The times., 1899-03-08
Conditions Which Anti-Expansion-
ISIS Would Gladly Perpetuate.
TraHc-Amcrica Opprcs-
siOn's Only Hope.
From the Philadelphia Record1

hold the Philippines or not.
If you wish TO become "A stakeholder you
may go to one of the three islands men
toned and purchase half-grown girl for
So. One was offered at that rate to Prof
Dean C. Worcester United States Com
missioner, lately sent TO the islands. The
usual price for girls of fifteen years is five
bushels of rice. Grown men and women
sell at prices proportionately greater.
The Philippine slave market and port
for their export now is NAHUM. the old
native capital of Sulu. Harun Narrasid,
the Mohammedan Sultan of Sulu-now
United States subjects the central factor
of the slaveholding and slaveseling busi-
ness of the entire group. The Moros. who
are the Mohammedan Malay subjects of
this hitherto semi-official prince. continue,
though upon a somewhat limited scale, the
practices of their ancestors-the bioodthirs-
ty Malay pirates, who REDEEMED Philippine
waters for several centuries No admixture
OF blood could be more favorable to slave
holding than that of Malay and Moham-
medan, according to Prof. Otis Mason. the
noted ethnologist. Among their slaves to-
day are found especially Malays captured
from Sumatra, Papuans from New
Guinea, Siamese Javanese and Timorese.
By collecting them within the dominion
the Sulu masters have added greatly in
producing the peculiar mixture of stocks
which now bothers anthropologists.
4 Relic OF Ancient Bnrbarism.
Piratical expeditions are still gathering
as many captives as they can safely at
tack in neighboring islands. These war
like Moros of Sulu and the islands there
abouts. moreover, adhere 10 the ancient
barbarous custom of casting into slavery
such of their captives Of war who do not
suffer death. Their most ready customers
for ableboded male slaves for many years
have been the Dutch planters in the island
of Borneo. to the southwest.
More criminal even than this piratical
slave gathering is the custom of selling
innocent children into bondage, generally
practiced by the Mohammedan Malays. The
parent who is in need of money lends or,
rather, gives, his children as security for
the loan. and the little one is condemned
to labor until the debt is paid. which sell
DOM If ever, occurs. Very few children
thus sold into slavery ever regain their
freedom.
Moro warriors try the edges of their
weapons by striking down their slaves,
according to Prof Worcester. Moro slaves
in Sulu represent all phases of slavery
practiced in ancient or modern times
slaves by birth. slaves by capture in war
or by piracy, bonded children, and insol-
vent debtors.
Why white slaves Are Few.
Few, if any. white slaves are to be found
in the Philippines. The reason is simple.
All whites are regarded as Christians by
the Moros, and Christians must pay PEN
atty more serious than slavery-or, per-
haps, less sefiOus-death The Moro be
lieves that he increases his pleasure in the
next world directly as the square of the
number of Christian lives dispatched by his
hand. If he dies slaughtering Christians
he insures himself a aozy corner in the
Mohammedan seventh heaven. Rather than
commit suicide a Moro who wearies of life
prefers to sneak to some Christian settle
ment and massacre as many unsuspecting
men. women, or children as he can reach
before being shot. All OF this sounds like
a fairy tale, but it is the testimony of our
Philippine Commissioner
John Foreman. fellow OF the British
Royal Geographical Society. recognized as
the highest modern authority upon the
Philippines. says that slaves in this new
territory of Uncle Sam do not appeal to law
for their freedom. They are too ignorant,
for one thing. Furthermore. they have no
money. and none of the solicitors under the
Spanish regime was looking for a case not
insuTing fee. friend of Foreman who
had commenced clearing an estate for cane
growing on the Negros coast. was some
years ago seized and secretly carried OIL to
Sulu. He remained slave for several
years, but some cf his friends discovered
him and paid a generous ransom. Now ne
Owns one of the finest sugar estates and
factories in Negros.
Uncle Sam will find it his duty to break
up the slave business also in Tawi Tawi
which lies between Sulu and Borneo
Upon the north coast are several settle
ments of Moro slave-hunters. BalinbinS
is the principal market The entire in
terror of the island is covered with for-
ests seldom penetrated by the white men,
who are in constant dread of the pirates.
slaves Working in Sight.
Colonel Hilder, of our Bureau of Eth
nology. who has visited the Philippines
told the writer "A few days ago that he
had seen slaves working openly in the
fields of Nindor0s the large island which
is in sight of Luzon, where our war with
the Flipinos now exists. Il think" said
he. that We will have a more interesting
time with those Sulu fellows than we are
now having with the people of LuZon
Being Malays inoCulated with Motammu-
Ganism. they believe implicitly in slavery.
/ One morning when III these waters we saw
Chinese junk drifting about aimIessiy as
if utterly abandoned. We let down a boat
boarded her and a shocking sight met our
eyes. Her deck looked like a Slaughter
house. Blood was smeared from one end
to the other. Not soul remained abcarl l.
After taking few souvenirs we finished
the work of the pirates. who had tried 10
fire her. Otherwise she would have re-
manned a menace TO commerce. This sort
of piracy has been pretty well broken up
of late by England because it reached her
Rnrupn
though directed mostly against native YES
sells. The captives. of course, are carried
! away as slaves now as before. What the
writers OF some years ago say about this
slavery can be depended upon to Apply
! today. There were no changes for the bet
ter under Spanish rule
Fiercer Than Present Foes.
We VIII doubtless have TO wage war
with the Moros before they can be made
TO abandon slavery. and just as Colonel
| Hilder prophesies we will probably have
more serious times with them than we are
! now having with Aguinaldo's followers.
| Spain failed to conquer them because she
| feared the general hatred of the Moslem
| for the Christian. Our soldiers will Ind
| them to be fierce foes at close quarters.
| They take great care of their arms. On
| making an attack they make hideous faces
to scare their opponents. They protect
| their heads and bodies with immense
| shields. below which their legs are kept
! vibrating to resist missiles. When bayo-
neted they seize the barrels OF the soldiers
muskets and drive the steel further into
| themselves that they may get close enough
| TO kill their adversaries before railing.
| They behead their enemies by peculiar
| continuation of the same movement with
which they draw their huge knives. Just
previous to our war with Spain the resi-
dent Governor of Sulu protected the lives
OF himself and staff by establishing picket
| limos ahor, tho canItaI and ordering all