The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-05-31
VIEWS OF GENERAL GRANT.
He Looks for q Great Future in the
Philippines

10 Iilt IlIID avenue Hotel General GTISiis
who has Just come from the Philippines.
Joined his mother, Mrs. L. s. Grant: Mrs.
SartOTis. and Jesse and L s Grant, jr
He expressed himself as well pleased with
the situation in the Philippines. and said
ne would return there early in September
He viH go to West Point Monday. and re-
turn with L S Grant. third. for whom he
has secured a Through. He viii sail June
Il, and go directly to Russia 10 visit his
daughter, Princess Cantacuzene- Speaking
of the situation in the Philippines. Cen
eral Grant said:
When l left the Philippines, on April
y, the Instruction. or rebellion, was com
pleteIy. as you might say. crushed out
Malavar and Calais, who operated in the
southern part of LUZon, were still out
and working In northwestern Luzon all
that were out were negotiating to come
in, with the exception of man named
Tinio, and ! think his claws had been cut
so that he would be of no damage should
he stay out, and l do not know but what
he has surrendered since I came over
Many of those that 1 was negotiating
with have come in.
of course. the capture of Aguinaldo,
the central figure of the Instruction,
would have the appearance of being very
important, but Aguinaldo had lost his in
fluence for some time previous to his cap
ture and it was due to that fact that he
got no reports from the interior OF the
island, and he sent over to find cut abou.
it. This message fell into our hands and
led the pa.sy- TO capture him The fact
that he had no reports shows that he had
entirely lost control of affairs, ana he was
no longer figure in the instruction.
Cd int no udc of
robbers The capture of AguinaIdo was q
pretty picture-tEe climax of the tragedy
and it was regarded far more important
here than it was in the Philippines. The
Filipinos themselves apparently did not
care anything about it I do not think it
had any influence one way or the other.
Whatever opposition there is to American
control comes from people that have been
Iadrones or tuluzens, or what he would
call highway robbers. who feel that it
is a better excuse for being a robber to
do it as an insurgent than as thief
I have no idea what they are going to
do with Aguinaldo but l do not think
he is dangerous in any way. unless We
make him too important While do not
know what the authorities will do. if
had the saying of it I would turn him
loose
The Philippines have great future.
Only a small part Of the islands is cuI-
| tivated to full extent, so that the area
of cultivation can he greatly enlarged,
and staple products, such as hemp. coffee,
sugar and chocolate, can be greatly in
creased Besides there are valuable
mines, some of gold which I have seen
in many places; copper, which have seen
indications of in many places; splendid
iron ore, which is so pure that it is NAL
leabIe without the furnace and large coal
mines, which I am told of, all Of which
promise great development il mineral re-
sources.
Their forests are superb. have seen
tables made from their wood that were
four or five feet in width and fourteen
feet long. made out of d single plank Of
the most beautiful hardwood Take their
caraboa carts. Some of them are made
Of ti:= most magnificent hardwood One
wheel in this country would be worth
more than the whole cart would cost
there. These forests are extensive, con-
tanning about a hundred different kinds
Of hardwood. which are used for furni-
ture carving, etc, ana the wood takes a
high polish
When asked how much of an army
should be retained in the Philippines,
General Grant said:
4 agree with the recommendation OF
General Macarthur IN regard to the re
ducuon to 10000 men there, and 1 believe
that by next year there can be a still fur
tier reduction Of y per cent, and then
this can be rapidly reduced to 1900 men
The people are being taught how to do
police duty and garrison duty Half
dozen men in town with the native pc
lice VIII make a magnificent force, so
thai the robbers viii not dare to move
against them. The situation there IS
rather satisfactory now, and is improving
far more rapidly than the conditions did
in our Southern States after the civil war.
1t was said that the Filipinos did not
fight That was a mistake They made
some pretty good stands; but in the ope-
rations our men were handled so as to
rout them out, and / think our officers
have shown a great deal Of ability The
prejudice that the leaders had created in
the minds Of the people made it so that
the people were almost unanimous against
the Americans, and after the occupation
of the islands and the various towns that
followed, it still existed, and the guerrilla
war began, but the conduct Of the troops
and of the officers has been such that they
have generally won the confidence of the
people and have proved to them the good
intentions of the Americans In most Of
the places the operations have been car
RED on with such skill as to destroy these
guerrilla bands ard even the bands of rob
bers. so that in parts of the territory to
day the security Of life and property Is
greater than has ever been known IN the
history of the islands Owing to this Sc
curity I believe the next crop Of the isl
ands viii be the greatest that they have
had in the Philippines A larger acreage
Of land has been broken up, and unless
the loss of animals from disease has Grip
pied the ability to harvest a big crop may
be looked for 1 know Of one gentleman,
and he is only a fair example of many
others, who has been in the habit of rails
ing about forty thousand pounds of sugar
a year He has broken ground this year
TO put in an acreage to produce over l.
200 600 pounds Of sugar This is only one
Of the conditions prevailing along the
farmers in that section of the country
have told me about the same thing that
they are inCrea sing their acreage
There have not been many farming i'm
PieHspts Of American manufacture sent
there, but the curiosity that the natives
have expressed in our army machinery
and the anxiety that they have shown in
lead enc to believe that they will be quick
10 purchase these articles. Our builders
Of machinery, however, should study the
climate and the needs for agricultural
machinery in that country. For instance.
/ think that machinery or machines that
would hull rice would be of value; pos
sibly piows for blowing rice would be
good although rice does not need much