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THE PHILIPPINES TODAY




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THE PHILIPPINES
TODAY
By t
ROBERT W;JiART
SURGEON, U. S. PUBLIC  ET  SEVICE
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS


DODD, MEAD
NEW YORK


AND COMPA
*      19S;NY
18








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PREFACE


THE writer is quite sure that most Americans, excepting that minute percentage of the total population, possibly some thirty or forty thousand who
have visited the Philippines on business or pleasure,
together with those who have seen military service
here, have only the most vague conception of these
Islands, which are of such vast importance, not only
to the United States, but to many other nations of
the world.
Partly due to the great social-political experiment which the people of the United States have
endeavored to carry on in the Philippines, but even
more on account of the distinct bearing which the
political fate of the archipelago will have on the
political and economic destiny of the whole of that
part of the world known as the Orient, the Islands
assume a potential importance out of all proportion
to their size and population. Accordingly it is with
a certain sense of duty that the writer will try to
tell you something of these Far Eastern possessions
of ours; something of their location, their history,
their climate and of their various peoples, as well
as to touch on certain economic factors which must,
in spite of all clamor to the contrary, have to do
T




PREFACE


with the ultimate 'fate of this, our only Far Eastern
possession.
In order to make the subject matter more clear,
it will first be necessary to sketch for you a brief
history of the Islands, as well as to acquire a fairly
definite idea of their location, since both these factors have a distinct bearing on the problems in relation to the Philippines with which the United
States is grappling at present, and must be understood in order that the reader may grasp the relationships which actually exist, socially and economically, as well as territorially, in our relationship
with the rest of the world of the Orient.
Considering that this tremendous group of
islands, with a population equal to that of the entire State of New York, has been a possession of
the United States since 1898 (thirty years) the
ignorance of the American people regarding them
should be a matter of shame. More especially as
this ignorance, or, to be charitable, indifference, has
worked havoc with one of the greatest sociologic experiments ever attempted. In fact, it has only been
during the past two years, when it was ascertained
that rubber could be successfully grown in the Philippines, that anything more than the most casual
attention has been paid this great territory. And
this, in spite of the fact that within the next twenty
years the American people will be called on to de



PREFACE                  vii
cide the ultimate destiny of this vast productive
country with its 114,000 square miles of territory,
and its 12,000,000 population.
It is sincerely hoped that when the problem is
finally presented to America for settlement, even the
puny efforts of the author may have helped to a
reasonably clear understanding of it.








CONTENTS


GEOGR-APHY..
HISTORY...
CLIMATE.... 
NATURAL RESOURCES 
POPULATION,.....
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MALAY
FILIPINO SOCIAL SYSTEM
INDEPENDENCE SITUATION
THESE ARE THE PEOPLE 
APPENDIX....., 


PAGZ
1
a    16
*.   38.    57
90.      8139.   151.  159..  166
1...  172








ILLUSTRATIONS


A typical Filipino girl in Sunday costume
Frontispiece
FACING PAGE
Map of Philippine Islands...         6
A carromata, the most popular mode of Philippine passenger transportation.              10
A carretela, a vehicle for both freight and passengers........   10
The Magellan monument on Mactan Island near
Cebu........     18
General Emilio Aguinaldo with his aged mother
and his son.......   24
The late Governor-General Leonard Wood.   34
A carabao cart in Manila laden with cocoanut
husks......                       44
A carabao cart used for transporting hemp in
Albay province..                            50
Threshing rice with a hand mill..             58
A Filipino family of the better class at meal. 64
Opening cocoanuts to make copra...   70
The papaya plant, a giant weed which grows to
the size of a tree....             78
Method of tapping a rubber tree...           84
Stripping hemp by hand.i.    te   r.;  *   94
Drying hemp......           94
xi




xii            ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGB
Natives of Tayabas province weaving Buntal
hats......104
A typical Ifugao Igorrote house.. 112
The author, his wife, and a native woman whose
head gear is used both as a hat and a basket. 120
A group of Moros at Zamboanga, Island of
Mindanao... 126
Ifugao Igorrote rice terraces. 136
A Kalinga hill man in native costume with a
wealth of silver coin ornaments... 146
Plowing and harrowing a field for sugar cane. 156
Old-fashioned Filipino sugar mill....156
Rafts of cocoanuts being floated down the Pasig
River to market...... 164
Gate in the old walls of Manila.. 174
Fort Santiago Gate, walled city, Manila.. 174
City Hall, Manila....                     180
The Legislative building of the Philippine Government...                       180
Bagumbayan Gate, old walled city of Manila. 186




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY








GEOGRAPHY


FROM a geographic standpoint, contrary to a
common opinion among Americans, that group of
islands known as the "Philippine Archipelago" is not
located somewhere off the lower coast of Florida, nor
is it a group of islands easily accessible from the -
southern tip of California; still less are the islands
a part of the Hawaiian group.
To merely state that they are a group of well
weathered volcanic and coral islands, lying between
5 and 21 degrees north of the equator, and between
117 and 127 degrees east of Greenwich, means almost
nothing to the average person. Few of us, other
than mariners and geographers, have either the
mental vigor, the ability, or the curiosity to locate
the group from such a description, and in order to
give a better conception of their location and size,
it should be noted that though the Philippines on
the world map appear merely as a minute group of
spots compared with the continent of Asia, of which
they are a part, they really constitute a vast archipelago lying in the extreme western yart of the
Pacific Ocean near the coast of China and just north
of the equator, the southernmost island being less
than 800 miles from it; the total comprising a part




2    THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


of that more or less vague world designated as the
"Far East" or the "Orient."
In order to still more definitely visualize their location, the islands lie approximately 7,000 miles
west and 1,600 miles south of San Francisco and
are, of course, strictly tropical, being located entirely within the so-called Torrid Zone, in the same
temperature belt as Central Africa and the northern
part of South America.
Though forming a distinct archipelago, the Philippines are really a part of that numerically tremendous group of islands lying to the north of
Australia known, as a whole, as the "Indian Archipelago." From the most northerly part of the continent of Australia to the southernmost tip of the
Philippine group is a little over 1,000 miles.
The northern tip of the island of Luzon, the most
northerly of the larger islands, is located about 400
miles due east of the China coast, while the southernmost of the islands lies within a short 30 miles of the
northerly tip of the island of Borneo.
The Philippines lie just south of the archipelago
comprising Japan and so are the next door neighbors of that group of mountainous and rocky islands
which go to make up the "Empire of the Rising
Sun." In fact, the most southerly of the islands of
the Japanese Empire lies within 100 miles of the
most northerly of the Philippine group, a fact which




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


both Americans and Filipinos should and must bear
in mind in the settlement of all problems relating to
the islands. Even now, Japanese poachers and fishermen frequently cross the intervening channel between Formosa (the southernmost of the islands
comprising the Japanese Empire) and the Batanes
Islands (the most northerly of the Philippine group)
and on several occasions recently their encroachments have led to diplomatic exchanges.
Especially, in this connection it must be remembered that the Japanese Empire, with a total area of
approximately 149,000 square miles, now supports
a population of 65,000,000 people, while the Philippine group, lying just to the south and within easy
access, has a total area of 114,000 square miles, and
compared to Japan, is thinly settled, having a population of only 12,000,000. 'Considering the fact that
vastly overpopulated Japan is located within a very
short distance of the Philippines with their considerable unoccupied areas of fertile soil, and further
considering the fact that all Japanese realize the
necessity of finding an outlet for their surplus population, the potential danger involved in leaving the
islands unprotected, becomes much more apparent,
unless it be the deliberate purpose of the United
States to allow Japan a temporary outlet for this
surplus population by permitting her to take the
Philippines'' In spite of the repeated statements of




4       THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
Japanese leaders and writers, that the climate of the
Philippines is not suited to the needs of the Japanese
people,'a comparatively large colony of them exist
in Davao, one of the southern cities of the Philippine
group, where they are apparently prosperous and
happy in spite of the climatic handicap which is
supposed to offer such an insufferable bar to the
occupation and colonization of the tropic archipelago by them. This colony is largely the result
of immigration during the last 15 or 20 years and is
growing rapidly."
In order to link more definitely in the mind of
the reader, certain of these Far Eastern places, whose
very names, though suggesting romance and the
Orient, are still vague: in addition to the immediate
neighbors previously mentioned, French Indo-China,
or Cochin China as it is better known, is only about
400 miles to the west of the Philippines; Singapore
is a mere matter of 800 miles to the southwest of
Manila, and Borneo, Sumatra, Java, New Guinea
and the Celebes are also immediate neighbors.
As to the accessibility of the Philippine Islands
from the United States, and from various other
places, again I must bring forward my own experience, since when I was ordered to report in Manila,
I had only the most vague idea of how to go about
getting there, and a still more vague conception
of how long such a voyage would take. As a mat



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY;


5


ter of fact, I found on investigation that if an ocean
liner traveling at the average rate of speed were
to leave San Francisco and steam directly to Manila, the chief port of the Philippines, it would take
about eighteen days to make the trip. However,
very few vessels, and these freighters, make the
passage direct between the Philippines and the
United States. All passenger ships, plying between
North American ports and the islands, in place of
making the direct voyage, call en route at one or
more ports in Japan, usually Yokohama and Kobe,
thence to Shanghai on the Yangtse, from there to
Hongkong on the southern cost of China, and finally
to Manila. As the stop in each of these ports is
for a period of from one to two days, the total
time required for the voyage to Manila from San
Francisco is twenty-eight days, including a stop
at Honolulu, in the Hawaiian Islands, while if passage is taken from either Seattle or Vancouver, via
the shorter northern route, the trip takes but
twenty-four days.
The voyage from Manila to New York by way
of the South China Sea, Indian Ocean, Suez Canal,
the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic, occupies a
total of forty-two days, though the actual steaming
time.is considerably less than this, but all commercial vessels make stops at a number of ports en
route.




6    THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


While this article is not intended as a guide for
reaching the Philippines, it might be noted that
four steamship companies maintain a regular passenger service to the islands via the Pacific route
with the port of Manila as the terminal port. These
companies are the Dollar Steamship Line, operating
from San Francisco, the Admiral Oriental Line,
from Seattle, the Canadian Pacific from Vancouver,
and the Nippon Yusen Kaisha, also from San Francisco. In addition, the trip to the Philippines
from the United States may be made by means of
other lines which make Hongkong their terminal,
and as the distance from Hongkong to Manila is
only 600 miles with frequent sailings, no difficulty is
experienced in reaching the islands via any of these
lines.
"Regardless of whence he comes, the visitor will
probably gain access to the Philippine Islands by
way of the port of Manila, which is not only the
chief seaport but the capital, as well as the largest
city. All the larger passenger ships touching the
Philippines call at Manila, because of its accessibility, its magnificent harbor, and also on account of
the vast volume of interisland import and export
business centered there'
The first surprise to the visitor, should he still
entertain a mental picture of primitive South Sea
Island life, comes when he enters Manila Bay and.R




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


7


passes the island of Corregidor, sometimes called the
"Gibraltar of the East." This is a strongly fortified military base located just at the mouth of
Manila Bay, which forms the chief defense post of
the United States, not only for Manila, but for the
entire archipelago. The visitor, who probably has
never heard of Corregidor, in spite of the importance of this fortification, will be surprised to see a
small, modern city plus all the usual appurtenances
of a military base located on the top of this great
rock. The United States constantly maintains a
good-sized garrison there, although it is stated that
the fortifications and armament are not all that
might be desired, since under the terms of the disarmament treaty, the United States agreed not to
increase her fortifications in the Far East, and so
cannot further fortify or equip Corregidor without
the consent of the several Powers signatory to this
treaty.
From the mouth of Manila Bay to the breakwater,
which is built into the bay to make a small enclosed
harbor for Manila, is a distance of something over
thirty miles. This bay, thirty miles long and as
many in width, and almost completely land locked,
is large enough to furnish harborage for all the
naval fleets in the world. About two hours after
passing Corregidor, the ship drops anchor outside
the breakwater until every one aboard has been




8    THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


examined by the medical officers of the U. S. Quarantine Service.
Quarantine examination is rather more rigid in
the Philippines than is usually experienced elsewhere, as the Islands are at present, and have been
for a number of years, practically free of the more
serious epidemic diseases so common through much
of the rest of the Orient, and it is the constant
aim of the Government to prevent their reintroduction.
From outside the breakwater, a good panorama
of the city of Manila is obtained.
Manila is potentially, and is rapidly becoming,
one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It lies
on a flat alluvial plain straddling the Pasig river,
with a background of mountains, blue and hazy in
the distance, with its broad, well-paved streets, its
parks, avenues and drives, with well constructed
buildings, most of them, especially throughout the
business district, of concrete; a city of 800,000 people, of which number there are only about 5,000
Americans and Europeans combined; a city which
was in existence before America was discovered; a
city with a historic background where every old
wall and building has a story to tell. 0
After completing the necessary entrance formalities, the ship proceeds to one or another of the piers
built and maintained by the Philippine Government.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY  9


9


One of these (No. 7), a thousand-foot double-decked
pier, is considered among the finest, if not the finest,
structure of its kind in the world.
The passenger will note as he disembarks from the
ship that in place of the ramshackle, dirty surroundings, which are too often found on an American
waterfront, there are broad, clean, well-paved
streets, great, parked, open spaces about the piers,
and what is more to the point to the sea-weary
traveler, a really first-class up-to-date hotel, also
owned and run by the Government, within a short
five minutes' drive of the pier.
In place of the rickshaws and sedan chairs which
the traveler has come to expect elsewhere in Asia,
he utilizes, according to his taste in such matters,
one of the public utility automobiles parked at the
pier head, or he takes one of the typically Philippine vehicles known as "carromatas," two-wheeled
carts with space on the seat for two people, while the
"cochero," as the driver is called, rides on a little
seat in front, the whole equipage being drawn by
one of the under-sized rat-tailed "cabayos," or
ponies common to the country. The visitor to the
islands accustomed to seeing real horses usually feels
that in place of one of these tiny animals drawing
him, he should put the horse in the carromata and
do the pulling himself. However, a very short acquaintance with these equine miniatures will con



10      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
vince him that they are quite able to handle the
ordinary situation, as they are extremely tough and
hardy, and quite strong, considering their size and
weight. It is jokingly maintained throughout the
islands that the carromata appeared about the time,
that the Malay pirates disappeared, which gives
rise to the popular assumption that the "genus
Cochero" did not change his piratical nature when
he left his "junks" or "paraos" to take up the more
lucrative occupation of fleecing the public in the
capacity of a public driver.
Incidentally, the stranger having previously visited Japan, China, India or the Straits Settlements,
will be surprised at not finding the rickshaw in use
in the Philippines. They were introduced at one
time in Manila but no one, no matter how humble,
could be found among the Filipinos to draw them,
as the native is possessed of a very considerable
amount of natural dignity and the substitution of a
man for a pony aroused such a storm of indignation
that the company who had endeavored to introduce
these vehicles were glad to ship them out of the
islands.
As we noted previously, the archipelago consists
of a vast number of islands, only about 2,500 of
which are named and inhabited. Most of these
islands, especially the northern group, are of volcanic origin though many of the smaller islands, es



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


11


pecially in the southern part of the archipelago, are
of coral formation only. As a reminder of their
volcanic origin, there are still eight more or less
active volcanoes in the islands, and as a result of
the geologic formation, the archipelago as a whole is
subject to occasional earthquakes, none of which for
the past fifty years have been of any great severity.
While the islands are quite mountainous, many
of the upheavals which brought about these formations took place at a time so remote that, with few
exceptions, erosion has given birth to vast tracts of
flat alluvial soil admirably suited to agriculture.
Even the mountains themselves are, agriculturally,
quite productive, due to the bountiful rainfall and
the generally beneficent climate.
We have already stated that the total land area
of the archipelago is 114,000 square miles, which
means little or nothing to most of us, but when we
find that this corresponds almost exactly to the combined areas of the states of New York, Connecticut,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and
is only one-fourth less than the area of the great
state of California, a clearer conception is gained of
what a vast territory we possess in the Far East.
It is about a thousand miles, as the crow flies, from
the most northerly point in the islands to the extreme southern end. Good automobile roads traverse the islands in various directions. On the island




r12     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
of Luzon alone, there is an excellent automobile road
running almost due north and south from Batangas,
on the southern coast, to Aparri in the north, a mere
distance of 320 miles, and this is but one of any
number of similar highways.
It is extremely difficult to generalize regarding the
Philippines, either as regards their geologic formation, their flora and fauna, their climate, or their
peoples. There are infinite variations, depending on
the geographic location under inspection, so that
these matters must be taken up in detail for each of
the main territorial sub-divisions-Luzon, Visaya,
Mindanao-which go to make up the islands.
There are hundreds of names of places with which
one becomes familiar after even a comparatively
short residence; places of real importance to all the
Orient, the very names of which are absolutely unknown to most persons in the United States; yet, in
many ways, these places are of vastly more importance to the world in general, and the United States
in particular, than many places in the Continental
United States, the details relative to which are like
the ABCs to our school children.
Of the 4,500 separate islands, comparatively few
are large enough, or of sufficient importance, to warrant any detailed examination, but the reader should
at least familiarize himself with the names and general location of the larger islands (about a dozen in




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


13


number), as well as with those cities designated as
"provincial capitals," or which have a population
of over fifty thousand, and those which are of real
importance from either a commercial standpoint or
from the standpoint of their political affiliations.
"The more important islands, in the order of their
size, are Luzon, with an area of 41,000 square miles,
almost identical in size with the state of Ohio; Mindanao, approximately 37,000 square miles in area,
equivalent in size to the state of Indiana; Samar,
with an area of about 5,000 square miles, about the
size of the state of Connecticut, and Negros, the
great center for sugar production in the islands,
which is but slightly smaller than Samar. Other
islands, each of which is larger than the combined
states of Rhode Island and Delaware, are Palawan,
Panay, Mindoro, Leyte, Cebu, Bohol and Masbate.x
All the remainder are comparatively small, although
most of them support a considerable population and
are easily capable of supporting three or four times
the number residing on them at present.
"The chief cities of the islands, and incidentally,
all seaports of some importance, are: Manila, population about 300,000, the capital of the entire archipelago, located on Manila Bay in the south central portion of Luzon; Cebu, the second port of importance, located on the island of Cebu, some four
hundred miles south of Manila; Iloilo, the chief sugar




14   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


shipping port of the Islands, located on the Island
of Panay, 350 miles south of Manila; Zamboanga, on
the island of Mindanao, five hundred and twenty
miles south of Manila; Jolo (pronounced as though
it were spelled "Holo"), five hundred and fifty miles
south of Manila, the capital of the Sulu Islands, and
probably one of the best known of the Philippine
cities, due to the fact that it was, and still is, the
home of the "Sultan of Sulu," made famous through
the musical comedy of that name. In addition, there
are a number of smaller cities varying in population
from 25,000 to 50,000, which are of growing importance, either on account of their shipping, or
as centers for one or another of the various localized
industries of the islands.+
In order to illustrate the total lack of conception
of distances in the Philippines, among the people
at home, it was but recently that I received a letter from a well-informed individual in the United
States, informing me that Mr. "So and So's" son
was in the Philippines, and asking me to look him
up and make his acquaintance. As I was living in
Manila at the time, I made inquiry at the hotels and
other places where I thought I might find him, but
was unable to do so. Some time later, I discovered
that he was living in Zamboanga, a mere five hundred and twenty miles away, in a city with a population of 40,000. Nor is this an uncommon experi



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY              15
ence, as the residents frequently receive letters from
friends in the United States, inquiring whether they
know "Mr. or Mrs. Blank," who are in the Philippines. The mere fact that these people may live a
thousand miles away never seems to have penetrated
the minds of those making the inquiry.




HISTORY


'HISTORICALLY, the Philippines, from the standpoint
of the Caucasian Explorer, are of considerable antiquity. J,
'  So far as has been ascertained, the aborigines of
the islands (of them more later) were a group of
people known as "Aetas" or "Negritoes," a pigmyJ
like, black, kinky-haired people, uncivilized even for
their time and environment, who lived largely by
hunting and fishing. They were driven to the mountain fastnesses and replaced by Indonesians from
the mainland of Asia, the exact time of whose coming to the archipelago is unknown but who still exist
in considerable numbers, though not in a pure state,
in the northern part of the island of Luzon. " The
islands were occupied some time later by Malay
tribes from the Malay Peninsular(now the Federated
Malay States), who probably arrived by way of
Sumatra, Java and Borneo, it being but a short distance, as we have noted, from the most northerly
point of Borneo to the most southerly island of the
Philippine group. From here, penetration of the
entire archipelago was easy, rarely involving more
than a few miles of travel by open water.
I These Malay invaders practically completed the
16




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


17


conquest of the islands, either killing or driving the
original inhabitants into the more inaccessible mountains where they still exist today as representatives
of one of the most primitive types of the "genus
homo.'7 
)'Long before the discovery of the islands by the
white man, Mohammedanism was introduced into
the southern part of the Philippines by way of
Borneo. This occurred about 1400 A.D. The Mohammedan creed secured such a hold on the Malays
living in the southern part of the archipelago that
to this day, the "southern islands," including most
of the population of the Division of Mindanao, is
strongly Mohammedan, a fact which has been the
cause of no little strife and bloodshed.' This strife
was largely due to attempts at missionary work and
proselyting by the people of the northern islands
who, beginning in 1521, when the first Cross was'
planted and the first mass celebrated by the Spaniards under Magellan, were gradually converted to
Christianity. Today the majority of Filipinos (all
the north provinces except the mountain districts)
solely through the influence of the Catholic church,
are the only people in the Far East who may be
broadly designated as "Christian."
It is unfortunate that even today, these two great
groups of Malay people-one Christian, the other
Mohammedan-are, if not bitter enemies, at least




18


THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


not friends and never agree on anything under any
possible circumstance, although originally of almost
identical blood." So much for the effects of environment and religion on the differentiation of peoples.
So far as authentic records go, the first white man
to set foot in the Philippines was Magellan, a Portuguese sailing under the Spanish flag. who, in the
year 1521 during his famous voyage of discovery
around the world, landed on the island of Homonhon. He named the group the "Archipelago of San
Lazarus."  Magellan himself was killed, in a fight
with the natives near the present city of Cebu,
shortly after the discovery of the islands. A monument in commemoration of him has been erected
opposite the city of Cebu on the island of Mactan,
where this intrepid explorer met his death.
'The first Spanish settlement in the Philippines
was at Cebu on the island of Cebu, and was made by
Legaspi, a member of a noble Spanish family.
The early history of the islands is one of more
or less constant strife. Largely by means of the
sword, the Spanish extended their rule over first one
part of the islands, then another. The Portuguese,
who had landed in the Moluccas (a group of islands
to the south of the Philippine archipelago proper),
in 1512, claimed title to the Philippines by right of
prior discovery, and attempted by force of arms to
gain control of them. In 1529, Spain actually ceded




N
TH MAUMLLAN MONUMENT ON MACTAN ISLAND NEAE CEBOi
WHLIMI MARES THE SPOT WHERE THE EXPLORER MET
HiS DERATH IN AVEIGHT WITH NATIVES
IBM.A
**-   **   *  *** '  --.   *  '.  '  * *   '
**:.;* *;:;*'   '   '   *.*..* * *......:.....:(  *..Q f
Il/r[:"S~& ^  ^^^^^^^^^ ^^vi  Ir la




0




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


her claim to the islands to the Portuguese, but in
1589 again assumed authority over them.
The next invaders of the archipelago were the 
Dutch, who made repeated attempts to wrest the /
control of the islands from Spain. As a result, sev-/
eral bloody naval battles were fought between them
and the Spanish in and about Manila Bay but, in
1646, these invaders were also finally defeated and
driven away.
At the time of the occupation of the Philippines
by Spain, the population was estimated at about
500,000. From the records available, it seems that
these people had attained at this time a certain degree of civilization which was probably the result of
intercourse with the Chinese, a considerable number
of whom were found living in Manila when the city
was first visited by Legaspi in 1571.
Some progress had been made in agriculture, as
well as in weaving and metal working, and a certain
amount of commerce was carried on between the
islands and the mainland of Asia.
The population at that time, even as it is to this
day, was split up into numerous distinct tribes, each
of which was ruled by a "dato," or chief, who had
the power of life and death over his subjects, though
even at this early date there was an unwritten code
of laws fairly uniform among the various tribes.
These laws were reduced to writing by Calantaio in




20   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


1483. Under this code, punishment for crime varied
from flogging to mutilation or death.
f/ Briefly up to 1762 the history of the islands was
one of more or less continuous conquest, and at the
same time of extension of power by the military
forces of Spain.
In the meantime,* the Church followed hard on
the heels of each military conquest and with each extension of temporal power there was a more than
proportionate increase in its power and influence
throughout all but the southern islands where the
Mohammedan population, called "Moros" by the
Spaniards, from the fact that the Moors of northern
Africa had introduced this creed into the southern
islands, steadfastly refused to embrace Christianity,
or even to allow it to gain the least foothold.
It was during this period that the Church acquired those immense and valuable grants of choice
land and laid the foundation for the almost fabulous wealth which eventually it came to control, and
which gave it not only spiritual domination, but
eventually brought about the almost absolute economic control of the islands which it held until
quite recently.
In 1762, as a result of the participation of Spain
on the side of France during the Seven Years' War,
* In speaking of the Church in the Philippine Islands, reference is always made to the Roman Catholic Church. Protetantism was introduced only after American occupation.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY,


