PHILIPPINE ISLANDS Talking Points THE LAND AND THE PEOPLE The Philippines, “dropped in our lap” twenty years ago, now stand before the world as Ameri- ca’s experiment in democracy in the Orient. B Few people know that Magellan, sent out by the Spanish King, was the discoverer of the Philippines in 1521. The islands were later named for King Philip. We paid Spain, in 1899, $> 20 , 000,000 for this group of 3,000 islands, whose area equals ap- proximately that of the New England states, plus New York and Delaware. S Several hundred of them are very small and uninhabited — most of the land area is made up by eight of the larger islands of the group — Luzon, Mindanao, Panay, Cebu, Samar, Min- doro, Negros and Leyte. B Luzon is larger than Pennsylvania; Mindanao, than Indiana; Samar is nearly as large as New Jersey. The islands are sparsely populated. About nine million people live where fifty millions could live. 2 Hundreds of millions of people, however, come within the islands’ sphere of influence. q a RESOURCES The Philippines have a fertile soil and a bountiful rainfall. Vegetation grows there the whole year round — compare this with land in the temperate zone, where the growing period is only five months. And yet only about half the land suitable for raising sugar cane is under cultivation, and in some years the Filipinos import several million dollars worth of rice, when they ought to be exporting instead. (iJ There has been, however, definite advance in the raising and exporting of copra, the dried meat of the cocoanut. From 1899 to 1915 the amount exported showed a ninefold increase, with an appreciable rise in value. Now the islands are among the leaders in copra production. B And the Philippines have a practical monopoly on abaca — Manila hemp — which makes the strongest cordage in the world, the only kind suitable for marine ropes. B There is a future for the Philippines in their hardwood forests if they are conserved and de- veloped. The total foreign trade of the Philippines in the first six months of 1917 was larger than that of 1916 by eight and a half million dollars. 3 A new economic era lias begun for the Philip- pines, but we must see to it that low standards do not creep in and affect their business honor. □ America’s hand in the Philippines has wrought a century’s advance in twenty years; and has set up the first real democracy in the East, a demo- cracy which is injecting its ideas into the thinking of other Oriental peoples. a There are 38 provinces or states whose gover- nors are elected by the people. Civil service has been established and a Filipino is given pref- erence over an American where he shows the necessary qualifications. SANITATION El 0 Progress along the line of sanitation has been marked. In 1905 there was not a covered sewer in the Philippines. Now Manila’s splendid sewer system has caused it to be known as “The City Without Odors.” 0 Smallpox, once considered an inevitable child- ren’s ailment, has been practically eradicated. 0 The several thousand lepers have been segre- gated on the island of Culion, where they have been allowed self-government and provided with recreation and means of employment. Some cures have been effected and have continued for five years. ^ The death rate among small children, however, is still about fifty per cent. 4 EDUCATION After twenty years, fifty-five per cent of the Filipinos are still illiterate. 0 The Spanish inculcated the idea that labor was menial, and the Roman church did not encourage liberty of education. 0 American schools teach the dignity of labor by industrial training and improve the health of the nation by athletic sports. About eighty per cent of the pupils now participate in some form of athletics. ^ Filipino boys play baseball where mosquitos used to meet to plan their daily conquest of the cit y- 0 Ten thousand Filipino teachers now assist the 450 American teachers. They teach in English, which in twenty years has become better known in the polyglot Philippines than Spanish in four hundred years. ^ The Philippine offering of soldiers to the United States in the present war is 25,000 well- drilled men. 0 Subscriptions to three Liberty Loans in the Philippines amount to #8,675,000 and the sale of treasury certificates has reached #10,000,000. RELIGION Evangelization in the Philippines is steadily going on, in spite of heavy obstacles. 5 There are sixty-nine sorts o r people in the islands, speaking thirty-four languages and about a dozen dialects. 0 The mountains and forests of the islands are inhabited by various savage and pagan tribes, many of whom are very low in the scale of civiliza- tion. And even the Philippines are not free from the sign of the Crescent. There are half a million Mohammedans, who live chiefly on the island of Mindanao and in the Sulu group. Gambling and cock-fighting are common. 0 The superstition resulting from the Spanish friars’ opposition to the progress of scientific knowledge has not yet been eradicated. During Passion Week all over the islands men still practice flagellation and gash themselves horribly to gain the blessings of the Church. 0 Even on the hottest nights some Filipinos close their windows while they sleep to keep out evil spirits. Ijj Protestant denominations have cooperated in the Philippines so that evangelical rather than denominational work is stressed. 0 Methodists are responsible for 2,500,000, a large part of Luzon, the most densely populated island. 6 Catholicism has now been repudiated by thou- sands. A nominal Romanist, a leading citizen of Manila, recently stated that no more than thirty per cent of the people were real followers of the Pope. ^ Hon. John Barrett, after a year in Manila, said, “I believe the Philippine Islands, perhaps, the most interesting and the most fruitful oppor- tunity for missionary work in any part of the world at present. On account of changes that are coming in, the people are looking out for what may be better along the line of religion.” 0 In eighteen years, 50,000 members have been enrolled in the Methodist Church. Fifty per cent of the work is self-supporting. Dormitories or hostels, erected in college or high school centers, have done much to influence the students who will later go out to all parts of the islands and become the leaders of the Filipinos. In the two Methodist dormitories at Manila there are a hundred boys and about the same number °f girls. a There are now twelve hundred Methodist preachers; scores of others could be put in charge of circuits at ten dollars a month, if the money could be found. “If we fail to Christianize the Filipinos,” says Bishop W. F. Oldham, “we shall fail to Christian- ize Asia. If we succeed in Christianizing the Filipinos we shall succeed in all Asia.” 7 Published by The Centenary Commission of the Board of Foreign Missions Methodist Episcopal Church 150 Fifth Avenue New York