The Irish standard., 1898-07-23
NEWLY ACQUIRED POSSESSIONS OF
THE UNITED STATES.
THEIR CONDITION UNDER SPANISH RULE
THE GOVERNOR HAD NOT HEARD
OF THE CUBAN TROUBLE,
NEWS FROM THE WORLD ONCE A YEAR
SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION
OF THE ARCHIPELAGO,

Small wonder is it that the United
States cruiser Charleston found the
Spanish governor of the Ladrones ie-
norant that a war was in progress
Small wonder is it that the majority of
people, when they learned that the
Ladrones had been captured, received
+, the news with dazed look and i'm
medlately sought an atlas. The islands
are one of the greatest "might-haye.
Deems spain has ever possessed-and
spain has had plenty of them. Under
spanish rule they have been dead lands.
once year the Spanish governor
| heard by way of Manila what was 60
ing on IN the outside world; once I.
year the outside world, if it felt any
curiosity, had chance to learn what
was going on in the islands. The La
drones returned no revenue to Spain.
they received nothing from that conn
try.
| When Magellan, in 1541, stumbling
around the world in his stubby boats,
reached north latitude 13 degrees and
longitude east 144. degrees, he found a.
chain of fifteen little tropical islands
struggling across the ocean. He named
them the Ladrones, because his expert
ence led him to believe that the natives
We're all thieves. The name has al
ways clung to them, though it was
changed to Mariana out of compliment
to the widow of Philip w., of Spain.
Ihls queen, Jealous in the practice of
the Catholic religion, sent missionaries
to the islands, and their reports show
that there was then population of
about 10000 people. Then commenced
! the peculiar methods of Spanish colo
nization and the population in 1871 had
decreased to about 5000 souls.
These fifteen islands, divided into TWO
groups, have total area of All square
miles. The northern group of ten
islands are uninhabited, while the five
of the southern group-Guahan, Rota.
Aguigan, Tinian and Saypan--contain
all the population there is. On Qua
han is situated the only town colony,
San 1gnacio de Agana, and the forth
fled harbor of Umata, navigable only to
small boats.
The climate of the Ladrones is salu-
brious and the vegetation luxuriant
AS in all tropical regions, the products
of the islands are chiefly areca, cocoa
nut palms, rice, maize, sugar, tobacco,
cotton, indigo, breadfruit, bananas and
castor oil. Through long continued op-
preston, which seems to be character
istic Of Spanish colonizing effort, the
natives have become extremely indo-
lent and careless, and as a consequence
agriculture is almost entirely neglected.
Nature has endowed the islands with an
unsurpassed climate and soil for the
growing of tropical products, but for
many years commercial efforts have been
almost entirely abandoned, and as a
consequence Spain has not derived a
SINCE peseta of revenue from this part
of her dominions. For the information
| of those who contemplate trying their
fortunes in these islands, 1t may be said
on authority Of such publications as
have emanated from the Royal Geo
graphical society and the Nautical soci-
ETY. of Great Britain and from anthrO-
biological and historical sources, that the
Ladrone islands are replete in soil, eli
mate and water, and we'll calculated to
make abundant returns for reasonable
effort. Not only are the crops of in
digenous products generous in quantity.
but the quality is of high standard and
the wonder is that Spain with her grab
all policy in her colonies has allowed
the islands to retrograde to such con-
dition as to be non-revenue producing.
The only explanation is that so far as
the natives are concerned Spain has
sucked the orange dry, and the people
realize the futility Of trying to make
any headway under Spanish dominion.
The present population Of the islands
is totally different to what it was when
they were discovered by Magellan. They
consist now of a mixture of the original
Chamarros of Tagal settlers from the
Philippines, and Of mixed race formed
by the union of the Spaniards and Cha
morros. They are lazy and indolent,
poor as Job, and despite the fact that
the Jesuit missionaries have operated
in this field for many years, their morals
are Indifferent. Little or nothing has
been done to improve their social or in
tellectual condition, and so far as relig-
ion and education go they have been al
lowed to fall into a deplorable condi-
ton. Communication between tho La
drones and the outside world is MAIN
tained by yearly mail from Manila, 50
that it is not to be wondered at that the
islands are so little known. In the hey
day Of Spanish colonization, when her
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