

What a stupendous task to set a whole population of idleness lovers at productive work ! And yet that has been largely accomplished. The fact that it has been done in so short a time speaks volumes, not only for American leadership, but for the innate capabilities of the Filipino.

Many obstacles had to be overcome most of them obstacles of habit. An American contractor who ,wished to build an electric railroad in Manila advertised for laborers. When a large number had come he spoke to them, explaining the job, and invited them to begin work at once. The only answer was a mur-mur of dissatisfaction and a shaking of heads. Interpreters told him that the men were refusing to begin work until they had been paid a full week's wage in advance. Under the Spanish régime laborers had not uncommonly been employed for jobs on the completion of which they were turned off without payment, or with only a small fraction of the amount originally agreed upon. These men, therefore, were sadly wise —and to their minds all white men were alike.

Finally the irate contractor bethought himself of a collection of old brass checks. These were brought to light and one hung about the neck of each man with the explanation that this was a new kind of money which would be changed into dollars on pay, day. The men were then content to go to work, Within a few weeks they discovered that the checks were really of no value but they also discovered that the American firm was treating them fairly and that they would not be cheated out of their wages.

As soon as the square-dealing of the Americans became known there was no difficulty in securing labor. Construction camps began to dot the country. A construction camp in the Philippines had certain peculiarities. It was found, for example, that the men worked best under the spur of music. Accordingly they were led to work each morning by a brass band which made the welkin ring with " There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." Arrived at the scene of operations, the men would assail their work with great enthusiasm. The music master would establish his band under a tree and then keep his eye on the men. When they seemed to lag, up would go his baton and crash, bang, out would roll the music that would set them leaping to their jobs again.

America Has Many Characteristics of a Mother

It took some time to get accustomed to the white man's implements. The shovel was handled awkwardly at first. Even after several months a workman, if startled or spoken to roughly, would revert in a panic to primitive custom, drop his shovel and begin to scoop up earth with his hands.

But the Americans did not always insist upon the use of Western implements. The Filipino or Chinese saw cuts by pulling. The American saw cuts by pushing, and the result is that the saw sometimes buckles and breaks. The Americans soon learned that the Oriental saw was better adapted to their purpose, and it was kept in use.

Managers had some difficulty in keeping their workmen constantly on the job. Many of the best laborers would sometimes be absent for days at a time. An engineer says : " One of the peculiar things with the native is that whenever he wants to go off it is always a case of his mother being dead. I know of one native who buried six mothers inside of three months. He was employed in the store room and I just let him off each time and kept account to see how far it would go."

Then some clear-minded manager saw the reason for this irregularity. These men had a strong domestic tendency and could not bear to be kept away for a long time from their families who were back in the hills. The manager built nipa shacks and established in them the families of the men and their household goods. The men were delighted. They were now content to stick to their work and the epidemic among mothers was checked.

English a Great Attraction

When the hundreds of new schools established by the American government were opened they were flooded with children. In some places the parents came also, expecting that by the wonderful American methods they would be able to attain general wisdom within a few days. The English language was the great attraction. This they meant to learn in short order. They soon discovered that there was no royal express elevator to learning and a bad slump in attendance followed. The teacher labored hard to teach her pupils to say, " Good morning, Mrs. Kelly," and that was about all that was learned by the fathers and mothers of families before they grew weary of study and left the school. Some time afterwards, a judge summoned four warriors to court. Arriving, they bowed humbly and said, " Good morning, Mrs. Kelly." However, the perseverance of the teachers gradually built up a large attendance of students who were willing to study with thoroughness, and whose knowledge enlightened the homes from which they came.

Agriculture had a prominent place as a subject for study. The agriculture taught was not theoretical but practical, and, as every farmer knows, practical agriculture is hard work. Strapping young fellows who had made records in athletics but who did not fancy standing knee deep in the mud all day setting out rice plants, frequently begged to be let off, complaining that they could not " suffer the work."

An Aching Back Takes the Novelty Out of Farming

The novelty of farming at first interests a lad who has never used his hands, but a few days are enough to rub off the shiny veneer of novelty. The superintendent of the Central Luzon Agricultural School tells of an eager candidate, who said that if he were admitted he would work seven years if necessary. "His credentials being good it was decided to admit him on probation. After two or three days he had had enough. His palms were blistered, his back ached, his spirit was broken. He was a sorry boy when he came up, begging to let off. His seven years had dwindled down to three days.''