21


England retaliated by sending an expedition against
the Spanish colonies in the Philippines, which they
captured in 1762. However, they held control but
one year, evacuating the islands in 1763, after the
signing of the Treaty of Paris. In 1803, England
again invaded the islands but finally withdrew two
years later.
From that time until the outbreak of the revolution in 1892, Spain remained in undisputed possession of the entire archipelago, consolidating her
power and developing agriculture and commerce with
this, one of her most valuable possessions, whence
came spices, oils and other commodities, which played
a considerable part in enhancing the power and
the wealth of the Spain of that day.
v In 1892, an organization was formed called the
"Katipunan," having as its aim the correction of certain abuses which had grown up under Spanish rule. 
In 1896 this organization, under Bonifacio, a Filipino patriot, made the first armed attack on the
Spanish. The revolt soon spread over almost the
entire archipelago, although the center of the revo- 
lutionary activities was in Luzon, especially that territory in and about Manila.' First under one leader,
then another, many of whom were exiled or executed by the authorities, the revolt against Spain
continued until a sort of peace was restored in 1897.
In 1894, the recognized leader of the revolt was




22       THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
Emilio Aguinaldo, a pure-blooded Malay, who was
born in Cavite, near Manila, in 1869, and whose
strength of character quickly gained him the leadership of the Katipunan after he joined it. As the
result of some trickery on the part of the Spaniards, the revolutionists laid down their arms in
1897, believing that their demands had been granted.
As a result, Aguinaldo and forty other leaders were
jailed and finally exiled to Hongkong.*
However, as one result of the revolution, Spanish
trade was destroyed and Spanish power at the time
of the outbreak of the Spanish-American War was
limited to the control of certain of the fortified
walled cities and of their surrounding fortresses.
'In the early part of 1898, as a result of the failure
on the part of the Spanish to make certain promised
reforms, the revolution under new leaders broke out
afresh.,
'Following the declaration of war by the United
States against Spain in April, 1898, there occurred
the Battle of Manila Bay'tMay 1, 1898), when the
American Fleet, under Admiral Dewey, which had
been stationed at Hongkong, on the China coast, a
matter of 600 miles from Manila, completely destroyed the Spanish Fleet, as well as silenced the
land batteries about Manila Bay, in the short period
*The leaders of the revolution were nominally exiled, though
actually each was given a certain sum of money, provided he
would leave the country.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY              28
of four hours. After this victory, Aguinaldo, together with the other exiled revolutionists, were permitted to return to the islands, being repatriated on
the U. S. Warship "McCullough."
Remember, however, that even after the Battle
of Manila Bay, Spain still remained nominally in
control of the islands, although she had lost her fleet,
together with practically all her prestige in the Far
East.
Immediately on his return to the islands, Aguinaldo called for a general revolt against Spanish
authority, declared himself "Dictator" to conduct a
war against Spain and to prepare the islands for a
republic.
On June 12, 1898, Independence was declared and 
Aguinaldo was elected as President of the newly- 
formed revolutionary government and the Republic 
of the Philippines. In August, 1898, upon the arrival of the American land forces, Manila capitulated, and the Stars and Stripes replaced the flag
of Castile, which had floated over the islands for
nearly four centuries.
As a result of the Treaty of Peace between Spain
and the United States, the Philippines were ceded to
the United States, although, to make the bargain
more binding and in order that she might not be
accused of having fought a war of conquest, the
United States paid to the Spanish Government




924     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
$20,000,000 for the Philippine Islands and they became American territory.
Following the ceding of the islands to the United
- States, those Filipinos who had been in revolt against
Spain, interpreted the non-interference with them
and their government as approval of their plans.. for independence. They, therefore, proceeded to
assemble a congress at Malolos, a town fifty miles
north of Manila, and adopted a constitution. However, General Otis, in charge of the United States
land forces in Manila, was instructed by President
McKinley that American authority over the islands
must be recognized, and Aguinaldo, who had proclaimed his constitution on January 21, 1899, prepared for war with the United States.
The result was a revolution consisting of guerilla
warfare which lasted about three years, until the
capture of Aguinaldo by General Funston.
Shortly after his capture, Aguinaldo took the
oath of allegiance to the United States and recommended that all Filipinos do the same. Many took
the oath, while those who refused to submit were
allowed to leave the islands.
Now, in order to understand the present economic
and political discussions and differences, especially
the present agitation for independence on the part
of the Mestizo (those of mixed blood) politicians,
it will be necessary to follow briefly political occur



WRX NAL EMILIO AUUINALDO WITH 1118 AGED MOTHER AND
M       S S  OtN THE PORH O THEIR HOME AT KAWIT, CAVITE
PROVINCE, NEAR MANILA
b^If  irt of.A  s  wt 
Y In I a w Dray a W~~ffi em a I 2
i...




..
I  r 
11




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


25


rences in the islands since the American occupation.
~As the revolution was still in progress at the time
of the American occupation, the first Government
established by the United States was military in nature. The second, a civilian commission government, was established by a body known as the "Taft
Commission" and consisted of five members who
were appointed by the President to establish a territorial government." One of the members of this
group, and from whom it took its name, was William
Howard Taft, who later became the first GovernorGeneral of the islands, and eventually President of
the United States.
In spite of the difficulties which the American
Government experienced in the Philippines for the
first few years after the occupation, due to a continuation of the guerilla warfare in various parts of
the islands, there was a gradual extension and consolidation of rule, together with the beginning of a
public school system (something entirely new to the
Far East), the construction of passable highways,
nearly non-existent at the time of the American
occupation, the improvement of ports, the dredging
of harbors and many other improvements of a similar nature, making for easier communication between the various parts of the archipelago.
1f During this early and strictly formative period,
the government was administered almost entirely by 




26     ITHE PHILIPPINES TODAY
Americans. This was necessarily so as at this time
comparatively few, if any, Filipinos had any clear
understanding of governmental functions, and were
further handicapped by the fact that very few of
them had any knowledge of English, or even an adequate knowledge of Spanish, the official language of
government up to this time.' American sub-governors, either civilian or military, depending on the
circumstances, were appointed for the various provinces, numbers of American teachers were brought
out from the United States, most of the customs employees were American, while all the engineering
work necessitated by the building of water works,
breakwaters, roads and similar improvements was
done by Americans.
The people of the United States may point with
pride to the results achieved during the first sixteen
years of American rule in the islands. Certainly no
country inhabited by any dark-skinned race has ever
had the opportunity for development offered the
Filipinos during this period. 
As might have been expected, there were a few
dark spots in the administration, yet as a whole, the
employees of the United States Government in the
Philippine Islands during this period set a record
for honesty, efficiency and real endeavor which has
seldom, if ever, been equaled in the history of any
colonial enterprise anywhere. The result was an




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY               27
extremely rapid political and economic development
throughout the whole of the islands, while for the
first time in their history the native population enjoyed peace and prosperity.
Among other improvements during this period was
the establishment of a monetary unit for the islands,
for prior to American occupation, the trade unit had
been the "Mex" silver dollar, which varied from
fifty to sixty cents in American money, depending
on the price of bar silver. Under American administration, a system of coinage was developed which,
following the Spanish designation, made the "peso"
the standard of monetary value. This unit is in
use today, each peso being equivalent to fifty cents
in American money. The peso is subdivided into
one hundred centavos. Further following the Spanish monetary system, the peso is divided into "pesetas," each iving a value of twenty centavos. Silver
ten-cent   pieces were also minted while following
the Ameri custom, nickel coins of a value of five
centavos     copper centavos were also coined.
Originally, only silver coins were issued, a standard
custom throughout the Orient, but with the increase
in commerce it became necessary, to a large extent,
to do away with the use of silver so, at the present
time, the Government, as well as certain designated
banks, issue bank notes of various denominations,
ranging from one peso to a thousand. These notes




8 8   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


are similar in appearance to United States currency, except that the bills are approximately twothirds the size of those in use in the United States,
t   and are universally conceded to be more convenient
in almost every way than our larger "greenbacks."
An extremely important factor in the progress of
the islands was the establishment of a Federal Bureau of Health. This bureau was organized by an
officer of the United States Public Health Service,
Dr. Victor G. Heiser, at that time a Passed Assistant Surgeon in the Service, who had been detailed to
the islands as Chief Quarantine Officer.
His name will be long remembered in medical
circles because of the very efficient health organization which he developed. Through his efforts he succeeded in transforming the Philippine Islands, formerly a plague spot from a health standpoint, into
the most healthful and well-sanitated country in the
Orient, a fact of which the population as a whole are
extremely proud. This health organization was of
such a high standard that even at the present time,
with our advance in sanitary knowledge, very few
changes have been found necessary with the passing
of the years.
Largely on account of this organization the present birth rate in the islands compares favorably with
that of any other part of the Orient, while the death
and morbidity rates compare favorably with those




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


29


of either Europe or America, and in spite of popular prejudice against the tropics, Caucasian residents in the Philippines are more healthy and on the
whole suffer less from disease than when residing in
their home countries.
But here, while speaking of governmental reforms, is a good place to touch briefly on a situation,
or rather a condition, which exists and which is due,
not to lack of goodwill or endeavor, but rather to
the basic difference between peoples of the Orient
and those of the United States and Europe, especially those of "Nordic" origin. This is the essential difference in mental outlook of the two races
which has, to a large extent, nullified the effects of
American administration in the Philippines.
We, the people of the United States, assume that
the mental processes of all races of people, including
those of the Malays, who make up most of the population of the archipelago, are similar to those of
the basic stock underlying our population.
This assumption on our part is due to several
factors; first, partly to ignorance, since but few
persons in the United States have ever come into intimate contact with any of the Oriental races, more
especially with Malays; secondly, to the fact that
since the signing of the Magna Charta, not only in
the United States but throughout north Europe,
government, with all its institutions, has been to a




30   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


greater or less extent representative of the will of
the people. As a result of this second factor,
Americans, as well as Europeans of similar racial
ancestry, have developed with time and familiarity
certain preconceived notions regarding government
and the part which the individual plays in the general scheme of government. Throughout a number
of generations, the right of the individual to take
part in the construction and execution of the laws
governing the various commonwealths comprising
their political units has resulted in an instinct for
self-government which is totally alien to those people, regardless of race, whose natural habitat is the
Orient.
Even today, as at the time of American occupation, our people, without devoting particular thought
to the subject, assume that, of course, those basic
ideas regarding government which are held in common by nearly all persons in the United States, except some of our most recent immigrants, are also
held in common by these alien races of Malay origin,
regarding whom they know nothing except perhaps
by rumor.
In addition, at the time of occupation, we failed
to realize that for a period of four centuries, the
laws and customs of "Castile," modified to suit
Oriental conditions, and still further modified by
the ancient tribal customs and traditions of the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


$1


Malay people, had given the population of the Philippine Islands an entirely different social and political background than that of the people of the
United States. Furthermore, we failed to take into
consideration the fact that, unlike the conditions existing in the United States, where with the exception
of certain of the neglected minority, the entire population is literate and has access to books, magazines and newspapers, throughout the Philippine
Islands only a very small fraction, amounting to
probably not more than one or two per cent of the
total population, could either read or write; that
newspapers, excepting a few small periodicals published in the larger cities, were non-existent; that
communication between various provinces was extremely limited; that the population was divided
into tribal units (at least fifty-seven distinct tribes,
though all of Malay stock); that these tribes each
spoke a distinct dialect not understood by members
of neighboring tribes, and that it was impossible
with these limitations, even had their previous rulers;
the Spanish, desired it, which they did not, for the
Filipinos to have acquired more than the most rudimentary ideas on government other than those of
strictly tribal rule.
Still, one additional factor played a most impor- I
tant part and that was, and is, the lack of mental 
capacity, especially reasoning power, of the Malay,




S2   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


a subject to be discussed in greater detail later.
As a result, the Filipino people listened with
amazement to American ideas regarding government, regarding the rights of the individual, etc.;
ideas which were so totally at variance with any with
which they had previously come into contact, and,
as was inevitable, an early basic misunderstanding
occurred between the two groups-Americans and
Natives.
Americans, overestimating the capacity of the
Filipinos for the assimilation of new ideas, and having no conception whatever of the fact that they
were unable to understand such political ideas, made
an honest endeavor to change, within a short period
of time, the mental processes, mode of life, as well as
the type of government which had been in existence
in the islands for centuries.
As a matter of cold fact, most of the present-day
political evils pertaining to the islands, the misunderstandings, the bickerings, and the difficulties
which the American Government is now encountering, may be laid at the door of the American people themselves, who failed, partially through ignorance, and partially through willful blindness, to
take into account these factors in their great governmental and sociologic experiment.
On their part, the Malays, as we have stated,
failed, at least to a large extent, to assimilate these




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


new ideas on government and on political and individual liberty. They mistook, through ignorance
and the lack of an adequate background, liberty for
license. With the accession of a small amount of
learning and encouraged by various American
"Hobbyriders," who patted them on the back and
told them enthusiastically and repeatedly of the
rapid progress which they were making in the assimilation of these new ideas, they developed an
egotism and self-confidence wholly unwarranted by
the actual knowledge and practice which they had
acquired.
However, for a number of years, there was a
steady and fairly satisfactory progress, educationally, politically and economically, which continued
up to the time of the appointment of Francis Burton
Harrison as Governor-General for the Islands.
Up to that time few, if any, Americans had come
to a realization of the fact that the development of
a political conscience and consciousness was not a
matter of ten, fifteen or twenty years, but rather a
matter of generations, provided one had the proper
seed and soil.
With the accession to power of Harrison as Governor-General, all restraints on these newly-fledged
politically free people were thrown aside, and the
government of the Philippine Islands during his
regime was turned over almost entirely to the Fili



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


pino people, or rather, to a group of "half breeds,"
in this case almost all Spanish Mestizos. 
VThe result, as might have been expected, was chaos.
Not only did Harrison, apparently in obedience to
instructions from Washington, turn over to the
Filipino people the reins of government, but in 1916
the Congress of the United States passed a law, now
known as the "Organic Act for the Government of
the Philippine Islands," outlining the type of government for the islands. This Act, known as the
"Jones Bill," provided for home rule for the Philippines, and by virtue of it, the only actual authority retained by the American Government was
the veto power, vested in the Governor-General and
the power of auditing the governmental accounts,
which auditing power was to be vested in an auditor
appointed directly by the President of the United
States. 
It is the preamble to the Jones Bill (of which most
Americans have never heard) upon which the Mestizo politicians now base their propaganda for absolute independence, claiming that it guarantees this
consummation.
One of the curious results of the "Organic Act"
is the fact that the Eighteenth Amendment and the
Volstead Act failed to retain their significance in the
islands, so that the only place under the American




TI  LTR. (OVEIINOR-G1NERAL LE~ONARID WOOD
HN~-~(P




I
i                >
i 
v a H




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


35


flag still legally "wet" is the Philippine archipelago.  >
(Tourist Bureaus, please note.)
The combined results of the Harrison r6gime
and the Jones Bill were most disastrous:'
Without going into detail regarding occurrences
up to the time that Leonard Wood was appointed
Governor-General, suffice it to say that the Filipino
people demonstrated, to the entire satisfaction, or
rather, dissatisfaction, of every one who had even
the most rudimentary ideas regarding government
and its functions, their inability, at least for the present, to carry on the functions of government satisfactorily. Improvements and reforms, which had
taken years in the establishment, were allowed to
deteriorate, or were entirely abrogated. Graft became rampant. We think in the United States that
we know something of grafting politicians but apparently we are, along this line, the poorest, veriest
novices. The government was run into debt to the
tune of millions of pesos while revenues fell off to:
a most alarming degree.
This was the situation which 'Governor-General
Wood found when he,"together with a former Governor-General of the Islands, William Cameron
Forbes, were sent as a special commission appointed
by the President to investigate and report on the




36   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


political governmental situation in the Philippines.
Partly as a result of this able joint report, and
partly on account of his brilliant record in a similar
capacity in Cuba, Leonard Wood was appointed
Governor-General of the islands in 1921.
Whatever criticisms may be leveled at Leonard
Wood, none may doubt his honesty and his sincerity
of purpose. He immediately went to work to
straighten out the tangle which had been created
by the native politicians through their incompetence,
dishonesty and neglect. 'He again assumed the
rightful authority specifically vested in the Governor-General by virtue of the Organic Act, reduced
expenditures, investigated various financial irregularities, incidentally sending several influential native politicians to jail, and in every way tightened
the sadly slackened reins of government, and while
he endeavored to reestablish the authority of the
United States, at the same time endeavored to aid
those honest and sincere natives in governmental positions who were trying to establish an efficient governmental machine which could be run by the Filipinos themselves.4
This policy, of course, met, and is still meeting,
with the persistent opposition of a certain group of
so-called politicians, not Filipinos or individuals of
pure Malay blood, but nearly all individuals of
mixed blood (Mestizos), whose traditions as regards




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


37


government are largely those of government of the
many, by the few, for the benefit of the few.
Governor-General Leonard Wood, through several years of constant abuse, distortion of his motives and misrepresentation, worked steadily, calmly
and without bias, for the good of the Filipino people.
Actually, his only detractors were those self-seeking
politicians whose hands he took from the public
pockets and who, through the exercise of his rightful
authority, to a certain extent lost their power to
shine as patriots before the people, while at the same
time they robbed them through various forms of
chicanery in government.
NoTE.-As this goes to press, Henry L. Stimson is en route to
the Philippine Islands to take over the reins of government which
fell from the hands of the late Governor-General Leonard Wood.
He is acquainted with the Philippines and with their problems
and it may safely be assumed that he is in sympathy with those
far-seeing plans for the betterment of the government of the
Islands already formulated by General Wood.
Both the people of the United States and those of the Philippine
Islands are to be congratulated upon the appointment of this able
administrator as Governor-General.




CLIMATE


THE climate of the Philippines remains a source of
constant surprise and delight to the visitor throughout most of the year.' The archipelago, being situated entirely in the tropics, has, of course, a corresponding climate. Having traveled considerably
throughout the archipelago during all seasons of the
year, I have yet to experience heat approaching that
which occurs in any of our eastern or mid-western
cities during the summer months. Snow is unknown and even frost occurs only on the highest
mountain peaks, although there are several places,
at an elevation of 6,000 feet or more, where there
is an occasional frost, as well as an infrequent skim
of ice.
Though situated in the tropics, the year in the
Philippines is divided into seasons, which do not,
however, correspond to the winter, summer, spring
and autumn of the United States. In place of them,
the Philippines have but three distinct seasons.
These are the hot season, which begins about the
15th of March and lasts until about the 15th of
June, followed by the rainy season, beginning about
the 16th of June and continuing until about the
1st of October, and after this theio-called winter
38




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


39


season of some five and a half months' duration.
This latter is, of course, the most pleasant time
of the year and reminds one, more than anything
else, of the early days of autumn at home, or of our
best brand of Indian summer.'
What surprises the visitor most, however, is the
fact that the climate is so equable in spite of rain,
sunshine, hot season and "winter," for, after all,
there is comparatively little variation in the temperature throughout the year-never more than
30 degrees F.
The climate throughout the islands, while differing somewhat, according to locality, is quite uniform
throughout the whole archipelago, due to the fact
that the individual islands are relatively small,
which tends to maintain an even temperature and
does away with those sharp variations which are
expected in the United States.
Usually, one of the first questions asked of any
one returning from the Philippines is, "Don't you
suffer terribly from the heat?" and a statement to
the effect that the islands are nowhere so hot as
most of the United States during the summer
months is usually greeted with a bland smile of disbelief.  As a matter of fact, regardless of the
part of the archipelago visited, there is practically
always a good breeze blowing to keep one fairly
cool and comfortable, even during the so-called hot




40   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


season, while the nights with their accompanying
breeze are delightful.
These breezes are the "monsoons" or "trades,"
which blow across the archipelago day after day,
steadily, with little variation in strength, for three
months from one direction, then for an equal time
from the other.
Throughout the hot season, the winds are variable, but with the beginning of the southwest monsoon, between the 1st and the 15th of June, the
prevailing wind shifts to the southwest, the sky becomes clouded over for an increasing portion of
each day until finally, just before the rains actually
begin, the sun may be seen but for a few minutes
throughout the entire day, due to the heavy banks
of clouds.
Then come fhe rains. These begin with a daily
shower, usually in the afternoon, occurring with increasing frequency until, finally, as the monsoon is
established, there is often a perfect deluge of rain,
though the really heavy rains do not come with the
steady southwest monsoons, but as a result of a
"typhoon" occurring somewhere in the neighborhood of the islands.
The "typhoon" is a phenomenon peculiar to the
waters in and about the Philippines. A most excellent description of one is contained in Joseph
Conrad's book called Typhoon.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


41


This type of storm is due to an extreme area of
low barometric pressure which results in a great
circular wind storm, often four or five hundred
miles in diameter. In the exact center of this circle,
there is practically a dead calm, while terrifically
high winds occur in the periphery. It is said that the
wind near the center sometimes attains a velocity of
two hundred miles or more per hour, and, depending on the severity of the disturbance, the weather
may be affected about this area over a radius of
five hundred miles.
Elsewhere in the world, cyclones, hurricanes and 
storms occur, but the real home of the typhoon is
that area of the earth about the Philippine Islands,
extending from Guam to the China Coast and
Japan.y
These storms usually form in the Pacific, somewhere near the island of Guam, and progress slowly
in a general northwesterly direction, often striking
the Philippine archipelago about midway of its
length along the eastern coast. As the center of the
typhoon does not move rapidly, sometimes not more
than two, three or four miles per hour, it may remain in or about one locality for days and occasionally for weeks before being dissipated.
The usual result of one of these storms is a terrific
and prolonged rain storm often accompanied by
high winds. Fortunately, it is comparatively rare




48    THE- PHILIPPINES TODAY


to have a typhoon pass directly over any of the
islands, since when this occurs, everything standing
is blown down.
As a rule, these storms are finally dissipated either
on the southern end of the Japanese archipelago,
on the China coast, or on Formosa, which island is
said to be buffeted by more storms than any other
known territory.
Typhoons passing near the Philippines do result
in extremely heavy rains so that the average annual
rainfall there is around 160 inches a year, which is
three or four times that occurring in any part of
the United States." As the greater part of this
rain occurs during a period of about three months,
you may judge that a rain storm in the islands is
often a real one. A few years ago a record rainfall
occurred in and about Manila, when in a period
of twenty-four hours there occurred 32 inches of
rain. It is not uncommon, especially if one typhoon
after another passes along the coast, to have almost
continuous rain day and night, for days and even
for weeks. The longest continuous rain which I
myself have seen was twenty-two days and nights,
although I believe that it has only been a few years
since there was a continuous rainfall lasting forty
days and nights.
Now, strange to relate, this season, to the initiate,
is not particularly unpleasant except for certain




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


48


features to be noted later. While the weather during the rains is cooler than during certain other
times of the year, it is never cold, and consequently
a thorough wetting does little or no damage, especially if one has an opportunity of changing
clothes within a reasonable time after getting soaked.
Even during the rainy season, coughs and colds are
comparatively uncommon; in fact, it is only with
the beginning of the hot season that they commonly
occur.
For some reason or other, I suppose largely the
result of tradition and training in cold climates,
newcomers, especially during their first rainy season in the tropics, are quite fearful of the wet. The.
proper procedure is to take a page from the book
of the natives, and either stay indoors or dress as
simply as possible, making no attempt to waterproof yourself with rubbers, umbrella and raincoat,
which do absolutely no good, but rather to wear
washable clothing, take your wetting, and then
change as soon as convenient, sending the whole wet
outfit, including the shoes, to the laundry for overhauling.
There are, of course, certain unpleasant features
about the rainy season with which one learns to
put up. During the rains, nearly all provincial
bridges are washed out with the result that many
of the roads become impassable. Streams which,




44   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


during the dry season, present only a broad expanse of gravel and bowlders or, at best, a mere
trickle of water, become raging torrents-sometimes
one or two miles across-and during the height of
the rains the water rushes down them at such a
terrific speed that it is impossible to ferry across
them, in spite of the ingenious ferries which the
natives have devised. The roads themselves rapidly
become impassable because of washouts, so that when
the rains really start in earnest, one either travels
largely by railroad or remains at home.
During these prolonged heavy rains, due to the
fact that great tracts of land lie but little above
sea level with consequent poor drainage, it is no
uncommon occurrence for great areas to become
flooded, and in passing through the provinces only
the top of the road may be above the water level.
Often, it is like riding or driving through a great
lake, and to slip off the side of the road may mean
going into water to a depth of several feet. I
well remember, during one rainy season, attempting
to drive to Manila, during or just after a heavy
rain, with the result that my machine (it was at
night and the road curved through a great lake)
ran off the roadside into about six feet of water, and
not until a week later did a salvage car manage to
haul it out and to the city.
During this season the damp settles everywhere,




THE PHILIPPINES LTODAY,


45


and everything molds. The leather shoes which you
remove at night and set out for the house-boy to
clean, develop a growth of gray fur half an inch
long before morning. All clothes mildew and mold;
mattresses and pillows become damp and spotted
with patches of mildew; the polished floors no longer
shine, and there is a universal all-prevailing gray
moisture.
Yet, these things are but temporary disadvantages and inconveniences, and if one will forget the
training acquired at home, put all woolens, rugs,
etc., in cold storage or place them in air-tight containers, what happens to the rest of one's belongings
matters but little. All clothes are of cotton, linen,
or washable silk, so that wet things are simply taken
off and sent to the laundry and come back as clean,
white and starchy as during the most pleasant day
of the year.
Fortunately, laundry work is extremely reasonable in price all through the islands, and is usually
done remarkably well, considering the difficulties
under which the "lavandera" (as the washwoman is
called), labors.
Leather shoes are a nuisance. Those of canvas
are much better since they, at least, do not hold
water, but allow it to drain out. As your feet become wet under any circumstances, impervious shoes
from which the water cannot drain are a bother.




