Fort Mill times. [volume] (Fort Mill, S.C.) 1892-current, 1921-10-27
THE PHILIPPINES.
Facts Worth Knowing About
Country's Far East Islands.

America, furnish the greatest
stake and the most difficult ter
ritorial problem Of the United
States in the Pacific" says bul.
letin of the National Geographic
society.
This is no tiny island territory
IKE some that fly the Stars and
Stripes in Pacific, continues
the bulletin, but country of
nearly ll5,OOO square miles-a
greater area than that of New
\ ork, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Delaware and Maryland combin
ed; or among the islands, greater
than the three large southern is
Lands of Japan upon which the
llte OF that nation centered while
1T grew to imperial stature.
This far-away territory of the
United States Is inhabited by
. million people of many races
and different religions, less than
4 quarter the present population
OF the three most important Jap
anese islands. But the tropical
Philippines, with their ample
rainfall and luxuriant vegetation,
are capable, in spite of their
mountainous character, of SUD-
porting "A much larger population
than they have at present.
Magellan, who sailed almost
around the world, and whose
name has been given to the ia
nous strait to the south of South
america, discovered the Philip
pines, sailing among them from
across the Pacific III 1921. lie
was killed shortly afterward in a
sAlrmish with the natives. Ma
Sellan, though Portuguese, was
operating for Spain, but the
Spanish We're slow in asserting
their sovereignty. They captured
the native city of Manila in 1870
and founded the Spanish city the
following year. The Dutch at.
tempted time and again to cap
ture the archipelago; Chinese and
Japanese pirates made raids on
the island cities, and in the 10Th
century>a Japanese shotgun actu-
ally demanded that the Spanish
governor of the islands acknowl-
edge the sovereignty of Japan.
lhe British captured Manila in
1852 and held it until the follow
ing year, but their control did
not extend outside the city. I'm
addition the Spanish had to cope
with the piratical Moros-Mo-
hammedan Malays-of the south
ern islands, who were continually
raldlng the more developed lands
10 the north. Finally insurrec-
hons broke out, and it was in the
midst of one of these that the
United States took control.
Since pacifying the islands,
the United States has given the
Fllipinos steadily increasing po-
lltlcal control of their affairs.
education has been the center of
the American policy in the is
Lands. A very small percentage
OF the natives were literate in
1898; numerous languages and
dialects were in use and only
small percentage understood
Spanish. 1t was determined to
make English the common lam
guage and to open the necessary
public schools to reach the great
mass OF children. BY 1917 more
than 1000 primary schools were
IN operation in charge of 1897
Filipino and All American teach
ers. About half the estimated to-
tai Of the children of the islands,
100000, were enrolled in that
year. BY 1920 the enrolment had
reached 79l ,626.
1.-The trade of the Philippines
has increased tremendously since
1899. In that year the combined
total of exports and imports was
81 million dollars; in 1917 the
total was l6l million. Nearly |
every man in the world who uses
rope pays tribute to the Philip
pines, for Manila hemp is one
o. the best rope materials known.
II is harvested from a species of |
banana tree. Nearly AZ million
dollars worth of II WAS Shinnad In