Go from town to town, from house to house, listen to the secret sighings in the bosoms of the families, and you will be convinced that the evils which the Civil Guard corrects are the same as, if not less than, those it causes all the time.

Should we decide from this that all the people are criminals?
If so, then why defend some from the others, why not destroy them all ?" "Some error exists here which I do not see just now some fallacy in the theory to invalidate the practise, for in Spain, the mother country, this corps is displaying, and has ever displayed, great usefulness." "I don't doubt it.

Perhaps there, it is better organized, the men of better grade, perhaps also Spain needs it while the Philippines does not.

Our customs, our mode of life, which are always invoked when there is a desire to deny us some right, are entirely overlooked when the desire is to impose something upon us.

And tell me, sir, why have not the other nations, which from their nearness to Spain must be more like her than the Philippines is, adopted this institution?
Is it because of this that they still have fewer robberies on their railway trains, fewer riots, fewer murders, and fewer assassinations in their great capitals ?" Ibarra bowed his head in deep thought, raising it after a few moments to reply: "This question, my friend, calls for serious study.