And concerning another young fellow who presented himself at the office one day in full mourning, the superintendent relates : " The crêpe on his arm was very conspicuous and he had not even forgotten to put some on his hat. He told a most pitiful story of how his father had just died and that he was the only support left for two minor children of tender age." His story seemed plausible enough but the acting was a little overdone. An exchange of letters with people in the boy's home town brought the information that the father was not too dead to handle a switch as soon as he could lay hold of his son. But such instances rapidly became exceptional. American teachers, by their example as well as by their teaching, have done much to popularize industry. They did not seem afraid to carry packages through the streets, and they did not shrink from handling a hoe or driving a plow. In fact, they seemed to relish this sort of thing. A spirit of emulation took its slow hold upon the people. They wanted to be like the Americans.

The idol of their fancy had been the dandy about town, now it became the man who knew how to use his hands. " All the diplomacies of modern courts, cabinets and cabals," says Dr. Edwin Schell, " do not equal the subtle finesse in putting the Filipino boy to work. It is Tom Sawyer up to date. Not with whitewash and brush and fence to be covered, but with their American counterparts under the blazing tropic glare, with plow and hoe and corn to be grown." School children of the Philippines are now eager to do the work on the hundreds of school farms, the more than three thousand school gardens, and more than forty-eight thousand home gardens, all of which are under the supervision of the Bureau of Education.

Two Crops Where One Grew Before

An agricultural revolution is in progress. For many years some of the tribes carried on the cultivation of rice and did wonderful work in the building of rice terraces, but among the Negritos, Igorots, and other wild tribes the science of agriculture was still in the most primitive state. Tribes who had lived on the fertile prairies but considered the soil there unfit for cultivation and thought that they had to go to the scraggly hillsides and clear away, with great labor, enough of the trees and stumps and stones to make space for cultivation, have been shown how they can get far greater returns from the splendid prairie soil at their very doors. Now the plows are kept going day and night, and many of these farmers are becoming wealthy. So inoculated are they with the spirit of progress that in one town, for example, where a plow arrived in advance of the cattle to pull it, fifteen men promptly hitched themselves to it and kept it moving until the work animals arrived.

One tribe had the custom of clearing new farms each, year and abandoning the old ones, for they were under the impression that a second crop would not grow on land that had been used. These people have been taught the rotation of crops and many of them now produce two crops each year on the same land.

The inhabitants of coral islands where there is no agricultural land have been taught sea-farming and are beginning to secure good returns from the collection and marketing of sponges, button shells, and trepang.

The modern threshing machine produces so much more grain from a stack of a given size than can be extracted by native methods, that the natives were sure at first that there must be a deposit of grain hidden away inside the machine, and insisted upon poking their heads in to see where it was. In the same way the modern sugar mill which extracts ninety per cent. of the sugar from the cane was a source of wonder to natives accustomed to the old-time wooden mill which extracts only twenty to fifty per cent. Poultry clubs have been developed throughout the country with such success that in 1916 the government was able to buy three hundred and thirty thousand dollars' worth of eggs to help supply the war markets of the United States and Europe.

The islands now sell about nine million dollars' worth of hemp every year. American methods of cultivation and irrigation in one district increased the production of hemp by six hundred per cent.

American Agriculture Opens Filipino Eyes

Frequent agricultural fairs have been held and the natives marvel at the size of the vegetables displayed. One old Spaniard, looking at some large tomatoes, remarked that it was most excellent work for school children to make such papier-mâché products. The exhibitor explained to him that the tomatoes had been grown in school gardens. This information was received with very evident doubt. The Spaniard, though too polite to say so, was apparently convinced that the exhibitor was trying to fool him. One of the finest tomatoes was handed to him and he was requested to insert his thumb into the juicy contents until he was persuaded that it was the genuine article, an edible tomato.

Savages of Moroland, who had been fighting the Americans, were shown some agricultural implements. They put aside their weapons and came grinning to investigate these strange tools. They took turns plowing, harrowing, and cultivating. Then they inquired the prices of the implements, and one chief wanted to buy a cultivator and half a harrow.

