Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1899-09-14
PHiLiPPiRE AFFAIRS.
PRESIDENT. .SCHURMANN GIVES
OUT a STATEMENT.
Especial 70 Virglrlinn-Pilot.l

\ . i
Ithaca. y. y. Sept. 49, President
Schurmann returned to- day to his of
flee in Cornell University. He gave out
the following statement to the Asso-
cinted Press on Philippine affairs:
1t is very important that the public.
should know the actual facts OF the
situation. Things are what they are.
ana the American public should UNDER
stand them whether they agree With
or run counter to the publlc's wishes
First. ii requires some effort to real
re the vastness OF the archipelago.
which extends In triangular form from
Formosa To Bornep and Celebes,
through sixteen degrees of latitude
Never going out into the Pacific Ocean
on the cas-; nor the China Sen on the
west [ made IL circuit of 1000 miles all
south of Manila. This gives some idea
OF the difficulty OF maintaining an ef-
fective blockade, as the coast line OF all
the Islands embraced In the archipelago
Is many more thousands of miles.
Second. the multiplicity and hetero-
genous nature of the tribes Is some-
thing astonishing. Over4slxty different
Languages are spoken In the archipeia.
go,g and though the, ma jori TX y he
tribes are Small, there are at least hall
n dozen having n auarter5of a million
members. The language OF these people
are as distinct from one another as
French and Spanish or italian, so that
the speech of any one tribe Is unintelli-
glble to Its neighhors These tribes are
all civilized, and Chrlstanized. but
small uncivilized tribes. among whom
the 1gorotes seem best known In Amer
lea. inhabit the mountains in Luzon
and form large part of the population
OF Mindano. In this island also there Is
u large Mohammedan population which
Is Independent of the AIohammedans In
the nelghborlng Sulu archipelago
Third, 1t Is the Tagaos inhabitins
some of the provinces about Manila,
who are resisting the authorltyIof the
United States. Other civilized Filipinos
arc, neutral. except where they are
coerced by armed bands OF Tagalos,
who seized upon their governments dur
Ing the making and the ratification Of
our peace treaty with Spain. 1t would
be incorrect to assume, however, that
these tribes are allies of ours, They
are not. Indeed, they are not without
suspicion OF the white race, OF which
they have had experience only through
spain. But there are men of intel
Sence and property, and the masses,
when not stirred UP by the Tagaius.
recognize the advantage to them OF
American sovereignty. and so remain
neutral, although robber bands from
time to time descend from the noun
tains to plumber and burn the estates
of the peaceful inhabitants on the
plains.
Fourth. the insurrection. though Sc
lrlous enough. as experience has proven,
is not national uprising. Indeed.
there is no Philippine nation. AS L
have already said. there is Il multi y
farious collection of tribes having only
this in common. that they belong 10
the Malay race. The inha bitants OF the
archipelago no more constitute a ma
ton than the inhabitants of the conti-
nent of Europe do
"SiXih, the United States having as
sumed by 4 treaty of peace with Spain
sovereignty over the archipelago, be-
came responsible for the maintenance
OF peace and order. the administration
of justice, the security OF life and prop
erty among all the tribes OF the archi-
pelago. This is an obligation which
intelligent Filipinos. not less than for
eign nations. expect us TO fulflli. Nor
will the national honor permit us to
turn babck. In taking the Philippine
Islands, we annexed great responsible
ity. The fact that the responsibility
Is heavier than most people supposed
1t would be is no excuse for failure to
discharge 1t. ] repeat that the Philip,
pine question Is essentially question
OF national honor and obligation
q ! {.