TIIK PIIILirrJXE ISLANDS AM) THEIR EXVJRONMENT 5 



$180,000,000. Just iiortli of Singapore are the protected Malay states, 

 which again prove to us what we can do in the Philippines with the 

 natives when we once establish }ieace, order, and good government. 

 The Filij)inos are a branch of the ]Malay race and closely akin to the 

 people living in the Malay Peninsula, as well as to those in Java. 



A little farther to the north, at the head of the Gulf of Siam, is 

 Bangkok, the prosperous capital of the progressive kingdom of Siam. 

 Tiiis is one of the uiik)iown lands of the world, but yet one of the 

 most interesting and resourceful. With a population of eight mil- 

 lions, it already has a foreign trade of $25,000,000, which will soon 

 grow to five times that amount. With a king who now ranks as one 

 of the ablest statesmen of all Asia, and with material improvements 

 and political reforms being made throughout his entire domain, Siam 

 has a )>rilliant future before her. 



Just across the South China Sea and east of Siam are the French 

 possessions of Cambodia, Annam, and Tonkin, where even the 

 French, who are not generally regarded as successful colonists, have 

 established ])eace and })rosperitv among twenty millions of people 

 and developed a foreign trade, despite their "closed door" methods, 

 of 850,000,000 ]ier annum. Its cajiital, Saigon, is a l)eautiful city — 

 a little Paris in the Orient. 



china's ghkat fiklu 



Having now noted the im})ortance of the environment of the 

 Philippines on the south and west, which means so much for the 

 future prosperity of the islands, in the same way that the }>rosi)erity 

 of any American city or state dej^ends largely on the surrounding 

 states and cities, their i)oi)ulation and resources, let us now look to 

 the north. The distance from the Philipj)ine coast to China on the 

 northwest is onl}'' six hundred miles. Formosa is barely more than 

 four hundred miles away, and has in itself a great material future 

 from which Ja])an hopes to reap a decided lienefit. 



Hongkong, which has always been the chief ))oint ol" :i|iproacb to 

 the I'liilipjiines and is only six hundred and thirty miles fioni Manila, 

 is a monument to liritisli ('nter|)ris('. Its annual trade exchange i.s 

 now passing the S25( ),()()(),()()() marU. The day I left i]\rvr to r(;lurn 

 to America I <-uunted over <»•> mcn'liaut vcssris loading and uiiloail- 

 ing in her harl)or. We stand now looking upon \\\^' great empire of 

 China, whieh allbrds America the most t<'iiipting Held of trade ex- 

 j)ansion yet undeveloped in the worM. lien- is a vast laml of tour 



