The Richmond palladium. (Richmond, Ind.) 1906-1907, 1906-07-08

" of the flag and since forgotten
~ by the people and neglected
by the government of America. Guam
comes into public view only In the
deplorable role OF intermittent victim of
natural calamities. In 1900, when torn by
a hurricane, and two years later. when
shaken by an earthquake. this despised
stepchUd of the United States attracted
momentary notice. Again, within the past
few weeks newspapers have briefly re-
corded q typhoon and tidal wave that de-
vastated the island In the early part OF last
November. The story Of this latest dis
aster, carried by a tramp schooner, only
reached us three months after the event.
We did nothing for Guam in 1900, nor
In 1902. We shall probably do nothing
on the present occasion. Not that we
are ungenerous or callous to the cry of
our needy. The Philippines and Porto
Rico have been benehciaries Of our bounty
under less distressing circumstances, but
30 great is The pressure OF larger affairs
on our attention that we can spare no
thought for a mere speck in the Pacinc.
hardly 200 square miles In extent and
with fewer than 1000 Inhabitants. The
Guamese are the poorest Of all our people
md the most helpless. They have no re-
BcEVc oue hchchtihB
ture to stand between them and starvation
when the harvest of a year is swept away.
Many a time In their history have the
entire population been forced to subsist
upon the unhenlthful cycas nut. Their
condition 10 little, IL at all, better than
It WINS a century ago. and Infinitely worse
than when the Spaniards discovered them.
q race Of splendid physique, to whom dis
ease and vice were strangers
The Malay blood Of the Guamese Is an
Inheritance from the Chamorro mothers.
who were spared the process OF "pacih-
tion'' which exterminated the male abo-
rhymes. Very few foreign women ever
came to the Mariannes, and the Spanish
soldiers. as well as the settlers. rovers OF
the sea from every quarter Of the West
ern Hemisphere, married the female Cha
morros. The Guamese of today bear
names derived from Spanish. English,
Scotch. French and Portuguese ancestors.
They speak the Chamorro language of
their maternal forbears modified by Span
ish Influences.
The sword and the cross were INSOFAR
able instruments of Spanish colonization.
The aborigines who survived the one came
under the egis of the other. Christianity
has long been implanted In Guam. The
islanders are amiable people. shrewd and
intelligent contented, and easily con-
trolled. Like all Malays. they are apt and
eager to learn, but the tendency has re-
ceived little encouragement up to the
present.
Long before the expiration of the Span
ish sovereignty the island had relapsed
into a condition of peaceful lethargy. Life
was less arduous then than now and the
Little was done for the native. but then
little was asked of him. Under Spain
hardly one-nfth Of the expense Of govern
ment was borne by the island. Now
the cost of administration, which is FIVE
times as great rs then. falls entirely upon
the Inhabitants, and % times as much as
formerly must be raised. The annual
revenue of the government is $4,000.
That Is less than 81 per capita, but that
paltry sum is a burden upon the people,
and although each year emphasizes the
crying need for a larger fiscal income, 1t
Is found impossible to increase the taxa
tion. The Guamese are unspeakably poor,
and II they contrive to keep body and
soul together by their own exertions 1t Is
as much as we may reasonably expect OF
them until conditions are materially
changed In the island.
We are under distinct obligations to the
people of this almost least of our terri
torial assets, whose country we acquired
from motives OF self-interest. They well
coined us as a nation whose generosity
and paternal regard for its subjects had
been heralded to the most remote quar-
ters of the earth. They had a right to
the expectation that under American rule
their condition would be at least an i'm
provement over what 1t had been under
Spain. Up to the present this expectation
has not been fulfilled, but, on the con-
trary, in some respects the islanders are
worse of than before. During the Span
ish regime Guam was visited regularly