Philippine Islands. Commission of Independence

“ The Spaniards did influence the Filipinos profoundly, and on the whole for the better. There were ways, indeed, in which their record as a colonizing power in the Philippines stands today unique in all the world for its benevolent achievement and its substantial accomplishment of net progress. We do not need to gloss over the defects of Spain; we do not need to condone the backward and halting policy which at last turned the Filipinos against Spanish rule, nor to regret the final outcome of events, in order to do Spain justice. ”

“ This is the very life-blood of self-government. It should never be possible for a Chief Executive—and it will now never be possible here—to ride ruthlessly over the people he has been sent here to govern, without taking into account their feelings, and without due consideration to their desires. ”

“ An excellent road makes driving a pleasure through the Mariquina Valley. The combination of colors and light, tropical vegetation and houses, the undulating mountain divides, the brilliant green of the palms and bamboo, contrasted with the intense verdure of the rice fields, present a vista that can be expressed adequately only by painting. ”

“ PROGRESS DURING SPANISH RULE.—The Spanish rule in the Philippines lasted 350 years. The Spanish Crown meant well, but the way her policies were translated into deeds was all but desirable. The best men could not be induced to go to Manila. The Church wielded tremendous power, and at times was more powerful than the government itself. Each village was under the rule of a priest. Character was stifled; progress was deliberately discouraged; independence of thought stamped out.
It would be doing Spain a great injustice, however, if no credit whatever is given her rule in the Philippine Islands. ”

“ The entire southern portion of Luzon is visible, stretching away in a succession of fields, forests, and diminutive villages, to the straits of San Bernardino, across which Samar may be seen, and even Leyte, on a clear day. The lake of Bato, the interisland waters, and finally Burias are seen to the west; to the north there appears apparently one unbroken stretch of land with here and there a glimpse of the sea; and the Gulf of Albay with the towns of Legaspi, Tabaco, and Daraga, as well as the smaller islands to the east, seem to be almost within a stone’s throw. ”

“ The stability of the Government of the Islands during a time of growing Filipino participation is a proof to the world that when the time comes for the government to be entirely in the hands of the Island’s inhabitants, both as to internal and external affairs, foreign commerce need not fear for loss of credit or trade, due to any of the great political upheavals which have been so common in other countries which were once colonies but are now independent. ”

“ Dozens of enterprising and well-educated young men are now venturing into business. Filipino capital has hitherto been invested in great estates; the millionaires of the Islands with few exceptions have obtained their incomes from rentals and produce. All that is rapidly changing; oil companies, shipping firms, and importing houses are now financed by Filipino capital and managed by Filipino brains; but Filipino participation in the trade of their country has not yet assumed commanding proportions. ”

“ And again, in 1907, he said:
“The policy looks to the improvement of the people, both industrially and in self-governing capacity. As the policy of extending control continues, it must logically reduce and finally end the sovereignty of the United States in the Islands, unless it shall deem wise to the American and Filipino peoples, on account of mutually beneficial trade relations and possible advantages to the Islands in their foreign relations, that the bond shall not be completely severed.” ”

“ The Philippine government having always had, at the end of every year, an excess of ordinary revenue over ordinary expenditure, the United States could not have any other occasion to give direct pecuniary aid for the maintenance of the Islands.
FINANCIAL STATUS.—The Philippine government today is on a solid financial basis as any government in the world. It is self-supporting, its taxation is adequate to its needs, the per capita tax of the people is low. The Filipinos bear a [167] smaller burden of taxation than the natives of Great Britain, United States, Japan, Argentina, and Brazil. ”

“ Zamboanga in Mindanao is the capital of the whole Moro Province and one of the most important ports in the Islands. Its population is very cosmopolitan—an admixture of Moros, Filipinos, Orientals, and Caucasians. The city was for more than three centuries the rallying point of the Christian forces in their seemingly endless contest with the Moro pirates in neighboring waters.
The city has a healthful site and is cooler than Manila. ”

“ Interisland Lines To the north a route leads to Aparri, the outlet from the fertile Cagayan Valley, a tobacco country, where thousands of hectares of rich unoccupied prairies await only the touch of capital. To the southward are the main channels of trade. Cebu is the metropolis of the Southern Islands, and to this port come the hemp and copra of all the Visayas, there to be transferred to Manila. Some ocean liners load direct at Cebu for the homeward voyage, saving the haul to Manila. ”

“ Foreigners The people of all the great trading nations have established houses in Manila and have a vital part of the Islands’ commerce, transacting a considerably greater proportion of the foreign trade. Of these, Americans are, of course, the most numerous, having as a basis the political bond between the two countries. A large part of these are ex-Government employees, who saw the opportunities for business development during their terms of service in the Insular Government. ”

