A Revelation of the Filipinos 



Five per cent of the civilized population 

 of the Philippine Islands are enrolled in 

 the schools. This proportion is only a 

 little over one-fourth of that for the 

 United States, but it represents practi- 

 cally a two years' growth, 1 as the school 

 system may be said to have commenced 

 with American occupation. One-sixth 

 of all children of school age are enrolled, 

 and three-fourths of that number are in 

 the public schools. The attendance is 

 62.5 per cent of the enrollment as com- 

 pared with 70 per cent in the United 

 States. Boys constitute three-fifths of 

 the pupils in the Philippines, while in 

 the United States the schools are almost 

 equally divided as to sex. Six thousand 

 teachers are employed, four-fifths of 

 whom are Filipinos, receiving an aver- 

 age annual salary of $125.02. The 

 average public-school teacher has charge 

 of 73 pupils, while in the United States 

 the number is 36. Of the 3,461 school 

 buildings, the majority of which are 

 public, approximately one-third are 

 built of durable materials. There is 

 great need of additional school facilities 

 and better buildings and equipment, and 

 there is a general demand for an increase 

 in the number of American teachers. 



THE USE OF ENGLISH IN THE 

 SCHOOLS 



Although the study of English has 

 met with some opposition, this opposi- 

 tion is diminishing. Eleven per cent of 

 the pupils throughout the archipelago 

 are reported as understanding the lan- 

 guage, and this may be regarded as very 

 satisfactory progress for the short space 

 of two years. In Manila there are 21 

 night schools, with an enrollment of 

 more than 4,000 adults, who are en- 

 gaged in acquiring the English lan- 

 guage. During the fiscal year ending 

 June 30, 1903, about $1,500,000 were 

 expended for educational purposes.* 



* See " Educating the Filipinos." National 

 Geographic Magazine, January, 1905, pp. 

 46-49. 



DENSITY OF POPULATION 



The density of population of the isl- 

 ands, as a whole, was 67 per square mile; 

 that of Java was not less than 553, or 

 more than eight times as great ; that of 

 the main body of the United States was 

 26, and that of the State of Indiana, 

 which most nearly approached that of 

 the Philippines, was 70 per square mile. 



The most densely populated of the 

 provinces, Ilocos Sur (on the west cen- 

 tral coast of Luzon), had 398 inhabitants 

 to a square mile. This was slightly ex- 

 ceeded by Rhode Island among the 

 States, with 407, but in turn it exceeded 

 Massachusetts, the second most densely 

 populated, which had 349. Near this 

 state in density were Cebu, with 337, 

 and Pangasinan, with 334, to a square 

 mile. These three were the only prov- 

 inces with more than 300 inhabitants to 

 a square mile. 



Euzon is the largest island, with an 

 area of more than 35 per cent of the 

 whole archipelago and a population 

 almost exactly one-half that of all. Min- 

 danao, the second in rank, has an area 

 of 31 per cent of that of the archipelago, 

 while its population was only 7 percent. 

 These two islands together contain two- 

 thirds of the area and 56 per cent of all 

 the people. 



As a rule, the density increases as the 

 size of the island diminishes. This is 

 due to the fact that the population in 

 large part is a seaboard population, no 

 less than 65 per cent of it living in mu- 

 nicipalities bordering on the coast. Per- 

 haps a fairer measure of the density of 

 the population throughout a large part 

 of the archipelago at least would be to 

 divide the population by the length of 

 the coast line. Nearly two-thirds of the 

 Christian population, 65 per cent, live 

 on or near the seacoast, and 35 percent 

 live inland. 



THE PEOPLE LIVE IN VILLAGES 



There are in the Philippine Islands 

 about 13,400 barrios, which may be re- 



