524 



PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



of Manila, is another gold-field. The northeast 

 parts of Mindanao are believed to be very rich in 

 gold, and it is found in the adjacent islands. The 

 Igorrotes of Luzon are skilful in working copper 

 also. Near Mount Data they have mined the 

 metal for ages and make kettles of all sizes and 

 a variety of implements. Other minerals of the 

 Philippines are sulfur, kaolin, and marble. Plati- 

 num has been found in Mindanao. In the Sulu 

 Islands are pearl fisheries. Hemp is produced in the 

 Visayan Islands and in Mindanao, while tobacco 

 and rice are grown in Luzon. The Mohammedan 

 inhabitants of Mindanao gather edible birds'-nests 

 on its shores and in the neighboring islands. For 

 thousands of years there has been a trade between 

 the Philippines and China in this delicacy and 

 in sea-cucumbers, dyewoods, and gold, which last 

 article was in ancient times the most valuable 

 product of Luzon. Large herds of horses, cattle, 

 and carabaos are raised in Mindanao, in which 

 the most extensive and valuable forests are found. 

 Coffee grows wild in that island. Fruits are abun- 

 dant in the Philippines, including the pineapple, 

 banana, sapote, mangosteen, orange, and lemon. 

 Trade suffered greatly in 1900, owing to the clos- 

 ing of large districts where insurrections broke 

 out and the suspension of agriculture over the 

 greater part of the islands. There is a railroad, 

 120 miles long, in Luzon, the property of a British 

 company. The telegraphs in the islands have a 

 length of 720 miles. The principal banking- 

 houses, the largest export and import houses, and 

 the engineering and shipbuilding industries are 

 carried on by British firms, and most of the ship- 

 ping is British. Of the area capable of cultivation 

 only a small part is tilled by the natives, who as 

 a rule content themselves with growing a suf- 

 ficiency for their subsistence, although there are 

 few tropical products which could not be raised in 

 the archipelago. The endemic cattle disease is a 

 great drawback to agriculture. The opening of 

 the ports after the termination of organized hos- 

 tilities on the breaking up of the Filipino revolu- 

 tionary government after the defeat of Agui- 

 naldo's army and his flight led to a great increase 

 of trade in the early months of the fiscal year end- 

 ing June 30, 1901. There was a demand for im- 

 ported goods to replenish exhausted stocks, and 

 native products for export had accumulated. On 

 a return to normal conditions the market de- 

 pended upon trade with the interior, the condition 

 of which depended on the progress made in the 

 pacification of the different parts of the country. 

 A Philippine tariff similar to that made for Porto 

 Rico was drawn up at Washington and promul- 

 gated early in August, 1901. It was expected to 

 produce a revenue of $15,000,000 and incidental- 

 ly reduce imports from other countries besides the 

 United States and Spain to their advantage, and 

 protect Philippine industries against the rivalry of 

 other islands in the Pacific and Indian Oceans. 

 The United States Supreme Court decided that the 

 tariff, not having the sanction of Congress, therein 

 differing from the Porto Rican act, was illegal, 

 as the Philippines were not foreign territory, but 

 territories appurtenant to the United States, the 

 exact status of which, and that of the Filipinos, 

 remained to be determined by Congress. 



The Insurrection. In the beginning of 1901 

 the American troops had posts all over the islands 

 from which they made constant expeditions into 

 the surrounding country at small cost. There 

 were 60,000 soldiers and a small naval force. It 

 was difficult to watch the coasts, and when the 

 Filipino rebels were driven from one island they 

 escaped to another, and there began operations 

 afresh. They were unskilled and badly armed, 



but sufficiently well led to avoid general engage- 

 ments and to confine themselves to attacking the 

 lines of communication. Their system of secret 

 communication extended all over the islands. 

 Many of the officials appointed by the Americans 

 aided them, and very few of them were willing 

 to risk their lives by informing on them. The 

 rebels of the Filipino army who surrendered in 

 many cases buried their arms first. The members 

 of the guerrilla bands that still kept an army 

 of 60,000 American soldiers busy could not be 

 caught because when hard pressed they had only 

 to conceal their arms, and were then peaceful in- 

 habitants, claiming to be amigos until the soldiers 

 had retired from the neighborhood. The deporta- 

 tion of the leading rebels and the confiscation of. 

 their property had a marked effect in checking na- 

 tive hostility. The Federal party, whose main 

 principle was the sovereignty of the United States, 

 with liberty to each citizen to pursue peacefully 

 his political ideas, declared that the hour of 

 peace had sounded, and won multitudes of ad- 

 herents throughout the archipelago. The party 

 heads, in a message sent to Washington in Janu- 

 ary, 1901, said that the more obstinate Filipinos 

 declined to join the movement because, although 

 they also were willing to accept American sover- 

 eignty, the prospect of an indefinite military gov- 

 ernment caused them to distrust the purposes of 

 the United States, and thus delayed their submis- 

 sion. Congress was therefore petitioned to au- 

 thorize the establishment of a purely civil gov- 

 ernment. Emilio Aguinaldo and the other rebel 

 leaders at this time found no difficulty in finding 

 money to keep their followers in the field. Citi- 

 zens of Manila made secret donations to the cause, 

 and hemp and other commodities were smuggled 

 out of the country, paying heavy toll to the in- 

 surgents. The question of the friars was one of 

 the principal causes of the hostility to American 

 rule. The United States in the Paris treaty guar- 

 anteed the property of the monastic orders. The 

 Spanish monks, possessing much of the richest 

 land in the islands, were landlords and employ- 

 ers, and under the Spanish regime they filled the 

 important cures and were allowed by the officials 

 to exercise all civil authority in their parishes and 

 districts. In the collection of church dues the 

 monasteries ruthlessly despoiled the natives in 

 much the same fashion as the civilian officials. 

 The state and the clergy worked together in ex- 

 ploiting the people, and this was the cause of the 

 great rebellion against Spanish rule. The most 

 pressing demand of the revolutionists was the 

 expulsion of the friars, and when the insurrectos 

 became masters of the country they expelled 

 them. The fear that they would be restored with 

 the same powers under American rule helped to 

 keep the rebellion alive. Monsignor Chapelle, 

 who was sent by the Vatican as papal legate to 

 report on the reconstruction of the religious in- 

 stitutions of the islands under American rule, 

 found that in the absence of any control over the 

 exercise of authority by the religious orders nu- 

 merous abuses had arisen. The necessity of re- 

 form was recognized by the Vatican no less than 

 by the American authorities. 



After the enlightened and influential men among 

 the Filipinos, including most of the leaders of 

 the rebellion, accepted American sovereignty un- 

 reservedly, the military authorities had no diffi- 

 culty in securing the aid of natives for military 

 purposes. It was the local officials who were be- 

 yond the reach of supervision or protection and 

 under the power and influence of insurrectos and 

 ladrones who could not be trusted to be either 

 loyal or honest. The Macabebe scouts proved 



