The black beauty

Media

Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: The black beauty
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 8) August 1929
Year: 1929
Rights
Fulltext: ■JCHAMBER DF~COMMERCE JOURNAL 21 5 I ,>'.b 1 1 ■ )' a- ■ 1 the Legislature sh tion very early in t‘ . • ds were made in th. e I ist session of the I ed by a Joint Coi • iations, was also ll l l. :-’-.ition with the an : ■ ■ iaws but due to la : ; L.r serious considerate^. -■■■. ¿he uniform Corporation Law ?’ and is designed to facilitate ... nsolidation of corporations. . (> ■' 1ure for accomplishing this is l J ’¡ificult to follow. and independent judiciary . 1. If justice is not equal to so the rich, to the most hum¡o \e most powerful, then justice .ivckery. Judicial officers, from peace to the Chief Justice of ’ are protectors of the rights ’i.e people. io improve the administration improve the administration presented injprevious years, .’ill be submitted by the •. d for your consideration. iportant proposals are: re•.< Court in the handling of appeal cases by the appointudges or the creation of a msferring thp functions of , provincial governor to a ,nted by the Secretary of Nation of the proper Judge amendments to the marriage ! = transfer of Bilibid Prison, S. ■ - mm.S( r > A; ng lie- '• S; . th< I rgc • me.! Gt ru’di' ;••• Co 1 G >pp the she spec, g officer Just -- ’ll reroí. of J m .m:laws i . -M, the c ■ ■ * the er Il brrw.’ The e’O- ten migra c l i:.d go ven / ' i one. ° "••• your < more efi-. laws. quate d Gratil ■■ . _ ing the < v sential p sible by t of two be of the lov for the ei < bridges aim much as st owners of af the Interior re ■< so amended !s against such pv cent of the co I have calle ' 1 which in my o¡-'¡lie ration and whi c . lation. I have to urge upon .<■ will cheerfully gr desire in carrying .• i L 1 ■ / San Ramon Penal Farm, and ,.r. of o her penal farms. •; f i n efficient control of im> ministration of the laws s ¿V serious and complicated •u” of Finance will present for hills designed to * secure úís'j a'ion of the immigration .it mrative need for an adei >c. l for immigrants. ir s teen made in beautify*. la ‘ nd in providing for es' js has been made poscJk-T lg the issue by the city v »<? < :i Pl,000,000 for filling •„ ai < other of P10,000,000 of .1 ji . public buildings and .. so.ee- '.nprovements. Inasimpr enrets largely benefit the ' J - sime, the Secretary of . )• o'is uií.r the law should be <. -pure social assessment <>f o' ’ |l'3S than 60 per Te LTmts. \v. aitcíío Li many subjects ;v; y ó o: mtrnest consideJs. d w'.sc, -no: . active legiscx-c/fir, 1 .’gj program Evt íV - ¿í- official ■l <•r, ■ , •< .¿mee you may j vi’’ j important duties. We are united in seeking but one end, the wel fare of all the people. / In conclusion, I can only reiterate my sincere expressions of good will, my ^arnest desire to cooperate with the Legislature. This is not merely an oratorical gesture. It comes from the heart. Our problems cannot be solved by oratory. As President Coolidge once said, “Government is a practical business which depends largely for its success on sound com mon sense rather than high-sounding phrases.” The problems we must meet are essential Im practical. Upon the practical way in w\b > 0 meet them depends the future welfare of of people. Words cannot solve them. . fir? great patriot Rizal said: “Too many wor » t, little work.” Action, sound, wise, arc -irsighted, is necessary. I have every conr ei. in the ability and the vision of the Legi, to solve these problems. U their solute, offer you again my close, c> dial, constro cooperation. T •V’ Dwight F. Davis, Governor-Get ’• •’ <e Legislature, ■ la, P. J. ^PONOINQ TO *rrrFTTL The Black Butterfly Percy A. Hill By be superstition, or it may be chance ... ma of the people of the Philippines dread . ‘anee of the mariposa negra. To them - . : arbinger of misfortune. Though predGxuixxuni.y black, the mariposa negra has white spots and other small markings. <It is harm less except in its character as a foreteller of ill tidings, appearing as regularly each year as the first wet monsoon. With the fearlessness of butterflies in general, it often forsakes garden foliage and enters houses. It will even perch upon pne’s hand or fly in erratic circles above the head of a pedestrian. It may be this pen chant for familiar contact, as well as its sinister color, which has given the natives their super stition about it. .