The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-07-31

d
the Saracens, and the religion of Mo-
manned. They were fierce, agrees
siye and war-like, and practically no
attempt was made to restrain them
for more than two hundred years.
During this time, instead of knitting
into a strong Malay colony, they
broke into tribes. thus enabling the
Spaniards to get hold upon them,
and save them from the wrath of
other nations whose commerce was
being greatly interfered with in
these waters.
For many years prior to American
occupation and even after the sea
power of the Moro had been de-
stroyed by the Introduction of steam
war vessels into these waters, the
Moros made foraging expeditions in
to the northern islands for plumber
and slaves, until the name Moro was
and still is enough to drive the tim
i'd Filipino inhabitants from their
homes along the coast into the
mountain ranges
On land, the Moros still had the
Spaniard bluffed at the time of the
American occupation. So anxious
was the Don for peace. that no pre-
tense at interference with the in
ternal affairs of the Moro was ever
made. Slavery and every form of
crime was running riot here when
the Americans assumed responsible
ity for the future good behavior of
the Moro population.
Sawyer, the historian, writing of
Mindanao during the year 1899, said
1.-The present condition of the ISL
and is most lamentable. Nothing
could be more dreadful: robbery;
outrage and murder are rampant.
Every evil passion is let loose. and
the labor of years has been lost. In
the words of one who knows the
country we'll, Mindanao has become
seething hell and is in condition
more dreadful than ever before In
historic times"
In the Cotabato valley, under the
leadership of Dattos Ali and Dim
bangan, the Moros sacked the town
of Cotabato, killing many of the
principal inhabitants, stripping all
the Christian women naked and
marching them through the streets,
and, after selecting those whom they
wanted, distributed the remainder
among their followers.
Under the Bates treaty. but slight
improvement. in the conduct of the
Moros was observed, While slavery
as an institution was prohibited on
paper, no interference with it was
undertaken until the formation of
civil government in the Moro. prov
ince under the goyernorship Of Ma
jor General Leonard Wood. The pol
icy of non-interference in the domes-
tic affairs of the Moros by former
commanders, and Governor
Woods policy of inforcing the laws
he found here, caused many fights
with the war-like Moros, culminat-
ing in the famous battle of Mount |
Dajo, where some one thousand Mo-
fanatics met their death |
at the hands of the American sol
diery. ~
While this fight has by no means
bluffed the Moro, the cutlery from
America has bluffed the government,
with the result tina. conditions are
fast settling back into their former
lawless state.
The Incorporate criticism of the
American press created some alarm
here lest it might result in holding
back all enforcement of law calculat-
ed to bring about further trouble
with the Moros. The local paper
here, voicing this dread, in its is
sue of April 2S, 1906, had the fol-
lowing to say:
I'VE do not believe that the AM
erican people are so wrought up
over the Mount Dalo affair as ap-
pears on the surface. Way down
deep in the hearts of an overwhelm-
ing majority of our people there is
an abiding faith that our soldiers
are incapable of atrociOus acts. The
worst feature of the criticism in