Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-24
THE HILLMEN OF SAMAR
HOW THEY ARE INCITED TO RE
VOLT AGAINST AMERICANS.
Interesting Report on Conditions In the
island Sent by Gov.
Wright.

As bearing on the outbreak at Dolores,
Eamar, Secretary Taft has made public the
following extract from a mail report just
received from Governor Wright In regard
to the condition of affairs In Samar and
other islands of the Philippine group:
'In order to get true picture of the situ-
alton as 1t actually Is. 1t Is proper to re-
mark that the Philippine Islands are all Of
volcanic origin; that their centers are noun
famous and covered with heavy growth
of timber and other vegetation, and are
generally difficult of access. The great bulk
Of the civilized Filipinos live on or not re-
mote from the coast line. but there are scat
tered communities living in the mountains
who come little in touch with civiliZing In
fuences. who are densely ignorant and SUI
perstitious, and who indeed in many In
stances are little removed from savagery.
II frequently happens that some enterprise
ing man among them who has the elements
of leadership. by exciting their cupidity or
playing upon their superstitions, will obtain
q considerable following and will perpetrate
all sorts of outrages upon the peaceful and
inoffensive inhabitants within his reach.
Must Be Made to Fear.
ut is hardly fair to presume that the in
clinations and habits of semi-barbarous
marauders of this description can at once
be changed. They must first be reached
through their fear of consequences and
made to understand that their traditional
manner of life is neither safe nor profitable,
and thereafter they may gradually be
brought into a decent and orderly manner
of living. 1t may therefore he inferred that
for several years to come there VIII be
eruptions from this source and that they
will make raids upon the civilized Filpinos
living in the lowands as heretofore so long
as a tempting field for their incursions Is
81 10 ,t-ofH on fl n :
finances permit, is engaged in building roads
to open up these remote sections of the in
terror and to make them accessible.
"A striking instance of the tendencies OF
these mountaneers is furnished by recent
occurrences in the island of Samar, which
IS the third in point of size In the archi-
pelago. Two months since several hum
bred of these hillmen who lived about the
headwaters of the Gandara river. under
the leadership of one of their number, who
styles himself Papa Pope) Balan, and
who. as is usually the case, claims to be
divnely inspired and to have the miracu-
lous power of comforting fnvulnerability up
on his followers, suddenly descended upon
the native towns along the coast line. plum
Cered and burned the outlying barrios. and
began killing men. women and children
iudiscriminately. The constabulary of the
province promptly took the field against
them and were rapidly reinforced by con-
stabulary and scouts from other provinces.
As a result of the operations against these
natives. they were soon broken up into
small bands and are being pursued and
killed or captured. Careful inquiry has
been made to ascertain if possible whether
there was any special motives for this
outbreak.
Cause of the Revolt
"Some of the captured members of The
band. upon being questioned, state that the
immediate cause was that certain of their
countrymen. who were prominent in the
irsurrection and who have been employed
by mercantile houses as agents for the
purchase of hemp. had oppressed them
by paying them only a nominal price for
their hemp. thereafter turning 1t into their
principals at much larger price. There
Is no special significance in this incident
except in so far as 1t illustrates the low
intelligence and semi-barbarous condition
of many of the inhabitants of the noun
tafns of Samar and of some of the other
islands of the archipelago.
THE Spaniards impressed themselves lass
perhaps upon the people of Samar than
upon the inhabitants of the other islands,
and except Mindanao. the home of the
Moros. there is therefore more combusti-
BILE material there than in the other ISL
ands. Doubtless many of the inha bitants
of these mountain regions who are COM
pletely Isolated from the outside world
have never seen a white man. 1t may
be well also to mention that the civilized
Iflipinos are in great terror of them and
eagerly cooperate, so far as their fears will
permit. with the constabulary and scouts
in their elimination"