eir aims and good intentions should not be forgotten–they must [keep] on, to inspire those who are less fortunate than they to carry on.
There are so few of us here. Can't we be representatives of our real worth and our desire to add to the glories of our beloved Filipinas?3
“Filipino Exclusion—Putting the Cart Before the Horse” (excerpt)
This editorial was featured in the June 1929 issue of The Three Stars (Stockton, CA), edited by Luis Agudo and D.L. Marcuelo, who were both political progressives and leaders in the Filipino labor movement in California during the Great Depression. U.S. Filipino writers often used irony as a rhetorical strategy in editorials and op-eds.
The State Legislature of California adopted a resolution urging the United States Congress to exclude the Filipinos from this country. The Native Sons of California followed suit, so with the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the coming Nevada-California convention at San Diego are considering to adopt the same resolution.
From the point of view of these august representatives, the Filipinos are a threatening menace and “undesirable residents”—they may be right in their way of thinking though we differ.
We are now, however, much concerned as to the hypothesis of the sweeping indictment. Assuming this is true, in the first place, the Filipinos are not responsible for their being here. Their being here is the effect of some great cause which is directly responsible. We find that cause later. In passing, let it be understood clearly and explicitly that there is no argument here counter to the proposition of exclusion. We are not adverse to it. In fact, it is doing us a great deal of good, for then the Filipinos will be forced to stay home and develop their rich resources.
Indeed, we pay a great tribute to the people of this great COMMONWEALTH not only for their straightforward integrity for self-assertion and frankness—not only for the constant and courageous vigil over the rights and honor and future security of their people—but we pay a great tribute because this great issue, much as it [has been] seemingly unpleasant to the Brown [brothers] of yesteryears, only serves as a precursor to a more wholesome understanding and mutual respect to the rights of the two nations, thus creating an avenue to a closer and lasting friendship.
But the very thing of which we are more deeply concerned of is to find the very cause or the forces which brought the Filipinos to this country, for to treat the effect would be easy after finding the cause. Treating the effect alone will not help the situation.
The presence of the Filipinos in this country is the inevitable outcome of the by-product of the American sovereignty and its attendant political and cultural intercourse in the Philippines, which gave the Filipinos the right to come to this country in matters of reciprocity. American government is therefore the cause of the whole matter, of which she is directly responsible. Any attempt to remove the effect without removing the cause is both impractical and unscientific. To remove or exclude the Filipinos from this country without removing the American sovereignty from the Philippines is tantamount to downright imperialism and a radical departure from the sense of proportion. Indeed, it is a “contumely” to the high sense of fair play and justice—vaunted basic principles upon which the government stands. For America to seriously consider the proposition of driving the Filipinos out of this country will be analogous to the embarrassing position of the proverbial “cart before the horse.” May we ask the Native Sons of California, the Nevada-California Veterans of the Foreign Wars, and the State Legislature to apply the “Golden Rule” by adopting a resolution urging the Congress of the United States to give back to the Native Sons of the Philippines their freedom? If this could be done, then we’re only more than willing to pack our blankets and go home. 4
1 Filipino Students' Magazine, July, 1906.
2 Helen Rillera, "The Filipina in Filipino Society," The Philippines Mail, Aug. 13, 1934