Charles M. Coles, editor and publisher of the Lykens Standard, in the September 14, 1917, reprinted an offensive commentary from the Christian Herald which supported negative stereotypes about Filipinos. The fact that Coles failed to condemn the piece is an indication that both he and the newspaper supported the views expressed by the Christian Herald.
FILIPINOS ARE LAZY
The Filipino strikes me as unbearably lazy. He has roads built for him, schools run for him, good government and peace secured to him and an unusual measure of confidence placed in him. He has graduated from almost no clothes into spotless white with patent leather “kicks,” a clean shirt and a resplendent tie, so that he looks like the swell member of a pair of black-face comedians. He has had “sitting” down jobs created of discovered for him and has taken with remarkable alacrity to the ice cream soda habit, just like any other cultured being. He has learned to speak English very well and has been trained into a really good athlete. But, as far as I can see so far, he is not much changed since the days when he dawdled into school, followed by a servant to carry this books and ink bottle. I doubt very much whether he will work as hard or as intelligently to make something of himself and the islands as Uncle Sam has worked for him. — Christian Herald.
Prior to the recent discovery of this “opinion,” there was little indication that Charles M. Coles supported racist views. His obituary, presented in this blog on July 9, 2019, indicated that he had the “widest acquaintanceships among churchmen and newspapermen of any man in the locality” and that he was a Senior Vestryman of the Episcopal Church. However, he was a member of the Wiconisco I.O.O.F. (Odd Fellows). The Odd Fellows (nationally) did not get rid of its whites-only clause until 1971.
___________________________________
News article was obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.