The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-02-02
Peaceful
STATUS 0F
ISLANDS
Report of Philippine commis-
sion Shows Orderly
Conditions,
PROVINCE OF 'cAv1rE
The Theatre for Lawless Element
General Summary of
Interest.

Interest.
The annual report of the Philippine
commission for 1904-5, together with
the, separate reports to the commits
sion of the governor-general of the
islands and of the heads of the four
executive departments, has just been
published by the War Department.
Conditions Az to Peace and Order.
The governor-general. In his report
With the exception Of the provinces
Of Cavite. Batangas, and Saar, peace
and order have generally prevailed
these provinces the Instances Of law
lessness have been few and insignffi-
cant. Cattle stealing, which was COM
most entirely ceased. and this, together
with the sense of security which has
pursuit of these evil doers, has 5rinci.
ttivation mentioned above. The prov
have been much AFFLICTED during the
year yea by organized ladrone bands, which
ror ror,zed and time past have ter
tervals. The. effect Of their depreda-
tIoa. tlons resulted in the abandonment BY
est and best agricultural lands, ana
the moving into the towns Of the farm
my class, Wnere TO some extent at least
pol1ce protection was afforded them.
The wild and semibarbarous hill
men of Samar, fired by the fanatical
teachings of an old Filipino who called
himself Pope" Bulan, who supplied
the soldiers with charms called "an-
ting-anting," which they were told rem
dered them invulnerable to bullets.
banded together under the direction Of
several shrewd and Inscriptions lead
ers, some of whom had been outlaws
from Spanish times, and began series
of attacks upon the isolated detach-
ments of constabulary and the peace
full and inoffensive people who did not
want to join them, in which they COM
mitted many cruelties and barbara
ties.
The governor-general and two mem
bers of the Philippine commission
made personal visit to the island OF
Samar and held number of hearings
with the people and officials, from
which it appeared that the discomfort
of the people was largely If not wholly
caused by the fact that the local ON
cials of the coast towns were acting
as the agents of the large export
houses in Manila for the purchase Of
nemp. the principal product of the
island, and that in many cases they
had not dealt fairly with the poor,
ignorant people who inhabited the
more remote barrios and the hill coun-
try, as they took their hemp at mere
ly nominal valuation and very much
below the market value and turned It
IN 10 the export houses at the market
price, and when the producer protest.
ed against this imposition he was ar
CNy1C fvxr
thus both despoiled and punished.
With the sense of injustice and wron1
ranking In the breasts of these igno-
rant and credulous people their feel
ing of discomfort was readily famed
into a flame by few agitators, who
told the inhabitants of the interior
that the government was planning to
tax them rs pesos apiece as poll tax
and 30 pesos for land tax. The lead
ers took on religious rather than poll
tical names, and the disturbance had
no political significance whatever.
1t seemed both polite and just that
the causes which led to the outbreak
should be eradicated, which neces-
sarily involved total change of ad-
ministration, both provincial and mu-
nicipal. In order to prevent a re-
crudescence of these outbreaks It was
necessary to get more closely in touch
with these remote hill people, many
of whom had never before seen white
man, and in order to accomplish this
the new governor, who speaks the na-
tive dialect, has been industriously oc-
cupied In visiting and reorganizing va
rtous municipalities, establishing
schools, and getting in touch with the
people, and the good work done by him
Is already very apparent as many of
the pulahanes" have voluntarily sur
rendered, bringing in their guns, a
Few OF which were captured by sudden
attacks on outlying detachments of the
constabulary at the beginning of the
disturbance, and it now looks as
though the worst is over in Samar. II
is not doubted that when schools are
established among them and they be-
come more enlightened and are made
to appreciate the benefits and bless
ings of decent and orderly living. they
will become law-abiding and prosnar-
Gus.
The province of Cayite, known -
the mother of ladrones," has again
been the theater for the operations Of
TINS class OF people, generally recruit
ed from the idle and vicious classes.
VINO nave preyed upon the peaceahlor
ana lnonenstve people. Their leaders.
mostly OF whom had criminal records
during the Spanish regime, styled
themselves by such names a. .Dao-
tator of the Filipino Republic. = ''IIiss-
tenant-General of the Army OF Iibefa-
ton, and. other. corresponding hixh.
sounding titles, and issued frequent
manifestos while spending most az
their time dodging the police.