Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

236 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

The last speaker in the morning was Mr. Pedro
Aunario. He read the following paper:
OUR NEIGHBORS IN THE FAR EAST
By PEDRO AUNARIO
The subject assigned to me to be discussed this morning
is very broad. It is not my desire to treat it in all its phases,
but simply to present some salient facts of the moment to
arrive at the conclusion that the need of knowing well the
neighboring countries of the Extreme Orient and of fostering
our amicable relations with them is now more imperative than
ever.
The great surprise which we had in the hecatomb of '98,
which brought the United States to these Islands, was that
we Filipinos knew little of the Americans, of their history,
and their character. That event caught us entirely unaware.
Neither the country nor the then directors were prepared to
face the new situation. To a certain extent I belong to the
school of those who believe that the changes of decoration
in history were produced by those great hecatombs, which
do not depend on our will, but the effect of which is to renew
the old order of things.
I am placing now before your consideration a few salient
and very well-known facts which are like brush strokes that
give us an idea of the picture which is being developed in the
scenery and which is within the reach of the naked eyes.
First: The birth of the era of the Pacific called to unite all
human races in a great council of nations; second: the sorrowful crisis of enlightenment in China, the nation which may
break the actual equilibrium of powers in the Extreme Orient,
if it succeeds in realizing its interior unification and in getting
rid of the many powerful foreign influences, which have
embroiled its national existence; third: the wave of restlessness
which has spread in all Asia at this time; and fourth: the
consideration that if Europe and America have come so near
the Extreme Orient by means of the dirigibles and the airplanes, shortening rapidly the distances, with greater reason.