--Tf something does not happen within twenty-four hours, who con siders himself warned goes about with a gloomy feeling that he has been somehow cheated. Build for PERMANENCE! X I Let Us Help j Cebu Portland *■ Chira Bank Building i •Me f MENTION THE O/• The troubadour, José Garcia, called Pepe, had his superstitions, concerning the number of scales on the legs of his favorite fighting-cock, or marked cards in juego del monte; but he was not in the least troubled by black butterflies. Pepe, whose name might be translated into English as Joe Smith, so common a Castilian cognomen is it, dwelt, during the latter part of the eighteenth century, in the suburb of Santa Cruz, now quite a downtown district of Manila, outside the walls of the old city. He was mar ried to a stout mestiza, Maria, who had brought him no dowry, but had endeavored to compensate the musician for this neglect by presenting him with an addition to the family each year. And for this numerous household rice and vianda, clothes, money for masses, an occasional ride in the rickety coaches of the day, all had to be provided by Pepe from his earnings with his X Don’t make a mistake. “If I had it to do over, I’d use concrete!” How many times you hear such regrets from householders. Another says, “I receive rent enough for my house, but it is not concrete and the upkeep is so much there’s hardly any profit left!” Concrete Is Economy Better appearance, more satisfaction, greater secur ity, lower insurance, and the permanence of rock. You Plan Cement Co. Manila, P. I. 'rBER OF > v VAL THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL twelve stringed bandurria. Rendering serenades under the grilled win dows of lovelorn damsels, for which he was rewarded by ardent youths in proportion to their success and financial standing, brought him an irregular income. House-parties, fiestas, and dances paid much better, and in addition there were quantities of native wine, generous supplies of the succulent lechon, or roast pig, not to speak of the native confectionery, such as lumpia, poto-lanzon and bibinka, indigestible, it is true, but satisfying. Then there were the church services and processions in which Pepe and his fellow musicians filled the air with melody while behind staggered the pious under the heavily draped statues of Our Lady of Pilar and San Nicolas. These latter exertions did nothing to help fill Pepe’s earthly coffers, but (lid, let us hope, lay up for him treasure in heaven. Pepe was a philosopher of sorts, a jovial and carefree individual without responsibilities, like many another of his calling. Reckoning wealth in time, he was also a millionaire. Neither the Spaniard nor the Malay place a high value on time. The Philippines, referred to as the land of mañanas, is not a figure of speech. What is a day more or less, they argue, when millions have gone before and millions will follow? The mountains never hurry. Ocean, sky, stars and seasons follow cycles, returning so surely that they never seem to change. There’s something in it. Pepe employed the word mañana quite as frequently as his fellow-countrymen. If Pepe’s superstitions were limited to his gambling games, those of his stout spouse were not. The mere mention of a mariposa negra would start Maria trembling as if with ague. Superstitions die hard. Fear and superstition are primitive passions of mankind, and though civilization may replace one fear with another, superstition is never completely routed, even in the most highly civilized social structures. The old Romans said Beware of the Ides of March; the Chinese dread the evil eye; New Englanders burned witches; New York society matrons turn pale if it is discovered that there are thirteen guests at table. So Maria and her sisters walk warily if they have been unfortunate enough to be brushed by a black butterfly. Maria had good reason to regard the mariposa negra with fearful apprehensions. Had not a black butterfly heralded the death of her mother, who was drowned on a voyage from Guagua to Manila? To be sure, the party had departed from the river town in a banca with but two inches of freeboard. They had left the grassy estuary of the Pampanga, and had faced the choppy waves of the bay where, in spite of tearful prayers to the saints and frantic baling, the overloaded banca had sunk beneath them. Unable to swim, four of the passengers, among them Maria’s mother, had gone down under the gray September sky. Maria announced with con viction that a black butterfly had entered the entresuelo to warn her at the very moment her mother had been lost. Numerous stories of similar experiences were common among her chattering neighbors, their effect being a general exodus, or at least a rapid exchange of vantage points, if one of these unpopular messengers fluttered in among the market hucksters. But Pepe refused to believe. He was a skeptic, So far as black butterflies were concerned, and Maria swore by all that is holy that his cynicism was the cause of his disastrous end. It was a hot steamy day in September with the tropical sun evaporating the moisture