“ XI. The Trade of the Philippine Islands
Background The Philippines are practically alone among tropical countries in having, through a fortunate chain of historical circumstances, a population advanced in civilization and able to become a part of the complicated organization which modern commerce demands. The business machinery of collecting the products from the plantations and getting them to Manila has long been in the hands of Filipinos and in this they are rarely assisted financially by Americans or foreigners. ”

“ In the words of General Aguinaldo, the Constitution was “the most glorious note in the noble aspirations of the Philippine revolution and is an irrefutable proof before the civilized world of the culture and capacity of the Filipino people to govern themselves.”
Comments of Foreigners.—The comments of unbiased foreigners on this ill-fated attempt of the Filipino people to live an independent existence all point to the fact that the Republic together with the constitution the independent government had established was a great work of an unquestionably able people. ”

“ The law of public officers as observed in the United States is in effect in the Philippine Islands. The principle of division of powers is recognized, and the functions of government are distributed among three departments, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial. The principle of checks and balances is likewise observed, and the legislature and the courts are prohibited from delegating their powers. The passage of irrepealable laws is forbidden. The government is immune from suit at the instance of private individuals except with its consent. ”

“ The every-day clothes worn by the people give you an ensemble of all the colors imaginable, more so when there is a procession, parade or similar festivities—royal purple, plum, heliotrope, magenta, psolferino, scarlet, geranium, salmon, pinks, greens, vivid and tender, all the blues, yellow, orange, champaca, in short every hue, shade, and tint that art has borrowed from nature or has invented. ”

“ It is of less importance to know what Lady Jane wore at the ball than to know how she will run her embroidery establishment. More thought is given to one’s failure and success and struggles with new conditions than of a man’s politics. The interrelationship of races, the development of a virgin country, the wide latitude for one’s activities accustom you to thinking in the large. Men talk little in the Tropics, but what they say has meaning. ”

“ It is vital for the Filipinos that foreigners visiting the Philippines acquire accurate information about the Islands and their people. The Philippines are not generally known abroad, much less are the Filipinos as a people, their degree of civilization and culture, their form of government, their institutions. ”

“ SHIPPING.—The foreign, as well as the domestic trade of the Philippines, will always depend on an adequate supply of shipping. As fast as the agriculture and industries of the Islands develop, the supply of shipping must correspondingly increase, otherwise, the commercial development of the Islands will be retarded. Hemp, oil, and sugar are bulky and the surface they require when exported is large in proportion to their value. ”

“ For many years this valuable country has been the scene of the lawlessness of the Lanao Moros, but after the institution of civil government among them they have settled down and are living peacefully side by side with the immigrants from the northern islands. The same is true with the other provinces in the Island of Mindanao.
Much of the scenery in the Lanao Province is said to be among the finest in the world, while the Moros are extremely [108] interesting and manufacture many small articles of great artistic value, especially brasswork and weapons. ”

“ LANAO PROVINCE.—Between Bukidnon and Zamboanga is the Province of Lanao which includes the region centering about the large Lake of Lanao. It consists for the most part of a plateau (altitude, about 2,200 feet) , with an invigorating climate and fine stretches of grazing land. The soil is in the main excellent and, at various altitudes, produces a very great variety of crops, including the usual staples, some fruits like the “durian,” unknown or rare in the northern islands, coffee, and a variety of wild rubber, for which plant, in its cultivated form, the district is well adapted. ”

“ Constructive Service In spite of the many criticisms hurled against it, the constructive service that the bank has rendered to the community stands out in bold relief—the financing of the liberty loans, the handling of the sale of alien property, the financial assistance extended in time of dire need to two banks doing business in the islands, the financing of sugar centrals, the giving of loans to agriculturists, and the extension of banking facilities to merchants and manufacturers. ”

“ Under the present customs laws, all goods which are the growth, product, or manufacture of the United States, the Philippine Islands, or of both, or which do not contain foreign materials to the value of more than 20 per cent of their total value, are, with certain exceptions, admitted free of duty when mailed from the Islands to the United States. The only exceptions of importance to travelers are cigars and cigarettes, which are subject to a fine equivalent to the duty, if sent by mail. ”

“ Culion Leper Colony To the north of the province is the little Island of Culion where the leper colony is situated. There is no regular transportation except by the government cutter that makes periodical trips, and the colony itself is not ordinarily open to visitors. There are about 2,000 inmates in the colony and they are well taken care of by the Philippine Government, many having been cured completely of the unfortunate malady. In minor matters the lepers form a self-governing community electing their own council and supplying the policemen and other subordinate officials. ”

“ Filipino capital THE PERSONNEL OF PHILIPPINE COMMERCE.—Before the coming of the Spaniards, the Filipino people were known traders, their interisland life leading naturally to a use of the sea as a means of communication. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries trade was controlled by the Spanish residents. The result of limited Filipino participation was a disinclination, through lack of knowledge and practice, to engage in trade, and it is only within the last few years that Filipino business men have been an appreciable factor. ”