The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1913-09-22
CHARGES FULLY PROVED.

Tho report of Mr.. w. II Phipps,
auditor for the Philippine Islands, sup
porting Dean Worcester s charge that
slavery exists in the Philippines, if n
conclusive document. 1t gives many
details and cases Of boys and girls
that were sold into slavery at from f60
to 800 gold.
Auditor Phipps quotes reports made
to him by his district auditors, and
these reports show that slavery and
peouage are general in the Philip
pines. A list Of sixly-scvcn persons
held outright, and some under the So
called "debt systcm,'' under which
victims moro than go years Of age are
and have been held by their present
| owners since birth. "Thc proof is
positive says Mr. Pbipps. His dis.
trict auditors report it to be almost
universal that "slavery in some form
existed to his personal knowledge - In
a number Of cases it is form Of peon
age, this being the most extensive
form practiced. In many cases, how
ever, the barter and sale Of human
beings is direct and positive; the
buyer "holds such persons so sold to
him In absolute subiugation, and the
persons so sold to him perform duties
and labor for him without compensa-
tiou further than scanty clothing and
in many cases indifferent food
1t appears that the different forms
Of slavery are carefully concealed The
auditors who made tho Investigations
were obliged TO promise their inform
ers that the source of information
would not be made public. The names
Of the officials who furnished the in
| formation are also withheld.
One investigator states that 'there
is considerable traffic in girls. per
| sonally have had number Of offers
Of this kind, and it is generally
| known fact that a large percentage of
the Chinese who have Filipino wives
| actually bought them at stipulated
| price, And he continues, with the
more direct statement: A recent in
stance in which 1 was offered boys
and girls for the small amount of 20
pesos, 30 pesos and 40 pesos was in
August of last year at Cebu. Peonage
exists in all parts of the islands, and
in many instances amounts to
slavery"
With regard to this traffic, the in
vestigator wrote that the Negrto
servants in his district are generally
bought "when quite young, and kept
| as slaves until they become old enough
to shift for Themselves he says fur
ther that he has himself "known of
several instances where children have
been purchased from the hill tribes,
and believes that house-to-house can
class Of Filipinos and q proper in
quiry into their status will show that
large number of them are actually
owned, having been acquired by pur.
chase, Some Of these are old men and
women who have been the property of
some family since childhood
The most common method of dis
guising the traffic and the holding of
slaves is "that the parents died and
the family adopted the orphan chill
dren subterfuge we'll calculated to
keep the facts of the case from the
knowledge Of the American officials
or of any one not thoroughly familiar
with the customs and the facts
1t will be remembered that when
Dean Worcester made his charges of
the existence of slavery in the Philip
pines there was hot denial from Man
uel I, Quezon aud his Philippine clique
in Washington. Quezon is a Delegate
from the Philippines to the Congress
of the United States sitting in the
lower house, but having no vote. He
is the head of the clique which began
and is keeping up a constant agitation
for the independence Of the Philip
pines. He makes all sorts of protesta-
tions Of good faith. of love of liberty,
and of altruistic consideration for the
good Of the Philippine people But
the value of his protestatlons can be
fairly measured by his attitude as to
this matter. He knew, Of course, that
what Dean Worcester said was true.
islands: and yet, because he thought
Worcester might not be able to prove
his case, he gave out fierce denial
and assault upon Dean Worcester for
making the charge.
Quezon is now completely over,
whelmed and so discrcditcd that it
will be impossible for him to do any
effective work in his fraudulent cam
paign for the independence Of the
Philippines. There is no doubt but
that the Quezon clique and all Of his
hackers in the Philippines arc work.
simply for the supremacy of their own
particular class in the islands. They !
would reduce to slavery all Of the !
weaker tribes, and would deprive all |
except their own class of any poItica! !
rights or advantages. They would I
abolish the schools established under