Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1905-05-20

SuS was " eeNuIt sthAln-
ties of population and a general knowl-
edge of social conditions as basis
for the establishment Of Philippine
Legislature. The law directs that this
Legislature shall convene two years
after the publication of the reports of
the census.
The Legislature is to consist of two
houses - the Philippine Commission
and the Philippine Assembly. The
census enumeration was made in the
Spanish language, and the schedules
have resulted in statistics Of the civil
lied population, wild peoples, agrlcul-
ture, manufactures, schools, railroads,
fishing, mining, telegraphs, commerce,
transportation, insurance and bank
ing. The work and its results are de-
scribed as follows in general sum
mary given out by the Census Bureau
recently:
The total population of the archi-
pelago as returned from $40 indepen-
dent islands is 1885, APO. OF this num-
Der almost seven mlInons are nUre VI
less civilized. The wild tribes form
about nine per cent. of the entire pop
ulatlon. The civilized tribes are prac-
tically all adherents Of the Catholic
| Church. The MorOs are Mohamme-
dams and the other wild peoples have
no recognized religious beliefs.
The total population, according to
| the most reliable authorities, is a lit
tie more than four times as great as 1t
was 100 years ago. During the same
period that of the United States mul-
tiplied almost fifteen times. The eX-
cess of birth rate over death rate III
the Philippines has been large, in spite
of sudden and great losses as result
of epidemics Of various diseases.
The density of population in the Phil
ippines is siXty-seven per square mile.
In continental United States it is
| twentysix per square mile. The in
habitants are found on or near the
coast, except in the island Of Luzon,
where about half of the people live in
the two rich valleys in the interior.
Only one seventh of the civilized popu-
lation live inland, but the wild peo-
pies are confined almost entirely to
the interior.
Inspection of statistics of nativity
show that over ninety-nine per cent.
of the civilized population of the Phil
ippines were born in the archipelago.
The foreigners number about 10000,
of whom nearly three>fourths are Chin
| csc.
In the Philippine census literacy was
defined as ability to read and write in
any language, such as English, Span
ish, or a Malay dialect. The reading
of Spanish was discouraged from the
earliest times by the friars, who felt
that it would result in diminution
of their authority. Therefore Il ma
jority of those reported as literate car
read and write only in their native
language. More than half of the pOpu-
lation can neither read nor write III
any language, and of the 44,5 per cent
able to read less than one-half can
write, while the number to both read
and write constitutes only one-fifth of
+La-iA1lT.,al~ 4i..- Loo S,k--+nr- a''<s1'f
age Only 1,5 per cent. have received
a superior education.
A majority of the FilipinoS farm
small tracts of land, and those living
near the coast alternate this occupa-
ton with fishing. The women divide
their time between. duties of house
keeping and the weaving Of hats mats
and cloths, and are, therefore, included
among those engaged in gainful occu-
pations. This fact accounts for the
excessive proportion of wage earners,
who form no less than 43.5 per cent
of the civilized population. The num-
Der of female wage earners in the
Philippines is proportionately double
that of the United States and three
times that of Porto Rico and Cuba.
Sixty per cent. of the population Of
the city of Manila are employed in
gainful occupations. This rather re-
markable proportion appears to be due
to the fact that the foreign element
is very large and the proportion Of
young children small.
Although the study of English has
met with some opposition, this is di-
minishing Eleven per cent. of the
pupils throughout the archipelago are
reported as understanding the Ian
guage, and this may be regarded as
very satisfactory progress for the
short space of two years. In Manila
there are twenty-one night schools
with an enrolment Of more than A.
600 adults who are engaged in acquir-
ing the English language. During the
fiscal year ending June 80, 1903, about
$1500,000 were expended for educN-
tlOnal purposes.
Isolated farmhouses are unknown III
the Philippines, the inhabitants living
in communities and cutivating small
tracts in the vicinity of their homes
Consequently the average size of the
Philippine farm is very small, being
but SO acres, or one-seventeenth the
size of the average American farm.
| The tracts of land returned us farms
number S15,453, or 45.9 per cent. Of
| their area under cultivation; 1876 per
cent. of this area is forest lands. or
the total area of the islands, 9.5 per
cent. is agricultural.
The total value of domestic animals
and poultry in the islands exceeded
100000 pesos OF this amount the
value of carabao represented sixty
eight per cent. and that of horses ten
per cent. Swine, the most numerous
of all domestic animals, are found in
every province and island of the arch
| ipelago.
The production of sugar. although
really an agricultural industry, has
been included under manufactures.
The number of establishments whose
products amounted in value to at least
1000 pesos each was 1915, and the to-
tai value of the product was 6,003,00G
pesos. There were in addition many
hundred small sugar mills that pro-
duced low grade sugar and were too
primitive and unimportant to be in