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

44 THE PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES

is the dialect these classes are still separated. Those belonging
to the upper class will in no way mingle socially with those
belonging to the lower classes, and the middle class also avoid
the lower. If they act otherwise they lose prestige and the
respect of the other members of their class. The Gospel was
received by the 'fourth class' Ilocano people, who were our
first adherents. Naturally the others as a matter of pride, or
self-esteem, as they called it, immediately took a stand for
the opposite side. As the lower classes look up to the upper
classes as their guide and standard, many of them naturally
followed this opposition. This constitutes the greatest hindrance to the spread of the kingdom."
Modern public and private education is rapidly creating
another class distinction which may easily become a greater
problem than the class distinctions inherited from Spanish
times. Many of the young generation feel that their education
has lifted them to higher level than that of their ignorant
fellow townsmen or even of their relatives. In some instances
young people have made themselves and others very miserable
upon returning from college by refusing to associate with
those who had formerly been their best friends.
Alongside of this aristocracy of education there is a growing
aristocracy of wealth. The prosperous times which have attended the greater part of the American regime have enabled
many people of business acumen to amass large fortunes and
many more to become moderately wealthy. The two classes
have been kept apart by the fact that the aristocracy of education uses English and the aristocracy of wealth uses Spanish
or a Filipino dialect. There is a marked tendency, however,
for the educated young men to choose the daughters of wealthy
men as wives, and in this way the two aristocracies tend to
merge.
The educated minister is tempted to associate with the educated aristocracy because he finds them congenial, and to
cultivate the rich aristocracy because they can make large
contributions to his church. This is one reason why many
missionaries insist that we shall always need the half-trained
preacher to reach the common folk. The Protestant churches