The times., 1898-05-08
The CUBA Of The EAST
Weyler Policy of Starvation for
Philippine Insurgents.
SPAIN OPPRE SIS COLONIES
The People Kept I'm ignorance and
Not Allowed 10 Develop Fhcir Nat
urni Rcsources-aieavS Taxation
for which There IL Ne Return.
Policy of Cruelty and Greed.

| for Which There IL Ne Return.
4 Policy of Cruelty and Greed.
There are more than S5oG0O0 people, of
many kinds, many col and many
tongues, on the sunns.~ud prolific ISL
! ands of the Philippine nipeiago. Many
are human in their lives nd aspirations.
! even when measured the standards
of civilization. More would be human
and ambitious IL their conditions were
less oppressive. They love their chill
dren as other people DO, and some have
dreams of a future in which their de-
scendants shall be educated. industrious,
virtuous and free. Although their home
! lies away from the main line Of travel
between Europe or America and China
! they hear echoes Of the acYive world
! They have ideas of a civiliza.in in which
a government that taxes recognizes "A
duty to the taxed-a condition in which
the strong do not prey on the weak. and
might is not right. For such ideas some
of them fight and die.
With virtually 10 reasonable hope OF
success: with the chances largely in ia
vor of torture and a cruel death, patriot
leaders arise from time TO time, and in
duce formidable numbers to undertake
the perilous task of driving out the tyr
annical Spaniard. Here the policy OF
bribery. vainly tried in Cuba, recently
brought one insurrection to an apparent
lfss as.lT,T al
lowed by another, which still troubles
the rulers. News from the Philippines
IS rare meager and untrustwOrthy when
il relates TO the achievements of the in
surgeats, whose blood has fowed for
nearly "a century. Only Spain has any
purpose in coloring the facts, and her
officials color or conceal according It.
her interests. The foreign residents
avoid trouble by knowing nothing Some
weeks ago Il brief message, by way of
San Francisco. contained the only recent
information as 10 the serious nature Of
the insurrection that Spanish officials
reported as having been suppressed. II
announced the adoption by the governor
general of the barbarols Cuban policy
of Weyler-a strange policy to adopt un-
less the insurrection IS far more formid-
able than the Spanish officials have al
lowed the world 70 know, an impossible
policy If the rebels had been overthrown.
The authorities are more successful in
suppressing information from Manila
than from Havana where there are press
correspondents. The message announc-
ed that .ali personal certificates or
passes" which are really receipts for
the payment Of an unparB. =led aunuai
head tax, were recalled. and a trocha
formed less for military purposes than
4. ~
condemned To determination by starya,
tion. The property Of all rebels is con
fisca ed, ''and the property Of tenants.
partners, or any persons Interested In
the property of rebels" IL a person j.
so unfortunate as to have for a landlord
man who IS charged with being a reb-
el. his own property is taken from him
by the authorities. 1t is ordered tina,
the wives. children. parents. brothers.
brothers-in-law and cousins of a rebel.
shall either join him in the camp of the
insurgents, or else fix their residence at
some military post, under the eyes
OF the Spanish soldiers Exactly
what this means We know from. the hor.
rible experience OF Cuba. II includes
the burning of the homes of the nom
combatants the destruction of their field
crops, and their slow starvation in the
towns. 1t is known that the Spanish Of
hcials in the Philippines are not above
using the thumb-screws to extort evil
dence. and they may be Justly charged
with devising the most cruel punishment
Tor the relatives of persons who rebel
against the beneficent rule of Spain.
1T Is common fallacy TO regard the
great body Of natives of the Philipnines os
types Of sodden igno- ance. squalor and vice
Those who arc not exactly informed. class
them with the original natives of other
OF the Pacific islands. They are not al
ways, or perhaps, often. an admirable
people. In many ways they shock the
Industrious prudent and independent
American by their Incidence and shiftless
ness and by their sports 1t is hardly
iair, however, 10 measure them according
TO the standards Of an advanced Ameri-
can civilization rs long as every worthy
ambition Of their narrow lives is opposed
and thWarted by a despotic foreign poUer.
whose only aim is 10 exact every possible
dollar under conditions that will keen
them in subjecton. That they ever re-
volt in the face Of the tremendous odds
encourages the belief that they might
become a different race under a more
liberal and enlightened system of govern
ment. II is to be considered that they
are not like the Cubans. inspired by any
near examples, and that the church aids
In their degradation it is the deliberate
conclusion Of two Gisinterested but oh
serving American visitors hat the &C.
clesiastical and secular a. horities in the
Philippine Islands are .ght and a
curse 10 the country wi h they mis-
govern"
Spain took control of these islands
when they were discovered by Magellan
in 1921. What she has done for them is
easily told. The origina natives, the
Negritos, have almost died out and their
successors, Of mixed origin, have paid a
heavy tribute for a poor and often pain
fui existence. Spain has not only robbed
them of every possible dollar, but has
condemned the mass Of them to poverty
and 60 ignorance. With the fatuity that
Is characteristic Of pure selfshness. she
has been content to take some ten million
dollars year by direct taxation, rather
than encourage or allow a development of
the natural resources and the enlgEten-
ment of the people that would increase
their taxable value enormously. 1t is her
fear that their prosperity and education
would lead to their independence. IL Is
the story of the American colonies Of
England over again, only vastly worse
1t is fully as bad as the story of the
Cuban expressions.
The most numerous class are the native
half-castes-not the original Negritos, a
few of whom still survive in an almost
savage state, like the original natives of
Hawaii. The native half-castes are a
simple. amiable, sturdy and prolific race,
but illiterate. indolent poor and vain,
having no incentive to be otherwise.
They are the unskiIled laborers, house
and personal servants and the like. They
live on the outskirts of the towns or
plantations In frgil and fufIamma BILE rush