St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1916-09-06
MOROS PROSPEROUS
Are Preserving Order and Protecting
Life Since Withdrawal of the
American Troops.

Manila, Aug. 2O-(Correspondence
of The Associated Press. -Misgivings
felt several years ago when all Ameri-
can troops were withdrawn from
Mindanao and Sulu, home of the
Moros, the only Mohammedans in the
Philippines, have been proved to be
baseless by the subsequent history Of
the new regime in that region. Where
five years ago, fear of the Moro and
his lust for blood made the life of the
foreigner in the Moro country one of
constant worry and apprehension, to-
day there is peace and the beginnings
of a prosperity the like of which
would have seemed a FOOLS dream in
1912.
The withdrawal of American troops
and their substitution by companies of
Filipino constabulary, was begun soon
after the arrival of Governor General
Harrison. The work of conciliating
the Moro was FASTENED by the policies
of Frank Carpenter, former executive
secretary of the Philippine govern
ment, named governor Of Mindanao
and Sulu, soon after Mr.. Harrison's
arrival here. Mr.. Carpenter was the
first civilian governor of the region,
succeed ding General Pershing, the last
The task of Governor Carpenter
and his assistants had been hard
one-a long unhill struggle against
recalcitrant and superstitious people
who have always fought any attempt
to change their methods of life. Out
lawry has always been a factor of the
Mindanao situation and the frequent
bands of outlaws gave the Moros
nucleuses around which they could
rally for insurrection or revolt. But
little by little outlawry has been
stamped out. One by one, or in
patches of two or three, guns and
rifles hidden away in forest homes
and mountain huts, have been turned
in. Here and there school houses
have sprung up, to attract to them
Moro children whose parents, at first
suspicious and unfriendly, have final
ly ended by moving their families to
the settlement where the schools
were located, and giving up the no
madic life which has been a Moro
tradition for centuries and which has
been the worst foe of Moro prosperity.
Sulu archipelago and Jolo island,
for years the only hot-bed of out
lawry in Mindanao, can now claim
to have seen the end of years of out
lawry and discriminating. To the
man who knows the Jolo of five
years ago, to the soldier whose recol-
lection of Jolo is a memory of sleep
less nights and anxious days when
the slightest noise behind his back
meant the possibility of an attack by
a murderous Moro or one made mad
by Mohammedan fanaticism, the
achievement seems increditable. But
the thing has been done and Colonel
Peter E. Traub Of the constabulary
Ga Northumberland in the regular
army, on detached duty with the con-
stabulary) has made the new era of
Sulu peace and order, a matter of
official record in an order congratu-
lating the constabulary of Minanao
and Sulu.
The order follows:
"The District Chief announces to
the District in general orders the
fact that in the province of Sulu
there is not a single known outlaw
at large-all have been either killed,
captured or have surrendered.
when it is realized that this is
the first time in the history of the
Philippine islands that such state
ment could be truthfully made it's
importance becomes apparent. The
whole Sulu Archipelago is in state
of law, order and peaceful control
I'm October, 1914, when the under
signed assumed charge of this dis
trict outlawry was rampant in Sulu
and it was a place Stunned by peace
full travellers; but with the establish