Report of Taft Philippine Commission n^ 



on the land as simple squatters, subject 

 to eviction by the State. In 1894 the 

 Minister for the Colonies reported to 

 the Queen of Spain that there were 

 about 200,000 squatters on the public 

 lands, but it is thought by employees in 

 the forestry bureau, who have been in 

 a position to know, that there are fully 

 double that number. In the various 

 islands of the archipelago the propor- 

 tion of private land to public land is 

 about as stated above, except in Min- 

 danao, Mindoro, and Palawan, where 

 the proportion of public land is far 

 greater. 



The insufhcient character of the pub- 

 lic-land system under the Spanish Gov- 

 ernment in these islands makes it un- 

 necessary to refer in detail to what that 

 sj^stem was. As there were no sur- 

 veys of any importance whatever, the 

 first thing to be done in establishing a 

 public-land system is to have the public 

 lands accurately surveyed. This is a 

 work of years, but it is thought that a 

 system of the laws of public lands can 

 be inaugurated without waiting until the 

 survey is completed. lyarge amounts of 

 American capital are only awaiting the 

 opportunity to invest in the rich agri- 

 cultural field which may here be devel- 

 oped. In view of the decision that the 

 military government has no power to 

 part with the public land belonging to 

 the United States, and that that power 

 rests alone in Congress, it becomes ver}^ 

 essential, to assist the development of 

 these islands and their prosperity, that 

 Congressional authority be vested in the 

 government of the islands to adopt a 

 proper public-land system, and to sell 

 the land upon proper terms. 



MINERAL WEALTH AND THE MINING 

 INDUvSTRY. 



It is difficult at the present time to 

 make any accurate general statement as 

 regards the mineral resources of the 

 Philippine Islands. There has never 



been any mining, properly so called, in 

 this archipelago up to the present time. 

 The mining fields have never been thor- 

 oughl}^ prospected, and even where very, 

 valuable deposits were known to exist 

 they were worked, if at all, in a hap- 

 hazard and intermittent fashion. 



Present indications are that the near 

 future will bring a great change in the 

 mining industry. According to the chief 

 of the mining bureau there are now some 

 twelve hundred prospectors and practi- 

 cal miners scattered through the differ- 

 ent islands of the archipelago. Of these 

 probably 90 per cent are Americans. 

 They are for the most part men of good 

 character. They are pushing their way 

 into the more inaccessible regions, fur- 

 nishing their own protection, and doing 

 prospecting of a sort and to an extent 

 never before paralleled in the history of 

 the Philippine Islands. The result is 

 that our knowledge of the mineral re- 

 sources of the group is rapidly increas- 

 ing. When all due allowance is made 

 for prospectors' exaggerations, it is not 

 too much to say that the work thus far 

 done has demonstrated the exi.stence of 

 many valuable mineral fields. The prov- 

 inces of Benguet, Lepanto, and Bontoc 

 in particular form a district of very great 

 richness. 



In the province of Lepanto, at Man- 

 oayan and Suyoc, there are immense de- 

 posits of gray copper and copper sul- 

 phide, and running through this ore are 

 veins of gold-bearing quartz, which is 

 more or less disintegrated and in places 

 is extremely rich. This copper ore has 

 been assayed, and the claim is made that 

 it runs on the average 8 per cent copper, 

 while gold is often present in con.sider- 

 able quantities. The deposits are so ex- 

 tensive as to seem almost inexhaustible. 

 The Commission has been unable to 

 verify the statements as to the extent 

 and richness of these copper deposits 

 through its own agents, but the au- 

 thority for them is such that they are 

 beheved to be substantially correct. 