46      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
Rubber shoes, clothing and raincoats not only fail
to keep out the wet during these torrential rains,
but are hot and sticky, and correspondingly uncomfortable. Umbrellas are of absolutely no use, as the
rain will batter through the most substantial umbrella ever built, in addition to which the rain is
usually accompanied by at least a fair degree of
wind which is perfectly certain to turn the umbrella inside out. As a consequence, umbrellas may
be used during the season of showers but rarely
during the season of heavy rains.
Yet, in spite of these drawbacks, it is extremely
rare to meet an American who complains of the
rain and most of us actually look forward to the
rainy season with a certain degree of pleasurable
anticipation.
Now, don't get the idea that it rains continuously
all through the season, for as a matter of fact, there
are many days during this period when no rain occurs, unless possibly a shower, and during these
intermissions the weather is most pleasant.
Of course, all vegetation springs into new life
and it is only during the rainy season that the
islands are seen at their very best, a time which, unfortunately, few tourists choose for visiting them.
4With the cessation of the rains around the 1st of
October, the weather becomes even cooler than during the rainy season, so that throughout the entire




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


47


period from around the 1st of October until the middle of March, the thermometer rarely goes above
85 degrees during the day, while at night it may
drop as low as 65 degrees. Day after day cloudless skies, comparatively cool weather, though always warm enough for white "wash clothing," an
occasional shower sufficient to lay the dust, and with
all growing things at their best, the Philippine
Islands during this part of the year are indeed,
from a climatic standpoint, a paradise. This cool,
pleasant weather continues with little variation to
the beginning of the hot season in March."
Of course, there are climatic variations in different places throughout the islands, but the foregoing gives a fair idea of what to expect all through
the lowlands.
For example, about 150 miles north of Manila
there is located a great range of mountains surmounted by a beautiful plateau with an average
elevation of about 5,000 feet. In these mountains,
at Baguio, the very name of which is probably unfamiliar to most of my readers, there was established
by former Governor-General Forbes the summer
capital. At this elevation, even though situated
in the tropic zone, the weather is cool the wlole year
through. Very few deciduous trees grow at this elevation, and nothing but pine-clad hills and valleys




48      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
stretch in every direction as far as the eye can
see.
With a maximum temperature during the year of
possibly 85 degrees and a minimum of 40 degrees,
this mountain city furnishes a welcome relief and
contrast from the lowlands to those Caucasians tired
of the perpetual summer and longing for a touch of
the chill which reminds them of home. Here it is
necessary to have a fire at night during the entire
year in order to be comfortable so that in every cottage, as well as in most hotel rooms (incidentally,
there are several excellent hotels located in Baguio
for the benefit of the visitors) will be found an open
fire. These fires, fed by pine branches and logs, give
off a most grateful heat, together with a pleasant
fragrance, as the fire crackles and sends up its voluminous clouds of sweet-smelling smoke.
Formerly, all Caucasian employees of the government repaired to Baguio during the hot season,
but recently, due to the expense of moving the personnel, and, further, due to the fact that practically
all government employees at present are Filipinos,
the custom of moving the governmental organization
to Baguio for the summer season has been abandoned. Nearly all "whites," as well as many of the
wealthier Mestizos and Filipinos, maintain beautiful cottages at or near this mountain resort.
Here the fruits, vegetables and flowers of the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


49


temperate zone remind one most strongly of home,
and it is only here that strawberries and other fruits
and vegetables of the temperate zone develop, and
the transplanted white man, possibly a little homesick, and surfeited with a diet of tropic fruits, can
come and acquire his fill of good exotic States vegetables and certain of the temperate zone fruits.
The Army has established a summer rest camp
for officers and men near Baguio. This camp,
called Camp John Hay, is maintained by the War
Department for the benefit of U. S. Government
employees and their families, where they may revive
some of the vigor lost through residence in the hot
lowlands. A beautiful big dormitory has been built
at the camp and excellent meals are served in a central dining room, or if the officer prefers, he may
be assigned to a cottage, where he may keep house,
"camp style." Only the actual cost of rations and
service are charged for the use of this camp, the
cost being about $1.50 a day for meals, lodging and
service for each person.
There are other similar resorts in the islands, although none are so well known or so justly popular
as Baguio. Many of the whites (Caucasians), who
have lived in the islands for years, have become so
accustomed to the continuous warmth that they refuse to visit Baguio because of the excessive cold
there, and complain most bitterly when for any rea



50      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
son they are forced to visit the mountain capitol.
As a matter of fact, it is noted that Caucasians
once thoroughly acclimated to the continuous warm
weather are only really comfortable when their skin
is slightly moist with perspiration. Newcomers to
the islands, during what is considered the cold season, December, January and February, exclaim at
the heat and are firmly convinced that they are being
"spoofed" when the older residents complain, as
they often do, of the cold when the temperature
drops to 70 degrees or below.
Anticipating heat, the visitor usually maintains
that it is hot in spite of any sensation he may experience to the contrary. Within one short year,
however, this same newcomer will be seen digging
out one or more blankets for bed covers at night, and
will be seen wearing a sweater when the mercury
drops below 80 degrees. When the temperature
falls, there is something in the atmosphere which
seems to chill to the very marrow, and I fail to remember, in all my experience, having felt cold more
acutely than during the early morning hours on
Manila Bay, with a stiff breeze blowing and the mercury at 70 degrees.
On the Pacific side of the archipelago-the eastern side beyond the mountains, the rainy season, in
place of occurring during the months of July,
August and September, occurs during the period of




A CARABAO. CART USE  FOR TRANSPORTING HEMP IN ALBAY PROVINC




I




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY:              51
the northeast monsoon. Also, it might be noted that
throughout the extreme southern part of the archipelago, typhoons are practically unknown. Again,
certain islands, due to their formation and size,
enjoy constant sea breezes and so are cooler than
others, but as a general proposition, the climate in
and about Manila may be taken as fairly typical of
that found elsewhere in the islands.
You will remember the statement that in almost
any city in the United States the temperature occasionally goes far above that ever experienced in
the Philippine Islands. This is literally true. The
highest temperature ever recorded by the weather
observatory in Manila was 102 degrees Fahrenheit
and occurred in the year 1914. Since that time,
the highest temperature experienced was just a
little over 99 degrees, while the ordinary maximum
during the hot season is from 96 to 97 degrees.
As has been noted above, however, this is compensated by the fact that there is almost always a good
breeze blowing, and wherever one may be, the nights
are uniformly cool.
I am writing this article during the midst of the
hot season, almost the 1st of May, and this afternoon my thermometer recorded 96 degrees, while at
present-this being at night-the thermometer registers but 78 degrees, and there is a good breeze
blowing. This is the rule, so that few, if any, really




52   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


hot nights are experienced, and even though one
may be warm and perspiring when going to bed, he
is usually glad to pull a coder over him before
morning to keep warm.
Still one other peculiarity of the climate in the
Philippines must be mentioned, a phenomenon which
no one, to date, has been able to explain in spite of
the fact that scientists interested in the subject
have spent a considerable amount of time studying
it. That is the fact that "sun stroke" is practically
unknown in the Philippine archipelago. In Hongkong, 600 miles to the northwest, in a climate essentially cooler than that of the islands, sun stroke
is quite a common occurrence. In fact, throughout
the tropical part of the Far East, sun stroke occurs
among Caucasians with disagreeable frequency, yet
here, so far as I have been able to ascertain, there
has yet to be recorded one single case of real sun
stroke, and this in spite of the fact that the tropical
sun, during the hot season, beats down with an intensity seldom, if ever, equaled in the United States.
In spite of the sun, resident Caucasians play
golf, ride, swim and take other forms of exercise
with impunity, even during the middle of the dayoften bareheaded, regardless of their bald spotsand still sun stroke never occurs.
In nearly all the rest of the tropic portion of the
Orient, Caucasians wear pith or cork helmets, or




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


53


protect their heads by double felt hats. Sun stroke,
in other parts of the Orient, is no myth. It does
actually occur and numerous cases are recorded
each year from almost all of the Far Eastern tropics, except the Philippine Islands.
There are many explanations for this phenomenon, none of which are satisfactory. These vary
from high humidity to the obstruction of the actinic
rays by a peculiarly dense atmosphere, but none of
them "fill the bill." I simply mention the fact for
what it is worth so that if you visit the islands, do
not purchase a sun helmet before coming out, for
not only the natives but the white residents will
laugh you to scorn if they see you arrive wearing a
helmet, which is considered a typically British piece
of dress in the Far East.
In this connection, I beg to digress somewhat in
order to take up the matter of dress for the tropics.
From a standpoint of comfort, of course, the natives
have all the best of it. VWith a naturally high degree of pigmentation of the eyes, skin and hair,
they stand an amount of tropic sun impossible for
the Caucasian, especially for those classed as
"blonds." As a rule, native dress, except in the
case of the few who, living in centers of population,
have acquired Occidental customs, is exceedingly
simple. Even in the case of the comparative dandy,




54      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
white trousers, a thin undershirt and a "chino camisa" (a low-collared, extremely thin fabric shirt,
the tail of which is allowed to hang outside the
trousers), a pair of "chinelas" (the heelless slippers
in universal use throughout the islands), and the
whole surmounted by a large hat of woven bamboo,
make an ideal costume for the tropics. v
What I wish to emphasize, is the fact that the
average Caucasian insists on adhering rigorously
to American or, if you please, European style clothing, which results in discomfort entirely out of proportion to the height of the mercury, for this style
of clothing is not adapted to the tropics. Yet,
withal, Caucasians in the islands dress much more
sensibly for warm weather than do our people
(especially our men) in the United States during
the hot summer season, for the use of "whites," as
white suits are known, is universal throughout the
islands, and one and all-conservative and radical
alike-(as far as the matter of dress is concerned)
get into whites within a week of their arrival, and
in whites they remain up to the time of departure.
In this way they manage to maintain a degree of
comfort impossible to attain were they dressed in
the usual Occidental garb consisting, at least in
part, of wool. Silk, linen and cotton are practically
the only fabrics used here and all have the advantage of being washable. Furthermore, since laun



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


55


dry work is exceedingly reasonable, all are able to
appear each morning in a freshly starched, clean
white suit.
A word of advice to those contemplating a visit
to the tropics. Do not make that most lamentable
and almost universal mistake of endeavoring to outfit yourselves with "whites" in the States or in
Europe. Such garments, made in either Europe or
the United States, fall far short of the native product, either in cut or utility, and there is no village
in the entire tropic Orient, regardless of where one
goes-Philippines, China, Malay States, India or
the South Sea Islands-where presentable white garments cannot be tailored to fit, within a few hours
of the time of arrival. Not only will these garments
be more satisfactory, but will cost about one-third
the price demanded for similar clothing in the
United States. Men's white duck suits-trousers,
vest and coat-made of well shrunken material, will
be turned out in from four to six hours after arrival, for a matter of P. 12.00 ($6.00) a suit. The
same garments made of poorer materials in the
United States cost from $15.00 to $25.00.
The same thing is true of shoes, hats, underwear,
socks, etc. The moral of this is, "Delay purchase
of tropical garments until you reach the tropics,"
which will not entail more than three or four hours'
discomfort, for your Chino tailor (throughout the




56       THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
Orient the tailors are practically all Chinese) will
turn out your first suit within a period of six hours,
and this suit will fit and will be delivered to your
house or hotel, freshly laundered and ready to wear.
Practically every one visiting the tropics for the
first time is prone to purchase at least a limited
quantity of white clothing, shoes and cork helmets
prior to departure, all of which will either be consigned to the trash barrel, or become the property
of the house-boy within a few hours of arrival.
But to resume our discussion of sun stroke.!It is
a source of considerable amusement to residents to
see visitors upon their arrival in Manila wearing
broad-brimmed sun helmets, veils and similar articles designed as protection against "the terrific heat
of the TROPICS."' It must be disappointing to the
visitor being thus dressed to see among the crowds
collected at the pier to greet the arrival of the ship,
anywhere from   ten to one hundred Americans
dressed in well fitting, well starched white clothes,
bareheaded, in spite of the sun, and I suspect that
the new arrival to the islands wears his sun helmet
ashore with much the same feeling that he would if
he were found walking down Fifth Avenue in his
pajamas. I know I did. L




NATURAL RESOURCES


I AM sure that a very few Americans have any conception of the vast economic possibilities of the
Philippine Islands. IEvery effort of nature seems
to have been directed to the end that the islands
might be one of the most naturally productive spots
on the face of the globe, Blessed with a beneficent
climate, a plentiful rainfall, and with everything in
favor of the rapid maturing of all agricultural products, there is no reason why the United States
should not fill practically all of her demands for
tropical products from her own territory, the Philippines, which are quite capable of producing sufficient to meet this demand.
Not only are there practically unlimited agricultural resources, but the islands are a veritable treasure house of mineral wealth which, to date, is practically untouched.
Rice —From an agricultural standpoint, one of
the most important products of the islands is rice,
the standard basic food of the population! Unfortunately, while the Philippines grow great quantities of this cereal, and the diet of the natives, as
far as starchy food is concerned, consists almost exclusively of rice, within recent years, due to certain
57




58   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


unfortunate influences at work, instigated largely by
Americans, many young Filipinos who should be
engaged in really gainful pursuits and in the production of foodstuffs, have drifted to the various
cities and have come to consider life in the provinces,
and the production of various products entailing
manual labor, demeaning. As a result, "at present
the islands do not raise a sufficient amount of rice
to supply their domestic consumption, and during
the past two years it has been necessary to import
considerable quantities of this cereal, largely from
French Indo-China.'
'The Filipino agriculturist, the "tao," as he is
called, is very slow to adopt modern agricultural
methods so that the per capita production in the
islands in almost any line of agricultural commodity
is comparatively low, considering the natural climatic advantages." With time and education in modern agricultural methods, together with the necessary change in sentiment among the younger generation of Filipinos, the production of rice should
be sufficient to meet the local demand and possibly
leave a balance for export.
'The planting, cultivating and threshing of rice
is carried qn in the islands very much as it was 200
years ago. All of it is planted and harvested by
hand, and the greater part is threshed and winnowed in the same way. L




THIESHING RICE WITH A HAND MILL
~;-i-  i: i-  ii




I




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


59


In place of being diked into large areas which
could be flooded, the rice-producing districts are divided into exceedingly small plots by earthen dikes.
Seed rice is planted very thickly in small beds and
allowed to sprout to a height of about six inches.
With the beginning of the rains, or earlier, where
water is available for irrigation, individual plots
or paddies are flooded and become quagmires to a
depth of from one and a half to two feet. These are
then harrowed with a primitive, rake-like arrangement about four feet in width, having teeth some
eighteen inches long, with handles attached to the
back of the frame. This contraption is drawn by
a single carabao, the mud in the plot being thoroughly turned over and softened by the repeated
passage of the rake-like harrow. The whole affair
is followed by a native dressed in extremely sketchy
costume who holds the handles of the harrow and
wades after it with slow, painful steps through six
inches of water and eighteen inches of mud. After
the earth is thoroughly softened, the newly sprouted
rice from the seed bed is transplanted by hand, the
whole family taking part in the planting. Even
those members of the family who live in the cities are
often called home to help in planting, so that during
this season vacations among domestic servants are
the rule. It is a most piUresque sight to see men,
women and children, e'ch carrying a bundle of




60   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


young rice plants, wading through the muck, often
well above their knees, setting out the young plants.
As the rice develops, less work is necessary in caring
for it until it is ready to harvest.
When ready to harvest, rice fields look remarkably like fields of ripe wheat, although the stalks
are usually not quite so long as wheat, and are cut
while still slightly green so that the grain will not
fall from the heads. Harvesting is done by hand,
using a kind of sickle to cut the stalks, six or eight
inches above the ground.
Frequently, instead of being threshed, the rice
is left attached to the stalks, which are done up
for sale in very smooth, beautiful bundles called
"gaba."  After the crop is cut, it is built up into
small picturesque stacks, each stack usually surmounted-this being a strong Catholic countryby a small wooden cross. After cutting and stacking, threshing begins. While there are a few power
threshers in use in the islands, by far the greater
portion of the crop is beaten out by flailing the
straw with jointed bamboo flails. Most of this work
is done by the women, who clear a bare space on the
earth near the stacks, scatter the straw containing
the rice over the area, and alternately stamp it and
pound it with flails, until the grain is loosened from
the stalk, after which the straw is gathered up by
hand and stacked for fodder.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


61


The next step is winnowing. Broad, flat baskets
are used for this purpose, and as there is nearly
always a good breeze blowing, the grain and chaff
are thrown into the air, the wind carries the chaff
away, allowing the heavier part, the grain, to fall
to the ground. This process is repeated until all
grain is separated, after which it is swept up and
placed in baskets.
The next process in the preparation of this product for consumption is that of polishing, which consists in removing the outer covering from the rice.
This covering, which is known as the "pericarp,"
contains practically all the vitamins, to say nothing
of valuable mineral salts, which are either wasted
or are used as food for the pony or carabao.
Polishing also is usually done by the women, who
take the rice to their homes and, as these are built
on high stilts, utilize the sheltered space beneath as
a polishing floor.
The rice, covered with the brown outer hull, is
placed in a hollow in the end of a short, heavy wood
block, usually merely a section of the trunk of a
tree, and is pounded with bulky, wooden mauls attached to bamboo handles until the covering of the
grain is worn off. Sometimes, in place of a maul,
a double ended pestle of wood is used for the same
purpose.
The resulting product is the polished rice of com



62       THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
merce. Of course, there are machines which will
do this equally well, but they are not in common
use in the Philippines. In the process of polishing
the grain by this method, a certain amount of it is
cracked. This, while quite as good a food as the
whole grain, is not highly esteemed, and is sold, according to the size of the fragments, as either third
or fourth grade rice.
In this connection, it might be well to mention
Yberi-beri, a very common disease throughout the
Orient, which is attributed, in part at least, to this
custom of polishing rice.
Beri-beri, which causes annually a large number
of deaths, not to mention the thousands of temporary cripples from paralysis, is a disease of the
nerves, kidneys and heart, caused by the lack of a
certain essential vitamin in the diet.
This vitamin is present in a considerable amount
in the brown outer covering of rice, and as the diet
of the natives is essentially rice, beri-beri may be
attributed to the custom of using only white, or
highly milled, rice from which all the vitamin has
been removed by polishing.
It has only been during the last few years, when
beri-beri became so prevalent in the Japanese Navy
as to incapacitate a large proportion of the enlisted
men, that a serious study of this disease was made.
As a result of their studies, the Japanese concluded




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


63


that it was due to a deficient diet and prohibited the
use of highly milled rice among their enlisted men,
issuing instead what is known as "brown rice,"
that is, rice from which the pericarp has not been
removed. The result was the practical disappearance of beri-beri from the Japanese Navy within
a year.
Since that time, attempts have been made in practically all the countries of the Far East to popularize the use of brown rice in the diet, but the people accustomed to white grain look with disfavor
on it as a foodstuff and in spite of all protests, laws,
lectures and appeals, continue to use the highly
milled product. Do not get the impression that
beri-beri is the result of eating polished rice. Beriberi is the result of eating practically nothing but
polished rice, for no one, either in the Orient or
elsewhere, living on a moderately well balanced general diet, develops beri-beri, regardless of the amount
of white rice eaten.
Unless the reader has visited the Orient and has
seen the native diet, it may be difficult for him to
understand why such a disease develops, but the ordinary diet throughout most Malay countries, regardless of foodstuffs available, consists of two
things-rice and fish. Furthermore, the grain,
in place of being prepared as we are accustomed to
it, is first washed in clear, cool water to remove dust




64,THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
and small particles, incidentally thereby removing
what little vitamin bearing pericarp might have remained among the grains. Next, it is placed in
cold water to which a little salt is added and is
brought to a boil, but is allowed to cook for only a
few minutes until the outer part of the grain is
softened. When it becomes sufficiently slippery to
go down the gullet readily, it is considered cooked,
and is eaten in this condition, either hot or cold.
Frequently, the only addition made to this diet is a
small amount of fisB, either fresh or dried, often
only a portion the size of a sardine, added to give
flavor to the meal. Knives, forks and other eating
utensils are practically never used, the fingers serving in lieu of them. The modus operandi consists of
picking up with the fingers a small amount of the
rice, making a sort of a ball of it, placing a tiny
piece of fish on the top and poppin it into the
mouth. Occasionally, one or twcdbana are added
to this diet, rarely anything more. The average
American would literally starve to death within a
short time on such a diet, yet these people, being
accustomed to it, actually do hard labor, sustained
by nothing further in the food line. It seems
strange that in spite of the comparative abundance
of fresh fruits and vegetables the natives do not
avail themselves of these as a part of their dietary,
but, by preference, their meals consist of this simple




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


65


food which, while filling, does not have sufficient
quantities of certain elements to constitute a balanced ration. The result is that they suffer from
many physical disabilities and illnesses attributable
to their dietary.
To one unacquainted with the idiosyncrasies of
the native, the queer part of the whole situation is
the fact that when given a well balanced general
diet, he, accustomed to his rice and fish, complains
most bitterly of the food. The result is, too often,
an undernourished individual with a very low resistance to disease, undernourished, in spite of the fact
that, given the usual diet, each eats tremendous
quantities, possibly twice as much in bulk as the
average individual unaccustomed to it could possibly stow away. WhPt        ffhisl halaneknative diet and gigen  ea -vegetb     re   and
other substances in addition, the native not infrequently complains bitterl-yhatthe food is "not fit
toea" —antdhat he-is starving to death." This, in
spite of the fact that within a very short time, on
the increased diet, he always gains weight, becomes
more alert, both bodily and mentally, and soon assumes an entirely different appearance. There has
en withinthe past few year, Peially since the
A.riamln eupa nti a,. a steady, if slow, improvement
in the native dietary. This is especially true among
the city dwellers, and more especially among those




66   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


who have been taught something regarding proper
diet in the schools. As a result, more vegetables
and fruits are being consumed each year, and it is
hoped that, given a sufficient amount of time, the
native may be educated to a point where he will
make a real endeavor to secure a reasonably liberal
general diet.
In this connection, the average medical man from
the United States, called on to practice in the Philippine Islands, especially to supervise the diet of infants and children, is literally at his wit's end until
he develops new ideas regarding dietetic principles.
While it is quite customary for women to(urs
their children up to the age of two or three years,
sometimes even longer, it is not uncommon to see
infants, three and four months old, being fed on
hard, half-cooked rice which apparently does them
no harm, since they seem to digest it and thrive. An
American infant given a similar diet would, in all
probability, die within the month. Certainly, he
would suffer from continuous colic and would be a
most unhappy baby.
Sugar-The soil and climate of the Philippines
is particularly adapted to the production of sugar.
Cane has been grown and sugar made for many
years, though until recently very little more was
produced than was necessary to meet local demands.
Within the past twenty years, the production has




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


67


so increased that Philippine sugar today plays an
important part in the sugar markets of the world
and, as far as the possibilities in this line are concerned, only the merest beginning has been made,
in spite of the fact that the total sugar production
for last year was over 500,000 tons.
Several of the islands, of which Negros is the
largest, are devoted almost entirely to the raising
of cane and manufacture of sugar..4Abgaq-One of the most important products of
the islands and the one for which they are probably
best known, is abaca, often called "Philippine
Hemp," but still better known in the United States
and Europe as "Manila Fiber." At present the
islands are the sole source of this fiber so necessary
in the manufacture of high grade    nd rdae.
While it is true that the cheaper grades of cordage
can be made of other fibers, such as maguey and
sisal, when the demand comes for high-class, firstquality rope fiber, it is to tTle Philippine Islands
that the rope makers of the world)turn. 
Most of you will be surprised to learn that this
fiber is the product of a plant or tree which, to the
uninitiated, cannot be distinguished from the
banana plant. In fact, it is one of the many
varieties of banana and even bears fruit which, however, is not edible. Fortunately for the Philippines,
attempts at raising abaca elsewhere have uniformly




68      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
been failures, so that today the islands enjoy a
monopoly in the production of this essential commodity.
In preparing the fiber for commerce, the whole
plant or tree is cut down, and the broad stems of
the leaves, which are found wrapped about the central core to form a trunk, are peeled from the trunk,
one at a time, placed in a double comb-like arrangement, and then either by hand power or by machine
the fiber, which we know as "Manila Fiber," is
stripped free of pulp and the overlying covering.
The fiber, a beautiful, yellowish-white tress, resembling horse hair in texture, often ten, twelve,
or even fifteen feet in length, is next dried and put
up in bales for shipment. Due to the almost absolute monopoly which the islands enjoy in this field,
the abaca industry is, from an economic standpoint,
highly important to the islands. X total of 50,000
tons of this fiber, having a value of $25,000,000,
was exported last year.
Cocoanut ---The next most important agricultural
product of the islands is cocoanut. Not that cocoanuts, as such, are of particular value, but because
of the copra produced from their meat.
I remember, as a boy, reading of the South Sea
Islands and repeatedly seeing the word "copra,"
but always assumed that it was some substance fished
up from the sea. I presume I could have gotten




