Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-01-02
Gen, DAVIS IA REPORT
His Views ] Senator Nor
CANS Proposition
II. e, :.
TO c0LQNIzE NEGROES
A Question:, IF THEY WOULD
LIvEnN PHILIPPINES.
The Government Must Offer Greater
Inducements After Leaving the
Army lis Soldiers.
Z
70 C0LQNIZE NEGROES
The Governmsfts Must Offer Greater

Gen. George W. Davis, commanding the
Division of the Philippines, has made re-
port to the War. Department in regard to
the plan of Senator Morgan respecting the
use Of negro troops in the Philippines. with
the ultimate object OF their becoming per-
manent residents of the islands when they
should have completed the terms OF their
military engagements.
He says he conceived that the objects
sought to be accomplished are twofold.
"First-To cover the Filipino lands with
liberty-loving negro settlers, whose reli-
gious independence would ever resist the
efforts Of any priesthood to control their
conscience.
"Second-To relieve the existing conges-
ton of negro population IN the southern
states by transferring large numbers of this
race to the congenial soil Of the Philippines.
where they may aid in the development of
the country.
Gen. Davis reviews at length the condi-
tions under which the Philippines were ac-
quired- and the method Of administration of
the affairs of the islands since that time.
Some Questions to Be Answered. =
would the negroes of our southern
states. enlisted and trained as soldiers I'M
der white officers and organized into COM
panies, battaEons and regiments furnish an
adequate instrumentality for realizing these
objects?
Assuming an Affirmative answer to this
question, would these men, after discharge
from the army be willing to stay and be-
come law-abidtngy Industrious settlers?
"a third question also suggests itself:
Would the nucleus of the negro race thus
transferred and established be augmented
largely from home? Would 1t result in a
veritable hegira. a transfer Of large num-
bers of this surplus population from the
southern United States, their present home,
to vacant lands in the tropical antipodes?
IAN attempt to enlist negroes in the states
on a basis Of soldering for one to five years
and remaining permanently in the Philip
pines as permanent residents would meet
with scant success-no more than has at
tended the efforts to induce the colored race
in America to remove to Liberia.
There is nothing grown in the oriental
tropics by methods known to our southern
negroes. In Alabama negro, his family
and mule c8r easily plow, plant and har-
vest cotton oa7corn flor an area OF ten acres
or more. Here a native Filipino and his
family, with oneEaaarabao. may be able to
cultivate an acre gnd grow enough rice or or
own subsistence, but no more. Here the
cotton plant Ia large shrub, perennial
the natives call it a tree-but the staple is
short, the yield insufficient and not one
tenth of the cotton wool required for native
uses is grow1Ilhera1 More than one-haf of
the rice consumedln these islands Is pro-
duced in ChinR;r but the abacafis a fiber pro-
duced nowhere else. and the worlds con-
sumption Of Manila hemp. is continually in
creasing-a crop produced exclusively by
small farmers, and the entire equipment re-
quired for the cultivation; and preparation
for market iSsmadefshy natives, wooden
hoe, a spade and a rude device by means Of
which the threads OF fiber are Invested Of
the matrix Of sap and glutinous material
eff our negroes a&oiAd work, they could.
given the land free=ef which there are vast
unoccupied areas in ;Mindanao. Samar. Min
doro. Paragua and Basilan-become inds-
pendent: but would they work. If uncon-
trolled? ffs0ur negroes from the south
were living in the Philippines. would they
do better than any others of their race In
the West Ind:ea2 >: -. - .-
There IS one plant for which the soil and
climate Of the Philippines Is, admiral bly,
suited, which cannot be cultivated with best
economy exceptin very extensive tracts un-
der one control, and this involves a very
large aggregation Of capital under one man.
.agement Sugar cane Is referred to; of
course.