Norwich bulletin., 1921-10-21

but it was not a peaceful possession The Dutch. attempted time and again to cap ture the archipelago; Chinese and Jap aneSe pirates made raids on the island cities, and in the 18th century Japanese shogun actually demanded that the Span ish governor of the islands acknowledge the sovereignty of Japan. The British captured Manila in 1762 and held it un- til the following year but their control did not extend outside the city. In d. dition the Spanish had to cope with the piratical Moros--M ohammedan Malays- of the southern islands, who were con tlnuaLiy raidlng the more developed lands to the north. Finally instructions broke out, and it was in the midst of one of these that the United States took con- troll
 Since pacifying the islands, the United States has given the Faipinos steadily increasing political control of their af- fairs. The appointive commission which ruled over the islands at first under the American regime has nov en place to an elective house and se4 and five of the seven members. of t. cabinet are Filipinos. The governor general and vice governor are still appointed by the president of the United States,
 Education has been the center of the American policy in the islands. A very small percentage of the natives were lit crate in 1898. Numerous languages and dialects were in use and only minority ] understood Spanish It was determined to make English the common language and to open the necessary public schools to reach the great mass of children By l 1917 more than 4,O00 primary schools were in operation in charge fo 1S.377 FiIi- | pino and AT American teachers AbouS ! half the estimated total of the children of the islands-690 ,000-were enrolled in that year. By 1920 the enrollment had
 reached 791, ,626
 The trade of the Philippines has in- l creased tremendously since 1899. In that ! year the consbi1ed total. of exports and ! imports was $32, ,000 900 in 1917 the to- tai was $161 ,000,000. Nearly every man
 in the wolld who uses a rope pays tribute i to the Philippines, for Manila hemp is | one of the best rope materials known. It i is harvested from. a species of banana Itree. Nearly s47,000 ,o00 worth of it was 1 shippt in 1917. Cocoanut products l meat and oil-come second Much of America'N butter substitute is made from 1 Philippine cocoanut oil. Shipments in 1917 amounted to s2e.0oO.O0 As pro- ducer of sugar, the Philippines cannot yet be compared with the famous sugar ] isles Cuba and Java. but it's production I entities the group to be classed with Hawaii, Porto Rico and Formosa among fthe worlds sweeteners.
 I "The Philippines might be said to be
 a jagged land both vertically and hori.
 zontal.y They are very mountainous
 and their coasts are much indented 1 Though only about one-twenty-fi the
 area of the United States exclusive O.
 Alaska, the Philippines have a coast
 line twice as great.
 Commercially, Manila, on a conmo
 dious bay and with 8 good harbor. ha.
 an excellent strategic position. It is
 sort of oriental center less than a thou . sand miles from important Chinese ports and less than 1500 miles from
 southern Japan, southern Korea, Singa pore and the ports of the Dutch Eas
 Indies It is estimated that within
 radius of $500 miles of Manila live
 three-quarters of billion inhabitants more than third of the total popula , ton of the earth"