Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1899-09-21
Philippine QUESTION.
Prof. SchurmaD Talks About the PeO-
pie and tl,e Vast Extent OF the
ArchipeIa.O.


pie and the Vast Extent of the
Archipelago.
Ithaca y. T.. Sept I4-President
Schurman returned Yesterday to his
cnce in Cornell university. He gave
out the following statement TO the
press on Philippine affairs:
at is very important that the pub
lie should know the actual facts of the
situation. Things are what they are
and the American public should un-
derstand them. whether they agree
with or run counter to the public
wishes. First it requires some effort
TO realize the vastness of the archi-
Eclago. which extends in triangular
form from Formosa to Borneo and
Crlebes. through 16 degrees of lati-
tudc. Never going out into the Pa
citic ocean on the east nor the China
sea on the west, | made a circuit CT
1000 miles. all south of Manila. This
gives some idea of the difficulty of
maintaining an effective blockade, as
,he coast line of all the islands en-
braced in the archipelago is many
more thousands of miles.
"Second-The multiplicity and het-
crogeneous nature of the tribes is
astounding. Over so different lam
gUagcs are spoken in the archipelago
and though the majority of the tribes
are small. there are at least half
dozen, each having over quarter of
million members The languages of
these people are as distinct from one
another as French and Spanish or
italian. so the speech of any one tribe
is unintelli0ihlc to its neighhUrS.
These tribes are all civilized and Chris
tianized but small uncivilized tribes.
amon@ which the lgorotes seem best
known in America inhabit the noun
tains in LuIOn and form large part
Of the population of Mindanao. In
mis- island also there is Il large Mo-
lammedan population which is indc-
pendent of the Mohammedans in the
ncphboring Sulu archipelago.
'Third--It is the TaTalos inhahit
ing some of the provinces about Ma
Mia who are resisting the authority
of the United States. Other civilized
Filipinos are neutral, except where
hey are coerccd by armed bands OF
Taaalos who seized upon their govern
mcnts during the making and the rat
iication of our treaty of peace with
Spain. 1t would be incorrect to as
sumo. 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 intelligence and
property and the masses. when not
stirred up by the TagaloS, recognize
the advantage TO them of American
sovereignty and 50 remain neutral. al
though robber bands from time to
time descend from the mountains TO
plumber and burn TIL" estates of the
peaceful inhabitants on the plains.
"l'ourth-Thc insurrection, though
serious enough, is not national up
rising. Indeed there is no Philippine
nation. AS | have already said, there
is Il multifariouS collection of tribes
having only this in common, THAI they
belong to the Malay race. The in.
habitants of the archipelago no more
constitute a nation than the inhabi-
tants of Europe do.
"Fifth-rhe United States having as
sumed by treaty of peace with Spain
sovereignty over the archipelago. be-
came responsible for the maintenance
of peace and order, the administration
OF Justice and the security OF life and
property among all the tribes of the
archpelago This is an obligation
which Intelligent Filipinos not less
than foreign nations expect uS TO full
fill. Nor will the national honor per-
NIT rs TO turn back. In taking the
Philippine islands we annexed great
responsibility. The fact that the re-
sponsihiIity is heavier than most peo-
pie supposed it would he is no excuse
for failure to discharge it. | repeat
that the Philippine question is essen
TALLY a question of national honor and