Philippine Flop

Aboard the S. S. President Coolidge when it cleared the Golden Gate for Manila last week were 75 guests of the U. S. Government. They were Filipinos taking their next-to-last chance to go home at U. S. expense. Already 1,900 had taken a free ride home since the Filipino Repatriation Act was passed in the summer of 1935. Just one more Filipino repatriation party is to be given before December 31, when the Act expires.

Although $237,000 has been spent to date on Filipino fares, both Immigration officials and California Labor regard the repatriation program as a flop. Remaining in the U. S. are 120,000 low-paid Filipino farm workers, houseboys, janitors, cooks. Half are in California, 97% are bachelors about 30 years old. "The boys," explained Dr. Hilario C. Moncado, president of the Filipino Federation of America, "do not want to go back without money or assurance they will earn a living." Another good reason is that in some cases boys are loathe to leave a country where, as a California judge remarked (TIME, April 13, 1936), they boast of enjoying the favors of white girls because they are a very superior grade of lovers.

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