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


69


more definite information had I gone to a dictionary
or encyclopedia, but it never struck me to do this,
and I believe it would be a safe wager that not less
than eighty per cent of my readers are in the same
predicament, and that to them the word "copra"
conveys nothing further than a vague idea of some
product which is collected in the South Sea Islands.
As a matter of fact, under present day conditions,
copra is an absolutely essential part of our civilization, furnishing as it does, in its final form,
many of our necessities, to say nothing of our
luxuries.
Briefly, copra is the dried meat of the cocoanut
and is valuable on account of its high oil content.
A good grade of copra yields as high as sixty per
cent of pure cocoanut oil by weight.
\\The production of copra and cocoanut oil is an
extremely important industry in the Philippines.
It is estimated that there are no less than 1,000,000,000 cocoanut trees in the islands, many of them not
yet bearing but all producing annually about 5,000,000,000 nuts, most of which are utilized in the
preparation of copra, from which the oil is either
pressed at mills located in the islands, or is exported
in the form of copra to Europe or the United States
for the extraction of the oil there! When it is considered that the total consumption of cocoanut oil
in the United States amounts to 355,000 tons per




70      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
year, and that the Philippines produce one-third
of the total world production, the importance of
the islands to the United States, from this standpoint alone, is brought home. Most of the oil is
used in the manufacture of soaps and in the production of vegetable butters and lard substitutes.4
Practically all soaps manufactured in the United
States, with the exception of a few of the coarser
and cheaper grades, are made from cocoanut oil,
and should the supply be suddenly cut off soap
manufacture would necessarily stop. This condition existed in Germany during the World War,
when a cake of soap the size of a "Guest Cake" of
Ivory, even though of inferior quality, sold for whatever the owner wished to ask for it, and even after
the war, when the importation of cocoanut oil into
Germany had again begun, a small cake of good
soap, manufactured from cocoanut oil, cost the
equivalent of $1.00. It is no exaggeration to say
that a fair degree of our much vaunted present-day
civilization depends on the use of soap, and there
is literally nowhere to turn for the oils necessary to
manufacture the vast quantities used, except to the
cocoanut plantations of the tropics, of which the
Philippine Islands have such numbers.    j
In the southern part of the Island of Luzon,
there is a district surrounding the city of San Pablo
(St. Paul), a district of approximately 2,500 square




OPE0NING COCOANTS TO MAKE COPRA   THE NUTS ARE FIRST HUSKED THEN THE
SHELL IS BROKEN WITH A ROLO




I




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


71


miles, which is literally one immense cocoanut grove.
It is stated that within a radius of 80 miles of this
city of 50,000 people, there are more cocoanut trees,
and more cocoanuts, than in any area of the same
size anywhere in the world. Having visited this
district, I am quite prepared to believe it. Fortunately for tourists, excellent automobile roads traverse this province in every direction, and one of
the most beautiful drives in the world is through the
groves from Los Banos (The Baths) to Pagsanjan,
or to Lucena and Antimonan. On either of these
drives, for a distance of 50 or 60 miles, one is literally never out of a cocoanut grove.
While cocoanuts do grow wild all over the islands,
on the plantations the trees are planted in regular 
rows, and are carefully cultivated. In passing
through one of these groves, row after row of cocoanut palms stretch away for miles, as far as the
eye can see. No low branches obstruct the view,
and the ground beneath the trees, usually with a
growth of heavy, green turf, is as well kept as in
a park, while overhead the interlacing leaves of
the trees of this most productive of all palms furnish a deep, grateful shade from the sun.
In the commercil production of cocoanuts, a
native family is usually given a certain area for
which they are responsible. In the center of this
plot it is customary for them to build a palm



72   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


thatched bamboo house so that a constant watch can
be maintained on their charges.' It is most interesting and picturesque to drive through the cocoanut groves at night, since then the dead leaves and
debris falling from the trees are burned, and the
grove, for A half mile in every direction from the
roaring fire, is lit up, sharply silhouetting every tree,
while the natives themselves look like goblins dodging in and out among the trees feeding the fires.
When planting cocoanuts, a ripe nut is placed
in earth which is kept constantly moist until sprouts
start to grow from the three little holes or depressions to be found at one end of the nut. When the
plant is about a foot in height, it is transplanted
to its permanent location. Cocoanut trees develop
rather rapidly and usually start bearing fruit about
the end of the fifth year, reaching their maximum
growth and development about the twentieth year.
Each fully developed and well-cared-for tree will
produce about 100 nuts annually, each of which
is worth, in the wholesale market, from two to two
and a half cents in American money. Ordinarily,
cocoanut plantations are worked on shares, although
at times the owner prefers to pay outright for labor,
usually P. 80 to P. 40 ($15 to $20) a month for each
male worker, who is assisted without compensation
by his entire family.
When the nuts are fully matured the native, usu



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


73


ally dressed in the height of simplicity, either in a
G-string or a very much abbreviated pair of
trousers and with a bolo in his belt, walks up the
tree, in a manner totally impossible to one not
trained from childhood in this type of climbing, and
with his bolo (a heavy knife about eighteen to
twenty inches long)Jhacks off the nuts, which are
gathered up, usuall by his family, from the ground
beneath. The nuts with their heavy, green fibrous
covering are either pjJd up for husking and shipment, or are carted toa.aiopen space where they are
split and the meat removed, to be dried slowly over
a fire built in a pit dug in the ground. This dried
cocoanut meat, known as copra, is put up in bags
and is either shipped to one of the oil extracting
plants in the islands, or is bought by copra buyers
for axport to the United States or Europe.
Not all cocoanuts are used to make copra, as they
form one of the staple articles of diet for the native, and one of the interesting sights in Luzon is
to see great rafts of nuts being floated down the
Pasig River for the markets in Manila.
In addition, a considerable number of nuts are
used in the manufacture of desiccated cocoanut,
those delicious threads with which we adorn cakes
and other forms of pastry. The desiccated cocoanut industry is merely in its infancy in the islands,
although it is growing rapidly, and many hundreds




74     ITHE PHILIPPINES TODAY
of tons of this product are shipped to the United
States each year. In desiccating cocoanut, the nuts
are first husked, the hard shell removed, and each
nut washed carefully in clean running water. The
meat is next broken into moderate-sized pieces which
are put through mechanical threaders, which may
be regulated to turn out the various sizes of threads
of cocoanut meat demanded by the market at home.
After the meat is shredded, it is dried, either on an
endless belt over furnaces, or in pans, until all
possible moisture has been driven off, after which
it is packed and sealed in air tight containers in
order that it will not deteriorate in its journey
across the ocean.
Tobaco ---!Still another agricultural product of
the Philippines which is of very considerable importance and furnishes one of the more valuable of
the export commodities, is tobacco, which is raised
to a greater or less extent throughout the whole
of the archipelago.' It differs somewhat from the
flavor of the tobacco to which Americans are accustomed, but the finest grades are extremely good
and smokers becoming accustomed to the slight
difference in flavor, and having once acquired a taste
for Philippine tobacco, continue to use it whenever
obtainable. The best grades are produced in the
northern part of the island of Luzon, from whence
it is either shipped by coasting vessels from the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY,


75


mouth of the Cagayan River to Manila, some 350
miles distant, or via automobile trucks down the
length of the islandf Practically all cigars and
cigarettes for export are manufactured in Manila in
large well-built factories, under strict supervision,
and from a sanitary standpoint, are quite as good
as those manufactured anywhere. Only a few firms
manufacture good grades of tobacco products for
export, and while tobacco is comparatively cheap in
the islands, considering the quality used and the
care exercised in manufacture, the better grades
of Philippine cigars are not cheap in the United
States, after the import duty and tax have been paid.
Unfortunately, for Philippine tobacco products,
export business in this line developed years ago,
when every house was a cigar factory, and as a
consequence, the islands gained a reputation for
cheap cigars of coarse tobacco, cigars which sold
in the United States for one, two or three cents
each. Of course, these cigars were not made under
sanitary supervision, nor were they made of select
tobacco, but as a result, Philippine cigars, except
among those few individuals who know the better
grades, have never been held in high repute in the
United States. Even today, unfortunately for the
trade, many small companies manufacture these
cheap cigars for export and vast quantities of them,
known as "Londres," are shipped out. In spite of




76      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
the handicap of this reputation, the manufacturers
of good grades of tobacco products cannot meet the
demands of their export trade, as there is a constantly increasing demand in the United States and
elsewhere for the better grades of Philippine cigars,
retailing at anywhere from ten to twenty-five cents.
In the Philippines the same price in centavos makes
good cigars fairly reasonable, a really excellent
cigar in the Philippines costing about twenty
centavos (ten cents in U. S. money.)
`...J,,,its —Another agricultural industry of potential importance to the Philippines, from an export
standpoint, is the fruit industry. Tropical fruits
of all kinds grow in abundance throughout the entire archipelago. Among the more common fruits,
all of which are really excellent, and but very few
of which are known in the United States, are bananas, mangoes, papayas, mangosteens, pineapples,
pomeloes, lanzonias, chicoes, oranges and lemons.
There are at least 72 edible varieties of bananas
raised in the islands, varying in size according to
the species, from two and one-half inches to well
over a foot in length. Many of these may be eaten
raw, others are cooking bananas with which the
people of the United States are totally unacquainted... Mango-A fruit which is almost a total stranger
in the United States, but one which for deliciousness




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY              77
and food value excels almost any other fruit, is the
mango. They are grown in various parts of the
world, a few even being raised in southern Florida,
but nowhere in the world does the mango attain such
size and excellence as in the Philippine Islands. A
single mango often weighs as much as one and
one-half pounds. The fruit is, in appearance,
somewhat like a well ripened, yellow pear, although
elliptical in shape. Mangoes begin to ripen in the
islands about the middle of February and continue
in the market until the beginning of the rainy
season in June. The value of this fruit to the natives is indicated by the fact that the consumption
of practically all imported foodstuffs falls about
forty per cent during the mango season. The
fruit grows on a tree which has exceedingly heavy,
dark green foliage. "These trees often attain tremendous size and continue to bear fruit for as many
as 200 years. In addition to the delicious fruit
which this tree bears in such abundance, it makes a
fine shade tree and one of the most beautiful drives
to be found anywhere is along the Manila north
road, which for mile after mile is bordered on each
side with tremendous mango trees which arch completely over the road, and furnish a deep shade, no
matter how hot the day. I have been told that many
of these trees bordering this road were set out almost 200 years ago and with time have attained




78      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
extraordinary size, many of them measuring almost
five feet in diameter through the trunk.
Paaya-tStill another delicious fruit raised in
great abundance here is the papaya, which grows
on a stalk as large as a treebut which in the manner
of its growth and appearance resembles more a
giant weed than anything else. Except that it has
a smooth, green rind, the fruit is very similar in
appearance and taste to a prime cantaloup of large
size, the meat being pinkish yellow in color> As
a breakfast fruit, it is excellent and can be purchased cheaply anywhere in the islands throughout
the entire year. A large papaya, sufficient for six
or eight persons, costs about thirty centavos (fifteen
cents), in the market.
Mangosteen-There is another fruit grown in
the islands which is such a rare exotic that it is
found in but few places in the world.' I refer to the
mangosteen, which grows in considerable abundance
in the southern islands, and which has been pronounced by epicures the most delicate and deliciously
flavored fruit obtainable in the world. ^'The fruit,
with its outer covering, is about the size of a small
apple, and when ripe is a dark, reddish russet color
on the outside.r The outer pulp is from  threeeighths to one-half inch thick, which when removed,
exposes a small, white, delicious tasting kernel of
fruit about the size of an ordinary English wal



