Sunday, April 8th, is the annual election of the Filipino Association of Chicago. On that day Filipinos who still look up to the Association as the only official and national Filipino organization in this part of the country are given a chance to correct the mistakes of the past and begin anew.

The organization is rightfully the mother of Filipino organizations in Chicago. Behind it is a history rich in accomplishments of men and women who were once its members and officers and on whose shoulders rested the heavy responsibility of shaping the destiny and affairs of the Philippines.

It was in 1906 that the Filipino Association first came into being. Through the years it glided on. It is the oldest Filipino organization anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. Those were the days when first things really came first.

But as the years rolled on small men found themselves at the helm whose philosophy in life is that the mighty dollar is real power in everything. And these small men got in places of authority with tainted votes and dirty politics. It also marked the rise of the social climbers, the windjammers, the hocuspocuses and the plunderers of public funds.

The rise of local organizations - their multiplicity, the relentless competition in social activities, the duplication of efforts in time, resources, and the rise of sectionalism, - all these are sins of the F. A. C. For, if the F. A. C. had not been recreant to its duties all would have been well in our community.

But rather than destroy, let us build. It is on this principle that we are appealing to the public to give the F. A. C. another chance, if, after the election the organization continues to be a breeding place for dirty politics, sectionalism, the training school of public plunderers and nincompoops, we might as well fold tent and decamp - junk and debunk the organization to the garbage can, or place it in a museum as a reminder of Filipino incompetence and mismanagement.

If the F. A. C. should continue to exist and deserve the support of the public, it is high time to place men and women at the helm who are humble but conscientious; who place the public welfare above their personal ambitions; who talk in terms of brass backs; who are righteously aggressive, and who are possessed of the ability not only to think but also the conscience to rethink. For the individuals of this type are really the big men and women of our community.

The facts in our political life here are explicitly these: (1) the political demagogues are running our affairs; (2) to insure themselves of their continuity in power, they buy votes; (3) during election, they place their henchmen at the polls to permit each individual to vote ten different times or more under different aliases; (4) they even go out of town to get voters, and (5) after the election, they divide the loot because to the victors belong the spoils.

Let us hope that the candidates this year, especially the presidential aspirants, are men who are thinking in the right direction.

Luis S. Quianio.