The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-10-11

should be footed. These fanatics went Into battle believing they were invulnerable to American bullets! In order to account TOT the vast numbers who fell in these on-siaughts they invented fiction to the effect that their fallen braves were only feigning death and that in short while they would again appear in the nesh as valiant soldiers, armed from head to foot. in order thereby the bet ter to fight to extermination "the for- eign devils!" With so.o00 men, rank held by authority of the United states Congress, the insurrection was crush ed and ended within a period of two years, but not until the knightly Law ton was killed at San Mateo and many brave lad had gone to an untimeiy grave; not until the only railroad In Luzon had been destroyed. numerous churches, temples. monasterfes, con vents. palaces, school houses and mu- nicipal ediflces had been burned; and not until hundreds of the best towns, like Iloilo and Albay, in several prov inces had been wiped out of existence by barbarian bands. This havoc was wrought under the insane idea that they were doing the sensible thing to repel invasion, as the Russians did at Moscow They never thought of the differing climatic conditions. The Rus sians burnt houses in the dead of win ter and in snow storms. to freeze out Napoleon and his conquering army. and accomplished the end aimed at The Filipinos having applied the torch ev- anywhere in order to drive out the Americans, were astonished to find that they could sleep in tents or on the ground in the open air without shelter under tropical skies. With fire leading their army, famine and deso- lation followed in their train. This beautiful country was in sack-cloth and ashes. With their own hands they had struck the blow. Theso were the difficulties which confronted and beset Governor General Taft and his cola borers and associates when they came here to establish a civil government five years ago. They found no wharves, telegraph lines, nor commerce. Trade was paralyzed, industry was at standstill, fields had gone out of cul- tivation and sanitary conditions were atrocious. Pestilence stalked abroad in the land; smallpox, Asiatic cholera and bubonic plague ravaged town and village, hillside and valley alike, and did not pause until they had swept off a half million inhabitants. The terri ble disease called 'rinderpest' afflicted the draft animals, almost annihiiating all the horses. mules, oxen. bulls and carabaos (water buffaloes) in drought-cursed land, while swarms of locusts ate up the growing crops. Egypt in the days of the Pharaohs was never worse stricken.
 This picture Is not overdrawn. But wondrous change has come over the land and over the hopes and aspira- tions of the people! The Americans, having ended the insurrection, proceed ed at once to bring about peace and order. to enforce the law and let Jus tice hold an evenly balanced scale. They were quick to give local self gov- ernment to the municipalities, where the people now elect their own town presidents and councilmen, and man. age their own affairs in their own way. under the supervision, of course. of the central insular government at Manila. Local governments are also in operation In each province, composed of two Americans and one native; but the native Is the Governor, elected to office by the sufrrages of the people, This Is what was originally known as the administration of the pueblo, or township. which embraced many square miles of country and contained numerous "barrios," and afterwards because of It's potentiality was changed to province. These provincial capitals are admirably located, and in the cen- ter of each stands, without exception. not only a great church and a convent of missionary friars, but the market place and trading shops of Chinese as well as the elegant homes of the pros- porous Filipinos.
 The Central Insular Government at Manila has both legislative and execu- tive functions. It consists of eight members appointed by the President of the United States: five of whom are Americans and three Filipinos.
 The United States troops in all the islands, both officers and men, number at this time only f3,000, and seem am- ply able to preserve the public veal.
 The Insular Government before men tioned Is non partisan. With Gen. Luke Wright, a Southern Democrat at the head. they have provided 5000 schools and imported over 1000 Ameri- can teachers who are so industrlousIy and efficiently teaching the English language tha tafter six years of occu- patton 1t Is discovered that there are now more persons here speaking our tongue than ever spoke Spanish at any given time in the history of the archi- pelago. In the higher schools are taught all the branches of nautical, mathematical, mechanical, telegraphi- cal. medical and scientac knowledge generally. In addition to this good work. the constituted authorities at Manila have codified the laws, done away with compulsory labor cleaned up all the cities, stamped out disease exterminated cholera and put in f1rst-class quarantine system. They have introduced by inoculation a meth cd of protection against the rinderpest plague, which few years ago killed so per cent of the draft animals throughout the islands; and by means of compulsory vaccination they have enormously decreased the ravages of smallpox. This beneficent result cost the Insular Government $65O,000 They have also put into effect a customs sys- tenn which. with the revenue laws now in force, provides a sufficient fund for the operation of the whole machinery of civil government. Taxes have been capitalized. The burden has been shift ed from the poor man and distributed with something like equality amongst the classes. Under a lower rate than the Spaniards fixed they gather yearly more than double the taxes. say 80 ,O00,- 900 pesos, as against 13,000,000 pesos formerly collected by the Crown of ficials. They have set in motion the wheels of civil government in every province, which includes the establish ment of all necessary tribunals where justice-'the one weight and the one measure"-is dispensed. without let. or hindrance, without delay, barter or fla great writ of liberty wrested by the Barons of England from King John at the battle of Runnymede, Is within the easy reach of every citizen.
 One of the great drawbacks to com merce, both inter-island and foreign has been the lack of dock facilities. Tho Insular GOvernment has hean coD,