Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-04

Ia NJ
Ia 81 workmen from the densely
I'D MAAI populated island of Cebu TO
lHa1EAEsAN1kaI 20 over to the thinly popu-
lated island of Panay,
where good wages were promised. They
declined upon the ground that there
might be trouble between them
selves and the residents of Panay. This
is one of many Illustrations of the
separateness of the various peoples In
the Philippines. In one island, or In
one section of an island, there are vast
areas of rich soil with little popula-
tion. In another a dense population
practices intensive agriculture upon
every available acre. One tribe is no
madiC, another has been a stationary
hill people since before the Spanish
conquest. Before there can be Philip
pine nation these various peoples must
| be made into one.
The different tribes with which the
United States has to deal in the Philip
pines range from the most primitive
savages to the nations" which enjoyed
marked degree Of culture when Ma
gelan landed at Butuan, little more
than quarter of a century before
Columbus discovered America. WITH
the exception Of the aboriginal Negrito
dwarf blacks, the Filipinos are all from
Malay stock with the possible eXcep-
tion Of the Indonesans, who are prob
ably of Caucasian origin. Aside from
the purely native stocks there are
Chinese and Spanish mixed bloods, or
Mestizos The Mestizos include many
wealthy and influential Filipinos. There
are also about 10000 Chinese full bloods
i'm the islands. but the Chinese eXclu-
sion law prevents this population from
being recruited by immigration.
The last census gives the Philippines
a total population of 1885, 426. This is
probably conservative, as new villages
and towns are constantly discovered IN
regions inhabited by the unctVilized
tribes. The eight Christian tribes over
whose affairs the insular government
| nresides. number about 1000, ,00O to-
gether with Mestizos, Europeans ana
4 Americans resident in the islands. me
Moros, numbering about 5000 and the
j wild tribes" make up the balance ut
the grand total. These peoples are gov
erned directly from Washington ana
not by the Philippine assembly in CON
junction with the commissioners. The
civilized tribes are practically all Ro-
man Catholics. The Moros are Moham-
medans and the wild tribes are paSans'
At the Louisiana Purchase Exposition
the Philippines 'eXhibit contained sec
tions in which Moros, Igorotes and Ne
Critos were displayed. The "spielers
talked more about the dog eating lgo-
rotes than about the culture or the
| Christian Filipinos. The result was
| that there grew up in the minds OF
many Americans the impression that
very large part of the population OF Ine
islands was composed of SaNages. Tue
comDlaint that the Americans know too
little about the races whose destlnles
they are attempting to mold Is ire
| uuently heard in cultured Fllipino
| circles
Recently the Philippine assembly cut
out an appropriation for the purpose
of maintaining friendly relations with
the wild tribes and putting down head
hunting" The ground taken was that
the world had already heard so much
about head hunting in the Phdippines
that the popular idea existed that this
was the chief industry in the archipei-
ago. The appropriation, like the sllk
| dress of the commercial travellers wife,
was PIT into the bill, but placed Wher@
| il did not attract attention.
The TagalOgs were civilized people
200 wears ago, hut how much longer his
tory does not definitely tell. Ihey We're
writing and staging plays before Ma
gelIan's day AS their rulers were
called rajas and their VocabuIary cor
tanned a fair percentage of words OF
Sanskrit origin, it is probable that the
Hindus who invaded Java about four
teen centuries ago also brought Indian
civilization to the Philippines. At a
much later date Arab priests brought
| Mohammedauism into the southern ISL
ands, AS ar evidence of commercial
advancement, mortgages were executed
and bonds sold ir the islands before
the Spanish invasion, and when the
Spanish took "Maynila." the present
! Capital, there existed a cannon foundry
| which the invaders saw fit to continue
| in operation under the native foreman
.
Before the Spaniards came the more
advanced islands were governed by an
aristocracy that cared little for the
| rights of the common people. with
certain notifications the Spaniards con-
tinued the policy Of making the masses
! bo,vers Of wod and drawers OF water.
| Not until the American occupation was
there any attempt to educate the whole