*A   AT
TXE PAPAA PLANT A GIANT WE WI H1IC  GR1WS TO TUN
SIZ  P A TO   AND HAS A DELICIOUS FrIT THAT
OSELY R MES THE MUSKMEL0N
~~~~~~i~~~~~~~~~~"~~~A




I




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


83


vestors seems to be that, should the Filipino people
secure their independence, they would be unable to
maintain a stable government, or to maintain peace
among the various tribes making up the population,
with consequent disaster to investments, which in
turn would lead to a reassumption of control of the
islands by one or another foreign government.
Apparently, the leaders of the independence
movement are quite aware of this sentiment, and
furthermore, are apparently themselves fearful of
such an outcome, so that to date, the Land Laws
stand an insuperable bar to the development of the
rubber industry in the islands.
Some endeavor has been made, but without
marked success, to induce small land holders to plant
rubber. The general impression exists, as a result
of observations made in the British and Dutch colonies, that the successful production of rubber can
only be accomplished by corporations willing to invest heavily, and to tie up their money for a considerable period of years, while waiting for their
plantations to begin to produce sufficiently to show
a profit on the investment.
_Lumber —MA product of the Philippines somewhat
re~ated o agriculture, which is of very considerable
value from an economic standpoint, is lumber.
There are immense tracts of harw.Qods throughout
the islands, the very names of most of which are




U84     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
unknown in the United States, but which are extremely valuable for certain purposes.'! Among the
more valuable of these are Lauan, Ipil, Apitong,
Camagon, Ebony, Molave, Narra, Tangili and Tindalo, not to mention twenty-five or thirty more
which are of commercial importance. These woods,
when exported, are usually marketed in the United
States, not under their own names, but under various trade names. For instance, Philippine mahogany resembles mahogany in certain aspects, but is
not true mahogany, nor has any attempt been made
by the Philippine exporters to put this wood on the
market as mahogany. It is known in the islands as
"Camagon," and the trade name "Philippine Mahogany" has been coined by the lumber dealers in
the United States to designate it.
There are a great many varieties of timber exported from the islands. Most of this is so extremely heavy and is so hard, that it is with difficulty that it can be cut with the ordinary tools
which American carpenters use in working softer
woods. It is used chiefly for furniture and veneers.
368,000,000 board feet of timber, amounting to a
value of over $2,000,000, was exported from the
islands during the past year, and there seems to be
a steadily increasing demand for this product of
the islands.
%  M eral Wealth-In speaking of natural re



MBtOb OFH TAPPITNG A RUBE CICR  THIE YUP At THE BASE
OT       TRUNK CATCHES         (9AP)




8~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




THE PHILIPPINES,TODAY


85


sources, the mineral wealth of the islands must not
be overlooked. More or less mountainous, of volcanic origin, the islands are, both figuratively and
literally, a gold mine, though to date, very few deposits of the various minerals have ever been touched.
During the World War, the Japanese opened and
worked certain iron deposits and shipped a very
considerable amount of ore to Japan for smelting.
I have been told by an expert metallurgist that 4ome
of the purest and finest iron ores to be found anywhere in the world are located in the islands, and
that furthermore, these deposits are very extensive,
though they never have been properly explored to
determine their extent. " At present there is practically no demand for iron on account of the lack
of manufacturing in the islands.
There are several deposits of coal, some few of
which are being worked, but as they are rather difficult of access, and their development would cost a
considerable amount of money, nothing is being
done with them, and as a consequence, Japanese coal
is largely in use throughout the islands. It is true
that some of these deposits of coal are not of a high
grade, but I am reliably informed that there are
large deposits of excellent coal in various parts of
the islands, that only await development.
In addition to iron and coal, there are also extensive deposits of copper, zinc, tin, silver, lead and
ituivrx",*:^:,9\u~<< #7* w~4i,+ *_,,,s,,*'~v j >t




86      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY:
various other metals through the mountains, none
of which are being exploited at present. While
gold occurs, it is being mined on a limited scale,
only two or three mines being worked. The best
known of these is the Benguet Consolidated, which is
near Baguio, about 150 miles north of Manila.
This mine has been worked for a number of years,
although the ore is not particularly rich, assaying
from $7 to $8 to the ton. Certain individuals
have claims where it is said that gold ore runs as
high as $30 to the ton on assay, but these claims
are in the more inaccessible parts of Luzon, and
development work has never been begun.
Now, as to the reason, in part at least, for the
lack of development of the mineral resources. The
chief obstacles are the mining laws of the islands. A
large part of the mineral deposits are in mountain
territory, which is the property of the Philippine
Government, and under the present regulations,
even though a mineral deposit be accessible for development, no profit, not even sufficient for the payment of machinery necessary for development, can
be expected in less than ten years' time, these laws
being so framed that the government takes the
major part of the total proceeds for several years.
As a result, many valuable mineral deposits merely
await a more favorable opportunity before an attempt will be made to work them.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


87


As an instance, I previously mentioned a gold
claim where the ore assayed from $25 to $30 per
ton, where it is known that there exists a large
workable vein of ore, yet the individuals holding
the claim are merely marking time and waiting for a
change in the law in order that they may profitably
develop it without being forced to hand over a major
portion of the profits for the use of those politically
astute gentlemen who control the government at
the present time.
Another factor which has to do with the failure
to develop the mineral resources in the islands is the
fact that foreign capital to date has beep very chary
of entering the islands because of the feeling possibly right, possibly wrong, that in case the Philipines gain their independence, investments.ould.
be at the mercy of an extremely capricious government, and that there would be no assurance that
they would be -alwed.tcautixua Qte e J
of their property, regardless of present guarantees.
Still one other factor which has had much to do
with the lack of development of the mineral resources of the islands, is that while there are many
wealthy Filipinos, they apparently prefer to make
their profit by loaning money at high rates of interest rather than by legitimate development enterprise. As a result, in spite of a considerable amount
of native wealth, almost none of it is utilized in




88      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
the development of natural resources. Nor, from
a business standpoint, can they be blamed, since the
legal rate of interest is 12 per cent per annum,
while, as a matter of fact, most small loans bring
from 16 to 25 per cent.
When the agricultural possibilities of the islands
become better known, regardless of the attempts of
the politicians to keep foreign capital away, all
the arable parts of the Philippines will become a
great plantation devoted to the production of those
products necessary to the economic welfare of the
United States, for these necessities can be produced
on our own soil as cheaply, and probably better,
than in any other tropical land. It is only a matter
of time before the islands, in place of supporting
but a few large sugar growing estates, will be literally dotted with vast sugar plantations. Through
additional planting, a sufficient amount of copra
and cocoanut oil will be produced here to supply
all our demands, and on which we shall have prior
rights. The further development of the tobacco industry here is only a matter of time in order that
our people may become acquainted and develop a
taste for Philippine tobacco in place of Porto Rican
and Cuban tobaccos so largely used in our cigar
industry.
Furthermore, there is no reason, with annabun



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY;


89


dance of suitable land lying idle in the islands, why
the United States should remain dependent on
Great Britain and Holland for her supply of crude
rubber, subject to their whims and caprices as to
the matter of price. The possibilities of the practically unlimited production of crude rubber in the
Philippines have been proven. It only remains to
secure such changes in the Land Laws that capital
may lay out plantations and develop this industry
on a sufficient scale to make it worth while.
As noted previously, the Philippines have at present an absolute monopoly on the production of fine
rope fiber (abaca), and though producing a sufficient amount at present to supply the demand, new
uses are continually being found for it by cordage
manufacturers.




POPULATION


ONE of the most difficult problems of which the
writer knows is that of attempting to discuss impartially any race or people. Our conceptions of a
people, our opinions of them, are often based on
trivial events and the conduct of individuals, rather
than on actual impartial data regarding them as a
whole. Add to this the fact that real impartial
scientific information regarding any race is most
difficult to obtain, other than in such matters as
average height, weight, etc., and one comes to realize
the reasons why different individuals, attempting to
analyze the characteristics of any group of people,
vary so widely in their conclusions. Then, too, certain sentimental factors may enter into the analysis,
or the matter of a sheltered viewpoint may give
a biased result. This was well illustrated by an
event which is said to have occurred during the
time when William Howard Taft was GovernorGeneral. Mr. Taft had come in contact with a
great many Filipinos, had traveled widely.throughout the islands, though as a natural result of the
exalted positions which he held-first as a Resident
Commissioner and later as Governor-General-he
was always more or less sheltered' from contacts
90




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


91


which were too unpleasant. His associates among
the Filipinos were largely of the better class, those
who were educated and who had at least attained a
veneer of Occidental civilization, and his actual
knowledge regarding the daily lives and conduct of
the people, when not on dress parade, was somewhat limited. As a result of his viewpoint, Governor Taft had, during a speech, referred to the
Filipino people as "our little brown brothers," and
there is no doubt that he felt that these people were
"little brown brothers." This was shortly after
the close of the Insurrection, when many of the
American troops were still in the islands; men who
had taken an active part in the suppression of the
Insurrection, and who had actually come into intimate contact with certain of the cruelties and
barbarities committed by the lawless guerilla bands,
not only upon the persons of Americans, but upon
their own people. These soldiers had an altogether
different viewpoint than did Governor Taft, and
this difference in outlook resulted in an occurrence
in the Manila Grand Opera House which was probably embarrassing to all concerned.
The personnel of a certain well known regiment
of that time had really become quite proficient in the
production of amateur theatricals, and were giving
a performance in the Opera House, a performance
attended by the then Governor-General Taft, al



92      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
though it appears that none of the members of the
cast had really realized the possibility of his attendance. One of the song hits of the show consisted
of a doggerel to the effect that "He may be a
brother of William H. Taft but he ain't no friend
of mine." Now, this was merely the result of a
different viewpoint, for these private soldiers had,
shortly before, been in the island of Samar, the last
of the islands in which guerilla warfare was suppressed, and this particular regiment had, through
guerilla warfare, and by means of bolo work done
in the dark, lost a great many members. The idea
of "brotherhood," which was probably all right
from a strictly impersonal standpoint, failed to
make a proper appeal to them.
Again, how personal experiences with individuals
is likely to color one's viewpoint, regardless of how
carefully one endeavors to be impartial, is further
illustrated by my own personal experience, as well
as that of my family.
We had come to the Philippines from one of the
larger cities of Europe, in a country boasting a
rather high type of civilization, where we had had
well trained, obedient and intelligent servants.
Upon our arrival in the Philippines, we lived at one
of the hotels for about a month, then took a comfortable house, which we proceeded to furnish, and




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY               93
began a struggle lasting for over a year in an endeavor to secure a staff of servants who were even
moderately efficient and satisfactory. This "staff
of servants" statement may sound a little "swanky"
to the average American on account of the scarcity
of domestic servants in the United States, but
throughout the Orient the servant situation is
easier. For one year, our house was in a continuous
state of turmoil. Servants were employed literally
by the dozen. In the course of the year, we had
employed, and either discharged or had been left in
the lurch by, no less than thirty-eight of them,
whose conduct varied from poor habits as regards
sanitation and hygiene to that of putting broken
glass in our foodstuffs. Without going into detail
as to the reasons for our domestic difficulties, it was
in part due to the fact that we expected trained
servants in the European sense, which we did not
get, and secondly, being strictly newcomers and
never having come into contact with Orientals
to any extent before, we were absolute failures in
handling them. As we found later, these same servants are comparatively good and easy to handle,
provided one understands their limitations. The
point which I wish to make, however, is this: As the
result of this series of most unpleasant experiences
with Filipino servants, even though they were, of
course, comparatively uneducated, and of an in



94+     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
ferior type of Filipino, it was difficult for us to disassociate them as individuals from the entire Filipino race. In fact, I think that we included in our
general anathema all Malays, and I am not certain
we did not include the entire Orient.
On account of our experiences, and the fact that
we were physically uncomfortable, and mentally
wrought up, we literally hated the islands, their
people, their climate and everything connected with
the archipelago. At the end of a year, probably in
part because we had learned what to expect, and
had adapted ourselves to the customs of the East,
we secured a really excellent household staff, with
the result that during the second year our ideas
regarding the islands, and more especially regarding the natives as a whole, underwent a most radical
change. From considering them as the most depraved, degraded, ignorant, uneducated and generally good-for-nothing lot on the face of the earth,
we rather swung to the opposite extreme, merely
on account of the fact that those individuals of the
race with whom we came into more or less intimate
contact, were pleasant to deal with, and because we
were again physically and mentally comfortable.
A volume might be written on the effects of bodily comfort and mental ease on the opinions of individuals regarding any certain people.
As a matter of fact, neither our conclusions at the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


95


end of the first year, nor our conclusions at the end
of the second year, were correct. Filipinos are certainly not the antithesis of all good which we had
pictured them during our unpleasant experiences,
nor are they the paragons of goodness and virtue
which we were inclined to picture them during our
second year. As a race, they fall somewhere in the
mean between the two extremes and have many virtues and good points, although, on the other hand,
they have quite as many faults and failings.
As we noted under our brief resume of the history of the islands, the original population, sparse
as it must have been, was negroid or negritic in
character; they being extremely small, black individuals, with the kinky hair, thick lips and flattened
noses which we have learned to associate with the
African Negro. These tribes were displaced by
Indonesians who occupied the northern part of
the Philippine archipelago, gradually driving the
Negritos into the mountain districts, where they
still reside, although their total number amounts to
only a comparatively few thousands. We further
noted that the central and southern parts of the
archipelago were populated by Malays, the brown
folk of the earth, who penetrated the islands from
the Malay Peninsula by way of Borneo and the Sulu
Islands. The story of the origin of the Malay race,
as told by the Filipinos themselves, is as follows:




96   THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


"At the completion of the labors of God Almighty
in creating the world, he decided to make man to
inhabit it. Accordingly, He took up a lump of clay,
modeled it carefully into the semblance of a man
and placed it over a fire to bake, even as pottery is
baked at the present time. The first man whom
God modeled, He left over the fire for too long a
time and the result was the black man, the Negro,
who was black from overbaking. Dissatisfied with
the results of His first endeavor, He took more clay,
modeled this into the semblance of a man and placed
it over the fire for baking, but being fearful of attaining the same result as on the occasion of His
first endeavor, He removed the clay too soon,
and the result was the white man-white from underbaking. With these two experiences as lessons,
He once more carefully modeled a portion of clay
into the semblance of a man, placed it over the fire
and baked it to a delicate brown color. This,
according to the story, was the Malay, the final
product of the labors of God Almighty in the creation of man."
V\    The Malay.population, then, are brown men, not
Negroes, not Caucasians, not Mongolians, although
they are, undoubtedly, related to the yellow races of
the Orient (the Chinese and Japanese), but are a
separate and distinct race of people who inhabit
the Far Eastern portion of the continent of Asia,




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


97


the Philippines, and, with very slight differentiation,
practically all the South Sea Islands between the
Philippines and Australia, and roughly all the
islands lying between the Indian Ocean and the
140th parallel in mid-Pacific.
Very little is really known regarding the origin
of the race, although at the present time, many
studies are being carried out in various parts of the
world with this end in view. According to one of the
scientists from Harvard University, who has been
doing ethnological research in the central part of
Borneo for the past several years, it seems probable that the cradle of the human race will be found
in the study of the Malay peoples of the South Seas.
Under any circumstance, these brown people
penetrated the Philippine archipelago long before
it was known to Caucasians, driving into the mountains and isolation the former inhabitants. In the
process of time, due to one factor and another, these
Malay invaders, who may originally have been of
a single tribe, became split into tribal groups which
eventually developed, each for itself, certain distinctive characteristics, certain distinctive tribal customs, and gradually a differentiation of language,
so that finally not even members of adjacent tribes
could converse with one another.
How long this process occupied there is no means
of knowing-certainly, thousands of years-but




98      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
with the dawn of Philippine history, so far as the
Caucasian is concerned, the islands were inhabited
by a large number of distinct groups or tribes of
Malay people, each group having their own rulers,
customs and language.
M. D tio —During the period of nearly four hundred years that Spain ruled the islands, an immense
number of cross-bred individuals were developed,
part Spanish, part Malay, who were and are still
known as Mestizos, this being the Spanish designation for any one of mixed blood. Not only was
there a radical mixture of Spanish rulers and
Malays, but also of Chinese and Malays. Still later,
with the occupation of the archipelago by the
United States, there was developed (though this
may not meet with the entire approval of our people
at home, though, mind you, I am dealing in facts at
present) a comparatively large number of AmericanMalay mixtures. Regardless of the type of crossedblood and breeding, these people of mixed blood,
now resident in the islands, are known universally as
"Mestizos," and are further designated by the
prefix, Spanish, American, Chinese, or "what not."
Just in passing, it might be remarked that this
same condition on the continent of Asia has given
rise to an immense population of mixed blood who
are known there by the term "Eurasian," "Eurasian"
and "Mestizo" being identical terms, except that the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


99


term "Eurasian," of course, refers to an individual
of mixed blood, partially European and partially
Asiatic.
It is difficult to determine with any degree of
exactitude the number of persons of mixed blood
(Mestizos) resident in the islands. They are so
exceedingly common that in and about the centers
of population which have been under control of
first one race and then another, it is with considerable difficulty that one can pick out an individual
of known undiluted Malay blood.
No particular onus attaches to the status of the
Mestizo. He is simply accepted for what he is and
depending on the preponderance of blood in his
veins, may associate altogether with the Malays,
altogether with the Spanish, or largely with the
Americans; or, in the case of the Chinese Mestizo,
if he is possessed of a preponderance of Chinese
blood, may develop as a Chinese and associate
largely with them.
Chinese-In addition to these strains, there are
a very considerable number of pure blood Chinese
throughout the islands who do most of the business.
In fact, it is maintained by those in position to
know, that the commercial activities of the islands
would be disrupted were the Chinese to leave.
The total number of Chinese resident in the
Philippines only amounts to between a half and one




100  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


per cent of the whole population, yet due to their
prominence in business, the impression is common
that there are many times this number. A fair
criterion of the economic status of a "barrio," as a
Filipino town is called, is the number of Chinese
merchants resident there. In the poorer towns,
those barrios which have little to commend them,
and which have few natural resources, one finds no
Chinese merchants. The wealthier the town and the
greater the natural resources, the greater the Chinese population.
Americans and Europeans-In addition to these
racial groups there are a certain number of Americans and Europeans, not numerically strong, but
who manage to make themselves heard out of all
proportion to their actual numbers.
Long before the islands came under American
control, there were established a number of European commercial firms: English, Scotch, French,
Swiss and German, who had prospered exceedingly.
They more or less resented the coming of the
Americans, but as time went on, gradually became
reconciled to the new order, so that now, with the
possible exception of certain naturally antagonistic
groups, the Americans and Europeans pull togeher. At present, there are comparatively few
Americans in the islands-some 7,500-exclusive of
the military force maintained there by the United




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY,101


States, while there is a total of about 5,000 Europeans, most of whom are in business.
Negritoos-In  considering  the  population  in
greater detail, the first group are the remaining
members of the aboriginal tribes, the "Negritos,"
who reside in the mountains and who are but rarely
seen. One may spend years in the islands and
seldom see more than a specimen of the race. They
are of an extremely low order of civilization, and
live by hunting and fishing, use bows and arrows and
blow pipes in the pursuit of game and in fighting
their enemies. These people are naturally timid and
are very difficult to come into contact with.
A considerable number of Negritos live within
30 miles of Manila, on Mariveles Mountain, at the
mouth of Manila Bay, a fact known to but few persons, either Filipino or American, living in Manila.
If the visitor is especially interested in them, a trip
across the Bay and a walk up Mariveles, while tiresome, will be well repaid by the opportunity to see
and study these pigmy-like, shy, little people in
their native haunts. On the other hand, unless the
visitor has a guide to show him where to look, he
may tramp over the entire mountain and never see
more than an occasional trace of them, as they are
extremely wary and decidedly afraid of strangers,
and on the approach of any one they do not know,
men, women and children flee precipitately through




102  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


the jungle. As far as any harm done them by Caucasians, it is nil, though I am sorry to say the Malay
inhabitants (Filipinos), who come into contact with
them often abuse and ridicule them without mercy,
so that their fear of human contacts may be well
founded. On several occasions I have seen some of
these tiny folk, the adults rarely measuring five
feet in height, and usually considerably under this,
come down from the mountains to one of the fishing
villages for supplies. As they are extremely prim- 
itive, and wear practically no clothing, even the
poorest class of Filipinos consider themselves far
superior to them. As a result, they are often tormented and roughly used, in fact, much as a group
of children might torment a half-tamed monkey, to
see his reaction to their bedevilment.
Negritos have no fixed abode. They live in ex- a
tremely small tribal groups, rarely more than
twenty or thirty to a group. Occasionally, when
they do stop long enough to build a sort of village,
their huts are of the most primitive type, consisting of a few interlaced sticks, thatched with grass
and leaves.
Firearms are, of course, forbidden them, as in the
case of all people in the islands-white and native
alike-so that as they live more or less on the
products of the hunt, they pursue game. on foot,
even deer and wild hogs, and kill these animals




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


103


either with their spears or with bows and arrows.
Under normal conditions, their dress consists
only of a very narrow G-string, both men and women
being costumed very much alike, though occasionally one sees Negritos roaming the hills dressed in
their usual scanty costume but, nevertheless, wearing a felt or straw hat, or an old army blouse which 
has been acquired by barter. They also often carry
umbrellas, the exact purpose of which I have
never been able to figure out, unless to prevent
their becoming sunburned, but as they are as black
as the proverbial hat, this explanation seems hardly
adequate.
Their language consists of a very few words, the 
total vocabulary consisting, so I have been told, of 
only two or three hundred words, and these seem to
be composed mostly of grunts and hisses, plus various inflections to give different meanings.  Of
course, many of them have picked up some of one or
another of the Filipino dialects, and use these words
as an aid to their own meager vocabulary.
Negritos, regardless of where found, and they
are found scattered more or less throughout the
islands, are quite similar in their appearance, customs, dress and habits, although their language
differs. There are approximately 25,000 of them, '
and they are found mainly on the larger islands
where they managed to exist through retreating to




104     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
the lonely mountain tops, where they were difficult
to capture, and where they have remained to this
X day.
Fipinos-Most of the native population of the
archipelago is of pure Malay blood, and, if nativity
be the criterion, are Filipinos, though rather a sharp
distinction is drawn between the various tribes of
Malays. The term "Filipino" is applied by the natives themselves to only a comparatively few tribal
groups. These are, however, numerically superior,
and consist almost exclusively of those tribes who
live in the lowlands of the central and northern
islands. The groups which, among themselves, are
definitely classed as Filipinos, are:
The Tagalogs of Luzon, whose particular territory Is that district in and about Manila; the
Visayans,  a large and numerically strong group
of people who make up almost the entire population
of the islands occupying the central part of the
archipelago; the Ilocanos who live in the lowlands
of the northern half of Luzon; the Pampangans,
who occupy that territory immediately to the north
of the Tagalogs, between them and the Ilocanos;
and finally, the Bicolanos, who occupy the southern and southeastern part of the island of Luzon,
and part of the Visayas.
Incidentally, up to very recently, the Bicols were
not classed as a strictly Filipino people, but as




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


105


the natural resources of their territory were developed, and they gained in political power, they
were gradually included among the "elect," largely
through the efforts of the Tagalog politicians who
wished to use them as an aid to the independence
movement.
In addition to the foregoing, who really are the
more progressive people among the Malays, there
are several sub-groups, such as the Pangasinanes,
the Cagayanes, and the Zambalinoes, all formerly
distinct nations, but who have gradually become
amalgamated with larger neighboring tribes, speak
practically the same dialects, have similar customs,
and who, in fact, vary from the nearest large tribal
group only in minor degree.
To the transient, or temporary, Caucasian visitor, there is very little difference to be noted among
the people of the various tribes making up the
Malay population, except that a sharp distinction is drawn between the natives inhabiting the
southern islands, the Moros, those Mohammedan
Malays of whom we have previously spoken, the socalled "Christian Filipinos," and the mountain
people, of whom the Igorrotes are the best known.
The latter are placed in a third quite distinctive
group, the hill people, also Malay in origin, but
who are officially designated as the "non-Christian
tribes," the chief exponents of whom are the




106     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
Igorrotes, Ifugaoes, Kalingas and Bontocs, who inhabit certain of the mountainous districts, especially
that great plateau occupying the north-central part
of the island of Luzon.
At the time of the occupation of the islands by
these tribes, there was presumably very little, if
any, difference between them. The various groups,
coming as they did from the Malay Peninsula, probably migrated in tribal units, but as individuals
they were, undoubtedly, almost identical in physical
appearance as well as in their mental and cultural
characteristics.
Some of them penetrated the north and became
"Filipinos," others, either through preference or
necessity, became mountain dwellers (Igorrotes),
while still others of these same invaders settled in
the southern islands and became differentiated as
"Moros."
After the arrival of the Spanish, those tribes
who inhabited the central and northern parts of
the archipelago were gradually converted to Christianity through the efforts of the Catholic Church,
and as time went on, largely through "church influence" and contact with ever increasing numbers
of the white invaders, developed the habits of
thought, precepts, and distinctions in dress, which
today distinguish them as "Christian Filipinos."
The tribes who penetrated the mountains and




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


107


remained there, were through their very environment, and the difficulty of reaching them, beyond
the influence of all but the most ardent of missionaries, and as a result, are now known as the "nonChristian tribes," and have made comparatively
little, if any, cultural progress since their arrival
in the islands.
The inhabitants of the southern islands accepted
the teachings of Mohammed about 1400 A.D.,
and through the effects of the teachings of the
"Prophet," became so sharply differentiated from
their northern brothers that they are now considered
a separate race, classed under the general designation of "Moros," although they, too, consist of a
large number of distinct tribes, all having in common, however, the fact that they are ardent Mohammedans.
To the student of ethnology, these various groups
of Malays furnish one of the most interesting examples known of the influence of environment, culture and religion on the differentiation of peoples.
As the Tagalogs are fairly typical of the entire
group designated as "Filipinos" or "Christian Filipinos," they will be used as a generic type in discussing the many tribal units of the group.
Through the effects of teaching, and of a more
intimate contact with the white invaders, the Tagalogs have attained a decided cultural superiority




108     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
over the other two groups, although this may be in
part attributed to another factor which is probably
of very considerable importance, i.e.-the fact that
there has occurred an extremely generous admixture
of various strains of foreign blood among them.
The fact that the country which they occupied was
rich in natural resources, was easily accessible, and
was more equable in climate than that of other districts, has resulted in most of the immigration, not
only on the part of Europeans, but of Chinese and
Japanese as well, settling the districts occupied by
them.
With the passage of time there has been a very
considerable amount of intermarriage between these
latest invaders and the natives, not to speak of the
fact that the more stringent ethics of the Occident
failed to obtain in the islands, and today, while there
are, undoubtedly, many individuals of pure Malay
blood among them, it is a little difficult to find one
of undoubted purity of breeding.
Mestizos, no matter of what slight degree the
mixture, are extremely common throughout all the
so-called Christian parts of the islands, and relatively uncommon in both the Igorrote country and in
Moro-land. This may be accounted for by the fact
that the Igorrote women, who are so extremely dirty
and absolutely lacking in training and culture, are
often repulsive in appearance, while among the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


109


Moros the tenets of their religion are extremely
rigid as regards intermarriage, or even the most
casual intercourse with individuals of other than
Mohammedan proclivities.
Fortunately for the Tagalog peoples, the blood
mixtures, rather than producing race deterioration,
have in many cases brought out certain superior
qualities of both races, and as a result, this admixture of blood among the inhabitants of the central
part of the archipelago has given rise to most of
those Filipinos of superior mentality, including th'e
greater number of the professional classes, the
teachers, as well as skilled artisans, to say nothing
of the politicians, who are practically all drawn
from the group which we have broadly designated
as "Tagalog," but are really people of mixed blood,
usually Spanish Tagalog Mestizos.
The Christian Filipinos are numerically superior,
comprising over seventy per cent of the total population of the islands. We shall generalize somewhat by considering them to be of straight Malay
descent, although as we have seen this is not necessarily the entire truth, but as the customs, habits
and mental status vary only to a slight degree
until there is a preponderance of foreign blood, they
may be considered as a unit.
While not as picturesque as some of the native
tribes, the Tagalogs are possessed of a somewhat




110  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


better mentality, wear more and better clothing,
and live in houses of a more solid construction than
do many of the others.
One extremely commendable trait of these people,
and one which should be stressed, is their extreme
cleanliness both in the matter of their clothing and
persons. It is true that from the standpoint of
modern sanitation and hygiene they fall far short of
the ideal, but considering that these sciences have
only really been developed in the Occident during
the past fifty years, such deficiencies will be correced with time and training.
fThe lowland Filipinos are, so far as the writer
remembers, the cleanest dark-skinned people with
whom he has ever come into contact. It is jokingly
