for the fulfillment of this reasonable and most praiseworthy desire by the establishment of an adequate system of secularized and free public schools." The School Act (No. 74) was passed by the Commission, January 21, 1901, before the Municipal Code or the Provincial Act. It was one of the "first things," and was, therefore, done "first." It is entitled "An Act Establishing a Department of Public Instruction in the Philippine Islands." Some of its most important provisions are given in full: "Section 1. A Department of Public Instruction for the Philippine Islands is hereby established, the central office of which shall be in the city of Manila. All primary instruction in the schools established or maintained under this Act shall be free. "Sec. 2. All schools heretofore established in the Philippine Islands under the auspices of the military government, are hereby declared to be in the Department of Public Instruction established by Section 1, and are made subject to the control of the officers of this department. "Sec. 3. The chief officer of this department who shall be denominated the General Superintendent of Public Instruction shall be appointed by the Commission. His annual salary shall be six thousand dollars. . "Sec. 4. There shall be a superior Advisory Board of Education composed of the general superintendent and four members to be appointed by the Commission. It shall be the duty of the Board to assist the general superintendent by advice and information concerning the educational needs and conditions of the Islands; to make such investigations as the general superintendent may desire, and to make recommendations to the Commission from time to time as to needed amendments to the law." In sections 4-13 provision is made for a city super intendent in Manila at a salary of three thousand dollars, for division superintendents, not to exceed ten in number, at salaries varying from two thousand to twenty-five hundred dollars, and for local School Boards, of four or six members, one-half of whom shall be elected by the Municipal Council, and one-half appointed by the division superintendent, to hold office during his pleasure. "Sec. 14. The English language shall, as soon as practicable, be made the basis of all public-school instruction, and soldiers may be detailed as instructors until such time as they may be replaced by trained teachers. "Sec. 15. Authority is hereby given to the general superintendent of public instruction to obtain from the United States one thousand trained teachers, at monthly salaries of not less than seventy-five dollars, and not more than one hundred and twenty-five dollars, the exact salary of each teacher to be fixed by the general superintendent. "Sec. 16. No teacher or other person shall teach or criticise the doctrines of any Church, religious sect, or denomination, or shall attempt to influence pupils for or against any Church or religious sect in any public school established under this Act. If any teacher shall intentionally violate this section, he or she shall, after due hearing be dismissed from the public service: Provided, however, that it shall be lawful for the priest or minister of any Church established in the pueblo where a public school is situated, either in person or by a designated teacher of religion, to teach religion for one-half an hour three times a week in the school building to those publicschool pupils whose parents or guardians desire it, and express their desire therefor in writing filed with the principal teacher of the school, to be forwarded to the division superintendent, who shall fix the hours and rooms for such teaching. But no public-school teacher shall either conduct exercises or teach religion, or act as a designated religious teacher in the school building under the foregoing authority, and no pupil shall be required by any public school teacher to attend and receive the religions instruction herein permitted. Should the opportunity thus given to teach religion be used by the priest. inster, or religious teacher for the purpose of armsing disloyalty to the United States, or discouraging the attendance of pupils at such public schools, of creating a disturbance of public order, or of interfering with the discipline of the school, the division superintendent, subject to the approval of the general superintendent of public instruction, may, after due investigation and hearing, forbid such offending priest, minister, or religious teacher." Sections 17-19 provide for normal. trade, and agricultural schools, and the concluding sections of the Act relate to plans for buildings and details of finance and general administration. August 23, 1901, the United States army transport Thomas landed five hundred and forty-two trained American teachers in Manila. All were graduates of university, college, or normal school, and nearly all men and women of experience. It was my privilege to be at the wharf to render such aid as was possible in welcoming this new army of invasion. History was made that day. The United States had begun the education of a nation. This gay, laughing, light-hearted crowd of teachers were to begin in all seriousness that work which would alone make it possible for the petty races and tribal divisions of these Islands to be one people. Some of us, who had long lived in the East, could assess in some general way the significance of that 23d of August, not only, let us hope, for the Filipino people, but for the hundreds of millions who sit about the shores of the Pacific in the Far East. History had no parallel to that event. So poor and, too often, so vicious, had been the teaching and example of those who were their educational leaders, that the poorest and weakest specimen |