of the previous day. Preparatory to leaving his abode to sell his melodies, Pepe was trying to tune his bandurria, but was having difficulty in hearing anything but the boisterous noise of the numerous young Garcias who were playing gallina ciega, or blind-man’s buff. Maria was busying herself as usual with household tasks, paying little attention to sounds which were so much a part of her daily life. Suddenly through the open window fluttered a large black butterfly, attracted perhaps by the gaudy color and pattern of the musician’s nether garments. As the butterfly alighted on his knee, Pepe, in mood as untuneful as his un successful efforts had left his bandurria, hit wildly at the butterfly which flew gracefully about his waving arm. “Hombre,” shrilled Maria fearfully, “leave the mariposa alone and perhaps it will leave the same way it came in! It’s bad luck to have one come in here—what will happen if you try to kill it!” No sooner had Pepe given vent to some com forting expletives than two of the tightly drawn cuerdas snapped with a loud, reverberating hum. “What did I tell you?” wailed Maria. “There is the beginning of misfortune and we are lucky if it ends there.” With another oath, the irritated musician made a lunge at the butterfly, which was perched on a cluster of bananas, slowly opening and closing its wings. “Leave it alone!” Maria’s excited voice informed the children in the room overhead that something out of the ordinary was happening, and down the stairs they tumbled, a toddler of three bringing up the rear. Certain deaths which occurred with the sinking of the interisland vessel Euzkadi some months ago, were at tributed to the malevolence of a mari posa negra. Presaging disaster, one of these flutterers entered the house of the third engineer, Rafael Lintojua, the day before the ship grounded, and flew about in crazy butterfly fashion until the family was greatly perturbed. “The ship ran on the rocks November 23”, said the widow, “and on the morn ing of November 24 in the morning my attention drawn to a huge black butter fly which came into the house and passed round me several times. On seeing it, I at once thought of my husband ...” So the belief keeps up, nothing being more natural, and brings Mr. Hill’s story up to date.—Ed. The family wash in a deep wooden batia filled with water had inadvertently been pushed under the lowest step, and the eager brood descending with more haste than care were precipitated into this washtub, from which, to the accompaniment of soapy howlings they were hauled out just OXYGEN Compressed Oxygen 99.5% pure HYDROGEN Compressed Hydrogen 99.8% pure ACETYLENE Dissolved Acetylene for all purposes WELDING Fully Equip ped Oxy-Ace tylene Weld ing Shops BATTLE js Prest- J : Electr ” . < age I zei / s Philippine Acetylen Co. 281 CALLE CRISTOBAL, .-CO MANILA, P. I. as the neighbors, with the ? . e vd of Manila vecinos, came fi c ; r the cause of the commotion • 1 e « - uousehold. When they heard • ’ d ••': • • .n the black butterfly and whi ' <,. v. j, some hurriedly made the sigi others looked accusingly at Pep . ; ■ g larkly at his wife, the children, i. * .. b m m ighbors, and even more fiercely ' i> P ■ of the black butterfly, took up , 1. j •r’ e ■ left the house and made his wa> • I Chino store, intending to repair m mgs. io of Arrived at the tienda whir, of the quarter, he found <•? of silver and copper had k ” wide hole in his pocket, ir lected to repair. Not w house, he continued on i... student hoping to urge L ¡ musical attack on the ; young lady who lived in the Estero Cegado, then Santa Cruz from the qu * for its unsalubrious w; Aristón, after some pers mA his jarana that evening. • • • < t serenader’s bandurria after a little anxious m strings replaced, Pep ’ soon bringing forth me and in its harmonious mn anees and the black H opher, he would enjov t’ i that he must eat ard -i borne in upon him t! < uc coins. With his instrument . .. músico was passing tiro alleys of the quarter '• darkening skies promi and he was wishing he ■ converted into money peace-offering to Mai 1; reached him, and h. hopefully in the dir-_-< Despite the mon > ? ■ with him. A ma i A ing with his ban ;• under tioned for him m - ei. Hn been the monc^ h might was in the midst a the i-:t: < he needs ■ ■ v store • ugh a « had negirn to the of a young renew his a certain i {..ise facing dividing .v.po, named r ,\;ie student ■ to renew ' • repair the a: produced ne broken :• ’. gers were ; istrument, jci ’, l his grievtrue philosm atil reminded it would be ; aim replace the lost ,ex b.is arm, the errant h one of the crowded ■bat afternoon. The .b- j' iy deluge of rain, m -mue of his melodies iat he might take as a Sounds of merriment ed i is head and looked m In, • 'vhich they came, s v.'curtGiices, luck was w ind ’’ saw him stand s’ arm and moi”st thought had ■i, but when Pepe . and had accepted a drink or aai'ado.. r e vs not so much the profession.» musiría;- a. L v is one of the guests—eni '< ainir g the cm .