Ten Years in the Philippines 



J 45 



as a whole, the reports for the years in- 

 dicate a decided improvement in health 

 conditions, and that the men leading the 

 islands after a regular tour of more than 

 two years present a far better appearance 

 than those of the incoming. 



The death rate among American civil- 

 ians in Manila for the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1907, was 5.59 per thousand, a 

 reduction from the previous year. The 

 death rate among Filipinos this year in 

 Manila was 36.9 per thousand and among 

 Spaniards 15.84, both reductions from the 

 previous year. 



During the decade of our stay in the 

 islands the conditions of life for Ameri- 

 cans have steadily bettered. We have be- 

 come acquainted with hygienic methods 

 of living, and the death rate of American? 

 of the same social condition in the Phil- 

 ippines is certainly not greater than in the 

 cities of the Southern States, and is, as 

 we have seen, very much less than that 

 among Filipinos. 



WE HOPE TO MAKE THE FILIPINOS LARGER 

 AND STRONGER PHYSICALLY 



If the United States is to continue its 

 governmental relations with the Philip- 

 pines for more than a generation and its 

 business and social relations indefinitely, 

 the fact that Americans can live healthful 

 lives in the Philippines is important of 

 itself ; but I have cited these statistics 

 and this expert opinion to show more 

 than this — I believe that it has an impor- 

 tant bearing upon another kind of pro- 

 gress possible among the Filipino people, 

 and that it opens another important field 

 of education for the American govern- 

 ment to cultivate in the. islands. 



No one can be in the Philippines long 

 without realizing that as a race the Fili- 

 pinos are small of stature, slight of frame 

 and flesh, and with small powers of re- 

 sistance to epidemic diseases. It has been 

 supposed that because of their nativity 

 the Filipinos were not subject to the ma- 

 larial, intestinal, and dysenteric troubles 

 that afflict Americans and Europeans, and 

 that measures taken to avoid or cure such 

 troubles in the case of the foreigner were 

 unnecessary and superfluous with the Fili- 



pinos. Recent investigations of a system- 

 atic kind, carried on by keeping com- 

 parative statistics of all the official au- 

 topsies made in the islands, seem to show 

 that the assumption that the Filipinos 

 are immune from the forms of disease I 

 have mentioned is without foundation. 

 The autopsies of 100 cases showed in a 

 great majority the germs of malaria, of 

 amoebic dysentery, and that microbe of 

 the so-called "lazy" disease of Porto Rico 

 known as the "hookworm." It is true 

 that the diseases were not active or acute, 

 but their presence in the system of course 

 weakened the constitution of the subject 

 and could easily explain his anaemic con- 

 dition, his smallness of stature, and small 

 powers of resistance. Malaria, of course, 

 is produced or at least transmitted by the 

 mosquito, while amoebic dysentery and 

 the "lazy" disease are water-borne and 

 proceed directly from the miserable 

 sources of water supply in most Filipino 

 towns. Proper precautions can avoid all 

 these, or at least can greatly reduce the 

 number of victims. 



In Manila, 60 per cent of all infants 

 born die during the first year of their 

 lives, and there is no reason to believe 

 that infant mortality in other parts of the 

 islands is less. This frightful percentage 

 is brought about by ignorance and neglect 

 of the mothers in feeding their babies. 

 There are very few, if any, milch cows in 

 the islands, and the little ones are fed 

 with all sorts of impossible things. They 

 die generally of a lack of nourishment. 

 There is no reason why, if the mothers 

 were correctly taught and proper infant 

 food were brought within the reach of the 

 poor, this awful rate of infant mortality 

 might not be reduced. Not only is there 

 an actual loss of life which might be 

 avoided, but the babies which live- 

 through such treatment and nourishment 

 are not apt to make strong men and 

 women, but are likely to become victims, 

 of anaemia and other diseases mentioned, 

 as shown in the autopsies I have re- 

 ferred to. 



I do not think it is unjust to the Span- 

 ish regime in the Philippines to say that 

 very little, if any, attention was paid to 



