The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-10-24
SAYS PARKER HAS
 BEEN DECEIVED
(contInue-s from First Paae)

(contInue-' from First Pase) ism is no longer popular or profitable. There Is at this time not a single band of ladrones oper ating in the great island of Buzon and in the Visayan islands. There are only four or five ladrone lead- CTS with few followers who occasion ally give evidence of life by stealing car- abaos or plundering remote settlements. They pass most of their time endeavorip 6 to dodge the constabulary.
 There is no disorder or disposition to do violence among the great mass of the people who are attending to their usual vacations. Americans can and do go everywhere without danger, or thought of 1t. In 1903 there were about 1S,OO0 American troops In the islands. This year ther are only about 12000. It may be stat ed generally that life and property are as safe here as in the United States. These general statements as to peace and order are intended to apply to all Of the islands inhabited by civilized Filipinos except the island of Samar. It has a population in the mountaine of the interior many of whom have never seen a white man, are semi-saVage and have a weakness for raiding towns along the coast
 'They are also religious fanatics. gener- ally dominated by leader claiming to be invulnerable. Seven months since LneTo WdS eruption or these peOple WHO plundered and burned a number of bar rios of coast towns, killing men, women and children when the slightest resist ance was offered, but there are still number of small bands of these people proving about Samar Similar half-wild men are found scattered through the mountains of the archipelago, and until the country is opened up by roads and schools are established, occasional dis fffr1 af he oha at ifaHf tad ma be expected.
 Press Is Free.
 "5. Statements that newspapers are bought up or browbeaten Into silence, that men of influence who criticise the com mission are ostraclsed, that all means of expression of public opinion controlled and that there is no way of expressing the popular mind are wholly unsupport- able by facts. The right of free express sion of opinion through the press or oth- erwise is recognized here as in the United States and practically with the same freedom; the only limitation being re- sponsbility for the libellous and seditious utterances; the law relating to those be- ing drawn from federal and state stat utes of the United States. No newspa- per had been subsidized or browbeaten nor has any one been ostracised for crit icising the commission. The latter have
 
 and attack by newspapers ana individu- als.
 Political questions, including imme- diate independence, are every day dis cussed freely and without interference. Theatrical plays are not censored. The only possible excuse for such statement is that something over year ago crack brained playwright produced a play in Tagalog full of insurrectionary utter ances and culminadng in the tearing down and stamping upon the flag on the stage, for which he and some of his fel- low actors were prosecuted and con victed. It is equally untrue that men in private life are subjected to espionage or that detectives in the guise of servants are employed.
 "All these statements are the veriest nonsense, without scintilla of fact to support them. The only use to which de- tectives are put is to ferret out crimi- nals as Is done in the United States; and the number of detectives employed by the government upon comparison will be found to be fewer here in proportion to population than in New York.
 Judge Parker has evidently been gross ly deceived WRIGHT"