The people of the Philippines, their religious progress and preparation for spiritual leadership in the Far East,

214 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES
unmarried men who had previously indicated their willingness
to select and marry these girls. The Mayor was severely criticised for inflicting this crowd of morally and physically diseased
girls upon the luckless town of Davao, even though some people
in Davao wished them. The ethics of the mayor's method are,
of course, open to question, but that the closing of "Gardenia"
was a blessing to the city of Manila is admitted by all rightthinking people. Mayor Lucban of Manila, the first Protestant
Mayor, deserves the gratitude of the Christian section of the
community.
The Evangelical Union has worked for a law to abolish the
cockpit. Several times bills have been presented by members
of the Philippine Assembly, but public opinion is not yet sufficiently strong to make possible the final elimination of this
widespread vice. The agitation had done its work nevertheless,
for it has made the young generation sensitive to the immorality of cock fighting. It is only a question of time when the
rising tide of public opinion will destroy it.
The Christian Service League, which was established during
the brief existence of the National Guard at Camp Claudio in
I9I8, proved effective in its fight on the liquor traffic. When
the Evangelical Union included Filipinos, in I920, it took up
the fight with all its energy. Dean Bocobo, as Chairman of the
Committee on Morals and Order, has investigated the liquor
traffic and published a very strong pamphlet which has been
translated into several dialects. In the year 1922 the Evangelical Union distributed 40,000 of these pamphlets in various
parts of the Islands. So powerful was the influence of the
Temperance Committee, as it was named for this particular
purpose, under the leadership of Dean Bocobo and President
Osias, that the Senate voted favorably for the adoption of
prohibition. A powerful liquor lobby, including wealthy
Americans, worked desperately to defeat the measure, and the
Lower House failed to ratify it.
The Committee on Order and Morals has also been on the
alert to prevent exploitation of the poor, to protect innocent
children from gamblers and panderers, and to save the youth
of the Islands from all forms of gambling and vice.