The San Francisco call., 1904-06-21
THE PHILIPPINES CENSUS.

Philippines having been completed by the United
States Government, the results of the first Ameri-
can for the islands, that of 9o3 embodied in
part pamphlet that has just been received from the
Federal Department of Commerce and Labor. The re-
that and the entire Pacific Coast
will have with the Philippines supply obvious reasons
why official conclusions concerning the islanders should
have local interest The taken March ?,
1908 There in the Philippines archipelago 314I ISL
ands and sets that extend from latitude degrees 40
minutes degrees minutes north and from east
longitude no degrees 40 minutes I26 degrees 81
minutes
Within an area of 832o68 square miles of land and
there dwell 7,635,226 human beings, OF whom
6oS726 cassed by the takers civilized,
partly so. and 647.74o wild. The aborignes OF the
Philippines supposed to be the Negritos and OF
these $4,000 remain They are found in many but not
all the provinces. They live in primitive state They
are black. Their hair is wooIly and bushy Their
remarkably prehensle and they toes almost
we'll they their fingers. They clothing
except gee string. They live such food as they
find, have fixed habtations occupations wander
about the forests and have little with other
pie except when trading The women. is usual with
uncivilized peoples, do all the work The skill
ful in the OF the bow. in throwing stones and in
making FIRE. which they do by rubbing together
pieces dry bamboo These facts, recounted by the
officers may be generally in the public mind, but,
as the Negritos are considered the progenitors OF
may well be recalled for the proper understanding
OF several interesting questions.
How the civilized partly civilized and the wild
Philippine islanders distributed among the prov
nces all made clear by statistical tables that sup
Piled abundance in the report 1t is of less
terest to general reader find about that than
it is learn of general characteristics from
official of the people whose interests
bound up with those of the United States certain
extent
The civilized Fipnos classified by the in
eight trbes-the Bico, Cagayan, Iocano, Pampangan,
Pangasnan, Tagalog, Visayan and Zambalan Since the
discovery of the Philippines by Magellan in 1921 the
population has multiplied fifteen times. While the peo
pie of Mindanao largely head hunters they
classed by the savages, because they raise
maize, mountain rice, and fine quality of hemp. The
Moros live in villages. generally along the seashore
by lake. They famous builders and also
manufacture their and some cannon. large
amount of CLOTH gather considerable quantities of guta
percha annually and those living in the Suu group
are expert pearl divers. They have political organi-
cations, but obey datto petty chieftain
In the report Taft, Governor when the census was
taken, is quoted as saying: Contrast the Fipinos
with other Malays and the oriental peoples and ask
you to name people offering opportunities for
development along the lines which American ideals re-
duire than the people of these islands, Director San
ger adds his own personal opinion which that "the
Fipinos are generally subordinate to lawful authority
that under competent othcers they make excellent SOL
diers and in the of time will make good
The ephemeral tribe distinctions that now exist will
gradually disappear and the Filipinos will become
numerous and homogeneous race exceeding in intel-
gence and capacity any other people of the tropics
No attempt is made in the pamphlet referring to the
population give statistics regarding Philippine indus
tries Facts of that will be published in detail by
the Census Bureau 1t of interest to learn that
in general outline of physical conditions the Census
Bureau estimates at this time that there about H.
100000 of private lands and 6oooooo acres of pub
lie lands OF the latter 100000 more acres are
forest leaving about 100000 acres available for aer
culture and capable of producing all kinds of tropical
fruits and vegetables and many of those usual in the
temperate The forest lands are estimated to be
,rorth Go ooo 600 600