Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

UNOFFICIAL LETTERS OF

they would not ordinarily commit. The Filipinos
are accused of being naturally untruthful, and this
may possibly be so, but it is a habit engendered by
centuries of intercourse with a people who governed
them with selfish aims. They have become accustomed to answer questions or make statements as
they think will best please their superiors. If once
a Filipino understands that you really want to know
the fact, and he is not afraid of compromising himself, he will tell the truth. Children in the schools
when asked why they have told an untruth about
some trivial matter, have answered that they did not
wish to be impolite.
I believe time will show favorable results of the
government's work here, provided Congress continues the policy begun by President McKinley. One
of the unfortunate features of the situation is the
lack of confidence on the part of the Filipinos in the
stability of the present regime. When visiting, antiimperialists express their sympathy with " the heroic defenders of independence"; when American
newspapers announce that negotiations are in progress to sell the Islands to Japan; when enlightened
Americanistos believe that a democratic President
would immediately order every soldier from the
Philippines and restore the Islands to the Insurgents; and when the recommendation of Governor
Taft, who knows the needs of the Filipinos quite as
well as congressional delegates who have spent
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