after that he picks up the language rapidly, and by use of the chart and primer he learns to read, to write, and to speak it at the same time. A child, under favorable conditions of instruction, may learn in the course of the school year to read and write about 250 words, with a conversational acquaintance of nearly as many more. This is considered a good foundation, but it is obviously of small value to the child if he is to stop here. It is observable, however, that second-grade pupils use their English pretty well, are able to carry on a conversation upon limited topics with a stranger, tell him about their town, and give him directions. By the time a child has completed the third grade he has secured a knowledge of the language which will remain with him, and which he will constantly amplify after he leaves school. It is common to meet young men and women engaged in small commercial pursuits who speak very good English and are able to use it for reading and writing, but who no more than completed the third year of some primary school. The aim in the primary course is to give the boy and girl enough English so that they can read an ordinary book or newspaper and gain a reading and writing habit. I think this can be accomplished by the primary course, although results have not yet been fully demonstrated.

The primary school can not, of course, make a finished literary scholar; but if it can give a child a training in letters to the point where he can read and write upon ordinary matters, and profit by the newspapers, keep his accounts, and conduct his own commercial transactions, and be able to appreciate and assimilate to some extent the news of the world, he will be a truly literate man and will not go through the world a mere clod. Children who are only graduates of a primary school will not speak or write wholly correct and grammatical English, but those who make their deficiencies the ground for depreciating their attainments and the work of the schools should recall the undeniable fact that the ordinary American citizen-farmer or mechanic-can not write a letter free from errors of punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and misspelling; yet who is prepared to deny that his schooling is of the utmost importance to him, not only in the exercise of his duties as a citizen, but for the intellectual life which it affords him and for the conduct of his practical affairs? Or, to use another illustration, the English spoken by Filipino boys and girls just out of school is unquestionably better, superior in grammar, vocabulary, and accent to the Spanish that the majority of Americans in these islands are able to speak and write. But poor as American-spoken Spanish is, the immense advantage that it gives to a foreigner in this country is undeniable. The same is true of Filipino-spoken English. The object of the schools, it is granted, must be to impart correct and not corrupt English, to teach the youth to speak it and write it colloquially and freely, and this ideal must never be lost sight of; but meanwhile the tremendous practical advantage of every increased means of communication between the native and foreign elements is too frequently unrealized. Communication of ideas and not of polished phrases is, after all, the object, and when the means of this communication between all peoples in these islands has been fairly well established through the medium of the English tongue, then in great part the present strife and variance will cease and we may look for that better understanding, that increase of mutual consideration and respect, which is so greatly to be desired.

It is impossible to accurately estimate at the present time the number of Filipino people who have a knowledge of English. There are many thousands of children and young people who speak it to the degree above discussed, and these young people are found in every town and in every considerable barrio, so that a stranger encering almost any Filipino community now rarely has difficulty in finding some small person to act as interpreter and adviser. There is

also a large class of young men and young women who speak English surprisingly well, and this includes nearly all of those occupying official or important commercial positions. Of the adult population, including persons of mature years and social influence, the number speaking English is relatively small. This class speaks Spanish, and as it is the most prominent and important class of people in the islands, Spanish continues to be the most important language spoken in political, journalistic, and commercial circles. The class of young people who have been educated in English in the public schools is only beginning to make its way into the active life of the country. Another ten years will tell very greatly in the relative importance of the two languages. Meanwhile, the question is disturbing many minds, "What is to be the ultimate language of this people as they attain a common consciousness and solidarity?" This question has been much discussed within the last two or three years. At the time of the American occupation there was a general feeling among Filipinos that the knowledge of the Spanish language had been deliberately and wrongly withheld from them by the sovereign country. English, as the language of the new sovereign nation, was asked for in part as a political concession. When it was proposed to bring American teachers to the islands to impart this instruction, the number proposed by the general superintendent was 500, but this was raised to 1,000 at the earnest solicitation of Filipinos in order that there might be an American teacher for every important pueblo of the archipelago. Thus, at the very outset of educational work, English was decided upon as the language of instruction as a matter of joint agreement, and if there is dissent now in some quarters from making English the language of instruction there was not then. The spread of the English language has gone steadily on. The results are undoubtedly cumulative. It was more taught and more spoken last year than the year before, and this coming year will see a greater extension of it than last year saw, yet it still has active rivals as the language of use and instruction. It is probable also that there has been some decline of interest on the part of the adult population in the English language. This is attributable to several causes. In the first year of the organization of this bureau the adult population of the towns eagerly sought opportunities to learn English. Night schools were opened in the city of Manila in 1900; later in nearly all the towns of the archipelago. In August, 1904, there were 501 such classes, with an enrollment of over 1,800 people, most of them adult men and women. Owing, however, to the reduction of the appropriation for the bureau of education, it was necessary a few months later, in order to avoid the incurring of a deficit, to close all the night schools in the provincial towns. This was in January, 1905. It was anticipated at the time that it would be possible to reopen them the ensuing school year, but the funds appropriated for the bureau did not permit. Shortly afterwards the date set for English to become the language of the courts was postponed until January 1, 1911. This action, while recommended by the fact that a laige number of judges and practicing attorneys were insufficiently trained in English, had a very unfortunate effect upon public confidence in the ultimate adoption of English as the official language of the government. Previously there had been a general expectation that English would be made the official language throughout the administration. By an act passed in the last decades of the Spanish Government the knowledge of Spanish was made a necessary qualification for municipal office. The Filipinos had regarded the adoption of English as the official language of the courts in the light of past experiences and had been exerting themselves accordingly. After the passage of the above legislation such activities largely ceased. Not entirely, however, for in some towns night schools have been conducted and paid for by private subscription, while in Manila night schools supported by the

