Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-10-13
REPORTS REVEAL
PHILIPPIlE
Save SYSTEM
investigation Substantiates the
Charge Made Recently by
Secretary Worcester =
CASES 0E lFEL 0NG = :.
SERFDoM ARE COMMON
Filipino Girls Sold. to Chinese
as Wives Other Persons
Held for Debt
IBy Latest NALL

WASHINGTON. = Secretary Gar
rison had before him today Philip
pine slavery report by w. H. Phipps,
auditor for the islands, practically
backing up the startling charges of
Dean Worcester. ~ D. gs#
1T cites details of many cases Of
boys and girls sold into. slavery at
prices ranging from $50 to 500 and
says that heads of savage families
sell their daughters and regard the
practice as q right = - s14sz1s.s ss.$E
81 have no hesitancy in saying that
/ think the Scharges of Secretary
Worcester that slavery exists in the
Philippines are sustained" says Mr..
Phipps. L.
Some Held forsDebt.
The Philippines report is based on
investigation conducted under the
direction of the Philippine auditor by
district auditors. It was accompanied
by a list of 81 persons held as slaves.
some being held outright and some
under the so-called debt SYSTEM the
fallacy of which. is shown by the
fact that some Of the slaves SO held
are more than so years of age and
have been held by their present own
ers since birth. 3
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 Sexisted to his personal knowI-
edge. With a numbersit is form Of
peonage, which is the most extensive
form of slavery practiced here; with
many others; II will be noted, it as
the, barter and sale of human beings
by one person to another, who holds
such person sold to him in absolute
subjugation and they perform duties
and labor for him without compensa.
ton further than scanty clothing and
in many cases Indifferent food"
Slaves Since Childhood. r.~s
ALI 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 officials
who helped in the preparation of the.
report are also withheld.
One observation has been that the
largest percentage of real slavery ex-
lists in those provinces adjacent to or
in part Inhabited by bill tribes or So.
called nome Christians. / myself have
known Of several instances where.
children have been purchased from
the hill tribes and believe that a
house to house canvass of the sery-
ants of the sWell-to-do class of Fiji
pinos, and proper inquiry into their
status, will show that a large number
of them are actually owned, having
been the property of some families
since childhood. TX. Z !
Girls Sold as Wives. ,.~-2=i
There is a considerable traffic in
girls. I personally had a number of
offers of this kind and it is a gen.
orally known fact that, large per-
centage of the Chinese. who have Fill
pino wives actually bought them at !,
stipulated pri0e.t A recent instance, in
which was Offered boys and girls for
the small amount of 20 pesos, 80 Pc
SOS and 40 pesos, was in August of
last year at Gebu. Peonage exists in
all parts of the islands and in many
instances amounts to slavery"