Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-07-18

victims OF homes and employment and q n
q. SERIOUS asa,s question how the matter should
Not long ago two middle-ased Filipduot
appeaied 10 Governor Dinwiddle Of tnS
province OF Lepanto for protection agaipS
maltreated them During tho inquiry u
was developed that both of them, and q
large number OF other natives on the sana&
piantation. were poems. whose fathers and
grandfathers like themselves had worked
for generations without wages, to pay Cd
an alleged debt they knew nothing about.
ana were In practical slavery. The g6ys
ernor informed them. and told them to ID
form their fellow laborers that they wSr{
entirely free; that they could pay their
debts In their own way. and were not re-
sponsible for those Of their ancestors that
their employer was not entitled to they
LABOR without adequate compensation and
tnat the government would protect them In
refusing to work without wages To bic
sired to take advantage of his advice and
protection. They were perfectly satisfied
Win their situation. provided their ems
pioyer ala not use personal violence.
NOT Is this an exceptional case Such
cohoitions prevail to a greater or less de-
gree throughout Luzon. and am told that
at at least as one-third of the plantation hands,
by the Spanish aristocracy are literally In
state OF voluntary servitude. receiving
no compensation but food and clothing and
80. 'o'iaiiS little money to celebrate
ieast days And they are perfectly con-
tented They are domesticated like cats
ana dogs, and 1t would be impossible "a
uiiVe many OF them away from the planta-
uon upon which they were born They ara
and fences ~
F1lipinos Attached to Their Homes.
Filipinos never emigrate. They are too
much attached to their homes 1t was with
the greatest difficulty that the exposition
commissioners secured a sufficient number
or workmen to carry out their plans in st.
Louis. When the time came for their de-
parture from Manila the battalions Of
scouts and constabulary sent to st. Louis
showed signs of INSTRUMENTATION. They
could not endure the thought OF leaving
their homes even for a few months, and
with all the allurements of the exposition
and a journey through the United States
In prospect their commanders had to catch
them by surprise and march them aboard
the ship before they realized that they were
going.
John Foreman in his book on the Philip
pines which | have already quoted as an
authority, refers to peonage follows:
Although slavery was prohibited by law
as far back AS the reign of Philip III Il
nevertheless exists in an occult form among
the natives. Rarely, If ever, do its victims
appeal to the law for redress; firstly. be-
cause Of their ignorance: and. secondly. be.
cause the untutored class have an innate
horror OF resisting established customs.
Under the pretext of guaranteeing "A loan.
parents readily sell their children into bond.
age The child Is handed over to work uns
til the loan Is repaid, but the day OF
restitution never arrives. neither does the
liberty of the youthful victim. Among them.
selves it was a law, and II still is prac.
ticed custom, for the debts Of parents to
pass on to their children. and. l have
said before, debts are never repudiated By
them"
Americans who have been through the
interior prospecting tell me that the prices
asked for plantations vary considerably
with the number Of poems that belong on
the land. 1t is always understood that they
go with the place and belong to the pur.
chaser. A transfer is legally accomplished
by the seller making over to the buyer ell
obligations of whatever sort that may be
due to him from such and such persons
named who are living upon his plantation.
Theoretically, each peon is working out q
debt contracted by his ancestors. neither
he nor his employer having the slightest
idea how much 1t was what II was for;
but the obligation is exacted by one and
accepted by the other, as II has been on
each side by their fathers and grandfather
before them.
Under these circumstances you will an.
preciate how difficult Ii will be for the gov.
eminent to interfere between master and
peon. The latter and his family are SO ac-
customed to the lives they are living and
the relations they sustain that they do not
wish to be disturbed. They have plenty to
eat and to wear; they occupy the cabins in
which their ancestors were born and died:
they perform their daily tasks as they were
performed by their fathers and mothers be-
fore them. and, while the younger members
of the family drift away from the planta.
tons and seek other employment in tho
neighborhood or in the Cities there IL
always cabin full OF poems left to per-
form the labor expected of them and thoso
who have gone forever regard that cabin
as their home and the owner of the soil
upon which 1t stands as their master.