city have continued, with good results. It seems highly desirable that night classes in the provinces should be reopened. Such classes should be limited to a certain number of weeks during the winter months, when the people have most leisure to apply themselves. They should aim at definite results and follow and complete special courses of work. Authority exists under the law for the director of education to pay for such instruction, though no definite amount of money was furnished by the present appropriation bill. If, however, funds can be spared from some source, this instruction will be resumed during the coming winter.

The extension of the knowledge of English among the adult people is believed to be a matter of the utmost importance and one meriting renewed attention. It is to be noted that with the increased study and use of English there has been an increased study of Spanish. I think it is a fact that many more people in these islands have a knowledge of Spanish now than they did when the American occupation occurred. As already remarked, an immense impetus has been given to private institutions where the instruction is largely in the Spanish language. The general demand upon clerks is for a knowledge of both English and Spanish. Through the great increase in number and circulation of newspapers and periodicals, there is now much more reading of Spanish than formerly. But in spite of these facts it is believed that the use of Spanish here will wane; it is unsupported by Spanish-speaking countries adjacent to us. On the other hand, as has been frequently stated, English is the common language of every port from Japan to Australia and Suez. The chance to make Spanish the language of the islands existed half a century ago, but it is gone to-day. So far as known to me, Spanish is the language of the common people in only 3 communities-Ermita, a district of Manila; Cavite, and its suburb, San Roque; and the Christian colonies of Zamboanga and Cotabato, where a corrupt Spanish dialect called "chabucano" is spoken. The new generation, which will be foremost in the affairs of the islands in another ten years, will not use Spanish for ordinary purposes, and their influence will be decisive. It will cease to be the language of the courts on January 1, 1911. It is rapidly ceasing to be the medium of administrative correspondence. Probably its longest official use will be as the language of the legislature.

THE FUTURE OF THE NATIVE DIALECTS.

How will it be with the native dialects? Their number is generally recognized as a cause of division; their continuance is an obstacle to the attainment of nationality. Few Filipinos, even those who have a scholarly interest in these dialects, advocate the continuance of them all. A common medium of communication is recognized as essential. The present representative government would hardly have been practicable had it not been for the fact that all the members of the Philippine Assembly can communicate in Spanish. The growth of common consciousness in recent years has been possible because a limited number of individuals in every community speak this foreign tongue. There are two supposable ways in which a Philippine language might be produced: First, by selecting one and suppressing all the others; second, by thoroughly fusing all these dialects, retaining the best elements of all.

As regards the first plan, many look to the Tagalog as the ultimate Philippine language. It has the advantage of being spoken in those provinces surrounding the capital. It has, moreover, been most influenced by other tongues. Many years ago it was pronounced by the great German philologist, William von Humboldt, to be the richest and most perfect of all the languages of the MalayoPolynesian family. It is, however, spoken only by 21 per cent of the Christian

inhabitants of the archipelago. The Visayan, in its several dialects, is spoken by more than twice as many. More than this, the Tagalog, in the capacity of extending his territory and influence, is surpassed by several other peoples. There is not, and there has not been for years past, any considerable expansion of the Tagalog people into new regions. Where they are to-day, they were at the time of the Spanish conquest, with the exception of the towns of southern Nueva Ecija and a part of southern Zambales. But meanwhile the Visayan peoples have had an astonishing growth. In 1735 the entire bishopric of Cebu, embracing the islands of Samar, Leyte, Bohol, Cebu, Panay, and northern Mindanao, yielded only 8,114 tributes, indicative of a population of less than 50,000 souls. At the opening of the nineteenth century they numbered only 100,000. In 1903 they were enumerated at over 3,000,000. Their expansion still goes on. They are settling up northern Mindanao, and as the present uninhabited portions of great islands like Palawan invite settlement, it will be the Visayans who colonize them.