Corn had been regarded as food only fit for pigs and was rejected by all Filipinos who had money enough to buy anything else to eat, but here again the spirit of emulation was put into effect and brought results. Corn-growing contests developed a keen rivalry, medals were given to the winners and in 1915 a Filipino boy, Melchor Roldan, was awarded chief honors at the Panama-Pacific Exposition as champion corn-grower of the Philippines. Thousands of boys are now hustling to capture similar laurels. Philip-pine corn exhibits in one year were attended by half a million people. How to make appetizing dishes by the use of corn has been taught, and this food is now one of the most popular in the islands.

We think that the state of Ohio is doing well when two hundred boys and girls enroll in the year's corn growing contest, until we learn of one small district of the Philippines, called Agusan, with its one thou-sand, one hundred and thirty-four enrolments. In proportion to the population Ohio would need to have two hundred thousand entries in order to have the same pro rata as that of Agusan.

Formerly little tree planting was done. Such planting as was carried on was hedged about by superstition. It was believed, for example, that when planting a banana tree a person must never look up and that if he does it will be a very long time before the tree bears fruit. When planting coconut-trees men would carry children on their backs, believing that this would cause the trees to bear fruit more abundantly. Gradually the people were taught that seed collection, soil, and cultivation were the important factors. Nurseries in connection with the public schools now supply thou-sands of trees annually, and Arbor Day is becoming observed by tree-planting throughout the islands.

Teaching the Use of Hands

The schools of the Philippines, besides the training which they furnish in agriculture, teach everything from brick-making to embroidery. The blacksmith acquires his art in a public trade school. The needle worker learns to take the hip bag of the Ifugao wild man and readapt it as a vanity bag for milady of America. According to a statement of Mr. Sturtevant of the Philippine Bureau of Education, there are given, throughout the Philippine Islands, fifty distinct industrial courses. Of these he says thirteen are especially for girls and include household industries (cooking and plain sewing) and household arts (fancy needlework and lace making) ; eighteen are especially for boys and include wood-working, pottery, bamboo-rattan furniture making, carving on wood and bamboo, many forms of basketry and gardening; while nineteen are courses which either girls or boys study as conditions determine, among which are hat-making, loom-weaving, hand-weaving, slipper-making, and the platting of buri and pandan.

Even the jails have been transformed into schools. The San Ramon prison farm consists of a grove of seven thousand five hundred coconut-trees. The prisoners here are not losing their minds in darkened cells, but are becoming familiar with a business which will enable them after they leave to be respectable and self-supporting. So elaborate and thorough is the industrial training of the Bilibid prison in Manila that Dean Worcester has been accustomed to call it his " university."

Describing the change which the United States has accomplished in the Philippines, Robert E. Speer says: " If any American thinks meanly of his country or doubts the value of the work it has done in the Philip-pines, I wish that he could have made this visit to Cebu with us. Whatever view men may take of the wisdom of our having come here in the first place or of the course which we should pursue in the future, they could not visit the Island of Cebu without an overwhelming realization of the beneficence of the work which our nation has done here. Apart from all the material benefit which has been brought to the people, the evidence of which is written all over the island in improved homes, better dress, increased prosperity, there are the unmistakable signs everywhere of a free and intelligent spirit and enterprise, a confidence, a cheerful and friendly equality of manhood, such as make the whole atmosphere of life here as different from the atmosphere which we found in Siam as day from night."

These Activities Must Have a Christian Foundation

If the American government has done so much for the improvement of the conditions of the Filipinos, is there any task left for the American missionary? There is, and it is a great task. The people of the Philippines, as suggested before, lack solidity of character. Industrial development alone will not give it to them, although it will help to do so. What-ever poetry they have in their souls, and they have much, they lack the poetry of truly spiritual ideals. Again, mere industry cannot provide the long forward look into eternity, which gives propulsion and purpose to life.

The farmer is apt to be a better farmer for being a Christian, for his character is firmer and his ideals are higher. The same is true of the blacksmith, the machinist, the carpenter, the engineer, the manager, and the great employer of labor. The Filipinos learn arts and trades readily. Whether they will develop these industries in a large and powerful way and use them for the benefit and blessing of the entire world, depends on something more than nimble fingers and quick brains. It depends upon character and faith. Industry may be either a curse or a benediction. It is the business of the missionary to see to it that the 'foundation-stone of Christian character is placed under all the activities of the Philippines, so that the increasingly powerful influence which radiates from these islands throughout the surrounding Orient may be vitally Christian.

