Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-09-14
SHOULD DECLARE A POLICY
Prof. schurmans View on Duty America
Owes Filipinos.
TagaIs Only Are in Revolt, but the
Other Tribes Are Suspicious
of is.

President Schurrnan returned TO his Office
4, Cornell University yesterday He gave
out the following statement to the Asso-
GATED Press on Philippine affairs
~ is very important that the pubic
should know the actual facts of the situa-
tinn. Things arc what they are and the
American public should understand then
whether they agree with or run counter to
the public's wishes.
First 1t requires some effort 10 realize
the yastness of the archipelago. which ex-
tends in triangular form from Formosa to
Rorneo and Celebcs, through sixteen de-
arees of latitude Never going out into the
Pacific ocean on the east nor the emma
sea on the west made a circuit Of two
Thousand miles all south of Manila. This
gives Some idea of the difficulty Of main
tanning an effective blockade, as the coast
line Of all the islands embraced IN the
archipelago is many more thousands OF
second, the multiplicity and heteroge-
reot.e nature of the tribes IS something
astounding. Over sixty different languag es
are spoken in the archipelago ana though
the majority of the tribes are small, there
are at least half a Dozen having quarter
OF a million members The languages ol
these peoples are as distinct from one an
other as French and Spanish or Italian, so
that the speech Of any one tribe IS unintei-
ligible to its neiShb0rs.
Tribes Mostly Civilized.
."rhose tribes are all civil lied and Chris
tianzed. but small unciyiized tribes, among
whom the Igorotes seem best known in
America. inhablt the mountains In l-uzon
and form a large part of the population or
NIiudanao In this island also there is a
large Mohammedar population. which is
independent Of the Mohammedans in the
neighboring Sulu archipelago.
Third il is the Tagaios inhabting some
of the provinces about Manila. who are re-
sisting the authority Of the United States.
other civilized Filipinos are neutral. ex-
cert where they c0erced by armed
bands OF Tagalos. who seized upon their
governments during the making and the
ratification of our treaty of peace with
Spain. 1t would be incorrect TO assume.
however. that these tribes are allies of
ours. They 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 in
teiligence and property. and the masses.
when not stirred UP by the Tasalos. rec
ognizc the advantage to them Of American
sovereignty. and remain neutral al
though robber bands from time to time de-
sc>nd from the mountains to plumber and
burn the estates of the peaceful inhab-
itants on the plains
Not n National Uprising.
Fourth. the insurrection. though Sc
not "A national uprising. Indeed, there Is
no Philippine nation. As l have already
said. there is riultifarious collection OF
tribes having oni this in common. that
they belong to TIE Malay race. The in
habitants of the archipelago no more con-
stitute nation than the inhabitants OF
the continent of Europe do.
Fifth. the United states having as
surned. by treaty Of peace with Spa n
sovereignty over the archipelago be amt
responsible for the maintenance Of peace
ana order. the administration of justice
the security of life and properly among
all the tribes of the archipelago. This 1:
an obligation which INTEL gent F lipinCs
not less than foreign nations. expect US t
fulfill Nor will the national honor permi