maintained that the Spanish invaders, the soldiers
who remained in the islands for any considerable
period of time, developed one very bad habit, which
they took back to Spain with them, i.e.-they
learned to bathe frequently. It is difficult to find a
really dirty individual among the natives, for as a
rule, they bathe their persons two, three or more
times a day, and in the matter of clothing, no
matter how poor or scanty, it is usually washed at
frequent intervals and is nearly always immaculate.
From the standpoint of modern sanitary science,
the natives have certain highly objectionable habits,
but with a beneficent climate, a bright sun overhead




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


111


most of the time, those habits which would prove
highly objectionable in another clime, lose their
significance to a large extent. Human wastes are
quickly dried by the blazing sun and are not an open
offense, although many of the ills to which the
natives are heir are the direct result of carelessness in the disposal of them.
Unlike Americans and Europeans, Filipinos are
not accustomed to privacy, due partly to the necessity of free ventilation and the fact that their
dwellings remain wide open most of the time. As a
consequence, they are sometimes accused of lack of
modesty, especially by the newcomer.
They have a strong community spirit and live in
friendly groups rather than as individuals or families. Frequently as many as five families live in a
single, ordinary sized room, each having their own
particular space whereupon to spread their sleeping
mats, while cooking, washing, bathing, etc., are done
in common. The writer has often seen in one of the
old houses of the city of Manila, originally intended
to house possibly ten people, as many as forty families living, apparently, in perfect content and happiness. At the beginning of one's tropical sojourn
this strikes the Occidental as an extremely undesirable condition, yet after a time, a similar viewpoint is gradually acquired through necessity.
But to resume, if our Filipino family live in a




112


THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


rural district ("the provinces"), their residence
will be a combination bamboo and nipa palm house,
quickly, easily and cheaply constructed, and as most
of the life of the native is spent out of doors, it is
nearly always an affair of but one room.
The framework of the house is nearly always made
of bamboo, that universal construction material of
the Far East. To the Occidental carpenter, accustomed to working only in squared timbers, the skill
of the "bamboo carpenter" in making this framework hang together is marvelous, especially as no
nails are used. It may be erected at some distance
from the proposed permanent site, and after completion, be carried to its final location by six, eight, or
possibly more friends of the owner so that it is no
unusual sight anywhere in the islands to see a house
walking down the road supported on the heads of a
number of red-trousered "Taos."
After the framework is put into place, the roof
and walls are sheathed with mats made of woven
nipa palm. Nipa palm is grown especially for this
purpose in swamps or marshes, and is as common a
building material and thatch throughout the Tropic
Orient as is bamboo, which is universal. Filipino
houses are usually set up on posts or stilts, often six
or eight feet from the ground. There are several
reasons for this procedure, most of them good.
Raising the house on stilts allows the free circula



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


113


tion of air beneath, and thus renders the structure
considerably cooler than it would be otherwise. In
a country where many mosquitoes are the rule, and
where malaria exists, raising the dwelling from the
ground tends to eliminate a certain number of these
insect pests, and in addition, domestic animals and
fowls belonging to the establishment can roam about
at will beneath the house and destroy such insect
larvae as may be found there. 
Since building material, from the Filipino standpoint, is expensive (remember the native may build
a house on a monthly salary of P. 20), he often
utilizes the space beneath the house for stabling his
domestic stock, such as a pony, one or two carabao,
a few gaunt, slab-sided swine, and his chickens and
ducks.
The floor of the house is made from bamboo split
into strips varying from three-eighths to one inch
in width, and lashed to the framework by means of
withes of "bahuca," or of narrow fibrous strips torn
from the split bamboo. This latticed floor also allows a free circulation of air and makes for greater
coolness. A ladder, again of bamboo, leads from the
ground to the single door of the house. As window
glass is extremely expensive, and there is little necessity for closed windows under any circumstances, the
windows are protected by means of flaps or curtains,
also of nipa thatch. These are a necessity only




114  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


during very bad weather, as the roof usually extends beyond the walls of the house from three to
four feet. At night, however, the windows are
usually tightly closed, as the native is in deadly fear
of night air.
The furnishings of a typical Filipino provincial
home are extremely simple. Chairs, except for those
natives who have become Occidentalized, are neither
a necessity nor a comfort, as the Filipino native, in
common with most Orientals, possesses the ability to
sit comfortably on his heels for hours, a procedure
impossible to any but the very infrequent Caucasian
born in the Orient, who has been accustomed to this
from childhood. Tables are seldom used, although
there may be one beneath the house where foodstuffs
are prepared. In place of using a table, the food is
served on the floor of the house, or in the open air,
either in small bowls or on a piece of banana leaf,
while the family squat on their heels, each helping
himself. Knives, forks and spoons are an almost
unknown luxury; the native, maintaining, in common with all children, that "fingers were made before
forks," uses his fingers to convey most foods to his
mouth. Neither cups nor glasses are in common use,
liquids being drunk from bowls instead, while in
lieu of plates, squares of banana leaf serve quite
adequately, and at the conclusion of their useful



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


115


ness, can be thrown outside the house, thus saving
the necessity of dish washing.
The furnishings for the bedroom are quite as
simple as those of the dining-room. Each member
of the family possesses a mat of woven palm on
which he sleeps which, when not in use, is rolled up
and placed in one corner of the room. Coverings are
often of the same material as the sleeping mats,
although blankets are also utilized occasionally in
the cooler season, as the native suffers severely from
even a very moderate drop in temperature. The
entire family, often augmented by a number of relatives, sleep together on the floor of the combination
bedroom, dining-room and parlor.
Cooking is usually done beneath one corner of
the house over a small open fire. The natives have
very cleverly arranged clay cooking and fire pots, so
constructed that an extremely small amount of fuel
is sufficient to cook the family meal. The fire is
built inside the larger of the two pots which has an
opening in the side to allow the addition of fuel from
time to time. The foodstuff is placed in the smaller,
which sets snugly into the top of the fuel pot, resting on clay knots incorporated into the structure of
the outer one.
The bathroom is the open air, usually twenty or
thirty feet from the house proper, its equipment




116  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


ordinarily consisting of a five-gallon Standard Oil
tin, filled with water, and a small gourd, which is
used to dip up water and pour it over the body, beginning at the top of the head. The whole of the
bathing facilities are often within sight of all
passersby.
Having disposed of these domestic arrangements,
suppose we take a look at the clothing of the "Tao,"
the real Filipino. In simplicity, it is almost the
equivalent of the domestic arrangements. For the
male Filipino in the provinces but two pieces of
clothing are considered necessary, although these
are frequently augmented by one or more additional.
Usually they consist of a bright scarlet pair of
knee-length, cotton pants and a shirt of nondescript
color, without collar-band or collar, the tail of which
is left hanging outside the trousers. The use of
long trousers for special occasions has become more
common since American occupation, although the
further one goes from the capital, the more unlikely
one is to meet with such modern fads and folderols. In addition, the native usually wears a broadbrimmed straw hat of his own manufacture, as a
protection from the sun. When he wears shoes, they
are of the type known as "Chinelas" (heelless slippers), which are handled with great dexterity, although such a thing seems impossible when one first
tries this type of footgear.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


117


The Chinela is made of various materials and in
various fashions, according to the financial status
of the wearer. This is especially true of the
footgear of the women. Among the lowest classes,
wooden soles and heels with a leather or woven palm
toe suffice. With prosperity, these are changed to
more elaborate shoes made of red, green or purple
velvet, often with a leather sole; while the height of
"swank" for financially independent individuals is a
similar heelless slipper made of black or brown
patent leather, stitched elaborately over the toe. It
is only in the larger cities that one sees the Occidental foot coverings, which we have come to know
as shoes, and even there, it is extremely common to
see the shod native stop, pull off his shoes, and then
proceed on his way, as men, women and children of
all classes go barefoot from choice, except on special
occasions, such as fiestas, when they are expected to
wear some sort of footgear. Except in the cities,
the use of either stockings or socks is almost unknown, bare legs and feet being the rule for both
eps.
The dress of the native women is considerably
more difficult to describe, especially for a mere man.
The ordinary Filipino women (by "ordinary" I
mean the vast majority of Filipino women) usually
wear a very simple costume which may consist of a
one-piece dress without belt, which hangs from the




118     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
shoulder and extends almost to the ankle, or may
wear a strip of cloth wrapped about them as a skirt,
together with a short jacket-like waist of striped
material, flying free at the belt line. In addition,
they usually wear a black apron over the dress, although it is no uncommon sight to see women in the
country dressed nearly in the original garments of
Mother Eve. Upon the approach of strangers, however, they wrap about them a cloak-like arrangement of thin, bright red cotton cloth, which fails
entirely to hide those outlines common to most female figures. For state occasions, such as church
or when going to market, the Filipino women's dress
consists of a white undergarment (chemise) often
elaborately embroidered, a petticoat with a long,
fancily embroidered or a very wide lace border.
This border is intended to show beneath the lower
edge of the outer skirt, which is so draped that some
six inches of the lace of the undergarment is shown
below it. The outer skirt is usually of some brightcolored figured or flowered material, and is always
made with a train which may be eight or ten feet in
length. This, however, is not allowed to hang except
when inside the house, but is picked up, wrapped
about the body often one or more times, and tucked
in at the belt in order to provide greater freedom in
walking, and to show the lace or embroidered border
of the petticoat. The outer covering for the upper




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


'119


part of the body consists of an elaborate arrangement, which to the uninitiated, resembles a bird cage
more than anything else. It is usually made of
"Jusi" (pronounced Hoosee), or Pifa, both materials woven of very finely split pineapple fiber,
which resembles in some ways a fine grade of
mosquito bar. This material is used to make
enormous puff sleeves for the upper arms, in shape
very much like those worn by our own ladies some
twenty or thirty years ago. Over this transparent
jacket, which is thin enough to reveal the pattern of
the embroidery on the garment beneath, is thrown a
fichu, or "panuelo" of the same material. The last
item of the costume is an apron of black web or
thin, semi-transparent silk, often elaborately embroidered or beaded, which allows the pattern of
the highly colored outer skirt to show through.
There is a story extant in the islands relative to
the origin of the black apron, though the writer is
unable to vouch for the truth of it, but considers it
probable enough to be worth the telling.
"When the Spanish invaders first landed in the
islands, they were accompanied by black-frocked
priests, and were met on the shores by the natives,
both men and women, innocent of all clothing. The
priests tore from their frocks pieces of black
cloth which they handed the women with the word
'Tapise' (cover yourself)."




120     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
With time, the original significance of the apron,
known as a "tapis" has faded and today it is in universal use, and forms one of the most ornamental
parts of the costume.
The head may be bare, or a "mantilla" or scarf
of thin, black material may be worn over the hair,
an arrangement which is convenient when attending
church, as Filipino women are practically all Catholic, and no female of that faith is permitted to attend the Mass with uncovered head.
Throughout many of the provinces, the scarf is
often replaced by a lunch-basket arrangement of
woven fiber, bamboo or a material resembling that
made into panama hats. These lunch-basket hats
are often thirty inches across, and on occasion when
inverted become receptacles for carrying fish,
vegetables, rice and other comestibles...Moros-From the standpoint of the casual visitor,:6neof the most interesting groups of natives
to be found in the islands are the Moros, the Mohammedan population of the islands, who consist of a
large number of distinct tribes having in common
at least one factor: that they are all followers of
Mohammed.    At the time Mohammedanism     was
first introduced, the tribes living in Southern Islands
embraced this faith and have followed it to this
day. This has resulted in numerous clashes between
them and the Christian Filipinos.




TwAUtHOR HIS WIFE AND A NATIVE WOMAN WHOSE HEAD
iA I USED BIOTI AS A HAT AND A BASKET
'  W           8 




I




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY              121
The Moros are divided into comparatively small
groups, each group ruled by a "dato" or chief, who
even now possesses the power of life and death over
his subjects. It is true these people are nominally
subject to the legal code of the islands, but as a
matter of fact, it has been found far easier to allow
them to adhere to their tribal rule and to hold their
"datos" responsible for marked infringements of
the code than to try and enforce it by outside police.
In many ways Moros, especially those living along
the coast, still show indications of having retained
their piratical instincts, for formerly, nearly all the
Malay pirates who infested the South Sea Islands
were drawn from these Mohammedan tribes. In
the matter of love of fighting, however, the hill tribes
have retained the same characteristics as those living
on the sea.
Broadly speaking, the Moros occupy the "division of Mindanao," and also the Sulu archipelago
to the southwest of Mindanao.
Of all the Malay tribes found in the Far East, the
Moros are the bravest, partly through the necessities of their life and partly through the fact that
they are Mohammedans and possess that fatalism
which is a part of their religion.
Through hundreds of years the Southern Islands
have been a battle ground for various Occidental
nations who endeavored to establish zones of con



122     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
trol there. Magellan's expedition touched the western part of Mindanao and the Island of Palawan,
and later (1635), a Spanish settlement was established at Zamboanga, largely through the activities
of the Jesuit Order, who were at that time the
dominating factor in the Spanish Government of
the Philippines. For a time, Zamboanga was used
by the Spanish as a Penal Colony, and the resultant
mixture of native tongues, together with a certain
amount of Spanish, produced a jargon known as
"Chapano," a tongue still in use in this particular
district.
For a number of years the Dutch, who controlled
the islands to the south of the Philippines, incited
the Moros to attack the Spanish in control at Zamboanga from time to time, and succeeded in driving
them from the southern group of islands from 1650
to 1718. In 1718, due to the continuous ravages of
the Moro Pirates who extended their activities as far
north as Manila, the Spanish reoccupied Zamboanga
and rebuilt their abandoned forts there.
As an interesting side light on the capabilities
of Moros as fighters, the French attempted an invasion of the Southern Islands as recently as 1844,
but were soon glad to conclude a treaty with the
Sultan of Sulu, who controlled the district in and
about Jolo (the capital), paying him $1,000,000
for the island of Basilan for use as a naval and trad



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


12$


ing base, though they occupied it for only a short
time.
It was only after the arrival of steam vessels that
piracy was stopped in this district through the
activities of Rajah Brooke, the English ruler of
Sarawak, in Borneo. Pirates from here continued
some of their activities, however, for as late as 1888,
we find General Weyler and Primo de Rivera leading Spanish forces in their fight against the Moros
of this district.
After the United States took over control of the
Philippine Islands, General Bates of the U. S.
Armyy at that time in charge of the southern division, signed treaties with the various Sultans and
datos, thus bringing this district at least nominally
under control of the American Government, although from time to time individual Moro datos with
their followers still rise in revolt against American
rule, as they would against the rule of any government.
The Southern Islands, as far as natural resources
are concerned, are exceptionally rich. Nearly all
agricultural products develop and produce much
faster than they do in the Northern Islands, and in
addition, the division of Mindanao is outside the
typhoon belt, thus insuring growing crops against
such storms as occur further north. On account of
the peculiar and extremely fertile soil and the ideal




124  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


climate of the Southern Islands, they are particularly suited to the growth and production of rubber. This is especially true of the Island of
Mindanao. Soil conditions there seem ideal for
rubber culture, and there are at present a number
of comparatively small, but flourishing plantations
under American management on the island.
Moro houses differ only in detail from those of
their neighbors to the north. Those away from the
coast and in the mountains are constructed of bamboo with sides of matting, and as in the case of
Tagalog houses, are usually roofed with a thatch
of grass or nipa. The coast dwellers build their
houses on stilts over the comparatively shallow water
of bays, inlets and rivers so that it is no unusual
sight to see entire villages set on stilts over the water
with the "vintas" (small boats) of the residents anchored beneath the houses. One of the interesting
sights of the town of Jolo is the Chinese section
which consists of a separate village built on the piers
in this manner. It is here that all Chinese residents
of the city live and carry on their trading activities.
The interiors of Moro houses are furnished quite
as simply as those of their northern brothers, except
that their few household articles are adorned to a
greater extent, often in bright colors. In addition,
the Moros show a considerable skill in the manufacture of articles of hammered brass, such as rice pots,




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


125


betel-nut boxes, heavily adorned weapons, bolos,
spears and "krises" (a long jagged knife).
Formerly, and to a certain extent even today,
articles of hammered brass were the standard medium
of exchange in the more isolated parts of the interior, and it is not unusual to hear that some certain article is valued at so many "ogongs" (brass
gongs).
Those Moros living along the coast are wonderful
boatmen and fishermen, and spend a good part of
their time on or in the water. Their vessels are
variously known as "vintas" or "praos," the vinta
being a comparatively small outrigger canoe, while
the prao is a larger sea-going vinta. Apparently, as
a natural result of their seagoing and piratical proclivities, they still do a large amount of smuggling
of various prohibited articles into the Philippines,
running these in from the north coast of Borneo, a
short distance away. There are many excellent
divers among them, and since valuable pearls are
found in the seas of the Southern Islands, pearl
diving is a favorite occupation.
The clothing of the Moro, depending on his
habitat and social status, varies from a G-string to
an elaborate outfit resembling that of the desert
Arab. The men often wear close-fitting, darkcolored, striped or black trousers resembling
"tights," extending well above the waist, together




126     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
with a fancily embroidered, short jacket. For ceremonial occasions, the Moro wears, in addition, over
this outfit a loose, blanket-like cloak, often richly
embroidered, reaching from shoulders to heels. The
turban is in general use, and if expert in these matters, one can determine by the twist of it the standing of an individual, as well as the tribe to which
he belongs. The fez, always of a dark red color,
is also in common use.
The typical Moro woman wears a tight-fitting
bodice and a rather voluminous appearing skirt,
which latter is really a very loosely cut pair of
trousers brought in and fastened about the ankle.
Over this, as a wrap, is worn an over garment called
a "Patadiong," which is usually made of some fancy
plaid or striped material. Moro children, when they
are dressed at all, wear only a long strip of cloth
wrapped about them as a sort of skirt. At weddings,
and on other ceremonial occasions, Moro women frequently wear very fancy headdresses and upper
garments, more or less on the Chinese style. Moros,
both men and women, are fond of jewelry and use a
very considerable amount of it. It is usually of
gold or silver and is of home manufacture. Much
of this work is filigree, some of it being quite attractive, as evidenced by the fact that practically all
tourists to the Southern Islands try to acquire one
or two pieces of it, regardless of cost.




A OROUP OF MOLOS AT ZAMBOANGA, ISLAND OF MINDANAO




I~~~~




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


As a matter of course, Moros practice polygamy,
this being a part of their religion, and while theoretically the American Government does not concur
in the practice, the Moro actually conducts his
family affairs to suit himself. The number of wives
which each Moro has depends somewhat on his social
and economic standing. It is said, though I have
not verified this personally, that certain of the Sultans possess as many as sixty wives.
There is one fairly common occurrence among
these people which usually ends disastrously, and
that is the practice known as "Juramentado," a term
which is known through other parts of Malaysia as
"running amok." The Moro Juramentado is generally the result of trouble over a woman, often as a
result of adultery; although this is not invariably
the case. When the native goes "Juramentado," or
"runs amok," he binds himself tightly, "in order
that the blood will not run freely and that he may
last longer," takes an oath to die killing infidels,
and armed with a kris, may attack a whole company
of troops, or an entire regiment, in order to vindicate his honor and to die fighting. This practice
of running "Juramentado" is all too frequent among
the Moros and has resulted in countless murders.
For a time so much trouble was experienced, as a
result of this practice at Jolo, that natives were




128     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
made to deposit their weapons at the gate of the city
wall before being allowed to enter.
Not only do individuals go "Juramentado," but
practically the same thing occurs occasionally when
an entire tribe, led by their dato, become incensed
and taking to the hills, build a "cotta," or fort, and
send an open challenge to the authorities. These
are the uprisings and revolts chronicled in the newspapers from time to time and it is only with the
greatest difficulty that these groups can be suppressed, since, having resolved to die fighting, they
often do so. Merely disregarding such a revolt furnishes no solution to the difficulty, since once a
challenge is sent the authorities, all malcontents in
the district join the original group and the longer
chastisement is withheld the greater the extent of
the uprising. As a result of the long standing
enmity between the Christian Filipinos and Moros,
sending a squad of northern constabulary to subdue these outlaws always results in more difficulty
than when white troops are used. In fact, it is with
difficulty that soldiers from the Northern Islands
can be induced to serve against the Moros because of
the horrible mutilations practiced on them if they
are overcome. This has such an effect that photographs of these affairs are sternly suppressed by
the authorities, and newspapers are requested not
to carry detailed accounts of them, especially when




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


129


the action goes against the constabulary. The
writer recently secured several photographs of the
remains of a constabulary party overcome by Moro
outlaws, and the mutilations practiced on them were
certainly enough to put the fear of such an ending
into any one's heart.
With all their faults, Moros are good workers,
and once they become friends, are quite likely to
remain permanently so. As a whole they are ignorant and extremely superstitious, although considerable progress has been and is being made in the
matter of education. The education of the girls is
especially difficult, since the Mohammedan religion
forbids this. Also, intimacies between Filipino
teachers and Moro girls have been the cause of
trouble at times.
Now, to come down to the present political status
of the Moro tribes. They fought against Spanish
domination for years, and have as their hereditary
enemies the Christian Filipinos who accepted this,
much to their disgust and indignation. When the
treaties were signed between General Bates for the
United States and the leading Sultans and Datos
for the Moros, they were assured that henceforth
they would be governed only by Americans, and that
their enemies, "The Filipinos," would not be "set
over them." This stipulation was carried out faithfully by the United States up to the beginning of




10O     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
the Harrison regime, when an attempt was made to
withdraw the American sub-governors and to substitute Filipinos. This caused a tremendous lot of
trouble.
As far as numbers of population are concerned,
the Moros are comparatively unimportant. There
are only about a half million of them in the whole
of the Southern Islands, yet they occupy a large
amount of extremely valuable territory, which it has
long been the aim of the northern tribes to control, if
necessary in the process exterminating all Moros
who refuse to submit. On most occasions, when an
attempt has been made to place Filipinos in responsible governing positions in Moroland, there
has been such a disturbance that the incumbents
were glad to withdraw. This situation rankles as
the northerners feel that they should dominate the
Moro country. The Moros resent this attitude bitterly and are determined not to be ruled by the
northern group, even though it cost every single
Moro life to keep the northerners out of power. As
a result, the Governor-General is always at considerable pains to maintain more or less of a "status
quo."
What the attitude of the Moros would be under
other circumstances is difficult to say, but to date,
they have strongly and consistently advocated the
continuance of American rule and bitterly opposed




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY             181
any other. They seem to be reasonably certain that, 
should the northern Filipinos gain control, or should
independence be granted the Philippine Islands, a
war of extinction directed against them would immediately follow. The matter of their opposition to
independence will be taken up in the general summary of the political situation, but suffice it to
say that for the present, at least, the Moros are
unalterably opposed to Philippine independence.
lrrf   ts —There is no group of people in
the entire Philippine Archipelago who furnish the
tourist and sightseer with quite as many thrills as
do those natives who live in the mountains of the
Northern Islands, and are variously known as
"Igorrotes," the "Hill People," "non-Christian
Tribes," "Pagan Tribes" and "Head Hunters."
They are the Malays of whom we have spoken
previously, who settled in the mountain districts and
high plateaus, and who have remained isolated
there, remote from foreign influences, since their
migration to the archipelago.
To Americans, these hill people are fixed more
or less as a representative type of the Filipino
people as a whole, since a considerable number of
them, together with their houses, household effects,
etc., were on exhibition at St. Louis during the
World's Fair. Thousands of visitors attended this
exhibit and accepted these savages as typical of the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


fi/jrentire Philippine population, a source of no little
'/      ^  chagrin to the lowlanders. Also Igorrotes are well
known through the fact that the summer capital of
~t the Philippines, Baguio, is located in their country,.ll^^^    nd nearly all visitors to the islands make a pilgrimVfi       age to this most beautiful of mountain resorts where
i    t ph'q they see these picturesque people in their native
' (  haunts.
p,,,  While they constitute only a small portion of the
j    s.o total population of the islands, they occupy almost
P., half of the Island of Luzon, a territory approximately 150 miles in width and 200 miles in length,
- ~*     and are more or less the keepers of the greatest mineral deposits of the islands. The capital of their
particular territory is Bontoc, located nearly 300
miles north of Manila, a beautiful mountain city,
absolutely inaccessible at present except by.means of
pack trains, although an automobile road is being
built to it. Igorrotes are not city dwellers, living
rather in isolated groups and in very small villages,
with four or five huts to the village. Their settlements are usually located on the sides of steep mountains where none but the Igorrote or a mountain
goat might go.
Their houses are of more substantial construction
than those found elsewhere. Living as they do within the pine belt, where easily workable timber grows




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY             183
in profusion, and where bamboo is comparatively
scarce, they use heavy squared timbers for the
framework. They have a curious custom of building the foundations of their houses as square cribs
some five or six feet in height, then building the
house proper on top of this, extending it over the
borders of the foundation crib four or five feet all
the way around. As in the case of Tagalogs, the
roof and walls are of thatch, although this thatch,
instead of being made of nipa, is usually of long,
smooth grass woven into bundles and fastened in
place by a fretwork of heavy twigs.
The furnishings of their houses are even more
simple than is the case with the Filipinos. In fact,
their houses serve only as a shelter and sleeping
place, a matter of some importance since it becomes
quite chilly in the mountains and exceedingly heavy
rains fall there through a considerable portion of
the year. They sometimes have a very crude sort of
fireplace made of clay and stones, although no chimney for the egress of smoke is provided, the fire
being built on a large, flat stone, and the smoke
finding its way out through various small apertures
as best it may.
Unlike the lowland Malays, these people rarely
use "carabao," or water buffalo as draft-animals,
but do use mountain ponies, shaggy-haired, sure



184     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
footed, little beasts, strong out of all proportion to
their size, although for ordinary travel these mountain people prefer going on foot.
As a race, the mountain dwellers are exceedingly
strong and sturdy. They are even below the average
of the lowlanders in height but make up for this by
their increase in girth. Nowhere will one find more
beautiful muscular development than among them.
This, presumably, is due to their almost constant
mountain climbing, usually loaded down with a
pack, and instead of keeping to the usual trails when
traveling from one place to another, they nearly always make a "bee-line," regardless of the sort of
country they may be forced to traverse in doing so.
It is only when going to the town markets or to
special gatherings that they are embarrassed by
clothing, and even then, their scanty coverings might
be called "clothes" through courtesy only. The
G-string of hand-woven, brightly colored cloth, with
a short fringe hanging down "fore and aft" constitutes the usual male costume. The women wear a
short skirt which really consists merely of a length
of striped hand-made cloth wrapped about them,
and a short, loosely cut jacket of this same material,
nearly always flying open exposing their breasts.
Truly, bare skin is no novelty throughout this mountain district.  These hill people are among the
dirtiest of all natives of the Philippine Archipelago,




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


135


at times appearing absolutely encrusted with soot
and earth. Not even the most ardent lover of the
picturesque cares to become too intimate with them
on this account. They are very fond of bright
colors and ornaments, especially of brass, and use
immense quantities of brass rings and wire in the
manufacture of these ornaments. It is no unusual
sight to see one of the women wearing as many as
twenty heavy brass wrist-bands, stacked one on top
of the other, as well as a collar of the same material,
to say nothing of anklets, and possibly ear rings.
The men confine their ornamentation to their hats
and pipes, both of which are often gayly decorated.
As we noted previously, Igorrotes are great bearers
of burdens, rarely utilizing animals as burden
bearers, but rather their own backs. In doing this,
the men use a framework with shoulder thongs to
which they lash any burden to be carried. The
women use a square-bottom, round-topped basket
about two feet in height for the same purpose. In
the case of the women, the basket is carried by
means of a braided rawhide thong passed about it
and over their forehead, nearly all the weight being
carried on the head, although the basket hangs on
their shoulders and back.
One of the picturesque sights is to see these
natives going to Sunday morning market in any of
the towns of their district. Being strictly pagan




136  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


they, of course, do not observe the Christian Sabbath, and through long custom, always hold their
markets on that day. They arrive usually the day
before, carrying not only the produce which they
have to exchange at the market, but apparently also
all their personal belongings. Both men and women
alike carry steel-shod spears and bolos. The spears
are used alternately as weapons or as staffs in helping them climb the steep mountain trails. An
Igorrote without his spear is an anomaly. In addition, they often carry a bamboo stick some eighteen
inches or two feet in length, known as a "devil
stick." This is split at one end, and is perforated
in the handle by holes which are fingered much as is
a flute. When this stick is struck on the thigh, it
emits a musical note which may be changed by applying the fingers to the various openings. This
sound is supposed to drive away the hill devils.
While most of these natives lead more or less a
nomadic existence, they are, on occasion, expert
agriculturists. This is best typified by the great
rice terraces of the Bontoc country where, for dozens
of miles, the almost inaccessible mountain sides have
been terraced and are utilized for growing rice.
Nowhere in the world has more beautiful or practical
terracing been done than through this country.
Unlike the lowland dwellers, these mountain folk
are not fish eaters, although they do utilize a con



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


137


siderable proportion of rice in their dietary. Meat
of various sorts, game, wild birds and chickens are
utilized as food stuff, as well as vegetables, which
are ordinarily considered products of the temperate
clime only. The favorite dish of these mountain
dwellers, however, is roast dog, which must be prepared according to a fixed formula, the eating of a
dog being as much of a religious rite as it is a feast.
Young, half-grown dogs are used and are fattened
