The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-09-03
AND
PEACE IN SULU IS
NOW ASSURED FACT
Native Troops Have Proved
of Great Aid in Making
the Wild Men
Behave

of the Associated Press )-Misgi
felt several years ago when all Amer
lean troops were withdrawn from Min
danao and Sulu. home of the Moros, the
only Mohammedans in the Philippines,
nave 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 for
eigner in the Moro country one of con-
slant worry and apprehension, today
there Is peace and the beginnings of
a prosperity the like of which would
nave seemed 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 pol
icies of Frank Carpenter, former exec
utfve secretary of the Philippine gov
eminent. named governor of Min
danao and Sulu soon after Mr. Har-
rison's arrival here. Mr. Carpenter
was the first civilian governor of the
region. succeeding General Pershing,
the last governor under the military
regime.
The task Of Governor Carpenter and
mis- assistants had been a hard one-a
long uphill struggle against recalci-
trant and superstitious people who
have always fought any attempt to
change their methods of life. Outlawry
has always been a factor of the Min
danao situation and the frequent bands
OF outlaws gave the Moros nucleuses
around which they could rally for in
surrection or revolt. But little by lit
tie outlawry has been stamped out.
One by one or in patches of two or
three. guns an 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
finally 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 ira
dition for centuries and which has been
the worst foe of Moro prosperity.
Sulu archipelago and Jolo Island.
for years the only hotbed of outlawry
in Mindanao. can now claim to have
seen the end of years Of outlawry and
bushwhacking. To the man who knows
the Jolo of five years ago. to the SOL
der whose recollection of Jolo is a
memory Of sleepless nights and anx..
ious days when the slightest noise be-
hind his back meant the possibility OF
an attack by a murderous Moro or one
made mad by Mohammedan fanaticism,
the achievement seems Incredible. But
the thing has been done and Col Peter
e. Traub of the consta bulary Ga lieu
tenant colonel in the regular army, on
detached duty with the constabulary)
has made the new era of sulu peace
and order. matter of official record
! in an order congratulating the con-
| tabulary of Mindanao and Sulu
| The order follows: M
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 Philip
| pine Islands that such statement
| could be truthfully made its import
ance becomes apparent. The whole
| Sulu archipelago is in a state of law,
order and peaceful control.
"In October. 1914, when the under
signed assumed charge of this district
outlawry was rampant in Sulu and Il
was a place Stunned by peaceful trav-
elers: but with the establishment of
stations in the heart of the affected
region and with the spirit that the
| Sulu constabulary was invariably dis
| played, every officer and man regard
| less of hardship and privation, re-
CARELESS of danger and death, did his
| full duty toward the government, with
| out malice toward the misguided crea-
| lures who with their progenitors had
| made the name of Sulu byword in the
annals of these islands.
"In the short space of 81 months Ais
outlaws were killed, captured or forced
to surrender; 1877 firearms were cap
tured or surrendered and 500 blade
weapons were captured or surrendered.
This was not accomplished without
loss to our brave men, of whom 10
were killed or died Of wounds and -
were wounded and recovered. The
greatest accomplishment of all, how
ever, Is that these things. were done
with a minimum of hatred and heart
burn on the part of the population,
which in gradual increasing numbers
came to help us in our work of root
Ing out the lawless who were preying
on the law abiding, until now all the
people, realizing the motives that ac-
tuate us in our work. are heart and
soul with us. 1t remains for the Sulu
constabulary so to conduct themselves
that confidence in their motives will
keep on increasing and so that the va
rious departments of government
health, education, public works and
other activities-7will find the prepar-
alton of the soil by the constabulary
fruitful in their future endeavors for
the benefit of the people,"