■ pmm in a passable voice with yincC-t of 'A- < pain. 1 s’cs mi 1 -. ■. Uieit 1 Cu.- t ',, no m fir, 'h''quc '4S 0/m. J .fir r. i, y j'iCb'i min, m -i'¡■inr. á mi! Over -rd c /ei agí iu A r velers sang the chorus. As -ne drink .¿o’i ’.v id another, the party gm-. úvelier fu¡ n--iiewer, and Pepe’s brain more e-mn 'd the while longpractic o. ••■'’«gers .str., rn m.>; his instrument, ceasing rm ¿o Ami f the indigestible bibinka ■a ia hvngiy i 1. At i- H o’cluek. /a r .laving ceased and the guemis depaibng. d r a.-st, with a generous measrte A finite y, dr :• pel some silver coins into Ipt’i imric. Jr UUm. spirits he slipped the mvúú; i ite t dyymk-J shouldered his ban durria and went gauj off n «me to bed. A peace ful night was not awaiting him, however, for Maria greeted him with a sobering anger re calling the morning’s happenings, and when he sought to console her with his afternoon’s earn ings he discovered there was nothing left in his pocket but the hole. Pepe took the offensive and scolded his wife for her neglect in not re-.’r-.i ae rent, but Maria wailed that it was th.,- mult of the black butterfly. They threw v »v/b. each other with such violence that the miib’ir. awoke and added their share to the b. J Silence finally reigned, but moody dheor still prevailed. morning, witn an aching head, the Santa /oubadour betook himself into the sun. streets in search of a few stray coins. I - - ad scorned the black butterfly, but now, : cursed inwardly at the thought of the r mal. ast he had gone without, he began to ‘ el’ e it had something to do with his misíes. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE /■■'Lh ¿aa :b$r of commerce journal AU^UOL, AMEia rvonvnraR OF VVffi&ROESK JCRN^NAL 23 He was not long without occupation in a Manila which will always have music when it can. At the corner of the plaza he was hailed by a fellow-musician, attached to a wedding party, who needed a bandurrista to complement him. Pepe joined the procession issuing from the old church, and marched with his companions of the guitar, violin and bajo, who were escorting the strutting groom in tight fitting pantaloons, and the little brown bride whose blushes were visible through her -dusky jskin. This wedding, as weddings usually do, ended in a feast at the bride’s home. Tables were piled with food, polished hardwood floor crowded with dancers swinging their partners to the strains of old contradanzas, with the elders on the sidelines, complacently chewing icho, or pellets of buyo, lime and the aromatic leaves of the icmo vine, commenting to each other on the scene, or joining lustily in some of the canciones. Musicians and guests alike were absorbed in the merry scene. No one saw a black butterfly as it fluttered in and alighted on the pink and white blossoms of the cadena-de-amor decorating the tables. Almost immediately it flitted away, circled above a heap of headgear in an obscure corner, and rested on the hat which crowned the pile. Alas for Pepe; it was his hat the butterfly had chosen. A matanda, an old man, industriously chewing buyo, directed a stream with such good aim in the direction of the perhaps not so innocent cause of Pepe’s estrangement from home, that the startled mariposa flew around and arbund until it seemed to Pepe, who had come to rescue his hat from further drenchings with buyo juice, that he alone was singled out for persecution. Smothering his annoyance, which was flaming into rage, he endured somehow to the end of the party. When he received his pay, this time he carefully tied it in a corner of his none too clean handkerchief, went triumphantly home and turned both money and handkerchief over to Maria, who set out to do the daily marketing. Fearing he might start her on her pet griev ance, Pepe had wisely refrained from telling Maria whence came the spots on his hat, but to himself he vowed a war of extermination against black butterflies. During the next few days he did destroy one or two, but generally they were elusive adversaries. It came to be a kind of obsession with him, and he was r^gahded by ac quaintances with mingled feelings of awe and admiration. Try as he would to conceal his activities, rumors reached Maria, who, after the fashion of women, attributed all the bad luck attending the household to her husband’s failure to heed her warnings. If Pepe had a misgiving now and then, he argued with himself that certainly not all the myriad mariposas haunting the gardens of Santa Cruz—-and there were many in those days— could presage evil fortune. Did Providence