on rice, then, just before the feast, are beaten to
death with clubs to make the flesh still more tender,
then are roasted whole. While the writer has never
tried eating dog, the natives say that it tastes very
much like young roast suckling pig, except that it
has somewhat more "flavor."
Many sorts of handicraft are carried on, much of
it being the result of teaching by organizations who
have established manual training schools at various
places in the mountains. Wood carving is especially
well done, the natives, however, refusing to accept
dictation as to the subject, often producing pieces
of carving which could hardly be shown in polite
surroundings, they being true realists in their choice
of subjects.
As a whole, they are extremely ignorant and
superstitious and have profound faith in witches,
charms, and other strongholds of the superstitious,
although when taught, they develop rapidly and are




138     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
certainly the mental equivalent of the lowland
dwellers, their ignorance being a matter of choice
and of inaccessibility to teachers. Even when educated in Mission schools, they usually go back to
the mode of life of their people, rarely taking part
in the activities of the so-called civilized world. In
place of being the chattering, laughter-loving people
such as we find among the Filipinos, these people are
quiet, sober, and in appearance almost surly, although quite hospitable to the stranger, provided
he can stand the dirt.
One is perfectly safe anywhere in their country.
They are not even given to petty thievery, unless
they especially desire some bright trinket or gewgaw,
as a decoration.
Formerly, these hill tribes were all head hunters,
taking the heads of their enemies and drying them
in the smoke of their huts. At present, head hunting is almost, if not quite, a thing of the past, only
the native head hunting dances being reminders of
the fact that a few short years ago, head hunting
and drying was a favorite occupation among them.




CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MALAY
Now as to something of the mental and physical
characteristics of the Filipino people, which will
apply to practically all Malays. From an Occidental standpoint, these people are physically ex- >
tremely small and slight. Their height is at least/
three inches less and their weight approximately,
thirty pounds under the average for Caucasians. A
Filipino five feet six inches in height is a tall man,  /
while one weighing one hundred and thirty pounds
is a comparative "heavyweight." The men average
considerably less than the women in weight, most
of them appearing comparatively poorly nourished.
The average weight of the women exceeds that of
the men by eighteen or twenty pounds. This difference is partially due to the fact that many Filipino boys and men insist on spending from sixty to
seventy-five per cent of their total income on clothes,
practically starving themselves in order to put up
an appearance. The women on the other hand remaining at home the greater part of the time, are
not so particular in the matter of dress, use more
and better food, and consequently are better nourished. Another thing which militates against the
139




140     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
men is the fact that sexual excesses among them are
quite common.
HJ0k   In intelligence, the Filipino male is inferior to the
female. As a whole at present, the women are lacking in education, but this is rapidly being corrected,
t the schools and colleges being literally filled with
female students.
The Filipino shows so many good traits mixed
with a number of very bad ones, that it is difficult
for a white visitor to make a fair estimate of them.
H  These Malay people are carefree and happy, in fact,
in the normal state are always laughing and chattering together. They are most kind to children,
and in spite of the fact that they have large families,
the children are always well cared for within the
limitations of their understanding, both the father
and the mother, apparently, taking an equal personal and individual pride in all offspring and
spending hours dandling and playing with them. It
is most unusual to see children harshly treated by
Filipinos, regardless of whether they belong to themselves or to others. They are quitekind and hosI pitable to strangers, not only of their own race but
Eo Caucasians as well, and one may travel anywhere
in the islands, on mountain, plains op coast, and be
certain of being cordially received and kindly
treated. In this, Manila is the one exception as it,
in common with most l]rge cities throughout the




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


141


world, has a larger percentage of human parasites,
toughs and ne'er-do-wells than have any of the
provinces. I have been asked time and again, after
a trip through the mountains and jungles, whether
I was not afraid to be alone with the natives. On
the contrary, the further one goes from the capital
city, the more courteous and kindly the treatment
received. As an exemplification of this trait, allow
me to recite an incident which occurred within the
past year. I was returning from Baguio to Manila
with my family, and had left the mountain city
about midnight, in order to avoid the hot, dusty
drive across the plains. Unfortunately, at about
three o'clock in the morning my machine broke down
while I was still some sixty miles from Manila.
While we were debating as to what to do, two Filipino boys came by in an old Ford car. Seeing our
plight, they stopped and attempted to aid in repairing our car, but finding that this was impossible,
offered to tow us into Manila. As no tow rope was
available, it was necessary that they manufacture
one, which they did. The trip entailed a very considerable amount of work on their part, as the tow
line broke at frequent intervals and our progress
was slow. Eventually, they delivered us, together
with our disabled car, in front of our home, and
were quite indignant when we offered to reimburse




142  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


them for their time and trouble, declaring that they
"would have done as much for any one."
On another occasion, we were so unfortunate as
s A:to upset our machine on a narrow road, seventy miles?i *o the south of Manila. The machine was wrecked,
while all of us sustained at least some injury. The
natives in the neighborhood not only helped us from
beneath the wrecked car, but aided us in every way
in making ourselves presentable, even going so far
as to wash and iron the clothing of the ladies, mending rents, fixing a temporary splint for my broken
arm, while some of them endeavored to put our machine in running order. They were highly incensed
when we offered to pay them for their services, and
the only way we could reimburse them was by sending them a number of suckling pigs, in order that
they might have a "lechon" (roast suckling pig)
party, a form of social gathering of which they are
very fond.
Countless other examples come to mind, illustrating their kindliness and courtesy. Yet, on occasion,
', they can be most aggravating, irritating, tricky and
dishonest to an extreme degree. Their dishonesty
rarely extends further than bald' misstatements of
facts and trivial pilfering, yet these continued day
after day are quite irritating enough. On occasion,
every conceivable subterfuge will be used to get out
of work, duty, or the fulfilling of obligations. Ex



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY             143
cept in the case of immediate friends, the truth is not
in the native. He lies as readily as birds fly or fish
swim, the only disgrace being that of being caught
in the act. They are the reservoir of such a multij
tude of opposing good and bad traits thait is es4
tremely difficult to make up one's mind regardini
them.
They are clean in person, yet have as bad sanitary habits as any people in the world. They are
kindly and hospitable, yet can on occasion be most
treacherous and cruel. They display the greatest
consideration for children, strangers, and animals,
yet at times display the utmost indifference to the
suffering of children, may refuse a stranger aid
and torture animals without the turn of a hair.
They are honest within certain very marked limitations, and beyond these limits, most extraordinarily dishonest. They are straightfdrward and
frank about things which the Caucasian lies about
as a matter of course, yet, in other affairs where the
Caucasian tells the truth, they lie as a matter of
course. The more contact one has with them, the
greater his bewilderment and wonder as to their
mental processes. Only recently the writer heard a
white man, who had lived among them for twentyfive years, state that it was only during his first two
or three years in the islands that he believed he
understood them, and that since that time, he was


II
~J




144  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


certain that he knew nothing and would never knom
anything of the intricacies of their minds. Very
few white men ever acquire the ability to think aE
oes the Malay, and they are usually most unopulapbut very much feared individuals, since by
paralleing their mental processes, they are often
able to forestall certain of their acts.
The Filipino is a good sportsman, although until
>/   recently, he had comparatively little opportunity of
displaying this trait. He loves all manner of games,
/  and among the younger element, outdoor sports
make a marked appeal, but only those requiring considerable agility without weight or brute strength.
Baseball, tennis and handball are quite popular.
Soccer football has become a popular game, but
Rugby or American football is never played. One
of the favorite sports in the islands is prize fighting,
a sport which was introduced by Americans and has
become very popular. Nearly all bouts are put on
at from ninety-five to one hundred and ten pounds,
and when one of the fighters scales one hundred and
forty pounds, it is difficult to match him for a fight
unless with a white man. Another popular game
throughout the islands is a form of billiards played
on a table shaped much like a French billiard table,
except that it has a smooth, wooden top in place of
cloth and that, instead of balls, flat discs of wood
are used. Another very common game is "dama,"




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY  1


145


a sort of checkers, except that in place of using the
squares between the lines, Filipinos use the spots
where the lines cross and move from one intersection
to another. This game is really universal in the
islands, and wherever two or more natives get to-,  A
gether and have sufficient flat surface to draw lines;
for a dama-board, they play it. The Filipino is a
great gambler and will bet on anything at all. As
a consequence, certain out-and-out gambling games
have become popular, the most popular of these
being "Monte."
Formerly, the chief sport was cock fighting, and
even today, licensed cock pits in every city and village in the islands attract their quota of natives.
More money changes hands as a result of bets on
fighting cocks than through any other single factor.
Practically every native owns one or more fighting
cocks and spends hours in training them for the pit.
One of the interesting sights in the city of Manila is
to go to a certain churchyard in the old walled city,
where the natives meet each evening to train their
fighting cocks.
A popular diversion is attendance on church 
festivals.  I have no quarrel with the Catholicj s ^'*
Church; in fact, it accomplishes far more among 
the natives than could the Protestant Church
under any circumstances. It offers them something
tangible whereupon to hang their faith. Statues,




146     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
shrines, etc., constitute the native's religion. He has
embraced the outward form of worship with absolutely no conception of its true meaning. He repeats the service which he has been taught just as
a parrot would repeat it. The religion which he has
X adopted offers a multitude of statues, which probably
are more ornamental than those he worshiped before
the arrival of the church. Saints' days, church
festivals and fiestas are his special delight, and
numberless days and nights are devoted to religious
processions in which hundreds or thousands of
natives, carrying lighted candles and singing songs,
the meaning of the words of which they have absolutely no conception, follow an image of the Virgin,
or of this, that or the other Saint. It is difficult to
watch many of these processions without conceiving
the idea that their religion might well be placed in
the category of amusement.
The native is very superstitious and is a firm believer in witches, charms and antungs-the more
ignorant the individual, the greater his superstition.
Certain beliefs are so firmly engrafted that it is use-:t  less in one or two generations to attempt to eradicate them. For instance, one may leave word with
the houseboy to be awakened at a certain hour, but,
as in his opinion, the soul departs from the body
during sleep, it is an exceedingly dangerous proceeding to wake the sleeper suddenly, since his soul might




A KAIIIN(A l1LL MAN IN NATIVE COSTUME WITH A WEALTH
A.                 S 
or8e.  *.   '* *




OI




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


147


not find its way back into the body. Consequently
one is not called.
Previously, the marked limitation in ment     l
capacity shown by the real Malay Filipino was me
tioned. Be assured that such a statement is not
be construed as an attempt to belittle the Filipin6o
people, whom I personally like very much. The!    i
mental status of a people should be discussed, if at 
all, quite as frankly as should the question of their
stature, or the color of their hair or eyes, providing 
the facts can be ascertained as accurately.
In comparing races, there has long been a general
impression among Caucasians that the mentality of
Malays is decidedly limited, although statements to
this effect on the part of Caucasians are usually
attributed to their desire to glorify their own exalted mental status, and as blind propaganda
against those of dark skin.
From a comparatively incomplete study of the
matter, the writer has come to the conclusion that
in mental capacity the Malay lies about midway between the Caucasian and the Negro, the Negro being lower, the Caucasian considerably above him. A
group of approximately two hundred individuals,
practically all students from various departments
of the University of the Philippines, and most of
whom came from families above the average in the
social scale, were examined, using accepted tests for




148  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


mental standards, and were found to rate less than
twelve mental years. These individuals were either
pure Malay stock, or had a comparatively slight
mixture of white blood in their veins. All of them
d qualified for various courses at the University,
A  and some of them were well advanced at the time the
L tests were made. Another much larger group, about
eight hundred adult "Taos," were also rated and
were found to average well below eight mental
years. Unfortunately, due to lack of time, the
writer had to delegate much of the work to others,
but it is believed that the results are approximately
correct for the Filipino people. This limitation is
exhibited throughout all classes, and where exceptional brilliancy or ability is noted, investigation will
nearly always show a considerable percentage of
blood other than Malay in the individual's makeup. The writer personally knows of only four or
five individuals of pure Malay blood who have shown
real mental capacity, and who have attained commensurate positions. A study of the leaders of the
various activities of the islands is in itself strongly
confirmatory of these findings. All the outstanding
and more clever of the political group, the leaders in
political life in the islands, are of mixed blood,
usually Spanish and Malay, although a certain
number are Chinese Mestizos. Equally, the more:~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


149


competent physicians and surgeons are all of mixed 
blood, while in the legal profession a considerable
admixture of either white or Chinese blood seems to.~
be an absolute essential to success.
Briefly, the Malay apparently was destined by
nature to be a "hewer of wood and a drawer of
water," and attempts on the part of the educator to 
elevate him beyond a certain mental plane only result in disappointment and disaster for the poor
Malay, who, left more or less to his own devices, is a
most likeable individual, quite contented with his
status and much happier than when striving for the
unattainable.  After all, in spite of the lack of 
mental capacity, these people have an exceptional 
amount of mental dignity, and once having been
started along any path, educatory or otherwise, will 
strive indefinitely, though possibly ineffectually, 
toward that goal.
However, there is more behind the striving than 
the mere desire for mental attainment. Years of 1:ii'
association with Europeans have firmly engrafted...
the idea of the irthate superiority of those engaged in
certain professional pursuits, and as a result, any
Filipino family will undergo unlimited hardship and
privation in order that one member may rise to the
dignity of a profession, and from that height, shed
his glory over the whole familial group. In turn,




150  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


the victim of the family ambition will strive most
pathetically to carry out his part of the bargain
through his educational acquirements.
In spite of the fact that those interested in educational work in the Philippines will hardly agree,
the most casual observation   will confirm  the
fact that school standards throughout the islands
are extremely low. Graduation from grade school
indicates that the individual has completed work corresponding to about the fifth grade in the common
schools of the United States. A completed high
I  hool education corresponds in mental attainment
to completion of grade-schools of the United States,
/ while a Bachelor of Arts degree from one or another
of the various Universities of the islands might
' qualify the graduate for entrance into the Junior,
or possibly even the Senior class of an American.f '  high school.
r g.The professional schools are no better, the students memorizing very considerable amounts of text,
D%! but never by any possibility acquiring any real
Of  ability in the use of this knowledge.
IA          V 
^r ^ In^'w 


9 ^ I  I
I: 9.\fc~




FILIPINO SOCIAL SYSTEM


FROM a group social standpoint, unlike the United
States, where at least idealistically there are no
classes, in the Philippines class distinctions are 
much more sharply defined, yet these depend more
upon education, wealth and ability than upon any 
inherent distinction of caste. In other words, in
so far as the writer is able to understand the situation, no hindrance is offered to any individual developing to that point where he may associate with
those generally classed as members of a superior
caste. Nothing counts but his innate ability either
mentally or financially, though the two usually go
hand in hand, and as in the United States, wealth
is the key which often unlocks the gate to a higher
social standard. Herein is the greatest difference
between the Philippines and the rest of the Orient.
Generally speaking, the lowest social classification
is that of the "tao" the rural laborer of the islands. 
It must be understood, however, that "taos" are not i/'
landholders and in no way correspond to our farmers
or even to our farm hands, but labor for others, often
from  daylight until dark for a sum per month
which the poorest untrained laborer in the United
States would disdain as a weekly wage. The tao,
151




152     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
however, is the backbone of the islands, inasmuch
as agriculture is carried on almost entirely by hand, 
and without him, the landholder, either petty, or the
owner of vast plantations, would be helpless. All
rice is planted, tended, cut and threshed by him and
his family; abaca is grown, cut, stripped and baled
by this same individual; sugar cane is planted, cut
and hauled by him, and the vast cocoanut plantations are absolutely dependent upon his efforts. In
other words, this laboring class which constitutes
the greater proportion of the population is the one
most important economic factor in the islands, for
it is only by the exploitation of their muscles that
the other classes exist.
The corresponding class in the cities and towns
Care houseboys, cooks, lavanderas-at least one of
whom is attached to every household-and the ordinary day laborers of the communities.
Next above this in the social scale is that group
known as "small landholders"     They are not
numerically important, but as a class, are gradually increasing, largely as a result of American
rule and a new system   of laws, instituted after
American occupation, guaranteeing land titles.
While this class is gradually increasing, partly
as the result of their own natural instincts and
partly as the result of the example set them for
several centuries during the Spanish regime, imme



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


153


diately a native becomes a landholder, no matter
'how small his holding, he develops, not a thankful
spirit and a determination to help others, but a spirit
of arrogance toward his inferiors, if you please,
those laborers whom he employs at possibly P. 20
($10) a month or on small shares to work his holding.
As a result, the social gap between the small landholder and the "tao," and the lare landholder (the
member of the "landed aristocracy") and the "tao,"
is only a matter of degree, and in fact, until the
mental attitude of the native changes, as it is hoped
it may eventually, the smAll landholder is more of
i an economic burden than an aid.
c>  The ultimate aim of every native in the islands
is to acquire sufficient wealth and influence that he
may no longer be required to labor, but may him-.
self be an employer. Those individuals who, possibly through good fortune, possibly through early
endeavor acquired title to a small amount of land,
become a communal burden as soon as their title is
clear, and no longer, except in very rare instances,
work upon the land themselves or even aid in working it, but rather direct the activities of the still
poorer natives of the neighborhood of whom there
are always a bountiful supply. With the beginning
of economic independence, the small landholder immediately acquires at least one house servant and




154     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
possibly more, since these can be secured for little
more than maintenance and, in addition, this same
individual, who but recently rose from the ranks of
laborers, maneuvers to place his tenants in such a
dependent position that they practically become his
slaves for life.
As a matter of fact, borne out by my own investigations and those of others, a comparatively
small proportion of laborers in the rural districts
receive any compensation whatsoever other than the
right to a mere existence. The native landholder, no
matter how small his holding, endeavors to force his
laborers into his debt and then by charging them an
excessive interest rate so maintains them for an indefinite period.
" Usury, regardless of all laws to the contrary, is
universal in the islands and, of course, the more
ignorant the poor tao, caught in the clutches of the
landholder, the more difficult it is for him to get free.
For instance, he may wish to borrow a small sum of
money, possibly in order that he and his family
may attend a "fiesta," or thathe may purchase some
trifle dear to his heart. If his landlord can possibly secure the money he advances it gladly, the
only security being a sort of a note which the tao
signs at the time the loan is made. As he is ignorant,
not only of financial matters, but of his legal rights
as well, this note is held over his head week after




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


155


week, month after month, and year after year, always drawing an excessive rate of interest, and on
numerous occasions the interest on the loan amounts
to ten or more times the original principal. In lieu
of actually paying such a debt in cash, it is no infrequent occurrence for the laborer to "bind out"
either himself or the members of his family for an
indefinite period, to cover it. As a result, while
slavery and peonage do not legally exist in the
islands, the end result is actually the same.
Necessarily, no figures are available on the subject, nor is there any way of obtaining exact information regarding it. The landlord, of course,
makes no mention of it, and the poor, illiterate,
ignorant tao, as well as his family, are held in such
abject terror of the law that even should the investigator be able to speak their language and become
well acquainted, the condition is never admitted,
through fear of the consequences.
The writer knows personally of numerous cases of
this kind, as does every one who has lived in the
islands for any length of time, and numerous Filipino friends who are even better acquainted with
actual conditions throughout the provinces, state
that this is extremely common.
It is estimated that not less than twenty per cent
of the total laboring population of the islands are
held in practical slavery. It is true that these




156  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


laborers have freedom to come and go, to associate
with whom they please, to marry, to raise children
and to live, yet they are essentially slaves, toiling
from early morning until late at night, at the will
of their masters to whom they are in debt.
In this connection, the writer begs to invite attention to another condition which exists in the islands,
which makes it impossible to secure definite information regarding abuses suffered by the lower classes;
that is, thCacique system.
Nearly every Plpino of money or influence proceeds to develop.ell defied clan. Some members may be his "parientes" (relatives), others
merely friends, others indebted to him, or upon
whom he has a hold in some other way. Of any
member of this group he can, and does, demand
absolute obedience, both in act and word and should
any luckless member of the community offend the
"Cacique," or seriously offend any member of the
organization, the result for the offender is most
disastrous. Giving out information regarding debts
or peonage is usually sufficient to call down the
wrath of the Cacique on the head of the unfortunate
informer.
This condition is almost universal in the islands,
although publicly no Filipino dares admit it for the
reasons stated, but privately, almost any native will
give definite facts regarding it, always, however, re



PLOWING AND HARROWING A FIELD FOR SUGAR CANE. UNCUT
CANE IN T}IE BACKOlR 0UND
ILD 1A006NED FIL.~~~~~~~~~ 11. 




I~




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY,


157


lating them to some far-away district in which he is
not concerned. Should this statement eventually
be published, without a doubt, there will be a wholesale denial on the part of Filipino publicists and
politicians, yet it is a matter of common knowledge
throughout the islands, and one which is easily
verified providing one is even moderately well
acquainted with the islands and their people.
All the islands are permeated, to a great degree,
by this spirit, and it was probably this condition
which caused Miss Mayo, although she did not so
state, to term the islands "The Isles of Fear."
Unfortunately, this condition of systematic intimidation is not confined to villages, but extends
to cities as well, and it may be safely assumed, extends also to government departments.
One house servant dares not give information regarding a theft committed by another, and in higher
circles, political malfeasance is often hidden for the
same reason.
Those who wield this malign influence are often
those who have acquired a fair portion of this
world's goods, and while not immune to legal punishment, at times are able to extend this influence
to the courts and all too frequently crimes go entirely unpunished, or the perpetrator, if sentenced,
is either let off with a ridiculous penalty, or is
pardoned long before he has completed his sentence.




158  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


With all this it is a notable fact that in crimes of
violence, highway robbery, and general thuggery,
the Filipino people are among the best behaved of
any on earth, and the citizens by and large, except
in regard to certain types of misdemeanors, are relatively law abiding.
One is safer in the largest city of the islands,
regardless of the time, day or night, or of what
section visited, than in any city in the United States.
Men, women and children, regardless of race, feel
perfectly safe to come and go through any part of
the city or country at any time. This is not due to
over-adequate police protection, although this is
fairly satisfactory, but to the fact that crimes, except such as embezzlement and fraud, are really extremely rare, though occasionally in a fit of anger
there is a stabbing or cutting affray, or some provincial friends clash with their bolos.




INDEPENDENCE SITUATION


AT present, every writer dealing with the Philippines, be he American, Filipino, Japanese, British
or other, is accused of bias in his views.
The Filipino people under the rather able leadership of a group of clever politicians of mixed blood
have been agitating for independence for the last
several years. Rightly or wrongly, the reader must
judge for himself.
The majority of Americans, and I might add, the
majority of Caucasians living in the islands, have
actively opposed this movement or at least, if they
have not been active in opposition, have gone to no
great pains to aid it. A charge frequently made,
not only by the Filipinos working for independence,
but also by certain Americans, is to the effect that
all the opposition to independence is not backed by
an honest conviction as to the inability of the Filipinos to govern themselves, but has as its motive the
desire to retain certain desirable concessions and
business advantages.
The writer is neither interested in the islands,
from a financial viewpoint, nor from that of politics.
So far as he is personally concerned, it makes not
one iota of difference whether the Philippines are
159




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RYINOh HEMP. AFTER STTRIPPING THE HEMP IS ]HOTNG UPON
BA MBO BACKS TO DRY::::: | li  110 _
3 *.,::. *;.:. /,,  ~ "..,,..  *.:.. *   *. *.








THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


161


Such missions are composed of the few brainy men
of whom the islands can boast among their native
population, and the observer who knows the Far
East will note that these individuals are invariably
of mixed blood, usually at least half white.        Ai
There is a widespread idea throughout the United 
States that there is a popular demand for independence on the part of the Filipino people, and also
that education has progressed in the islands to a
point where the natives compare favorably in mental 
ability and political training with the mass of thee  /
population of the United States. Both these ideas?,  7 
are fallacies. It is the honest opinion of the writer iv 
that the whole independence agitation depends on 
the activities of not more than  ve astute Mestiztf   %
politicians who, for their ownelfishds, instigated  >
this movement and have kept it going, and further- 
more, that not more than 5,000 persons throughout X 
the whole of the archipelago, with its 12,000,000;  A
population, are really interested in independence,
although thousands give it "lip service." '        y
In a previous chapter I tried to convey some idea  ~ ct
of the "Cacique system," and the reason why the  a 
agitation for independence may often appear so
widespread. During the last drive for funds to  / 
promote this movement, I knew to a certainty that 
every employee in my office, and there were some 
forty, contributed his quota, yet almost without




162     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
exception these same individuals confided to me that
they were not in favor of independence, but felt that
refusal on their part to contribute, would lead to
some form of unpleasantness for either themselves
or their families. This same state of affairs exists
throughout almost the entire archipelago, except in
the Southern Islands. "But," the average American asks, "are not these people entitled to their independence?"   "Was it not promised them?"
"Have they not had sufficient training under American rule to warrant granting them their independence?" "Why should America attempt to hold 12,000,000 people against their will?"
There are a number of excellent reasons for refusing to grant more autonomy than the islands
now enjoy. The Filipino people at present are
practically independent, have more freedom and
liberty than ever before in their history, and even at
this moment, are probably more nearly their own
masters than those Americans who feel so sorry for
them. It is true that a very considerable progress in
the matter of education, sanitation, and what we are
pleased to call "civilization," has been made under
American rule, but I am firmly of the belief that
these advances, gained at such effort, would be immediately lost were independence granted. Alone,
the Filipino people are at present incapable of




F  B,,s   PHILIPPINES TODAY         163.aiitaining a stable Governments even were they
allowed to attempt su —ah —t; ng.  Independence
from the United States would, undoubtedly, mean
an immediate exploitation of the masses for the benefit of a few wealthy and unscrupulous individuals
who would control the Government. In addition,
should the United States step out, there is the ever
present danger of foreign intervention in the islands,
with the distinct possibility that Japan would dominate them within a very short time. The experience
of both Formosa and Korea at the beginning of
Japanese administration in those places should be a
lesson to those well meaning but poorly informed individuals whose only thought is for the good of the
Filipino people, and who tacitly countenance Japanese control.
If granted, not only would independence affect
the Philippines and the United States, but would
probably have an immediate and disastrous effect on
the entire world, since there is a certain delicate
balance maintained among the various powers in the
Far East which would be sadly upset were the
islands to be set free. Should such a move be
seriously contemplated, England, France and Holland at least (those nations most directly interested),
would oppose independence with the utmost vigor.
Then, too, there is a very considerable part of




164     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
the native population of the archipelago who are
vigorously opposed to independence. Practically
the whole of the population of the Southern Islands,
the Moros, will have none of the independence movement and have repeatedly petitioned the American
Government, through the Governor-General, not to
allow them to fall into the hands of the northern
natives, since they know that being outnumbered,;  * should the archipelago be cut adrift by the United
States, a war of extermination directed against them
would immediately follow.
Not only is this movement opposed by the Moros,
i but is secretly opposed by most of the wealthy and
Z\yintelligent natives throughout the Northern Islands.
This latter body of opponents is necessarily mute on
'the subject, since open opposition means almost certain and immediate financial and social ruin, as the
leaders of the movement will brook no opposition on
the part of their own people. The poor tao, having
no conception of what the word "independence"
means, except that he has been told that once he has
independence he need pay  o more taxeand can
live without work, is, of course,-infavor of it, although were he to realize what independence most
certainly holds for him, he would certainly feel differently, yet even then must necessarily still support the movement.
In this connection I beg to reproduce here an




zt o
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4Z~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~. ~




I




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY             165
anonymous poem, which expresses to a nicety the
position of "Juan de la Cruz" in the matter under
consideration at present, although equally applicable to any other of his problems. (Courtesy of
Manila Times.)




THESE ARE THE PEOPLE


PEDRO CRUZ was a youngish man
At the time that the Spanish war began.
A simple, clear-eyed son of the soil,
Born and raised to a life of toil,
Laboring far from the haunts of men,
His life had few of the joys we ken.
A pot of rice when the dawn first broke,
At noon more rice, and a lazy smoke,
A supper of rice when the work was o'er
And a dreamless sleep on a bamboo floor.
Contented, penniless, free from care,
Would that my story could leave him there.
The same Cacique who owned the ranch
Owned Pedro's family, root and branch,
Owned his rickety nipa shacks,
His dogs and chickens, and razor-backs.
Held a title binding and clear
To the crop he was going to raise next year.
Loaning to him on the generous plan
Of one big peso for each cavan
Of rice that he raised, and when work was slack
Running a cockpit to win it back.
Then loaning more 'til he'd won the rest
Of the crop at usurious interest.
Debt unending and work undone
166




THE PHILIPPINES,TODAY


167


Handed down from father to son
Bought and sold when the farm changed hands
Chattels along with the house and lands.