On the north are extraordinary emigrants, the Ilocanos. In nearly all the towns of Ilocos there is an annual "swarming." Whole communities move out at once and settle in the rich valleys of the Cagayan and Magat or in the fertile plains of Nueva Ecija, Pangasinan, Tarlac, and Zambales. Here is a people speaking a language very dissimilar from Tagalog, who will dominate northern Luzon, if they do not already do so, down to the provinces of Pampanga and Bulacan. It is impossible to believe that Tagalog ever will or can make progress among the Ilocanos. On the other hand, no Filipino people is more desirous for English instruction than the Ilocano or have better prospects of obtaining general literacy through the public schools. In view of these conditions, I see no chance of Tagalog becoming the language of the archipelago by the natural ascendancy of those who now speak it.

On the other hand, the possibility of making a common language by the systematic and scientific fusing of them all seems even more visionary. Filipino scholars interested in the development of the Tagalog language have adopted a shortsighted policy. In chauvinistic effort at linguistic purity, they are trying to eject from the language all words of foreign origin and to substitute circumlocutions or words of new invention. It may be that they are following the example of the Tagalog classical poet, Baltazar, but this is not the way in which the great languages of the world have grown and spread. Supposing that Englishmen of the time of Henry II had persistently cast out from the AngloFrench speech of their day every word of Norman or Latin origin, and suppose this practice had gone on through the generations since, what would the English language be to-day? English has grown, as every other great language has grown, by adopting and assimilating the words of other languages. The policy adopted by Tagalog scholars for "purifying" and perfecting their own speech spells its ultimate sterilization and death.

Up to the end of Spanish rule the Philippine languages were growing by the absorption of Spanish, and if this process had been assisted by the schools the result would have been striking. I have before me a little compendium of the Visayan language as it is spoken on the island of Masbate, prepared some years ago by a young Filipino scholar. This little volume contains at a rough count 514 words, of which at least 184, or one-third, are Spanish or Spanish corruptions. Of other words are a number borrowed from the Sanskrit, Arabic, and Chinese. The Spanish terms embrace such names as days of the week, months, many foods, occupations, house furnishings, articles of clothing, tools, some domestic animals, some wild animals, many vegetables, nearly all words that

See "History of the Population" in Philippine Census, Vol. I, pp. 439-440.

relate to the schools and public buildings, and administration, all names for foreigners, and all proper names. The words of Malayan origin include numerals, parts of the body, pronouns, nearly all birds and fishes, many natural objects, and the verbs and adjectives with very few exceptions. This instance may indicate that the present effort to develop the Philippine languages by casting out the foreign element can only result, as it is already doing, in making them unintelligible to the mass of the people, and in robbing them of essential elements of strength, richness, and utility.

Feeling in favor of the use of the dialects found expression in a proposed law of the last session of the legislature providing for their teaching. This proposed bill, in the form in which it was exhibited at one period of its discussion, provided that instruction in the dialect of any locality might be given in the public schools on request of a local school board and municipal council. The idea of the bill was said to be not to disturb the present curriculum in English, but to put in the dialect teaching where locally demanded as an additional subject. Although many friends of the public schools felt that such a measure as this would weaken their teaching and occasion general misunderstanding, my own feeling is that it would not have done harm and might have introduced instruction of present benefit. It is a very easy matter for a child of the second grade to acquire facility in reading and writing his dialect, as the syllabary used for the purpose is phonetic and very plain. Some reading of proverbs, folk stories, and poetry, of which there is a considerable in several languages, could have followed. But the advocates of the measure inserted a final clause that the municipalities should have the power to decide in what language public instruction should be given. As English was apparently to be included in this scope of their authority, such a power would have afforded possibilities of immeasurable confusion, and if generally exercised for excluding English, would have undone the work of eight years and rendered useless over 6,000 teachers trained to teach English. In this form, therefore, the bill was reactionary and unacceptable and was fortunately disapproved by the upper house of the legislature.

If we may judge by what is taking place in all parts of the globe, the Philippine languages will disappear from use. There is a common belief that these mother tongues do not die, and that instead the dominant intrusive population always ends by adopting the indigenous speech. While this may be true as applied to certain great historical peoples, nothing is more untrue if we survey the world at large at the present day. I have such good authority as the word of W J Magee that in the century just closed the number of spoken languages of the world decreased one-half. Their disappearance is being constantly accelerated. There are scores of languages throughout both Americas which to-day are known only by name. Even in such a continent as Africa so eminent an authority as Sir Harry Johnson states that no native languages will persist except Swahili (itself partly Arabic) and Hausa. Elsewhere the languages of Africa will be English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, and Italian. The multitudinous dialects of the Philippines will likewise disappear. They will leave with us an enormous number of place names, many of which are older than the languages at present spoken in the locality of these names, names of trees and plants, and a considerable additional vocabulary descriptive of objects native to Malaysia. These will all become a part of the English language spoken throughout the archipelago. This result will come even though no more is done than is being done now. It has already proceeded far enough so that it could only be stopped by a complete reversal of policy,