NOBLE COLONIALS: AMERICANS AND FILIPINOS, 1901-1940 By KENNETH F. KASPERSKI A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2012 1 2012 Kenneth F. Kasperski 2 To the American internees in the Philippines 3 ACKNOWLEGEMENTS I thank the chair and members of my supervisory committee for their mentoring, the archivists in America and the Philippines for their direction, and the institutions for providing access to their collections. I am especially grateful to the Rockefeller Archive Center for their generous support. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEGEMENTS ................................................................................................................4 LIST OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................6 LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................7 ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................10 2 OPENING SALVOS ..............................................................................................................25 3 PEARL OF THE ORIENT .....................................................................................................40 4 CARABAO ARMY AND BAMBOO FLEET.......................................................................71 5 SERVANTS OF EMPIRE ....................................................................................................122 6 AMERICAN COLONISTS ..................................................................................................174 7 CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS .....................................................................................................221 8 COLONIAL SUBJECTS ......................................................................................................271 9 LET ME ENTERTAIN YOU ...............................................................................................321 10 4 JULY 1946 .........................................................................................................................371 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................382 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH .......................................................................................................405 5 LIST OF TABLES Table page 5-1 Number of schools in 1892. .............................................................................................147 5-2 Salaries of public school teachers. ...................................................................................153 6 LIST OF FIGURES Figure page 3-1 Front entrance of the Manila Hotel, opened in 1912 for Americans. Although extensively damaged during World War II, the reinforced concrete walls remained largely intact.......................................................................................................................69 3-2 Main entrance of the Army and Navy Club; probably the most imperial of institutions during the American Era. Gutted by the Japanese during the battle of Manila. ...............................................................................................................................69 3-3 Reconstructed buildings of Gen Luna Avenue, Intramuros, of the Spanish Colonial style. ...................................................................................................................................70 3-4 Former library of the University of the Philippines, Pedro Gil, now part of the Supreme Court complex. ...................................................................................................70 6-1 Philippine imports and exports ........................................................................................176 7 Abstract of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy NOBLE COLONIALS: AMERICANS AND FILIPINOS, 1901-1940 By Kenneth F. Kasperski May 2012 Chair: William A. Link Major: History The American Era in the Philippines provides a unique opportunity to explore concepts that shaped American imperialism. The nature of imperialism in the Philippines is understood not only in the policy decisions of governments but also in the experience of particular social groups who lived there. Therefore, this study emphasizes the cultural and economic interchange between American colonists and Filipinos from 1901 until 1940. American colonialism in the Philippines fostered complex cultural relationships as seen through individual identity. To some extent Americans developed a transnational worldview by living within the Philippines while maintaining connections to America. Filipinos viewed American colonialism from the perspective of their Spanish traditions, a facet often undervalued by the new regime. Many Americans who lived in the Islands engaged in commerce. Trade served as a natural domain for foreigners as it had over the centuries. Filipinos retained ownership of large tracts of the countryside supported by Washington’s policies that limited American investments, especially through tariff structures. The emphasis on business in the Islands followed a broader trend during the 1920s of rejecting progressive regulation in favor of the free market. These men and women developed a mentality of Americans in the Philippines, an important distinction. 8 They lived in the Islands while confining social contacts to their peers by means of restrictive clubs and associations. Filipinos actively engaged with Americans, often welcoming modern ideas and programs that broke with Spanish colonial traditions. The effects appear most clearly in popular culture where American entertainment overlaid Spanish, Malay, and Chinese customs. European traditions prepared Filipino musicians to perform American music. Mass entertainment permeated society through live venues, cinema, and radio. Political independence during the Commonwealth period facilitated shifts from Filipino performance to production. A transformed identity, based to a large extent on popular culture, developed in the islands that altered colonists and Filipinos vision of their world, complicating the meaning of colonialism. 9 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This dissertation focuses on Americans who moved to the Philippines after the Spanish- American War and their experiences during colonization, along with the Filipinos who experienced American rule. The American era in the Philippines showcased the nation’s vision of colonial development. Both Americans and Filipinos believed that their unique relationship differed from that formed during Spanish rule. My dissertation explores the cultural and economic exchange between American colonists and Filipinos from 1901 until 1940, encompassing the period of civilian administration between the Philippine-American War and World War II. How and why – and to what extent – did American culture become a salient feature of Filipino society? American colonists living in the Philippines shared a popular belief in the superiority of their national identity. Their devotion to these values emerged during the late nineteenth century, when waves of new immigrants reached America’s shores. Eastern and Southern Europeans often retained their ethnic and religious characteristics that differed from those of earlier arrivals from Northern Europe, but it was assumed that they would assimilate into a homogeneous society through education and an immersion in American culture. Drawing from that model, colonial administrators in the Philippines implemented paternalistic programs, including English language instruction, education, and public works projects, to uplift society and instill American values in Filipinos. My study builds on political and administrative studies, which examine the interchange of experiences and cultural and economic imprint of American colonists on the Philippines. Filipinos actively engaged with Americans, often welcoming foreign ideas and programs that broke with Spanish colonial traditions, while they rejected others 10 as coercive and of little value. This dissertation contends that American colonialism in the Philippines fostered complex cultural relationships. This dissertation emphasizes the relationships between middle-class Americans and Filipinos in the Philippines between 1901 and 1940. It moves across disciplines including culture, economic, social and political history. Much of my study examines United States policy. Imperialism limited American investments and business activities within defined hierarchies, leaving large-scale land ownership largely in the hands of Filipino elites. Examining Philippine economic development during the American regime traces the relative success and failure of colonial initiatives. How did American expatriates deal with these opportunities? What was it like to live in a colony ruled from Washington? Did economic opportunities solidify class- consciousness between Filipinos and Americans or was there a broader interchange that affected these relationships?