dis perse misfortune only during the rainy season? To be consistent, bad luck should be as little in evidence during the dry season as were the at tendant butterflies. But Pepe could not con vince his neighbors of his logic. They saw,'they knew, they believed; and they, aS well as Maria, were strengthened in their superstitions by the visions of the village prophetess. Doña Guadalupe was a pious old woman who lived on calle Dulunbayan, devoting herself and what wealth she had to the church. For a long time she had suffered from hallucinations and visions of the most terrifying variety, and because of these she had a certain influence on both saints and sinners of the quarter. Sometimes she remained for more than a day stretched motion less on her huge carved bed, with staring eyes and haggard countenance. Then, starting up, she would reveal awful futures for the sinful and thoughtless. The religiosos declared these vi sions and prophecies to be a providential warning to mortals, but though the good friars said she suffered from ecstasy, the doctors called her malady epilepsy. Whoever was right, she became the boast of the quarter, which had its pride in the supernatural. They doubted that the miracle of the loaves and fishes sur passed the revelations of their sage. In the last interview Maria and some of her gossipy neighbors had had with Doña Puping, the epileptic-prophetess claimed she had been Qpt thly ordered to have them repent and flee from^vrath to come. If their hearts remained hard they would receive as a visible sign a visit from the mariposa negra. Maria had burst into sobs and rushed home, convinced that she was already a marked victim of divine displeassure If Pepe wished to forget the existence of his Nemesis, he could not during the days that followed. Black butterflies pursued him on every hand, and he in turn pursued them. The accidental killing of his pet monkey by a stone intended for a tantalizing mariposa but furnished another cause for his frenzied offensive against the flying enemy. And Pepe as well as the entire neighborhood was made uncomfortably aware of Maria’s condemnation of his behavior. Came the twelfth of October, the feast day of the quarter, and a gala fiesta was under way— processions with carozas carrying jewelled and flower-decked statues of Nuestra Señora del Pilar, other saints, and a half dozen brass bands marching with the more religious of the parish. At the head of the procession, behind the man guilla bearing silken standards, proudly walked Pepe, with twenty other musicians, accompanying in harmonious rythm the intoned Gregorian chants, or playing slow contra-danzas. Ur ? watchful, piercing eyes of Spanisl UUr’ < neighboring quarters, the crowds on : c v sidewalks observed a respectful an -corei silence as the procession moved slo . U in me out the short streets, careful not to go bhK Santa Cruz boundaries into Binondo .< • 1 ; -ro On the south a paseo, where the ch :r • h wa situated, ran along the Pasig river. As the company emerged from a c -our of the side streets and swung into i.a.row causeway leading to the river ban; ■ .elac;. butterfly—-portentous omen!—flitteó • <iCdU about and settled on the hat of * tv,pa. of course! Exasperated, obsessed, < op ped playing, made a grab for the ene \ "hi ch saucily flitted ahead, flew coyly abouv úv crim son and purple banners, returned impertinent1 to Pepe and boldly alighted on his nose. 1? furiated, he lifted his instrument, and Jas the THE WHITE EMPRESS OF THE PACIFIC EMPRESS OF ASIA EMPRESS OF FRANCE EMPRESS OF RUSSIA 16900 tons 18400 tons 16800 tons To CANADA, UNITED STATES and EUROPE QUICKEST TIME ACROSS THE PACIFIC CANADIAN PACIFIC STEAMSHIPS 14-16 CALLE DAVID • MANILA, P. I. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 24 THE AEjE.JzTCAN £W¿ÑÍBER dtf* CfiMMRRíZ JOtfAWAL August.', aV29 butterfly flew gracefully off again. Pepe s a after it. He would kill this insect at"least. The procession halted in curiosity. The startled musicians ceased playing, and were chided by a tall friar who bade them continue. Half-heartedly, they resumed, but all eyes were intently watching an obsessed bandurrista vainly batting at a black butterfly. The pursuit took Pepe to the very edge of the embankment. The next moment the insect had darted off across the river, and Pepe, intent only on de stroying his foe, seeing no danger, took another step and plunged into the muddy current. Heedless of the friars’ reproofs, the crowd rushed to the river’s edge. But the musician had disap peared beneath the whirlpools of the swollen stream, and as they looked, his bandurria sunk also. River bancas were quickly manned, but the unfortunate Pepe never came to the surface. Had he met his fate chasing a phantom? The procession wended