Evening star., 1926-01-29
PHILIPPINE TRIBES
/ INDUCED TO WORK
American Planters, However,
Must Know How to Handle
Different Peoples.
BIT WALTER ROBE.

Correspondence of The Star and the Chicago
Daily News Foreign Service
MANILA.-AmeriCan planters in
Mindanao, the bonanza island of the
Philippines. employ four or five
tribes of FilipinoS to do the various
types of work on their plantations.
All these tribes will work. but they
pick their jobs. Some are good at
clearing. others at planting and cul
tivating, others at fencing. still others
at cleaning off the debris after hemp
and coconutS have been harvested.
On each plantation a medley of
languages is spoken, but a mixture
Of English. Spanish and Tagalog suf-
fees the manager and owner. How
ever, these must be supplemented
with many gestures and spiced with
American ''cuSS Words which have
become current throughout the
Orient since the advent of the soldier
in 1898.
If a task is not well done. few
impatient gestures and an explosion
or two of Hell. Goadam! 'Porque
este cWhy this?O is sufficient re-
proof.
Will Work by job.
The "Bilans" of Mindanao will do
but one kind of work, clearing off
debris after cucunuts have been
picked and hemp has been stripped.
They will not work for wages. nor
for any specified period They come
down to the plantations led by their
family chiefs, who bargain for clean
up work at a fixed price for the job.
Then they turn to and work like
beavers, doing thorough job. taking
them week or more, during which
time they camp in the tileds and sub
PGihln hlnSSnroS
little rice.
When the job is done and passes
inspection, the Bilans want their pay
In money-all of it. They are paid
at the plantation Office, then they go
by straight path to the plantation
store, where they usually spend all
the money. They will not accept a
store credit in lieu of cash. The ex-
PLANTATION is that never before have
they handled money. or done any di-
rect trading. They dwell in the noun
talnS, for the MoroS have kept them
back from the coast. When they took
out honey, wax, resins and gums
and rattanS heretofore, they first had
to trade their products to Moros, who
robbed them dreadfully and who in
turn sold TO Chinese merchants, be-
ing robbed in turn by the willy
CeleStiaiS.
Getting actual money for work is to
the Bllan of Mindanao what a circus
day holiday is TO an American country
boy; 1t is novel and diverting.
Injured by Opium
The MoroS treat the Bagobos much
like they do the BilanS, but the Bago-
bos do little producing on their own
account. They have some hemp and
some copra to sell from time to time
and are gradually finding out that the
scales at the American plantations
treat them fairly. Formerly, when
tribal affairs We're in the hands of
Americans. these primitive tribes were
not debauched with opium and alcohol.
But in 1918 census was taken which
showed that more provinces were en-
titled to popular government. Elec-
tionS have since been held; Christian
native officials are elected and they
have granted hundreds of liquor
licenses TO Chinese operating small
general stores in the tribal regions.
With opium smuggled into the island
from Borneo by the Moros. morality
Among the tribes is rapidly degrading.
There are two kinds of Moros, coast
MOros and those who dwell inland
The latter will work. They are good
at fence building. clearing off forests
and planting. They, too, prefer to
day, which is advantageous to the
planter, also, since it requires less
supervision. Bagabos will do about
what handwriting Moro does. But
Moros work with Moros and Bagobos
with Bagobos: Moros and Bagabos
keep apart, which reduces manslaugh-
ter cases.
For the ordinary field work Japa-
nese and Christian Filipinos are the
best. They clear off the land plow,
plant and cultivate under contract Civ
ing them a share of the crop-and by
far the larger share. They slash off
the Philippine jungle with great skill
and whereas clearing an acre for rub
ber in Sumatra has cost Americans
$3.50, in Mindanao the cost is no more
than S2o an acre. 1t is done in three
operations. First, the tribesmen or
Christian natives or Japan go
through with their bolos, machetes
and cut down all the small growth
vines, climbing plants, etc. Next they
go through and cut half through all
the small trees. Then they fell all