The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1900-01-09
UNDER Con.
tConcluded from Els 20

cation, let her in mercy write that those
who so proposed were merely blind, and
nothing more.
RESOURCES AND IMMENSE SIZE
OF THE ISLANDS.
But if they did not command China,
India, the Orient, the whole PACING for
purposes Of Offense, defense and trade,
the Philippines are so valuable In them
selves that we should hold them. have
cruised more than two THOUSAND miles
through the archipelago, every moment
G. surprise at its loneliness and wealth.
j have ridden hundreds of miles on the
Islands, every foot of the way a reVe-
1ation of vegetable and mineral riches.
No land in America SurpasseS in fertil-
ity the plains and valleys of LuZon.
Rice and coffee, sugar and cOcOanutS,
hemp and tobacco, and many products
of the temperate, as well as trop1c zone,
grow in various sections of the archipe
lago. 1 have seen hundreds of bushels
or Indian corn lying IN ROAD 1rlnged
with banana trees. The forests of Ne
gros, Mindanao, Mindora, Paluan, and
parts of LuzOn are invaluable and in
tact The wood Of the Philippines can
supply the furniture of the world for a
century to come At Cebu, Rev. Father
Julio Segrera told me that 40 miles of
Cebus mountain chain are practically
mountains of coal. Pablo Malta, one of
the most reliable men on the Islands,
confirmed the statement Some declare
that the coal is only Ignite; but ship
captains, who have used it, told me that
II IS DeIIGE steamer Iuel imam the pest
coal of Japan. I have a nugget of pure
gold picked up in its present form on
the banks of a Philippine creek. have
gold dust washed out by crude process
IS Of careless natives from the sands of
a Philippine stream. Both indicate
great deposits at the source from which
they come. In one of the islands great
deposits of copper exist untouched. The
mineral wealth of this empire of the
ocean viii one day surprise the world
/ base this statement party on personal
observation, but chiefly on the testimO-
ny of foreign merchants in the Philip
pines, who have practically inVeSttga-
ted the subject, and upon the unani-
NOUS opinions of natives and priests.
And the mineral wealth is but a small
fraction Of the agricultural wealth of
these islands.
And the wood. hemp, copra, and
other products of the Philippines sup
ply what we need and can not ourselves
produce. And the markets they will
themselves afford will be immense.
SPANS export and import trade with
the islands undevelOped, was $12, l75,549
annually. Our trade with the islands
developed will be 1925, 000, 600 annually;
for who believes that we can not do ten
times as well as Spain. Consider their
imperial dimensions. LuzOn is larger
and richer than New York, Pennsyl-
Vania, Illinois, or Ohio. MindanaO is
larger and richer than all New England.
Manila, as a port of call and exchange,
will in the time of men now living, far
surpass Liverpool. Behold the exhaust
less markets they command. 1t is as
IF half dozen of our states were set
down between Oceana and the Orient,
and those states themselves undeVelop-
ed and unSpoiled of their primitive
wealth and resources Nothing Is so
natural as trade with ones neighbOrs;
the Philippines make US the nearest
neighbors of all the east. Nothing is
more natural than to trade with those
you know. This is the philosophy of
all advertising. The Philippines bring
us permanently face to face with the
most sought for customers of the
world National prestige, national
propinqu1ty, these and commercial ac-
Iivity are the elements of commercial
success: The Philippines give the first;
the character of the American people
supply the last 1t is a providential con-
junction of all the elements of trade, of
duty and of power. If we are willing
to go to war rather than let England
have a few feet of frozen Alaska, which
affords no market and commands none,
what should we not do rather than let
England, Germany, Russia, or Japan
have all the Philippines? And no man
on the spot can fail to see that this
would be their fate if we retired.
PHILIPPINE CLIMATE.
The climate is the best tropic CHI
mate in the world. This is the belief
of those who have lived in many tropic
countries, with scores of whom I have
talked on this point. My own expert
been exhaustive; yet, speaking from
that experience, I testify that the eli
mate of IloilO, Sulu, Cebu, and even of
Manila, greatly SurpaSSeS that of
Hong Kong. And yet on the bare and
burning rock of Hong Kong our con-
structing race has builded one of the
noblest cities of all the world, and
made the harbOr it commands the To-
Gus of the commerce of the east. And
the glory of that achievement illu-
mines with a rarer splendOr than that
of Waterloo, the flag that floats above
II, for, from Hong kOng'S heights civil
izatiOn is irradiating all the Orient. If
this be Imperialism, it's final end will
be the empire of the son of man.
Yet. fifty years ago, this English out
post of empire was a smooth and tree
less mountain, blazing like a ball of
fire beneath the trOpic suns; the Philip
pines are beautiful and rich with the
healing seas pouring round and through
them and famed by thousand winds.
Even in the hottest season. under
severest conditions, I found the wealth.
er tolerable and often delightful; and in
Luzon, Panay, Cebu, Negros and Sulu,
I have been in the sun and rain without
protection from either for hours. at
time, travelling from place to place on
horseback, on foot or in a boat, rising
at dawn. retiring at midnight, week af-
ter week, without injury to health.
General Macarthur fighting contin-
uously for three months and under fire
practically every hour, was in excel
tent health every llIIlC saw MIN at
San Fernando. General Lawton, that
perfect soldier, whom I have seen ride,
order. plan and execute all day and
then ride. order plan and execute all
night, told me that his health was per-
feet. General Otis, that devoted serv-
ant of the republic, who tolls ceaseless-
~, does not fall i'll, nor grow weary, nor
complain. I have seen correspondents
exert themselves in all kinds of weather
without food or sleep in a way that
would PROSTATE them in the hottest
days of our summer in Chicago or New
York. Major Hoyt, chief medical officer
with Macarthur, told me that San
Fernando is as healthy as the average
American town. The European business
men of Cebu, Iloilo and Manila work as
hard and as many hours a day as
those of New York, and a finer body
of physical manhood can not be gath
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