The Republican journal., 1898-05-19

Although the islands are rich in the
metals and coal and capable of growing
many kinds of vegetable products, the
chief industry continues to be the produc-
ton of the fiber from which binding and
other twines are made, and sugar. The
exports, chiefly of these, amount to S4O,-
600, 600 year. 1t is said that gold, cop
per and iron exist in paying quantities,
but the Spanish authorities deliberately
obstruct every attempt to apply anything
but the most primitive methods of min
! ing. Even agriculture is restricted to the
simplest means, modern implements be-
ing as rigidly excluded as mining and
milling machinery. Virtually nothing is
done with the magnificent forests of hard
timber and gutta percha, although capital
is eager to promote every profitable form
of industry. This policy also involves
opposition to every attempt to provide
for the education of the people. The
government at Madrid persuaded that
policy that would enlarge its revenues
would eventually lead to prosperity among
the islanders and their subsequent indie
pendence, keeps but slight supervision of
colonial administration. The governor
general is autocratic and nobody inter-
feres with his exactions for his own gain.
| The salary of that official is $40, 600
year, but Weyler, the Cuban butcher, is
said to have carried back to Spain per-
sonal fortune of three or four millions of
dollars as the result of three years ad-
ministration. All his many subordinates
have their plunderous perquisites, so that
the class that is least able to protect it
self, the laboring people, are kept in the
EXTREMIST poverty. The governor general
has a large staff, paid by the people.
Each province has governor, with a
salary that ranges from 81, 500 to S., 900
year. and there is large staff in every
case. To make up the revenue for the
Madrid government, and to meet the de-
mands of the corrupt officials, everything
, in sight is taxed, and at last the head of
every man and woman of eighteen or more.
Everything a native does for his own sup
port even the killing of his hogs or the
pressing out of cocoanut juice, requires a
| license for which a fee must be paid. His
| hut, his ground, his cocoanut tree, his
| domestic animals are all taxed Accord
| ing to his class. he must pay head tax or
a tax for a personal certificate or pass,
which is never less than 81. so year and
may be as much as So. The person
whose head tax is less than 50 must work
fifteen days for the government or pay an
exemption fee of $50. Small as these
sums may seem they are large when com
pared with the earnings of the laborers.
Owing to the Spanish policy, there is
always more demand for work than there
/ is work to be done. When a lahorer does
get work, his pay ranges from cents to
80 cents a day. The head tax is equiva-
lent to never less than the pay for twenty
| days work year. There is no such OPP
pressive system of taxation anywhere
else in the civilized world and it is not
| surprising that the most numerous class,
| the half-caste natives, are without ambi-
| ton.
For all these exactions there is no re
turn. 1t is not even pretended that there
is quid pro quo. Not only are the peo-
pie denied the benefit of the develop
ment OF the natural resources of the is
| lands, but not dollar of the tax money
is spent at home. There are no roads and
no bridges. There are no schools except
in the city, and there the instruction is
exclusively Spanish and by priests. The
church is not less eXacting than the secu
lar officials. The taxpayer does not get
| justice in the courts unless he is able to
pay for it. 1t is matter of high bid
ding He is not allowed to own a weap-
on, or possess powder. When he rebels,
as he sometimes does, he makes his own
guns and powder, and uses coal and old
nails for bullets.
The capital city, Manila has about the /
same number of inhabitants as Washing i
ton. AS the Spanish officials and the
wealthy Spanish merchants and produc-
ers of fiber and sugar are fond of display
and gaiety, the city has many fine public
buildings and elegant residences, paved
streets, street railways, cathedrals, a
fashionable drive and parks, military
bands, bul! ring, costly carriages and
horses, and all that is characteristic of the
| capital of d European monarchy. Yet so
i'll are the provisions against fire that
there are frequent destructive contlagra-
tions. In February last a fire in the
business center destroyed property valued
at more than s., 600, 900. 1t has been
noted that in case of fire the chief loss is 4
not in what has been burned, but in what |
is stolen. The police who are placed as
guards over the property carried from the |
stores, are bribed to close their eyes while |
plunderers carry away whatever is valu /
able.
In the Philippine Islands, which are
four times the size of Cuba, Spain rules
four times the population OF Cuba, but
solely and openly for her own selfish ends
She is resolved to make an example OF the /
present insurgents, though her savage
policy shocks the civilized world 1t is |
simply large case of Cuba, but being re-
mote from any sympathetic great repub-
lie, the Philippine patriots have not the
Cuban hope of success. They can only
make protest against tyranny in death.
Pointed Paragraphs.