Pedro was taking his noonday smoke.On the day that the insurrection broke,
And questioning neither right nor wrong
He sharpened his bolo and went along.
"Why," do you ask, "did he go to war
Without knowing what he was fighting for?"
You would understand if you held the views
Of the helpless laborer, Pedro Cruz,
And orders came from the "Casa Grande"
To sharpen your bolo and linger handy.
Sudden death would be sweet indeed
To what he would get if he didn't heed,
So he went to war, but we'll skip the tale
Of long drawn fighting to no avail
And start with the time when the dove of peace
Cooed from her cot that the strife must cease.
Pedro's master, like many others
Of our murderous, devilish, adopted brothers,
Was waiting in prison to Expiate
For murder, arson, and crimes of state,
Convicted and guilty beyond a doubt
When the general amnesty let him out.
And realizing the sad mistakes
That the best of government sometimes makes
They tried in a measure to atone
By indemnifying for every stone




168     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
That had been misplaced in his acres wide
And threw in a governorship beside.
Pedro's family all had fled,
Some were missing and some were dead,
But the starved survivors at length returned
And he built his house where the old had burned.
Resumed his work where he'd stopped that day
When he got his orders to march away,
Took up his debt and a whole lot more
For the months of fighting had swelled the score
And settled down to the same old grind
With never a worry to fret his mind.
And now my history, writ in rhyme,
Has brought us down to the present time.
Pedro is withered and old and lame,
But mentally he is still the same,
And Pedro's son, at the master's bid,
Will take up the debt as his father did.
And Pedro's grandchildren, when they come,
Will add their bit, to increase the sum.
Now and then, as the months go by,
An order comes from the man on high,
And Pedro Junior, and Senior, march
Through festooned highway and bamboo arch
To a given spot where they stand in line
And shout Hurrah! when they get the sign.
Today it is "VIVA!" for Jones's bill,
Tomorrow, against, at-the Boss's will,
And it matters little to Pedro Cruz




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


169


For it's "Heads I win, and tails you lose."
"And where," do you ask me, "is Pedro found?" 
Just look, wherever the wheels go round
In the city mills, in the rice fields wide, 
Or cutting wood on the mountain side. 
Farmer, laborer, mill hand, clerk,
Toiling away at the dirty work.
Bound and fettered by stricter laws
Than ever were written in legal clause, 
Doing the bidding of some big chief
Trained from the cradle to blind belief.
These are the "People" we read about
Who gather in masses and loudly shout... These are the people, that we've been wronging
Who burn with a patriotic longing
For anything that their masters name           1H.' If the burning helps to promote their game. 
These are the people who long to be. Independent, who want to see
The last American leave their shore 
And the old conditions return once more.
These are the people. "0 Lord! How long          E i
Will you let them suffer this frightful wrong?",
-ANONYMOUS.       r 
During the recent trip of Mr. Carmi Thompson, 
President Coolidge's personal investigator to the $ 
Philippines, it was noted that there was a most re- *
markable uniformity in the matter of the signs dis- 
played throughout all the provinces. The explana- 
IHce'lr E3




170     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
tion was quite simple. These placards and signs,
bearing such legends as "We want immediate independence," "You promised us independence, why
not keep your promise?", etc., were all displayed by
order of the Manila politicians, and in most cases
these banners and placards were actually printed in
Manila and sent out to the various provinces in
order that they might be on display when the "investigator" arrived. Had any imagination been displayed in printing them, they might have carried a
certain amount of conviction, but when the same
thing was seen time after time, even in the more remote provinces, where English is almost unknown,
some doubt as to their spontaneity must necessarily
have arisen in the mind of Colonel Thompson.
The solution of the Philippine problem certainly
does not lie in granting the islands independence,
nor can it be compassed by such a proposal as advanced in the bill providing for the separation of
the Southern Islands from the Northern. An impersonal study of the situation, uninfluenced by
propaganda or the cries of well intentioned but
dangerous theorists, who know not whereof they
speak, may give the correct solution. Personally,
I don't know. The people of the islands may
eventually advance to a point where they are capable
of establishing a real Government, though at present, they are certainly incapable of any such thing.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY               171
It is equally futile to promise them independence in
any particular period of years, ten, fifteen, twentyfive or fifty; yet, to leave the islands in their present unsettled political state is unfair to both Filipinos and to foreign investors, for no one, regardless of how boundless his faith in the economic possibilities of the islands, cares to invest there with no
assurance of the political future. My personal impression in the matter is that, if the Filipinos are
ready for independence in fifty years more, a really
satisfactory job will have been accomplished.




APPENDIX


EXCEPT to the visitor unacquainted with the tropics, the Philippine Islands, from a scenic standpoint, are usually a decided disappointment. Natural scenery, especially of a grand and awe-inspiring type, is scarce and inaccessible. On the other
hand, to any one interested in the picturesque, the
natives comprising the different groups which go to
make up the population of the Islands furnish a
never-ending study, as do their most casual streets,
for unlike well known and frequently visited streets
in the Occident, Oriental streets and villages never:  stale and never become dull. Pass along the same
street or through the same village time after time
and one will be astonished at the never ending
change and variety. Herein lies much of the charm
of the Orient.
Fortunately, the tourist and visitor to the Philippines is quite safe in poking his nose into all sorts
of out-of-the-way places, and in going almost anywhere-much more safely than he can carry out a
similar program at home.
From the standpoint of becoming acquainted with
the islands, it is unfortunate that most tourists only
stop in the Philippines for a day or two and during
172




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


that time usually remain in or about Manila. Even
so, much can be learned of the lowland natives,
their habits and customs if the visitor will but hold
aloof from the guides usually furnished tourists
during their short stay.
In and about Manila, all guides for tourist parties are recruited from among the University students, who can be depended upon to show the tourist only those places and things furthest removed
from the true life of the native. These young men
are carefully taught a speech which they make while
traversing a set route and any visitor who really
wants to even glimpse the true Philippines will do
better not to accept their services, but rather to 
take his own way in and about the city. All too:r
often, also, the tourist's opinion of the islands and,,
their inhabitants is formed after an association of <l?
a few short hours with one of these personable young  j;
men who is by no means representative of the gen- &
eral population or of the average intelligence of 
the Islanders. 
There are a number of hotels in Manila but only Go
one of these can be recommended as first-class, so for.
the sake of comfort and convenience the tourist will 
do well to stop at the Manila Hotel. This was
especially constructed for the tropics, and to the
uninitiated seems rather "barn-like" on account of
the latticed partitions and the general outdoor




174  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


effect. However, the visitor will find it quite comfortable. The hotel is run strictly on the American
plan and the food and drinks are well prepared and
safe. Remember that mosquito nets over the beds
are a necessity so don't insist on their removal, nor
should timid ladies fear the house lizards running
about on the walls and ceilings. These are harmless and are the official mosquito and insect catchers
for the establishment. Without them life in the
tropics would be considerably less pleasant.
The Manila Hotel is located on the north side of
the Luneta, a big open square, a part of which once
served as a parade ground for Spanish troops. It
was on that part of the square now known as
Wallace Field that political prisoners and revolutionists against the Spanish government were usually executed. The Luneta is now used as a park
and playground and has been enlarged since American occupation by building a sea-wall and "making
a fill" while dredging the harbor which it faces.
Several interesting monuments are located here as
well as a municipal bandstand where excellent concerts are given by the Philippine Constabulary
Band three evenings a week. The chief monument
is that dedicated to Rizal which is supposed to
stand on the spot where Rizal, a Filipino patriot,
was executed by the Spanish government for his




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY;


t175


part in organizing a revolution. Near the sea-wall
there is also a monument and flagstaff dedicated to
Dr. Burnham, who, after American occupation,
planned the modern city and detailed the various
projects for the beautification of Manila. His plans
are gradually being carried out as money is made
available for the suggested improvements.
On the south side of the Luneta and facing it are
the Army and Navy, the Elks and the University
clubs.
That portion of the City of Manila of chief interest to tourists is the old Spanish city which is
entirely surrounded by a high stone and earthen
wall surmounted at intervals by special fortifications. The walled city was formerly situated almost
on the shore of Manila Bay, but in dredging the
harbor new land was made between it and the bay
so that it now stands several blocks from the
waterfront. This district, known as "intramuros"
(within the wall) was completely surrounded by a
moat the waters of which formerly bathed the foot
of the walls. After the coming of the Americans,
this moat, which was a sanitary eye-sore and had
outlived its usefulness, was partially filled and has
been made into an eighteen-hole municipal golf
course extending around two sides of the old city.
This course is open to the public upon payment of




176  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


a small green fee and while not a particularly difficult course is certainly unique enough to warrant
at least one round by the enthusiastic golfer.
The walled city is approximately one and onehalf miles in length and a half mile in width. The
wall, which was built about 1590, is intact and in
an excellent state of preservation except where
breached in one or two places to allow egress to new
streets. There are in all six gateways piercing the
walls. The approach to each is over a causeway
built across the moat. Formerly, each gate was
closed at night by heavy, iron-studded, double,
wooden doors which are still in place at several of the
portals. The Pasig River bathes the wall at the
northern end of "intramuros" just as Manila Bay
formerly protected it on the West. At the extreme
northern end of the walled city is located Fort Santiago, formerly the chief fortification of the city
which is now used as headquarters for the Philippine
division of the United States Army. The most
ornate of all the gates through the wall is that giving
access to the fort.
The city walls themselves are of sufficient interest to warrant a tour of them, which can be made in
a "carromata," though the ardent pedestrian will
find many very interesting places by encircling them
on foot. In several places steps or inclines lead to
the top so that the visitor can walk for a consid



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


177


erable distance around the city on top of the wall.
He will note that in a number of places it is of sufficient thickness to allow buildings to be constructed
on the top and that a number of these along the
West or bay side of the wall are even now used as
quarters for American troops. However, it is in the
city within the walls that the visitor will find those
places of interest and antiquity which will bear
closer study.
In this brief outline it is impossible to describe
the old buildings within the walled city or to detail
their history which is voluminous. Most of them
were built by the Spanish Government or by the
Church and practically all of them have extremely
interesting historic values. The visitor will note
that most of them have walls of tremendous thickness. These are built of adobe stone which is a sort
of native clay. When first cut from the earth it is of
about the consistency of cheese but on drying it
takes on a stony hardness. These adobe buildings
are usually stuccoed over to give them a smoother
appearance although in many places the underlying blocks can be seen.
As a residential section "intramuros" has been
largely given up to a poorer class of natives and
many of the beautiful old mansions designed for a
single wealthy Spanish family are now occupied by
as many as thirty or forty families, although there




178     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
are still a few beautifully preserved and cared for
homes of the tropic Spanish type in this district.
The visitor will note that in practically every case
the houses or their walls are built quite flush with
the street and that where windows or doors open on
the street they are heavily barred with iron grills
which give protection against marauders and still
allow the free circulation of air. Nearly all of these
houses have quaint and sometimes beautiful gardens
in the patios which are screened from the public by
the houses and walls.
One of the places of interest to visitors in the
walled city is the "Cathedral of the Immaculate
Conception" or "The Cathedral" as it is usually
known. This is an old and quite ornate church located near Fort Santiago on Plaza McKinley. The
little garden in Plaza McKinley is of interest as
there are several monuments located there and several species of interesting tropic vegetation, including one tremendous old banyan tree which the visitor
will note grows with its roots in the air rather than
in the ground. Among other points of interest in
"6'tra'Ms" are Santo Toas University, the oldt university on -na s soil, founded in 1619,
the public library, the Philippine Courts, a number
of governmental executive departments, the Ateneo
de Manila, the residences of the archbishop of Ma



THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


179


nila and his staff as well as many interesting old
churches.
To the east of the walled city beyond the golf
course are the botanical gardens and several Government and Municipal buildings. Sternberg Hospital-the Army General Hospital-and the Cuarta
de Espanol, now used as barracks for an American
Regiment, face the botanical gardens.
South of the old city is a district known as Ermita
which is the principal foreign or white residential
section for Manila. On the northern border of this
district, facing the walled city is the new legislative
building of the Philippine Government, a beautiful
structure of which any government might well be
proud and which was designed by a native architect. In addition, various departments of the University of the Philippines, including the Medical
School, Bureau of Science and the Philippine General Hospital, are located in Ermita.
Bordering it on the seaward side a broad boulevard leads south along the waterfront from the
Luneta. This boulevard bordered by broad shell
walks and facing the sea, is a popular placeespecially in the evening when the cool sea breezes
blow across it-and will eventually be extended all
the way around the bay to Cavite, although at present only a few miles are completed. It passes




180     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
through another wealthy residential district along
the bay shore known as Pasay. The polo club, a
favorite point with visitors on account of the good
dance floor and music, to say nothing of the excellent food served there, is also located in Pasay.
The business district of Manila lies to the north
of the Pasig River which is crossed by several
bridges. The principal shopping street, the Escolta, is a short crooked street paralleling the Pasig
River. Leading off from it are numerous, crooked,
narrow streets lined with shops, mostly run by Chinese, where the natives as well as the more thrifty of
the foreign residents do their buying. These streets
are quite picturesque and are worth visiting as they
handle a great variety of Philippine as well as
Chinese goods.
North of the river are also located several public
markets, at least one of which, the Yangco market
on Calle Tabora, should be visited, as here the
visitor will have an opportunity of seeing the various food stuffs and products of the Islands on display. "Show me your markets and I will evaluate
the state of your civilization." One gets a better
idea of a people by visiting their markets than by
any amount of aimless wandering through their residence districts.
Still north of the business district beyond Calle
Azcarraga lies the Tondo, the "nipa shack" part of








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2,,.:
V:     '.... S X._'
ff:.d.-. d-::        / * *  '  
D —               B:" -F.%.;::~




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


181


the city, and, while this section of the city is not
usually shown to tourists, especially by the native
guides, it is extremely interesting and instructive.
Here the visitor sees the natives living, as ninety
per cent of them do live under normal Malay circumstances, but little influenced by the Occident.
Bamboo and nipa shacks on stilts, bamboo ladders
leading into the houses, the houses built withoi u
particular regard to street arrangement, crowded
unsanitary-children, dogs and chickens everywhere 
-inconceivably friendly and picturesque-this
a district well worth a visit.
To the east of the business district along 
Pasig River on Calle Aviles are the palace an4
executive offices of the Governor-General.  T
palace is known as "Malacafiang" and was formerly4'S
the residence of the Spanish governor.   Certainlyi
parts of it are open to visitors.
In the extreme eastern part of the city on a smaU!
plateau overlooking it is Santa Mesa, another resi-?
dential district for foreigners, wealthier natives, and
Mestizos. Among other places of possible interest to
the tourist in Manila should be mentioned Bilibid
prison on Calle Azcarraga, a model institution of its
kind where beautiful native hardwood and wicker
furniture from the industrial department is on sale.
The evening retreat at the prison, held at 4.30




182  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


each day, is quite an impressive ceremony and may
prove of interest.
Of special interest to the ladies are the various
Philippine embroidery factories, some of which employ as many as two thousand women doing hand
embroidery. While the ladies are engaged here the
gentlemen may be interested in visiting one of the
anila cigar factories, a number of which are loted in the city and are open to visitors. Or possibly the visitor has even more depraved tastes and
prefer to attend a cock fight (the Philippine naonal sport) at one of the pits just outside the city
its.
The chief difficulty in "sight seeing" in the
hilippines is the fact that so many of the places of
interest are at such a considerable distance from the
incipal port, Manila, that a trip to them takes
f9e or possibly several days. There are, however,
a sfew places about Manila which are worth seeing:hich are more accessible.
One of these is Fort William McKinley, a United
i States army post situated on the Pasig River about
eight miles outside the city limits. The post itself
offers little from a scenic standpoint, other than luxuriant tropic vegetation and the usual quarters for
officers and troops, but the drive to it is quite interesting as the road leads along the Pasig River
through several small barrios.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


183


Along the river the visitor will note the primitive
laundries where groups of natives squat on the shore
or in the shallow water beating clothes on flat stones
with broad wooden paddles. How they manage to
turn out clean, white clothes after washing them in
Pasig River water will always remain a mystery, yet,
in spite of the muddy water the clothes do come back 
white and clean. A trip by boat up the river from
Manila as far as the lake is even more interesting
than the drive, but there is no regular boat service
and unless one wishes to hire a launch for the tri 
it is rather difficult to make. The boat trip does, 
however, offer many picturesque scenes. The riv t:
is only about twenty miles in length and opens into
a large, fresh-water lake known as the Laguna de
Bay.
In the upper reaches of the river will be seen
large marshy areas used as duck farms. These are
devoted to the production of baluts which the isitor may have seen being peddled in the market
places and on the streets in Manila much as popcorn
is sold in the United States. Baluts are a strictly
local delicacy. They are duck eggs incubated almost to the point of maturity after which they are
boiled and eaten in this state, so that one has meat
and eggs at the same time. The usual price is about
ten centavos per balut. At certain seasons of the
year there is good wild duck shooting on the Laguna




184     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY;
de Bay, although until the ducks have fed in the
Islands for some time they have a decidedly fishy
flavor. The Pasig River road passes the Santa Ana
Dance Hall and Cabaret, a place of interest for the
nocturnal wanderer. This hall, reputed to have the
largest single dance floor in the world, is located
just outside the city limits. Good food and drink
can be obtained there as can also the services of native ballarinas (dancing girls) who dance with visitors at twenty centavos per dance.
Ad Another very short trip which may prove of interest to visitors is that to the Caloocan Golf Course
just north of the city. The drive to Caloocan takes
one through several typical native barrios.
Among the more accessible places near the city
should be mentioned Montalban. This is the source
of the city water supply and is located about twentyfive miles east of Manila where a concrete dam has
been thrown across a steep-walled canyon to form
a reservoir. The scenery along this canyon is well
worth a visit, to say nothing of the interesting country traversed in getting to it.
Another place easily reached by auto from
Manila is Los Banos, "The Baths," about thirty
miles south of the city along the Manila South Road.
While there is nothing there of especial interest from
a scenic standpoint, the drive is sufficient to give the
tourist a good idea of the Philippine countryside.




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY,


185


There are natural hot springs at Los Banos, the
waters of which are claimed to have some medicinal
value. Isuan water, a bottled water popular in the
Islands, comes from these springs. There was formerly a sanatorium located there.
A branch road from the Manila South Road leads
to Cavite. This was the old Spanish Naval Base
which was taken over by the United States Navy as
a navy yard. The home of General Aguinaldo is in
this province near the town of Cavite. It can be
reached either by automobile around the south end
of the Bay or by a ferry which leaves Manila twice
a day.
Still one other place in the immediate neighborhood of Manila should be mentioned and that is
Mariveles on the Bataan Peninsula. This is an
extremely interesting place on account of the wonderful view to be obtained from the mountain and
also on account of the possibility of glimpsing some
of the pigmy people, the Negritos, who inhabit it.
Mariveles, however, is not easily accessible since but
two boats a week cross the Bay to the "barrio" at
the foot of the mountain and there is no hotel or
other place to stop overnight, so that the visitor
will have to camp if he makes the trip.
If the visitor has more time at his disposal there
are a number of scenically interesting trips to be
made from Manila. One of the most beautiful is




186  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


that to Pagsanjan, about ninety miles south of Manila near the headwaters of the Pagsanjan River,
and from San Pablo to Pagsanjan, the tourist is
almost never out of a cocoanut grove. There is a
good hotel at the village where one may stop overnight and which serves as a starting point for a
trip through the river gorge which must be made by
canoe. Visitors will do well to wear only bathing
suits for the river trip as there is every likelihood
of a spill. Shooting the rapids through this gorge
in a canoe is rather an exciting experience but
brings to view one of the finest bits of scenery in the
Islands. The walls of the gorge are brilliantly
stained by various metallic salts and these colors
combined with the tropic foliage which grows in
profusion give a very beautiful effect. The trip
to Pagsanjan is well worth the visitor's time.
One of the few really beautiful scenic drives on
the Island of Luzon is that through the cocoanut
country and over the mountain divide to Antimonan
by way of Lucena. This drive is usually considered
too long for a one-day trip, even by automobile,
though it is only about one hundred miles from
Manila. The visitor must remember, however, that
tropical roads, while good, are not the perfectly
paved roads which one finds in the United States
and that service stations are few and far between.




BAGUMBAAN A  aTEh OLD WALLED CITY OF MANILA




i
r




'THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


187


There is a fairly good hotel at Lucena where one
may stop overnight.
Another interesting trip is that to Taal Volcano
in the southern part of the Island of Luzon by way
of Batangas. Taal is one of the eight remaining
active volcanoes in the Islands and is situated on an
island in the center of Taal Lake.
The most beautiful scenic trip in the Northern
Islands is that to the summer capital, Baguio, in
the mountain provinces, and the visitor to the Islands
will be well repaid for the time it takes to make this
trip. Baguio can be reached either by train to
Damortis and thence by automobile stage up the
mountain, or, better still, by automobile direct from
Manila. Under favorable circumstances and with
a good machine, the trip from Manila to Baguio
takes from six to eight hours, although when driving
in the tropics one must always allow a few hours
extra for possible breakdowns. Baguio is situated
in the mountains at an elevation of about five thousand feet. It is practically always cool there so that
visitors will require wool clothing and wraps for
their sojourn, regardless of the season. The climb
to the mountain capital is made over an extremely
picturesque and steep trail known as the Benguet
Trail which, in a space of thirty kilometers, climbs
about five thousand feet. There is an excellent
hotel, The Pines, at Baguio where the visitor will be




188     THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
quite comfortable, and also a country club with a
fine eighteen-hole golf course which is available for
guests of the hotel. The trip, while scenically interesting, is not extraordinary from this standpoint
to those accustomed to mountains. True, the trails
and pine-clad mountains are beautiful and the vegetation unique; but the chief interest in this trip
lies in the opportunity to see and study the Igorrotes, or mountain people. If possible, the visitor
should try to remain in Baguio over Sunday to see
the Sunday morning market which is attended by all
the mountain-dwellers within two days' hike. Should
the visitor to Baguio desire a further thrill after
the Benguet Trail, a drive to Haight's Place, fifty
kilometers beyond in the mountains, will furnish it
as this trail climbs to the eight-thousand-foot level
and is extremely tortuous and steep in places. Both
the Benguet and Haight's trail are one-way toll
roads, being protected by gates at one or two mile
intervals as they are too narrow for traffic to pass
on them.
Those who are really interested in the islands and
have the time to spare will be well repaid by a visit
to Bontoc, the more remote capital of the mountain
provinces. Bontoc, at the present time, can only be
reached on foot or on pony back, as there is no automobile road completed to the town though work
is at present going forward on one. In visiting




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


189


Bontoc one passes through the Igorrote rice country
and can see the wonderful rice terraces which these
mountain people have built in order to grow their
favorite food stuff.
A new automobile road has but recently been
opened all the way from Manila through the mountains to the Cagayan Valley in the extreme northern end of the Island of Luzon and is quite beautiful and picturesque though the trip requires at least
two days each way.
The foregoing gives the visitor a very sketchy
idea of some of the more interesting places in and
about Manila, and, in a still more general way, of
those on the Island of Luzon. If the time is available, and little can be accomplished unless the visitor can spare at least two weeks more, a visit to
the Visayas (the middle group of islands of the
Philippine archipelago) will also prove of interest,
although the manners and customs of the natives
there are very similar to those of the Island of
Luzon. The chief city of the Visayan group is
Cebu which, while not scenically beautiful, is of interest. Vessels leave Manila twice a week for the
port of Cebu. The trip by the fastest boat takes
about twenty-four hours. Among the points of
interest in Cebu is the Magellan monument, on the
Island of Mactan, just opposite the city of Cebu.
Another important city and port of considerable




190  THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


importance in the Visayas is Iloilo on the island of
Panay. This is the chief sugar shipping port of
the Philippines. Any of the islands in the Visayan
group will prove of sufficient interest to warrant a
visit if one is really interested in the Philippines,
especially in a commercial way, although from the
standpoint of a tourist and sightseer they are hardly
worth the time necessary to make the trip.
The division of Mindanao and Sulu comprises the
entire southern part of the Philippine archipelago
and includes the Island of Mindanao, the Sulu
Islands and Palawan. This part of the archipelago
is of rather more interest to the tourist because of
the marked difference between the natives occupying
it and those of the Northern Islands. Almost the
entire district is under the domination of various
Moro tribes, the followers of Mohammed, whom we
have discussed previously. While there are many
beautiful scenic places in the Southern Islands most
of them are inaccessible to the ordinary tourist.
The capital of the Sulu Islands, Jolo, is an extremelj interesting Mohammedan walled city, the
home of the Sultan of Sulu. Zamboanga, another
of the cities of the southern group, with its fine
streets and luxuriant tropic vegetation, is probably
the most beautiful city in the Philippines. This city
will come nearer the tourist's ideal of the tropics
than most of the other cities of the Islands as it is




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


191


located near the equator, has a steadier rainfall,
and, consequently, a more luxuriant vegetation.
Lake Lanao in the Island of Mindanao is a beautiful fresh water lake high in the mountains but the
difficulty of getting to it is an almost insuperable
bar to those with but a limited amount of time at
their disposal. A considerable portion of the Island
of Mindanao is as yet unexplored. The pearl fisheries of the Sulu Islands are of decided interest and
should be visited if possible.
THE END
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THE PHILIPPINES,TODAY


79


nut. Inside this white ball there is a soft-shelled
seed which is usually eaten with the fruit. "Unfortunately, the fruit is so delicate that it cannot be
shipped for any great distance, even when frozen,"
and so far as I am aware, cannot be procured in the
United States or Europe in the fresh state. A fairsized industry, that of making mangosteen preserves, has grown up in the islands, although while
delicious, the preserve bears but little resemblance
in taste to the fresh fruit. For some reason, the
preparation of mangosteen preserves is practically
all done by Chinese at Jolo, in the southern islands.,      ag Ue-^-Still another, and better known, fruit 
grown in abundance is the pineapple, which develops without cultivation in certain parts of the
islands:' These half wild pineapples are smaller
than those raised in Hawaii and elsewhere, although
the soil and climate of the Philippines seem particularly adapted to their growth and with any
care, magnificent pineapples, which are quite the
equal in flavor of those produced elsewhere, larger
than any which I have seen in the United States,
can be produced. "sAt present, world markets demanding fresh pineapples are too far away to warrant the shipment of the fresh fruit, but with the
increasing demand, a number of factories have been
opened for canning pineapple, a product imported
now almost solely from the Hawaiian Islands, and




80      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
it is only a matter of time until this industry will
take its rightful place as one of the more important
in the islands..__Ctr?.s Fruits-Oranges, lemons, grapefruit and
pomeloes, which are really super-grapefruit, are
produced in abundance, but due to the distance from
the world markets, do not form an important industry except in quantities sufficient to supply the
local demand.Y Delicious native oranges can be purchased in the market for a centavo apiece, while
lemons can be had for the asking. In addition to
the fruits specifically mentioned, there are literally
dozens of others, most of which are delicious in
taste, and with few of which Americans are acquainted even by name.
At present, little if any attempt is made to cultivate fruit, though each dooryard has its quota
of banana palms, orange and mango trees, which
furnish sufficient quantities for the needs of the
family, and with even a minimum of demand for
either fresh or canned fruits, the industry can be
expanded very readily.
Rubber- -here is another industry in the islands,
at present merely in its infancy, but which in economic importance may far outdistance those mentioned heretofore. This is the growing and producing of rubber. At the present time, only a few




THE PHILIPPINES TODAY


81


small plantations are producing this most necessary commodity. i
As you all know, most of the rubber used in the
United States as well as in Europe, is produced
either in the Federated Malay States, a short 600
miles west of the Philippines, or on the Islands of
Java, Sumatra and Borneo, by British and Dutch
planters, yet the rubber plant is not indigenous to
those districts, and it has been but a few short
years since the first seeds for the vast rubber plantations now in existence in those districts were
brought to the Far East from Brazil.
Experiments carried on over a number of years
in the southern islands of the Philippine archipelago, have proven beyond the shadow of a doubt
that rubber trees will grow, develop and produce
quite as well in the Philippines as in those British
and Dutch possessions which now have a monopoly
on rubber production. In spite of the fact that it
has been well known in the Philippines for a number of years that the soil, climate and other factors
were favorable for the production of rubber,'It has
only been during the past two years, following the
restrictions placed on the production and marketing of rubber by the British, that this industry has
been seriously considered as an economic possibility.
Even if attempted on a large scale, doubtless the




82      THE PHILIPPINES TODAY
cost of production in the islands would be somewhat in excess of similar costs in British and Dutch
possessions, with their supply of cheaper labor, yet,
under certain circumstances, rubber culture in the
Philippines would not only be feasible but profitable.
There are certain obstacles, mostly political, retarding the development of the industry in the
Philippines. The chief of these are the present
Land Laws which make it impossible for any single?  individual or corporation to secure for development more than 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of
land.
Experience elsewhere has shown that in the commercial production of rubber on a worth while scale,
a plantation of 2,500 acres is an economic absurdity. Recently, the Philippine Legislature has been
importuned to change the Land Laws in order
that the development of this industry might be attempted on a large scale, but the Legislature, the
bosses of which are the leading propagandists for
independence, are fearful that, should any great
amount of outside capital be invested in the islands,
the individuals controlling it might use their influence and money to defeat the movement for independence. In view of their claims, just why they
should fear such an outcome is not altogether clear,
although the general impression among foreign in







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