Evening star., 1899-03-07
HELD IN BONDAGE
There Are Thousands of Slaves in
the Philippines.
UNDER NATIVE AND SPANISH RULE
Customs That Still Prevail Among
the Mohammedan MaIays.
CONDITIONS ARE SHOCKING

United States subjects tofling and sweat
ing within the yoke Of slavery almost forty
years after the emancipation proclamation
of Lncoini
The attention of the authorities has been
called to the fact that slavery is rampant
in Sulu. Mindoro, Tawi Tawi and other of
the Philippine Islands. The opportunity to
be entered in history slave liberator is
now presented to President Mckinley, as
1t was to President hncoln. Mr.. Mc4Sin-
ley may consider it his duty to humanity
to liberate these poor wretches whether We
hold the Philippines or not.
If you wish to become a Shareholder you
may go to one of the three islands men,
Toned and purchase a half-grown girl for
s.. One was offered at that rate to Prof.
Dean c. Worcester, United States commits
sioner 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 chief Philippine slave market and
port for their export now is Maibun, the
old native capital of Sulu Harun Narrasid.
the Mohammedan sultan Of Sulu. now a
United States subject, is the central factor
of the slave-holding and slave-selIing busi-
ness of the entire group. The Moros. who
are the Mohammedan Malay subjects of
this hitherto semi-oficial prince continue
though upon somewhat limited scale, the
practices of their ancestors-the blood
thirsty Malay pirates who Redeemed Philip
pine waters for several centuries. No ad-
mixture of blood could be more favorable
to slave-holding than that of Malay and
Mohammedan, according to Prof. Otis
Mason, the noted ethnologist. Among their
slaves today are found especially Malays
captured from Sumatra, Papuans from New
Guinea, 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 anthropologists.
Barbar0us Customs.
Piratical expeditions are still gathering
as many captives as they can safely at
tack in neighboring islands. These warlike
Moros of Sulu and the islands thereabouts
moreover adhere to the ancient barbarous
custom of casting into slavery such of
their captives of war as 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
Borneo, to the southwest.
More criminal even than this pratical
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 child as security for the
loan and the little one is condemned 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, ac-
cording to Professor 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
insolvent debtors.
Few White Slaves.
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
penalty more serious than slavery-or per-
hapS less serious death. The Moro be-
lieyes 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 die slaughtering Christians
he insures himself cozy corner in the
Mohammedan seventh heaven. Rather than
commit suicide, a More wearied 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 Geograp phical 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 igno-
rant, for one thing. Furthermore, they have
no money and none of the solicitors under
the Spanish regime was looking for a case
not fnsuring a fee. A friend of Foreman.
who had commenced clearing an estate for
cane growing on the Negros coast, was
some years ago seized and secretly carried
off to Sulu. He remained a slave for sew
eral years, but some of his friends dfscov-
cred him and paid generous ransom.
Now he owns one of the finest sugar es-
tates 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 settlements of
Moro slave hunters. Balinbing is the prin-
cipal market The entire interior of the
island is covered with forest seldom pen
etrated by the white men, who are in con-
slant dread Of pirates.
There is Trouble Ahead.
Col Hilder of Our bureau of ethnology,
who has visited the Philippines. told the
writer a few days ago that he had seen
slaves working openly in the fields of Min
doro, the large island which is in sight of
Luzon, where our war with the FiIipinos
now exists. 81 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 Mohammedanism, they
believe implicitly in slavery One morning
when in these waters we saw a Chinese
junk drifting about aimlessly, 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 ono end to the
other. Not a soul remained aboard After
taking few souvenirs we finished the
work of the pirates, who tried to fire her
Otherwise she would have remained a mem
ace to commerce. This sort of piracy has
been pretty well broken up of late by Eng
land. because 1t reached her colony in Bor-
neo. 1t still exists, however though di-
rected mostly against native vessels. The
capttves, Of course, are carried away as
slaves now as before. What the writer's of
some years ago say about this slavery can
be depended upon to apply today There
were no changes for the better under Span
tsh rule
How the Moros Fight.
We will doubtless have to wage war with
the Moros before they can be made to
abandon slavery, and just as Col. HiIder
pa ophesies. We will probably have more Sc
rious 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 Mos]a,,o for tto