History of Philippine press / Carson Taylor.

Ilistory of the Philippine Press

39

"No more human lives should be sacrificed. There is
no necessity to resort to violence to secure our liberties. We
believe in the noble purposes.of the American people and in
conformity with the proclamation of the commission and we
propose through La Democracia to lend them our cooperation for the benefit of the just aspirations of our own people."
The editorial closed by expressing a desire, soon to see
all Spanish prisoners liberated.
The Federal party gradually lost prestige due to internal dissention, lack of proper practical support from the
Americans, the development of opposition parties, etc. and
La Democracia ceased publication about 1908.
The Gaceta de Filipinas appeared May 17, 1899, as the
official organ of the revolutionary government. It was
doubtless printed with the same plant as La Independencia
and ceased publication when that was captured by the
Americans.
El Grito del Pueblo and the Tagalog edition of the same,
Ang Kapatid fig Bayan, were established early in 1899 by
Pascual Poblete, who was an idealist, an impractical dreamer
with a big heart and no head for business. He kept his
papers going, however, for several years, possibly until about
1914. They had small circulation and little influence.
The only other Filipino paper established in 1899 worthy
of mention was El Filipino Libre, a daily published by Dr.
Manuel Xeres Burgos. Dr. Burgos, is of Spanish decent and
a nephew of the celebrated P. Burgos, who was executed by
the Spaniards in connection with the uprising in Cavitein
1872. Dr. Burgos was active in the campaign of propaganda for independence from Spain in the early days of
American occupation before the treaty of peace was signed.
He wrote a play in which he himself took the leading part.
It ran for a long period in the old Libertad theatre on calle
Azcarraga. It was entitled "Con Cruz y Espada" (With
Cross and Sword), and demonstrated in a very dramatic
way the abuses committed by the Friars and the guardia
civil during the latter years of the Spanish regime.
His paper only lasted for a short time. He also published a paper in English and Spanish called Dimas Alang
and a satirical weekly called Nuevo Diogenes. The good doctor affiliated himself with the Federal party. He finally
dropped out of politics and now devotes himself to the practice of medicine.