Milford chronicle., 1913-09-26
An Inquiry Shows the Custom
is General
GIRLS SOLD BY PARENTS
Children Bring From $50 to s1oo
Apiece In Market and Peonaee Is
Common,

That slavery in its most revolving
forms-including the sale Of little girls
by their parents-exists in the Philip
pine Islands is amply proved by an
official report received by the bureau
OF insular affairs from W. NJ. Phipps,
auditor for the civil government OF
the Philippine Islands
Mr.. Phipps' report said in part:
Il have no hesitancy in saying that
l think that the charges that slavery
exists in the Philippine Islands are
sustained"
The report, which was called forth
by the recent charges made by Dean
Worcester, secretary of the Philippine
commission, and filed with the war
department several days ago, is based
upon Investigations conducted under
the direction of the Philippine auditor
by district auditors.
It was accompanied by list OF
names of sixty-seven persons held as
slaves, some being held outright and
some under the so-called debt" sys-
TEN, the fallacy of which is SHOWN by
the fact that some Of the slaves so
held are more than sixty years old and
have been held by their present own
ers since birth.
Mr.. Phipps, like Dean Worcester,
says the market price for boys and
girls is from $40 to 500, and adds that
heads of families sometimes sell their
daughters into slavery, and regard the
practice as one OF their rights. The
current prices for slaves are given as
follows Children, three years old,
$40; children fourteen years and over,
$50; adults, s1O0.
"The almost universal report made
to me by each person who has been
asked to investigate wrote Mr.
Phipps, was that slavery in some
form existed to his personal knowl-
edge. with a number il is a form OF
peonage, which is the most extensive
form of slavery practiced here; with
many others, it will be noted, it is the
barter and sale of human beings by
one person to another. who holds such
person so sold 20 him in absolute sub
jugation, and they perform duties and
labor for him without compensation
further than scanty clio hing, and in
many instances Indifferent food"
All of the district auditors, who as
sisted Mr.. Phipps, were obliged toI
promise their informants that the
source of their information would NOT
be made public. The names of the Of
ficials who helped in the preparation
OF the report also are withheld.
One investigator made this report
There is a considerable traffic in
girls. 1 personally have had num-
Der of offers of this kind, and it is a
generally known fact that large per
centage of the Chinese who have Fill
pino wives actually bought them at a
stipulated price. A recent instance in
which l was offered boys and girls for
the small amount of 20 pesos, 80 pesos |
and 40 pesos (S1O, SIS and S20), was
in August of last year at Cebu. Peon
age exists in all parts of the islands
and in many instances amounts to
slavery"
The report is now before Secretary |
of War Garrison, who is considering |
the conditions set forth and the rem
edy to be applied. Drastic action will
be asked by Senator Borah, whose
resolution demanding information
from the war department was respon-
sible for the revelations contained in
the report Of Dean Worcester.