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198 THE WHITE SLAVE MARKET
" No one but a blind partisan seriously
denies any longer the grave moral laxity
that has grown up and still lives under
the shadow of the church and parsonage
in the Philippines. Inch by inch I have
been forced back by the pressure of facts
from the position I originally held that
there was a minimum rather than a
maximum of immorality. The cumulative
testimony that has come to me has
been chiefly incidental and unsought,
containing in it the witness of Roman
Catholics of good standing. When the
new hierarchy sets to work I can imagine
from my small experience that they
will have an unsavoury and anxious
task.
"It is considered to be no special
discredit to either party concerned
certainly not to the man if a temporary
contract is entered upon between a man
and a Filipino woman, to be terminated
when expedient. A man may, according
to this mal costumbre, have even more
than one woman without transgressing
propriety, though a woman must abide
faithful, as long as the contract is in
effect, to the one man. It is unfair to
at the conclusion that such a
jump
lamentable practice
because the country
has
has
grown up
been under
Roman Catholic
however, may
rule. The question,
be justly asked whether
J^atin Christianity has honestly grappled