The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-08
AROUND THE WORLD WITH WILLIAM j. BRYAN;
He TELLS or THE PROGRESS OF THE FILIPINO
Sunday cr Possessions interesting aydh IndW
. ~ deSaG mdne# 81

BY WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN.
Copyright, 1905, by Joseph 3 81, B B3whes
Copyright in Great Brita1n-AHs Rights
49, ReServed.)
a NGAPORE.-Whilea deep interest
in the political problems temPts
me to deal at once with the pony
To be pursued by our government Win
resnect to the Filipinos, | am con-.
strained to proceed logically and discuss.
first the islands and their people: AND
in speaking of the Filipinos, q dlstlnc-
i tion should be made between those VINO
! inhabit the northern islands and are
members of one branch OF the Chrlstlan
] church and those who inhablt the lsland
of Mindanao and the SUN arMeh nEPelas%s
| While a considerable number OF F1lapl,
nos are to be found in Mindanao and
| some in Sulu. the sultans and the dattos
have dominated the country -, Even
/ Spanish authority never extended over
/ the southern islands. and the garrlsons
| maintained over the seaports were
! constantly in fear Of massacre.
Leaving the southern islands Tor the
( present to Luzon. Panay, Negros, Cebu,
4 Samar and the smaller islands which
I make up the Visayan group. These
! islands contain the bulk of, the terri
/ tory. large majority Of the people,
most of the material wealth and prac-
/ tically all of the civilization Of the
Philippines. Luzon, the largest Of the
entire group, reaches a almost sho1 to me me
! degrees long. Like the islands of
! japan, it is mountainous and well wa
4 tered. The other islands of the group
/ are considerably smaller and extend as
( far south as the ninth parallel. They,
/ too, are mountainous, but the valleys
/ are fertile and support a large popula-
j ton. The principal industry is a:gri-
! culture, and the soil produces a variety
Of cereals, fruits and vegetables. > >
!. i. s.t..S..E g..
Rice, as in other oriental countries,
i is the chief article Of food, tho hemp
Is by far the largest export. The
hemp plant looks SO much like, the
| banana that the. traveller can scarcely
distinguish between them. Sugar cane
is also, grown in many parts Of the IS,
lands, and would be cultivated still
raw sugar. Sugar, however, cannot be
raised here with the same profit that 1t
can in Hawaii and Cuba, owing to the
j fact that it. must \ be replanted more
frequently. Tobacco of an excellent
quality is produced on several of the
islands sufficiently to supply, the home
demand (and nearly all Fihpinos use
:tobacco) and leave a. surplus for e1'
port. The cocoanut is staple prod
uct here and Of great value and its cul,
ltivation can be indefinitely extended
iOf all the crops it probably yields the
largest income on the investment, but
as the treesado not begin to- bear until
they are about eight years old, they
are only cultivated in small groves OF
by those siwho can afford to wait for re-
turns. s Copra, the dried meat Of the
of $2,500,000, but systematic effort
ought to very largely increase this ex.
port. !. I. -. :, ..4sG##
The methods Of cultivation and the
implements used are not as modern as
one would expect: The carabou, 81
water buffalo, is the one all-purposs
farm animal. = Carabous are something
like the American OK, but are more
heavily built; they are uniform in color
Ia dark drab-a and have heavy, fiat
horns, which grow back instead Of for
The agricultural situation in the is
lands is at B present most distressing
before labor could restore what tn,
soldiers had destroyed rinderpest at
tackled the carabous and in some place
carried away as many as 90 per cen
of the animals. We visited suga
plantation which had lost more thai
half Of it's carabous during the tw'
weeks preceding. Everywhere on
Isees.felds overgrown with grass which
cannot be cultivated. for lack Of ploy
animals. One can understand some
thing Of the rinderpest calamity whel
1T is remembered that these rpatien
beasts do all the blowing and all tn
hauling in the Philippine islands. w
often saw them ridden, sometimes bear
ling two persons.ts In addition to tn
fTavages Of disease and the ruin wrongh
by arms, the Filipino farmer has suf
fered from the closing Of his market !,
+ j. 80 a..J
When the United States authorit,
was substituted for Spanish rule, til
Filipinos lost the advantage whic,
they had previously had in the SPANS
market, while they were shut out o
1.-THE United States by tariff wall. An
Ito make matters worse, they now bea
the brunt of the Chinese boycott aime
at American goods. Every. speake
who has attempted to voice the sent:
&naents Of the people during; our stay j
1.-THE islands has laid especial emphasi
upon the injustice done to the island
by our tariff laws. This subject wa
Talso brought to the attention of Sacre
IEs1aal : = :. =.