Rocky Ford enterprise., 1900-08-17
THE MORO'S MORALS.
coso,r,on OF SLAVES 10 NOT
BAD.
..ss Of the Chiefs Have Assy Wtses-
These r~o rrsrssess CoSs"
Ne Put . = stop ~

Al the town of Ilisan. on the island
NJ NIn,ianao. there Ii u slave market
where boys aud giris were sold. ! uio
moi see. Nays q correspondent OF tne
Chicago Record. anybody sold. hut !
was asked whether ! cared to ouy =
girl or boy, and was told that tne
Noros would sell either II ! cared 20
invest. I priced them. A young etn
mors val,inb BILE than boy. the value ot
,he former being between SO ana $lOO'
Mexican. 10 Ess or so for boy. Tue
sensation OF being Nffercd the absolute
owneship Of human is-ins for ieSs
than $50 In gold IL very novel 10 any
one from q free country. Thefs .
finyor Of the old Moorish slave uays'
such as We Rad Of In "itobinson Ctu'
soe," but ! can hardly imagine seeing
any fair, fearful Moro girl standing on
the block. The Moro- In Iii.an seem
too stolid and unromantic To display
emotion OF any Kind, particularly the
fearful sort.
A great many people predict TINT
when our government attempts To stop
slavery and poiysnmy In the southern
Islands there will bc immediate war.
From my own observation OF the Mo-
ros, I'm inclined to doubt IT, Every
thing will depend upon the tact OF thc
officer who handles the question. Zen.
crsl Bates probably could arrange u
nmicab,y. more 10 than any other man
In the Philippines. for he knows the
Moros aud has won their respect ana
confidence. He Ia also tnctful. patient.
honest. hearted and of broad caiiber.
Besides these qualities. he knows well
what most OF rs know who are fnmii'
lar with southern conditlons-thnt the
slavery and poiysamy Of the Moro~ u
not nearly as had as the woris Imply.
II u tho name thnt stins~.
Most Of these Moro slaves arc al-
lowed practically the sane Freedom as
anybody else. and under present condi.
lions thcrr arr probably very few of
the slaves who know or care whether
some one has bought them or not. Tie
system IL similar TO the peon system III
Mexico. Perhaps. II the Moro dnttas
knew they would he ns much shocked
at some OF our International marriages
ax We are at their slave buying.
There Il no very pronounced form
OF religious worship among the Mor"-
Of Mindnnno. by common consent they
are credited ms being Mohninmcsinn-.
but their consummation Of that religion
comes very fnr from helm. real Mo
hnnmc,innism. II II true that the
koran II largely used among the better
educated. hut. beyond that. their form
OF worship Ii mere triv'-siy ON the
great teachings Of the prophet. In the
Mohnmmc,ian religion n man Is al'
lowed four wives only. Down In Min
dnnno a man can have as many Ne he
wants or can get. Old Datto tttu.
cighty-two years old. hns sixteen. and
the other dattos have numbers rang
ing from half dozen up To 100 or
more. By patient and diplomatic pro-
cess. not too abrupt or hurried. am
Inclined to think that the Moros could
be induced pcnccably to coniinc them
selves to one wife, ut least as far n~
the strict letter OF the law goes.
A war with the Moros would not be
as one race against another. but ms one
race against many tribes. all OF which
would carry on separate fight with
out regard to unity or organization.
There nrc no ties that bind all the
Moro tribes together. In each district
there are dattos who rule absolutely
those people directly under them. The
Sultnn Is merely hgurchead. who
sometimes exncts tribute from the dat
tos when the latter are complnccnt.
but beyond this he IL supposed to have
no power which could be strong enough
to amnlsnmatc all those little warning
tribes into one wicldy body to fight any
strong external Zoe.