The age-herald., 1898-08-31
POPULATION OF
 THE PHILIPPINES

cavite August 30-spain has had possess sion of the Philippine islands for several centuries, yet in all that time she has never been able to corner and hold all of her unwilling subjects long enough to ac- curately count them, and her easy-gong representatives have lacked the energy to even enumerate or survey the hundreds of islands composing the group. As result accurate information upon either popula- ton or area simply can not be obtained. The American naval officers have gone into both subjects quite carefully, and have made estimates of both based upon the best official information obtainable and their own observations, making allowance for certain conditions encountered. They place the population of the group at T. 100000 and the area at 143,O0O square miles, and the number of islands, including the small ones, at 1,200. Recent Spanish re- ports from the provinces and islands where the Castiian is completely established and his government fully recognized, show the entire tame population to be 5,996.S41. The same report places the number of natives who defy Spanish authority at 692 900 in the Philippines and 50,000 in the Carolines, and ] adds the fact that there were no doubt many concealments in the returns from the districts. In the latter connection the pure Chinese are credited with actual registration of 49696 and evasions and coneealments to the number of 24S4S, or 50 per cent. of the number acknowledged by the willy heathen- The natural instinct of the natives and coolies has been to avoid knowledge of their existence on the rart of officials as discovery and registration has meant harassng taxes.
 Spain has, never been at peace with all of her black subjects, despite sundry claims as to complete pacification As stated above the official census returns give the strength of the independent tribes at 692 ,00O but the number is probably far in excess of that. Mindanao and Basian, with 259,000; Paragua and the Sulu, or Jolo, group with 100 000, and the Carolines, with 50,000, are officially credited as being the stronghods that have defied the red and yellow, but they are not alone in their defiance. There are thousands of natives on the Island of LuZon, who can see the shining towers and spires of Manila from their mountain retreats, who defy the sol- diers of Alphonso, and pay no tribute to the imperial treasury.
 Mindanao with it's fierce and war-ike tribes knows greater freedom than all, al though in nearly every island there are tribes who have remained unconquered for centuries. Their own ability as Wa1r1orS has been aided by swamp jungle and mountain fastness. Modern methods of warfare have been useless against them, and they have almost invariably triumph ed. Spains experience here is that which Japan is now having in Formosa- Blanco, now captain general in Cuba, was most successful of all the leaders sent to Minda- nao. He closed a very successful cam paign there in the fall of 1895 with the bat tie of Laguna de Lanao, in which he com rrietcfy defeated and routed the allied tribes. He crushed the native army, blockaded the seaports and stopped all trading until peace was sued for. The fragments gathered soon after he left, however, and the actual gain was in the long run materially reduced. The two great centers of population are the Bay of Manila and the island of Panay. The four provinces fronting on Manila Bay contain nearly 100000 people. The province of Manila contains over 9OOO00, most of whom reside in the city of Manila. Panay is a formidable rival of the countries of the world that boast of dense populations, for with an area of 4,S00 square miles it has a population now placed at S60,00O.
 The latest official returns as to peace population are as follows, the figures be- ing in most instances for provinces, but in some for islands individually.