The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-01-31

there through the country unarmed
and alone, I was up there in the latter
part of September, north of Manila, in
the interior, and everywhere that I
went J. found the troops peacefully en-
camped living in their quarters, and
with the exception of here and there,
where there were some ladrones, who
had no connection with any organized
body, and would make a swoop down
on the natives and get u COW or Il lit
tie money from the planters, there was
absolutely no disorder. There was no
trouble whatever, and there has not
been for six or eight months"
Asked what the people there were
doing and how they got along with the
American soldiers, he replied: "The
people are doing just what they have
always done. They come very little in
contact with the American soldiers.
They are devoting themselves to cul-
tivating their crops and taking life as
easily as possible. The district in
cludes the rich valley of the Cagayan
river and the country penetrated by
the railroad running from Manila to
Dagupan. Here are possibly three
fourths Of the population of the island
OF Luzon, and here are the great hemp,
tobacco, copra and rice fields. The
Cagayan river is navigable for 200
miles into the interior, and small
steamers are plying on it all the time,
carrying up merchandise and bringing
down tobacco and other products.
From the mouth of the river along the
coast down to Manila, q distance of
something like three hundred miles, the
country is quiet and little steamers are
visiting the various ports every week
carrying cargoes and passengers, with
never disturbance. The same condi-
ton of affairs obtains all along the line
of the Manila-Dagupan railroad"
AS to the region south of the line men,
toned by him, Mr. Johnson said: ITO
the south of this line and Immediate
ly surrounding the inland lake Laguna
de Bay are several small provinces, of
which Batangas is the largest. The
area is only q small percentage of the
total area of the island. Here is locat-
ed the insurrection of which so much
has recently been heard. The country
largely consists of jungle and inacces-
sible swamps, which are difficult to
police. Here have congregated the
bandtti or ladrones of the entire is
land. The dispatches name these prov
inces, and the area sounds large to the
llninitiated reader. Still further south,
in the larger area known as the Cam
arines, the entire country has been pa
cified.''
Concerning the conditions in Negros
he said: "The island of Negros has a
population of about half q million, and
there has been no insurrection in that
island for eighteen months. There are
q few Negretos, or hill tribes, back in
the interior who never We're pacified or
peaceful, and who are q different race
of people from the main body Of in
habitants. They never farm for live
lihood, simply living in the forests.
They made a raid on one of the vii
lagos in the present month. There are
only q few thousand of them. On the
western coast of Negros there are
800, 900 people, Visayans, growing sugar
alone. They have highly improved
plantations. There are numerous indi-
vidual houses there costing from $lO,-
900 to $4,000 each, in Mexican money.
There is one house near Bacolod that
cost 100000, and another few miles
further in the country that cost $l20,-
oil 70,
terested in growing their crops. An
insurrection in that island today would
cost these people hundreds of thous-
ands of dollars. This province turned
out 1906 900 tons of sugar last year.
Now their fields are ripe with sugar,
and any insurrection would simply de-
vastate the country. They do every
thing in their power to keep down an
insurrection. They have American
teachers in all the principal towns, and
are sending their children to these
teachers to learn English The little
tots are beginning TO chatter in our
language in the streets. They have
taken to Americans and American
ideas. If there is any one thing there
that shows the people are kindly dis
posed toward the Americans, it is the
fact of the welcome that has been given
to the school teachers. L spent four or
five weeks on the island, and left there
last November, I have been all over
the western and northern part of the
island. The same conditions obtain
everywhere in that tract"
Regarding other alleged storm CEN
ters he said: 1.-The island of Panay
has over a million people. 1t is the
most densely populated island in the
group and there is not single village
or town of that entire island where an
American cannot safely go unarmed,
The people are largely engaged in
growing rice and sugar and copra, and
the women manufacture the just cloth
that has become famous. The island of
Mindanao has never had any insurreC-
ton, excepting in one point, at the
north, The island of Cebu also is pa
Gifted. There is no semblance of an in
in it. Samar never was un-
der subjugation. The Spanish made
no attempt to subjugate the natives.
They had one or two small garrlsons
on the island ana made no effort to go
into the interior, y larger portion of
that island is under American control
than ever was under Spanish control"
Mr.. Johnson denied that concentra-
tion as practiced in some of the mu-
tlnous parts of the Philippines meant
what it did in Cuba under Weyler.
"The policy as practsed in the Philip