Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1913-09-24
.CHARGESOFS SLAVERY
BACKED BY REPORT
Auditor of Philippines Tells of
Traffic.
SENDS DATA TO CONGRESS
Young Girls Are Sold by Parents to
Chinese for WiVes-Prices Range
From $50 to $10O-OId
People Held.

Washington, Sept. 22.-Secretary
Garrison had before him a Philippine
slavery report by w H. Phipps, audi
tor for the islands, practically backing
up the startling charges of Dean WOr-
cester. 1t cites details of many cases
of boys and girls sold into slavery at
prices ranging from $50 to 800, and
that heads Of savage families sell their
daughters and regard the practice as
right.
Il have no hesitancy in saying that
/ think the charges of Secretary Wor-
cester, that slavery exists in the Phil
ippines, are sustained" says Mr..
Phipps.
The Phipps report is based upon in
vestigations conducted under the di-
rection Of the Philippine auditor by
district auditors. 1t was accompanied
by list of names of 81 persons held
as slaves, some being held outright
and some under the so-called debt"
system.
Held Many Years for Debts.
The fallacy of the debt system is
shown by the fact that some of the
slaves SO held are more than sixty years
old and have been held by their pres
ent owners since birth.
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 it is 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 to him in absolute sub
jugation and they perform duties and
labor for him without compensation
further than scanty clothing and in
many instances Indifferent food"
Basis of Report Kept Secret.
All of the district auditors who as
sisted Mr.. Phipps were obliged to
promise their informants that the
source of information would not be
made public. The names of the Off
Gals who helped in the preparation Of
the report also are withheld
One investigator made this report:
My observation has been that the
largest percentage of real slavery ex-
lists in those provinces inhabited by
hill tribes or sO-called nOn-Christians
I myself have known of several in
stances where children have been pur-
chased from the hill tribes, and be-
lieve that house to house canvass
of the servants of the well to do class
of Filipinos and a proper inquiry into
their status will show that a large
number of them are actually owned,
having been acquired by purchase.
Some of these are old men and
women, who have been the property
OF some family since childhood
Finds Traffic in Girls.
There is considerable traffic in
girls. I personally have had num-
Der Of offers of this kind and it is a
generally known fact that a large per-
centage of the Chinese who have Fill !
pino wives actually bought them at
stipulated price. "A recent instance in
which I was offered boys and girls for
the small amount of 20 pesos, 80 pesos
and ID pesos was in August of last
year at Cebu
''Peonage exists in all parts of the |
islands and in many instances amounts |
to slavery"
Another district auditor said he was
reliably informer every Negrito serv-
ant in his district was originally en-
shaved.
They are generally bought" wrote
this investigator, when quite young
and kept as slaves until they became
Old enough to shift for themselves"
The report said the commonest ex-
PLANTATION of the presence of the al
legged slaves in families is that the
parents died and the family adopted
the orphan children.