The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-09-12
LIVE IN ANARCHY
MoRos HAVE NO oovrRN1rrrr
 SAYS GENERAL SUMNER.
Pay Little Respect to Hulers-Mo- hammedan Tribes are without Property Laws-When a Man Sees Anything He Vents
 He Takes It.

Portland oresonian.
 T think the most perfect form of au-
 archy existing in the world today is to
 be found among the Moros, the Malay l tribe which inhabits the Islands of Min danao in the Philippines" said General B. 8. Sumner at the Hotel Portland yes- terday.
 General Sumner has just returned from the Philippines, where he was in com. mand of the southern district of Luzon Tor more than a year and was later transferred to the command of the wild and impenetrabie jungles of Mindanao. He Is now on his way to assume command of the Department of the Missouri with headquarters at Omaha
 T do not think the public appreciates the great work that the military has &C., complished," said the General. "In Min | danao, for instance. we have built high ways which afford easy access from the seashore to the interior lake around which dwell more than 600.ooo Moros. the anar- | ehists of whom I speak. These people are Mohammedans and have been for some 400 years They have absolutely no system of government and the individuals of the tribes pay only the slightest deference to their dattos or nominal rulers. Nor have these dattos any cnief among them. When they com- pined to offer resistance to the Ameri- can forces, they each acted upon hjs own responsibility. They had no central head. Each datto bossed his own men and took no orders from any quarters They till the land they occupy, but it seems to belong to the whole community as a body and even the crops are gather. ed by the village at large. "The Moros have no property laws, and the ability to acquire possession of any article is the only requisite for its ac. quirement. A Moro thinks it perfectly justifiable to kill anybody in order to get anything. He thinks no more of kill. ing soldier to get his bayonet. than he would think of taking away bone from dog. It is genuine anarchy" General Sumner says that the control of the Philippines Is now entirely in the hands of the civil government. even the savage tribes in Mindanao' having been brought under Governor Taft's jurisdic- tion on August 15 last.
 The application of law to these Moros'' continued the General. "is bound to be at. tended with amusing results. There are at present about 100000 Moros on thia island who have absolutely no conception of what law means. For centuries every man has done exactly as he pleased to the extent that his physical powers or ability permitted. and 1t will be hard for them to realize that a man must not take his neighbours goods away by force or that 1t Is wrong to slay a stranger to secure his spear
 ''The Moros," said the General, "ars as rule quite friendly and accept the American invasion with much docility and much surprise. They do not foresee that the future bodes i'll for their careless life They do not know that the advent of tn, white man has always been followed by the subjection or extermination of tht aborigines.
 While the Moros in Mindanao rarely mo1ested our soldiery. we found it neces- sary to attack two or three villages ir our march around the big lake, which lies in the interior of the island. Tho first time our soldiers stormed a dattd fort, some of our men were badly cut up by the swords of the Moros, who are expert hand-to-hand fighters. So nov when we attack one of these forts W, pound 1t to pieces first from a distanc, with srtillery, and 1t Is then. a compara lively easy matter to carry the fortihca ton. The Moros don't offer much resist ance after they have been shelled while"
 The reporter asked General Sumner f he expected that xhe Filipinos would fr time be allowed to vote.
 There are very able and learned mel among the natives" said the General. "The Chief Justice of the islands Is Filipino and many important offices are filled by them. They can vote on ques tions of their own government"
 But do you think they will ever be al lowed to vote on national affairs? Wili there ever be delegates to the electoral college from the Philippines? Will they ever become citizens?'
 "They are not white" said the General doubtfully. How could they become citizens"
 Neither is the negro a Caucasian" said the reporter. but he was given the right to vote"
 "Is 1t a success?' asked the General.