The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-03-12
SLAVES IN TIE PHILIPPINES.
SLAVERY IN THE SULUS IN NGINDORO TAWI TAwI
AND OTHER ISLANDS,


WASHINGTON, March limited
States subjects toiling and sweating
within the yoke of slavery almost forty
years after the emancipation pToclama-
ton of Lincolnl
The attention of the authorities has
been called to the fact that slavery is
rampant in Sulu, Mindoro, Tawi Tawi
and several others of the Philippine
islands. The opportunity to be entered
in history as a slave lberator is now
presented to President Mckinley as 1t
was to President Lincoln.
If you wish to become STAKEHOLDER
you may go to one of the three Islands
mentioned and purchase a half-grown
girl for So. One was offered at that
rate to Prof. Dean c. Worcester,
United States commissioner, lately sent
to the islands. The usual price for
girls of Is years is five bushels Of rice
Grown men and women sell at prices
proportionately greater.
The chief Philippine slave market
and port for their expectation now Is
NAHUM, the old native capital Of Suiu.
Harum Narrasid. the Mohammedan
sultan of Sulu-7now a United states
SUBJECTS the central factor in the
slave holding and slave-selling bust
ness of the entire group. The Moros.
who are the Mohammedan Malay sub
iects of this hitherto semi official
prince. &C s-inue, though on some.
what limited scale, the practices OF
their anceS torS-the bloodthirSty Malay
pirates, who Redeemed Philippine waters
for several centuries. No admixture
OF blood could be more favorable to
slave holding than that of the Malay
and Mohammedan, according to Prof.
Otis Mason, the noted ethnologist.
Among their slaves today are found
especially Malays captured from SUI
Siamese, Javanese and Timorese. BY
collecting them within their dominion
the Sulu masters have aided greatly In
producing the peculiar mixture OF
stocks which now botherS anthropolo-
gists.
Piratical expeditions are still gather
ing as many captives as they can safe
" attack in neighboring islands. These
arlilze Moros of Sulu and the islands
thereabouts moreover adhere to the an
cient barbarous custom of casting into
slavery such of their captives of war
who do not suffer death. Their most
ready customers for able bodied male
slaves for many years have been the
Dutch planters in the island of BOr-
neo, to the southwest. More criminal
even than this piratical slave-gather-
ing is the custom of selling innocent
children into bondage, generally prac-
ticed by the Mohammedan Malays. The
parent who is in need of money lends,
or. rather gives his child as security
for the loan, and the little one is con-
demned to labor until the debt is paid,
which seldom, 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, Sulf represent all phases of
slavery practiced in ancient or modern
times-slaves by birth, slaves by cap
ture in war, or by piracy, bonded chill
dren and insolvent debtors.
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 Chris
ticps must pay a penalty more serious
than slaVery-or, perhaps less serious
death. The Moro believes that he in
creases his pleasure in the next world
directly as the square of the number
of Christian lives dispatched by his
hand. If he die Strengthening Chris
tians, he insures himself a cozy corner
in the Mohammedan seventh heaven
Rather than commit suicide a Moro,
wearied of life. prefers to sneak into
some Christian settlement and massa-
ere as many unSuSpecting men, women
or children as he can reach before be-
ing 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, recogniz-
ed as the highest modern authority on
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. Fur
thermore, they have no money, and
none OF the solicitors under the Spanish
regime was looking for a case not in
surfing fee. A friend of Foreman,
who had commenced clearing an estate
for cane growing on the Negroes coast,
was some years ago seized and secretly
carried Off to Sulu. He remained
slave for several years, but some of his
friends discovered him and paid a gen.
erous ransom. Now he owns one of
the finest sugar estates and factories
IN Negroes.
Uncle Sam will find 1t his duty to
break up the slave business also In
Tawi Tawi, which lies between Sulu
and Borneo. Upon the north coast are
several settlements Of Moro slave hunt
ers. Balinbing is the principal market.
The entire inerior Of the island is COW
cred with forests. seldom penetrated by
the white man, who are in constant
dread OF the pirates.
Col. Hiider, Of our bureau of ethnol-