The flag of Uncle Sam and the banner of the missionary went into the. Philippines together. Before the firing had ceased in the city of Manila American missionaries had arrived and had begun their work.

The beginnings were small indeed. One congregation had its inception with a man who got a piece of steel in his eye. He came to the medical missionary, who succeeded in removing from the man's eye not only the mote of steel, but also a beam of ignorance and prejudice, and this first convert in that section was instrumental in gathering other believers and building up what is now a large work.

In another case the missionary induced a man and his wife to live in the open air under a mango tree, so that the woman might be cured of incipient tuberculosis. The couple were working Christians and the tree became a church for all who passed that way. In still another center the work sprang from the influence of a few copies of the New Testament left behind by peddlers.

Baptism by Force in the Old Days

Although there were scarcely any Protestant Christians in the islands to begin with, the number at present exceeds sixty-nine thousand. Formerly, during the Spanish regime, a large proportion of the people had been nominally Christians under the Roman Catholic Church. This, however, had meant very little to them. Many of them had been baptized forcibly; that is the priest had gone with soldiers among the people and compelled them to be baptized, after which compulsory ceremony they were called Christians and members of the Church.

A Jesuit priest insisted that a certain old chief of a wild tribe must be baptized. The chief said : " I do not want to be baptized. I don't know anything about this. I don't understand it. I'd rather not be baptized. Please don't bother us." But the priest said that the Spanish government would demand it and he was only sorry that he had not brought enough soldiers to enforce the ceremony there and then. The chief finally said : " You are a man, and I am a man. We will fight and if you lick me I will be baptized; and if I lick you neither I nor my people will be baptized." This angered the priest to the point of indiscretion. He agreed to the test and in the presence of the tribe the two men wrestled, and the priest was laid out. "Now," said the chief, " I am just as good as you are ! Perhaps I am better ! "

Later into this same district came the Protestant missionaries. They did not bring soldiers with them, nor did they go around showing their muscle. Instead they brought Bibles, geographies, arithmetics, and medicine, and they went about healing and teaching. Throughout this Davao district of the island of Mindanao went these white friends of the wild men teaching them how to take care of their own health ; how to grow better corn, rice, and eggplant; how to build better fences of wire; how to do sewing, weaving, and basketry; how to use the first soap that had ever been seen in that country, and how to look up through the mists of paganism to the face of a Father who had never before been known to them.

Making Steam Engines and Mills Christian Agencies

Missions maintain not a few industrial schools in places not reached by government education. But there is a difference between these schools and those of the government. In the mission schools the effort is made to combine industrial ability with Christian integrity. At the famous Silliman Institute, for ex-ample, you may find not only lathes, steam-engines, and sawmills, you may also find a strong Sunday-school, a Christian Endeavor Society, a mid-week prayer-meeting, and regular preaching services in two dialects. No lad is barred from the advantages of this school for lack of funds. Every boy is given the opportunity to work his way through.

At the Jaro Industrial School, industrial training and Christian training are combined with training in self-government. The student body is organized into a self-governing republic, with its own constitution and by-laws, of which the following is the preamble : " We, the students of the Jaro Industrial School, in order to maintain peace and order, to uphold justice, to acquire moral courage, to establish the liberty of intelligently choosing one's own religion, and in order to train ourselves in self-government, do hereby adopt this constitution and these by-laws." Mission schools in the Island of Mindanao and at Baguio, Sagada, and elsewhere are doing aggressive work in character building.

A striking example of the changed conditions brought about by education is found at Sagada where the Rev. John A. Staunton, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, has been carrying on an industrial work. This is in the Igorot region and when the school opened the people were absolutely untouched by civilization. Now the boys have learned stone-cutting so well that they are building a magnificent stone church. They do excellent printing; run a machine shop and electric light plant, and conduct an " Igorot Exchange." In reporting this work to Bishop Brent, Mr. Staunton writes:

" I ought to say something about the development of our Igorot Exchange, which has more than doubled its business during the past year. I had not been working long in Sagada when I saw clearly that, for the benefit of the people among whom we were working and the whole district, we would have to open a general store where people could obtain the necessities at a reasonable price. In the past, mountain people had no incentive to steady employment because with the money they earned a fair equivalent could not be had from any merchant within reach; and, to take long journeys to the towns of the lowlands for the purpose of purchasing supplies meant that the pack-horse would eat more fodder on the up trip than he could carry on his back. The Igorot Exchange which was the outcome of my attempt to solve the problem of steady labor and a living wage, has largely accomplished its purpose. To a considerable extent it acts as a balance-wheel in the district regulating the prices of staple commodities and establishing a true and just relation between the earnings of the people and their necessities.

