Columbia Missourian from Columbia, Missouri • Page 13

The Filipino A Red Cross company composed of city schoolteachers marching in a parade in Manila. Mrs. Sofia R. de Veyra (Copyright, Harris Ewing.) Women in BY MRS. SOFIA R.

DE VEYRA country. ed a campaign PROFESSIONAL op- They have portunities are tohundred women's day as good for engaged in women as for men in the the improvement Philippines. Women are the prevention already members of the and similar Philippine bar and of the The most Philippine bar associa- the so-called tion. They are admitted headquarters to the practice of mediber of the cine, dentistry and pharClubs in the macy. This ever-broadening Through its education of the Filipino today in Manila tutions.

There woman is correspondand a Flower ingly broadening her acby women. tivities in life. She has police matrons begun to take great inpending trial terest in matters of a Woman's Free public character. Filiin charge of a pino women are now ocwhich is to cupying positions in the the destitute Bureau of Education and Mother's League in the University of the and is rendering Philippines. They dislegal aid is play considerable activ- Club for ity in all lines of en- lawyers women deavor, founding associations of a civic and extending their Committee instructive character.

so active. They read the daily in order to Activities newspapers be in touch with the The many progress of the times throughout the and needs of their peo- tending their ple. They are solicit- They are ed, not only to patron- welfare work, ize theatrical functions, providing medical or raise funds for the for the poor, community, but also to sanitation of occupy public office, to lic places. direct movements of a plants; encourage social character, and the send members like. They are entitled bies and to to membership in the tation in the school boards, according ses to teach the to a wise provision of Ad- children and ministrative code.

They for the sick. are daily taking their When the places in the government women were offices, the commercial bringing it to houses, and in short, in teacher in the all the movements and nurse, doctor, enterprises of a modern sional woman Mrs. Delgado, vice-chairman of the Philippine chapter of the American Red Cross, leading a company of American and Filipino women in the Fourth Liberty Loan parade, Manila, October 12, 1918. (Photo by Philippine Bureau of Science.) the Wide World Recently they have launchfor prohibition. established over three clubs in the Islands social settlement work, of health conditions, of infant mortality, enterprises, active of these clubs is Woman's Club, with at Manila It is a memFederation of Women's United States.

activities there exist many humane instiis the Day Nursery Market, both conducted There are three women to care for women in court, and there is a Employment Agency woman, the function of look for employment for of her sex. A Little has also been formed good service. Free provided by the Woman's indigent women, Filipino being most eager in helping hand. A Civic composed of women is al- of the Clubs. clubs now existing archipelago are exactivities day by day.

engaged chiefly in infantmaintaining hospitals, and nursing service social hygiene, better schools and of all pubThey distribute seeds and civic improvement; to aid mothers and baillustrate practical sanihome; and secure nurfeeding of babies and the preparation of food great war came, Filipino ready to do their "bit" in a successful end. Every public schools, every lawyer or other profesbecame a member of the Red Cross. Almost every pupil in the public schools joined also, and hundreds of thousands of dollars were turned into the treasury at Washington from the Philippine contributions. Garments for soldiers, for Belgian and French refugees, and for typusstricken Serbians were made by thousands. The great war, however, was not the first war in which Filipino woInen played an active part; for in the revolution against Spain, as well as in EVENING MISSOURIAN the war against the United States, they not only fought side by side with their brothers, but also aided in all field operations.

They collected money for the war and looked after the wounded. They devised all sorts of means for extending aid to those actually fighting. Some would appear carrying bamboo canes perforated at the joints, as if used to carry water, but the hollow spaces contained rice instead of water. Others, more daring, crossed the rivers at night, rowing "bancas" laden with contraband. They also took money in coin to the insurgent camps, hidden under the seats of their vehicles; and they smuggled large quantities of cotton across the lines, tied to their waists.

A Woman General. In Luzon, the towns of Laguna were the theater of the military prowess of Gen. Agueda Kahabagan. She had her men well organized and, though a woman, went at the head of her soldiers into their engagements. These and many other services rendered by the Filipino women, made several of the leading men of the Philippine revolution think of giving them a more direct participation and responsibility in the government by granting them the right to vote.

Mabini, the great statesman, commonly known as the "braing of the proposed in his constitutional program the extension of the right of suffrage to women. There is one outstanding fact in the development of Philippine womanhood. Despite the influences of two civilizations of distinct types- the Latin and the -the Filipino woman has succeeded in preserving her individuality in all its pristine beauty. Industrious, careful of her home and her family, obedient to parental authority as a girl, and to that of her husband as a wife, she is still the center of the moral welfare of the family. She has been greatly influenced by the spread of democracy and by the new order of culture and education, but her inherent qualities and her temperamental characteristics still persist.

She realizes better than ever what her real sphere in life is and what her mission in the nation should be; but in contributing her share in her country's advancement, she takes care lest she depart from her womanly traditions. The only question is, whether the introduction of Anglo-Saxon ways and institutions will some day imperil the beautiful cohesion of the family of which she forms a part. Will the individualistic tendency of the new education ultimately transform her into a totally occidental woman? Will it affect the home of which she is the moral support? Will the laws that destroy the family usages- the divorce law, the civil marriage law, and the many other similar innovations- finally compel her to completely "individualize" herself, perhaps to the detriment of the beautiful solidarity of the Filipino family? BANQUET SUPPLEMENT. -Page seven..