The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-08-05
Mature Conspires Against the Sue
cess of the Tiller of
the Soil.

PRIVATE W. c. CRAWFORD, Com
oaDy 1.-The Philippines are well popu-
ated, and while there appears to be more
and there than they need there are alb
iolutely no opportunities, at this time, for
Eaining possession Of the same for agr-
cultural purposes. y great deal OF rice
ana some corn is raised there and l sup
pose other cereals could be raised al
.hough ] am not so sure as to wheat. The
corn is OF poor quality. l did not see
many cattle and while there are a great
many hogs Of the raZor-back variety their
1esh is hardly fit for food. Americans
.annot stand it to work in the fields in
hat climate. The natives and Chinese
coolies DO all of that kind of work at
present. I do not think our labor laws
sOuld be applied TO the Philippines with
profit White men soon lose their energy
n that climate. I am decidedly of the
opinion that the Filipinos should not be
made citizens of the United States with
privileges equal to ours.
PRIVATE CHARLES CLAYPOLE.
Company Eff I owned the Philippines
[ would rent them out and move to hell.
Every portion which came TO my notice
Vas thickly settled with inhabitants. such
as they are. The soil is fertile and its
products are numerous. However, I do
not think a white man could settle there
and do manual labor on a farm and make
It pay. The climate at its best is not
suited to our race. but a man could live
and work there hard a niggers if he
first got we'll acclimated. II would be
quite impossible. according to my way of
thinking, TO introduce our home labor sys-
TENS in the Philippines. The FilipinOs do
most of the work in the interior and the
Chinese in the cities. The farming land
which I saw was of excellent quality.
Dur agricultural methods could be intro
iuCed there, but I do not believe it would
prove a profitable business. For a man
without capital the Philippines is no
place.
PRIVATE C. S. COOK, Company c.
The opportunity for the introduction of
American labor and labor principles in
she Philippines is decidedly limited. The
country is thickly settled and every bit of
and is cultivated. Most of the land [
understand is owned by the church or by
wealthy people. Rice grows abundantly
all over the islands, but I think it i'm
possible TO raise wheat there. Their corn
Is plentiful, but the quality is bad. All in
all. l think it quite out of the question for
a white man to take up a residence in the
Philippines with view to carrying on
farming proftably. The hogs and cattle
there are not up to the standard 1t is out
Of the question 70 attempt to introduce
our labor systems in the islands. In the
first place, the natives work for a pit
lance and a white man could not work
for their wages and live unless he learned
to live on rice and fruit. I am decidedly
opposed to any policy which has for its
object the making OF citizens of these ma
tiVes Their instincts are low and as a
class they would prove OBJECTIONABLE. A
white man could live there and work if he
had 10. but life would not be worth liv
ing.
PRIVATE F D. BRYANT. Company
$50 far as the population of the Philip
pines is concerned, I think there are
plenty of people there now. There are
no facilities whatever for obtaining land
for agricultural purposes. Corn of an in