its way to the church where aves and pater nosters were offered up for the soul of the troubadour who would draw no more melodies from his instrument for the fiestas of and feed her spirit not only with knowledge of books and experiences of travel but also with the sensations and tumult of politics. . She attained her economic emancipation when she saw wide open the doors of the office, the shop, the school and other fields of human activity. Her economic emancipation is bound to bring about in the long run a common level of culture, a single standard of morality, an equality of rights and responsibilities between the two sexes. This change of system in the family will not in any way destroy the home, nor will the home be deprived of its moral and religious back ground, because the love of the spouses and the natural affection parents have for their children dll remain essentially the same, however difyent may be the rules observed in the relations ot the spouses and bptween parents and children. The conjugal tie will no longer be a forced and perpetual bondage, Impossible of dissolution even in the face of immorality, discord and un happiness in the home. Its duration will depend on the voluntary will of the spouses, of their mutual respect and fidelity in performing their duties. The church, in the same way as the family, will remain as a human necessity, because the soul is linked to the supernatural, and reason needs religion and faith to satisfy the longings of man for immortality. But the individual will no longer be forced to submit himself to the religion of his parents, nor to the dogmas of a particular religion. He chooses his religion even now, and within it he accepts those beliefs that satisfy his reason. If he worships and follows his belief in good faith, he is entitled to all rights and privileges as a man and citizen. God has not disappeared from the conscience of the modern world, but the conception of God has changed in the sense that He is no longer made to sanction crimes born out of intolerance or the abuse of power, either by the father of the family, the head of the Church, or of the State. All authority is no longer absolute; it has its corresponding limitations and responsibilities. God is still the supreme sanction of individuals and of nations. But God no longer abides only in the tiara or in royal robes, but also in public opinion and in popular assemblies. v The state is another necessary human insti tution, and whatever changes it may receive in the future, it will always exist as a power of unity and coordination for the determination of the limits of freedom of the individual and of a group. kThe head of the state, as such, is no longer irresponsible nor is he above the law. His authority is exercised by delegation from the people, and even in monarchies it is limited by constitutions. ~ deprive a person of his life * due process of law. The and the privilege of comí violable as is one’s person tension. The individual is not its slave, -and public o The state can no “ ■“ ^dr-peri.' .í'iJÍV (>•’ longer Santa Cruz. When the sad news was announced to Maria, between sobs she recalled each warning the family had received—beginning with the morning when Pepe had broken the strings on his ban durria, when he had first chased a black but terfly. “If he had only listened to me!” she wailed. A few days later the corpse was discovered by an artilleryman of the King’s Regiment. An eddy had whirled it beneath the arches of the Bridge of Spain to a quiet pool below Fort San tiago. Thus did Pepe leave Santa Cruz. When his fate was mentioned, neighbors shook their heads knowingly. They agreed with Maria. Though it was non-canonical to believe in su perstitions, the natives of Santa Cruz had wit nessed the occurrence, and after all, seeing is believing. The good friars alluded to a reli gious frenzy, but they, of course, did not believe in evil omens, and besides, they were kno^vn to be charitable souls. Certain it was in any case that a black butterfly did bring disaster to the musician Pepe Garcia. Understanding Our Age {Continued from page 11) to ride on the back of the people but to be their servants. In the realm of education, the doctrine of in dividual freedom has manifested itself in the elimination of the old practice—“Quod magister dixit.” The teacher is not supposed to dog matize. He has no longer the right to impose on his pupils his own theories or personal beliefs. He is expected to stimulate free discussion of the subject he teaches, leaving to his students the choice of the system of thought which best satisfies their reason. All these changes have been brought about gradually and by natural causes as a result of the sufferings and miseries borne by humankind in its different