The San Francisco call., 1899-08-03
Soldiers Give Free and Emphatic Expression to Their Opinions
Questions That Are Of Vital Moment in Connection With the
New Possessions Of the United Saes-UnfHendY Conditions
and Almost nsumountabie Physical Obstacles Will Face the
Seeker After Wealth Who Follows the Wake Of the American


instructfon-much more so, in my opinion.
than the Japanese.
CORPORAL OLIVER E. LIPES, Com
pany A-There are plenty of people IN the
Philippines, but most of them live in
towns and small cities. They are huddled
in small frame houses. and those who fol-
low agricultural pursuits cultivate small
patches of land near the town. Very few
farmhouses are to be seen. There is
plenty of land, but the church appears TO
own it all. and l do not know what the
opportunities for obtaining 1t for the pur-
poses of cultivation are. / think. how
ever, that the land could be made to pro-
duce cereals. such as corn. wheat, barley,
oats, rye, etc, without any difficulty. It
is a good stock country and great deal
Of corn is produced now. Americans can
not labor there. All the hard work is
done by the Chinese coolies and the ma
tives. l think the islands will be made
profitable if our labor laws are enforced
there and the present system of servile
contract labor abolished. The climate is
very bad for a white man. 1t weakens
his energies and he gets lazy. 1t would
perhaps be all right if man could take
life easy and live as the SpaniardS do
but they do not pretend to do any work.
I say emphatically that l am not in favor
Of the Filipinos being made citizens of the
United States. We might as we'll gather
together a band of Apaches and make
them citizens.
PRIVATE GEORGE c. SNYDER, Com
pany Al do not think the Philippines
are suffering from lack of population.
There appear to be plenty Of people there
especially in the island OF Luzon. I do
not know what the opportunities for OBJ
tanning land for agricultural purposes are
as I had no chance to familiarze myself
with the subject. There is a great deal
Of land apparently unoccuped. but 1t is
all owned by the church. There is no
question of the fertility of the soil All
kinds of cereals, in addition to tobacco
hemp, sugar, ETC.. should be raised there
without any trouble Corn is already
raised in large quantities, and up in the
foothills large herds of cattle and hogs
are raised for the market. Americans
cannot labor there and nobody else but
the Chinese and natives. Even the latter
do not try to do much hard work, leaving
that for the coolies. I think the islands
could be made profitable to this country
If the contract labor system should be
abolished and our own labor laws en-
forced there The climate is very ener-
waiting. and an American or European
soon develops a desire to avoid all labor
or eXertion of any kind as much as pos
sible l am decidedly opposed to the ad-
mission OF the nauVe F1np1nOS to the
rights and privileges of American citizen
ship. They are worse than our Indians
PRIVATE WELLS c. COOPER. Com
pany A-They don't need any more people
in the Philippines, judging from the num-
Der / saw on the island of Luzon What
the opportunities are for obtaining land
for agricultural purposes I do not know;
but I do know that the churches appear
to own all the land in the islands I
think almost all cereals could be made to
grow there, with the possible exception of
wheat. I think the climate is too damn
for wheat. The corn which is raised in
large quantities, is rather tough but ii is
raised principally for feeding to stock.
and sweet corn could be raised just as
well. There are lots of cattle raised in
the foothills. Americans cannot work In
that climate, but the Chinese can They
do nearly all the heavy work and seem
TO grow fat on It, / think if our labor
laws could be enforced there and the
present contract labor system abolished
the islands might be made profitable to
this country; but of course there might
be some difficulty in enforcing these laws
because of the great number of coolies
in the islands. A white man cannot live
in the islands and retain his energy unim-
paired 1t is impossible in that climate
I am unalterably opposed to the native
Filipinos being made citizens of the
United States with full and equal privi-