In 1901, three years after the Spaniards had surrendered to American troops in the Philippines, an American school was opened on the island of Leyte. I was the American teacher; the pupils were Filipinos, alert, apprehensive, and curious. Many of them had never gone to school before, had never expected to go to school. Now they were pioneers in an experiment without parallel in history; these young Filipinos were embarking on a system of free education on the American plan and throughout their school years they were going to listen and study and recite in a language that was foreign to them. I put up a piece of black oilcloth from the Chinese tienda—the government-issue blackboards did not arrive in time for the opening of school—and the first words I wrote were “A is for Apple.”

In any appraisal of educational methods and progress in the Philippines, it is wise to bear in mind the fact that the essential purpose of the educational system has been, since 1901, political, rather than cultural. This is not said in any spirit of criticism of the Philippine educational pattern. It is rather simply a recognition of what the Filipinos themselves have recognized in respect to their choice of educational methods and their application of educational principles.

The importance of public health as a factor in national development and progress is too often neglected. Whenever an appraisal is made of progress accomplished during a certain period, the emphasis is on political, cultural and economic aspects of national life, while improvements in health conditions are, as a rule, seen as a result rather than as a cause of the progress.

Fish and fisheries have an importance in the economy of rice eating populations that is difficult for people here to comprehend. Rice is the most important item in the life of such countries. Though not important in bank clearings or financial statistics, fish are the second item in national economy. Although these two keep the common people going and are of primary importance, they have been neglected by politicians and officials, and ignored by western economists and writers. It is therefore no wonder that examination of the fisheries of any part of southeastern Asia or Insulinde shows unsatisfactory conditions in the quantity, quality, and market price of fish during much of the year. Prolonged field studies of the factors involved, especially in the Philippines, show that these conditions are unnecessary.

For centuries farm tenancy has been one of the main sources of misery and discontent in the rural areas of the Philippines. Basically it has been the cause of the agrarian disturbances which have so often seriously threatened the peace and security of the nation. Any insurance of the economic stability and general well-being of the people must therefore depend largely upon its satisfactory solution. This brief study was undertaken primarily to throw more light on the prewar condition of this vexing problem, with the hope that it might serve as background material for a more wisely-planned economy in the postwar reconstruction of the Philippines.