142 The National Geographic Magazine 



among the natives is the large death rate 

 among young children, and this can 

 hardly be charged to the climate. As is 

 well known, a large proportion of Fili- 

 pino women are unable to nurse their 

 children. As a result, the children be- 

 gin to eat solid food long before they can 

 digest it, and cholera infantum or con- 

 vulsions end their lives. It is not dif- 

 ficult to predict the result when babies 

 three or four months of age are given 

 rice, and even bananas and mangoes, as 

 a regular diet. A propaganda among 

 the women, having for its object their 

 instruction in the care of infants, is nec- 

 essary, and it is understood has been at- 

 tempted, but as yet has not become gen- 

 eral. 



As to the other data, the conspicuous 

 facts are the entire absence of hospitals 

 except in a few large cities, the exist- 

 ence of but twelve public libraries with 

 4,019 volumes; the great preponderance 

 of churches, the small number of news- 

 papers, and the comparatively small 

 number of paupers and criminals. 



THE LABOR PROBLEM 



L,abor and wages are burning ques- 

 tions, and a great deal has been said and 

 written to demonstrate the lazy habits of 

 the Filipinos and the worthless charac- 

 ter of their manual labor. These strict- 

 ures usually begin and end with unfa- 

 vorable comparisons between Filipinos 

 and Chinese, Americans, or other foreign 

 populations. There are two sides to this 

 very interesting and important question, 

 and through the efforts of Governor 

 Taft, the Philippine Commission, and 

 the army it has been made perfectly 

 plain to unprejudiced persons that the 

 Filipino has greater intelligence and ca- 

 pacity than he has been given credit for. 



What the Filipinos need in order to 

 demonstrate their capacity as laborers is 

 a fair opportunity under reasonable con- 

 ditions, not as rivals of the Chinese or 

 other people, but of each other, as is the 

 rule in the United States, where, if China- 



men were permitted to enter unrestrict- 

 edly into competition with American 

 labor, the value of wages would soon re- 

 duce the average American laborer to a 

 state of poverty. If American labor can- 

 not compete successfully with Chinese 

 labor, it should not be expected of Fili- 

 pino labor, and the Filipino should not 

 be judged by such a standard. The so- 

 called aversion of the Filipino to labor 

 is not believed to be so entirely natural 

 and instinctive as it is the result of causes 

 to which very little reference is usually 

 made. The habits of centuries, al- 

 though artificially acquired, may well be 

 mistaken in any people for natural traits. 

 Thus, the abuse of the Filipinos through- 

 out the first two hundred years of their 

 experience with the early colonists, the 

 assiduous and ceaseless efforts of their 

 teachers to humble their pride, stifle 

 their ambition, and impress upon them 

 the dominant race, and the utter hope- 

 lessness of any kind of equality with 

 them have no doubt had their effect in 

 causing indifference, shiftlessness, and 

 recklessness. 



It may be said that the Filipinos are 

 generally subordinate to lawful author- 

 ity ; that, under competent officers, they 

 make excellent soldiers, and will in the 

 course of time, it is believed, make good 

 citizens. In fact, it is not too much to 

 expect that, under the guidance of a free, 

 just, and generous government, the es- 

 tablishment of more rapid and frequent 

 means of communication, whereby they 

 can be brought into more frequent con- 

 tact with each other and with the gen- 

 eral spread of education, the tribal dis- 

 tinctions which now exist will gradually 

 disappear and the Filipinos will become 

 a numerous and homogeneous English- 

 speaking race, exceeding in intelligence 

 and capacity all other people of the 

 tropics. 



DOCKING IMPROVEMENTS AT MANILA 



The necessity for railroads connect- 

 ing the rich agricultural regions with 