In our Igorot Exchange we buy everything that the native will produce, and we handle everything that he wants to buy. The fact that we do a considerable business enables us to get wholesale and dealers' prices for goods which we purchase in Manila and outside, with a great saving to the Mission; and the benefit of these lower prices is transmitted directly to the people through their opportunity to purchase at the Exchange. Not only is money kept constantly in circulation, but the profit which we make in our Exchange and associated industries goes back again into the development of our institutions, and again works for the benefit of the Igorot."

Christian Homes for Government Students

Ten thousand students attend the government schools in Manila alone. The missionary idea was conceived of erecting Christian dormitories in which these students might live and be brought under Christian influence during their years of schooling. A dormitory was opened and was immediately filled. It originally accommodated only eighty students and it was obliged to turn away more than six hundred applicants in one year. As a result of the enlargement of such work, a strong church has been developed with a Sunday-school of nearly one thousand. Dormitories established in connection with the high schools in smaller towns have also been successful.

According to a report of this activity: " The opportunity for personal work upon life at the formative stage is at its best, where the missionary has living with him the young people with whom he is to work. The personal contact daily, the opportunity to help with school studies, the sympathizing with troubles, and the guiding through problems peculiar to young life, all afford the most telling hold and this is the key to the value of the dormitory work. For example, in the Vigan dormitory for young men, seventy-five per cent. of those coming into the dormitory have been converted."

Thus through multiform activities, through schools, dormitories, hospitals, churches, and Sunday-schools, the quality of Philippine manhood and womanhood is being strengthened so that it may properly bear the pressure of the strenuous modern conditions which the twentieth century is bringing to these islands.

The kind of Christian character which is being developed appears in the story of two graduates of Silliman Institute who were sent out to establish Christian schools among the wild tribes of Mindanao. Al-though they were young men of breeding they did not shrink from the prospect of living far away from civilization among the wild men, eating their food, risking their diseases, and facing dangers. One of the boys was taken with typhoid. He was brought down from the hills and carried in a launch to the nearest hospital. The long journey was too much for him and he died. He gave up his life for the pupils in his school. The other boy became seriously ill with malaria. He was brought to a hospital and in time recovered. Then he was asked what he proposed to do in the light of his own bitter experience and that of his comrade. There was no hesitation in his mind as to what he purposed doing, and he is back today among the hills continuing his work.

Philippine Greatness Must Be Built on Christianity

Other young men from Silliman Institute have since been brought into the work of this district on the same basis of fearlessness and sacrifice. Speaking of the results obtained by Christian training, Dr. Sibley says:

" The character and quality of the boys from Silliman cannot be too highly praised. They are some of the most daring self-sacrificing chaps I have ever known. It was no easy thing for these boys to come down from a home in the north. They came not for wages but because they learned at Silliman of the gospel and their desire was to make others Christian. They came understanding what they were coming for, with the willingness to make the sacrifice. I cannot say enough concerning the character of such young men."

That is the sort of character that will make the Philippines great.

An Ilocana, who was converted in Manila, gave up a good position to go back to the interior and preach among his own people. Several of his children died, his wife passed away, he himself was often in danger, and yet he stuck to his post.

Hundreds of stories like the foregoing might be told. They all bespeak the mettle of soul which Christianity gives, and which is a necessary part of the genuine greatness of any nation.

" Your government has done wonders," says the Ion. Manuel Quezon, " in public works, public health, a reformed judiciary, and great political changes, but the work of the evangelical missionaries is just as important and exceedingly necessary. We must have the renewed heart life and deep moral basis if our changed conditions are to stand."

And the final note is this. Not only is the " renewed heart life" and the "deep moral basis" necessary for the sake of the Philippines. It is necessary for the sake of the entire East. Bishop William F. Oldham puts it strongly, but probably none too strongly, when he says : " The crux of our missionary activities in Asia is in the Philippine Islands. If we fail to Christianize the Filipinos, we shall fail to Christianize Asia. If we succeed in Christianizing the Filipinos, we shall succeed in all Asia