stages of development. Humanity constantly tries new theories and doctrines, only to give them up as soon as others more effective FIELD with a gun— in the Philippines— where game so abounds! Here again we have every thing to suit you from gloves and hunting knives to the guns themselves— Winchester, Remington, Fox, Ithaca, Lefever: a wide choice of the best. SQUIRES BINGHAM GO, 15 Plaza Goiti Manila, P. I. Phone 2-13-01 for the redress of past grievances and misfor tunes are discovered. The tendency of human ity has always been for the better, inasmuch as any people’s desire for change is prompted by the need of freeing itself from the abuses and excesses of institutions when the rust of time and the greed of power have corrupted them. Thus, because of the excesses of parental author ity, the family régime was changed from the communistic to the individualistic type; out of the extravagances of the Holy Roman Empire was born the Reformation which promoted in later years religious tolerance; because of the abuses of monarchs, popular assemblies were brought into life. It is still to be seen whether from the abuses of parliamentarism and de mocracies may come another form of government which shall better respond to the exigencies of our epoch. Religion, morality, family and government will always remain as essential and necessary institutions in the world, and there is no human force that can destroy them, because they are founded on the nature of things. But their forms will not remain the same and unalterable. They will change with the ideals and aspirations of humanity as fast as the latter discovers new truths and understands better the workings of matter and of spirit. Now, in a world which guarantees complete individual freedom, the education of men and the women cannot teach the norms of conduct and habits of action characteristic of an age which subjected the individual to the control of the family, the church and the state. The best that education can do in our times is to train the individual for freedom in order that he may make good use of it and not misuse it. Training for freedom requires a constant and methodical exercise of the will, in order to control bad instincts and stimulate good ones. There is need of creating moral restraints within, and not without, the individual, by developing properly in his conscience precise notions of good and of evil and leaving him to his own responsibility. Man should do good and avoid evil as a matter of duty, through conviction, and not through fear or consideration of punishment. He should feel ashamed of himself whenever he is willfully at fault, even if no other detect his dishonesty. If man were always inspired by what his con science reveals to him and should endeavor to suppress the lower impulses and passions which torment him, then he would rise to a position where he would be used to performing good uncon sciously and mechanically. This is the state of culture toward which our agdis bound, and this can be accomplished if all the agencies for good that exist in the world to regulate human conduct, be it of the family, the church, the state, or the school, coordinate their efforts and reconcile their mental attitude with the ideas of our century. The difficulty lies in the fact that there are still many who will not admit that the world has been improved, with its changes and innovations, and that God is with the modern world, in all its marvelous progress and scientific discoveries, in the same form that He was with the old world—when man knew little of the lawg’of nature and enjoyed fewer comforts and conveniences. Why should we refuse to see the will of God in the truths revealed to the human conscience by the modern world? Who but God inspired the prophets of the modern world, as wise and learned as the prophets of the old, in the teaching of new religious, moral, economic and social truths which every day are enhancing the power of human intelligence and opening new fields for its research and investigation? Why place our century at odds with God? Why should it be considered that God has turned His back upon our world, simply because it exerts every effort to better conditions of human existence and tries new forms of conduct and rules of action more in accord with the realities brought about by the inventions, exigencies and discoveries of our age? Is it that God desires paralysis and stagna tion in life? No, I would say not. God has placed us on this planet in order constantly to improve it and to beautify it. God has en dowed us with the faculty to think in order that {Please turn to page 29) CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL IN RESPONDING I ■i••■"V./:.1'/’■ 'r~':,:TS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN