PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 



563 





ex 



I I 



preserve and defend it. Their desires, as far as 

 : ey are based on patriotic ideals and not on 

 rsonal ambition, greed, and love of power, are 

 mpatible with the American policy, as con- 

 ived by Gen. MacArthur, which must result in 

 planting republican institutions throughout the 

 archipelago accompanied by the safeguards of 

 personal, political, and religious liberty which 

 are possible only under the auspices of the Con- 

 stitution of the United States, so that in its ulti- 

 ;ite form the archipelago shall assume the ap- 

 arance of one or more self-supporting common- 

 wealths, with a population attached to their in- 

 stitutions and capable of maintaining them, even 

 the improbable event of the withdrawal of 

 e creative power. At present and for many 

 cars to come the necessity of a large American 

 military and naval force is apparent. Education 

 is the means required for bringing about political 

 enlightenment. Considerable progress has been 

 made, and, considering the circumstances, the re- 

 sults are surprising. The almost universal as- 

 iration for education and the specific desire to 

 am the English language must be regarded as 

 involuntary expression of friendship and of 

 mfidence in American motives 

 and ultimate aims. The peo- 

 ple are intelligent, generous, 

 and flexible, and will probably 

 yield quickly to political tui- 

 tion when thoroughly informed 

 of American institutions and 

 urposes. 



The maintenance of a great 

 ny widely scattered garri- 

 ns* with consequent increase 

 in the perils and hardships of 

 the soldiers and in the cost of 

 administration, transport, and 

 supply, was rendered expedient 

 because the insurgent Tagalogs 

 deliberately adopted the policy 

 of murdering all their country- 

 men who were friendly to the 

 United States. As rapidly as 

 the American troops occupied 

 territory the policy was followed 

 of inviting inhabitants to re- 

 turn to their peaceful vocations 

 and of aiding them in the re- 

 establishment of their local gov- 

 ernment, and the protection of 

 the United States was promised. 

 To render efficient protection 

 to peaceful and unarmed Fili- 

 pinos who submitted it was 

 essaryto maintain theAmer- 

 n forces in the Philippines 

 >t almost the same strength as 

 was required w r hen Aguinaldo 

 "ad a large and well-armed 

 y in the field. The actual 

 iwer of resistance possessed 

 y the insurgents decreased 

 rapidly as the Americans ex- 

 tended the posts, until their 

 military activity was little 

 more than a form of brigand- 

 age, but the influence that they 

 exorcised over the sympathies 

 fears of the people diminished 

 owly. The ladrones, or robbers, who crop up in 

 :he islands always in troublous times, took ad- 

 vantage of the rebellion and worked in harmony 

 with the insurrectos, who supplied them with 



more desperate and ruthless, the people at large 

 more well disposed and willing to accept Ameri- 

 can rule, and the officers better acquainted with 

 the people and able to distinguish between those 

 who were active in the rebellion and those whom 

 they blackmailed and intimidated. Houses and 

 barrios, or small villages, from which troops were 

 fired upon or which harbored and hid ladrones or 

 insurrectos who were being pursued were de- 

 stroyed, and hostile natives who were caught red- 

 handed were no longer released after a few days, 

 but were kept confined in great military prisons. 

 The search for arms was so actively and thorough- 

 ly pursued that the natives turned in not only 

 bolos, but rifles. The mountain barracks that 

 the insurgents had built as storehouses and shel- 

 ters in the rainy season were sought out and 

 destroyed, as well as their watchtowers and 

 lookouts, and in these quests quantities of rice, 

 sugar, clothing, and ammunition were captured. 

 To every insurgent who surrendered his rifle $30 

 was given. The barbarities practiced by the in- 

 surgents to obtain contributions when their in- 

 fluence began to wane alienated the sympathies 

 of most of their peaceful adherents. In the early 



NATIVE FILIPINOS, AT ANGKLKS. SKVKXTY 



ril OF MANILA. 



part of the war the Kalipunan, their secret society, 

 had strong branches in every town, was active even 

 in Manila, and in the interior controlled the whole 

 population. Eleven of the officials at the head 



arms. A more stringent way of proceeding was of the administration in the province of Tarlac 

 adopted later, when the guerrilla war became were arrested and condemned for conspiring with 



