Washington telegraph., 1901-05-24
BACK FROM THE PHILIPPINES
estIng Word Picture of Conditions
In the Philippines.

In the Philippines.
San Francisco, May 2o.-Brig. .-Gen
Frederick D. Grant, who returned
from Manila on the Sheridan, speak
ing of the conditionsint the Philippines
said:
Everything is settling down and WI
are getting at the real work of gov
erning and teaching the people. Theil
peculiar national character maker
them hard subjects for the present
You must remember that they wer'
originally pirates; that their civiliza
tion is OF the fourteenth if not of tht
fifteenth century, and the tendency t.
brigandage is so strong among then
that it amounts to a disease. II
many districts the paying of tribute
to robbers is considered the regular
thing, no more out of the way THAI
taxes. Our task now is to give then
good government in the municipalities
to protect them against themselves
until they learn a taste for order, anc
withdraw gradually from active inter
ference, leaving the towns one at q
time, as we see that they can be trust
ed, but having out troops within strili
ing distance for some time after we
leave any district, so as to insure
against a relapse. We must expect
such robbery and brigandage and pill.
age and even murder for long time.
at is surprising to see the results
that we have obtained in getting law
and order into these people in the
few months of comparative peace.
"My district includes the Provinces
of Buluean, Pampango and Bataan,
with a population of 100000, all Taga-
10 provinces, and considered the most
lawless in the islands. Now there is
not a robber band in the whole dis
triet, condition unknown in the
whole history of the Philippines. We
have in every town of the district a
local government under a local civ
ilian governor We are building roads
and teaching the people"
Gen. Grant expresses the opinion
that the resistance of the insurgents
was prolonged by the events in the
United States attending the last pres.
idential campaign. Said he:
"The property-holding class in the
island is composed of persons who are
pretty ignorant and who could not
quite understand the situation. They
are naturally our friends, but were
under constant pressure to throw
their fortunes in with the insurgent
cause, When they heard that party
was coming into power in the United
States that was in favor of giving up
the government to the insurgents
they did not know what to do. Ii
they stood out against the insurrec-
tion they would be likely to lose their
lives and property as soon as we
turned cur backs.
"With that kind of people, timid,
ignorant, afraid to espouse cause
thatmight lead to their destruction, and
with the most unscrupulous element
in the islands in charge of the native
forces, there was no use in going
ahead. / stopped active operations
after the nomination of Bryan, and
tried only to protect my own men.
The cessation of activities had a de-
plorable result, the slaughter of inno-
cent people, by the lawless element,
partly sanctioned by the insurgent
leaders.
''Some of the figures which can
vouch for in the case of my own dis
trict, are appalling. In the Province
of Pampanga they killed over one
thousand people because they would
not swear allegiance to the insurrec-
tion. In one narrow district owe"
three hundred were Sdried alive, pos
sibly by Ladroncs, but much more
probably Tor the same cause. One
man, Lorenzo Cainayer, killed eight
men in one day within easy reach of
my quarters. In the cases where the
perpetrators of these outrages could
be proved, l acted severely.
after the elections, when natives
learned that we We're to stay, the
real end of the insurrection came"
The surrender of Lieut.-Gen. Mari
ana Trias had more effect on the
Philippine mind, Gen. Grant thinks,
than the manifesto issued by Gen.
Aguinaldo Gen. Grant will proceed
east in day or two.
TIYT UhHIIT JNDEnENDENHC