Chapter LXXVIII: Section IV (5)

"The ideals of civilization for the Spanish missionary priests
in the Philippines were substantially the same as those of
Bacon and Raleigh, of the founders of New England and the
founders of New York. In the mind of all, a civilized people
was one which lived under settled laws by steady labor, which
was more or less acquainted with the material progress made
amongst the races of Europe, and, as all would say, which was
Christian. The Spanish friars undertook the task of giving
such a civilization to the Malays of the Philippines, and no
other body of men of any race or any faith have accomplished
what they have done. A task of somewhat similar kind has been
attempted by others in our own day in the name of Christian
civilization but not the Catholic Church. Hawaii has been
under control of missionaries from New England for
seventy-five years more completely than the Philippines were
ever under that of the Spanish friars. The native kings
adopted the new creed and enforced its adoption on their
subjects by vigorous corporal punishments. The missionaries
were abundantly supplied with such resources of civilization
as money could buy, and they have grown wealthy on their
mission; but what has been the fate of the natives? They have
dwindled in numbers to a fourth of what they were when Messrs.
Bingham and Thurston entered their islands, their lands have
been taken by strangers, their government overthrown by brute
force, and the scanty remnant has dropped the religion imposed
on them. In the Philippines in a hundred and forty years a
million of Catholic natives has grown seven fold. In Hawaii
under missioners of the world's manufacture a hundred and
forty thousand of the same race has shrunk to thirty-eight
thousand. Have the promises of the Spanish friars or those of
the American ministers been the most truthfully kept? The
actual condition of the Catholic population formed by the work
of the religious orders should not be judged by the excesses
which have marked the present revolution. Many old Christian
nations have gone through similar experiences. It would be as
unreasonable to judge the Christianity of France by the Reign
of Terror as to condemn the Filipino population for the
atrocities sanctioned by Aguinaldo. The mass of the country
population has taken no part in these deeds of blood which are
the work of a small number of political adventurers and
aspirants for office by any means. Until lately revolutionary
disturbance was unknown in the Philippines. During three
centuries there was only one serious Indian rebellion, that of
Silan, in the province of Illocos, at the time of the English
invasion. The Spanish military force was always too small to
hold the islands had there been any real disaffection to the
Government. The whole force at Manila in the present war, as
given by General Otis, was only fifty-six hundred, and about
as many more represented the entire Spanish force among a
population of seven millions.

"The disposition of the Catholic Filipinos is essentially law
abiding. One of the friars lately driven from the islands by
the revolution assured the writer that in Panay, an island
with a population of half a million, a murder did not occur
more often than once or twice in a year. In our own country
last year the proportion was more than fifty times as great.
There is no forced labor as in the Dutch Indian colonies to
compel the native Filipinos to work, yet they support
themselves in content without any of the famines so common in
India under the boasted rule of civilized England. A sure
evidence of material prosperity is the growth of the
population, and of its religion a fair test is the proportion
of Catholic marriages, baptisms and religious interments to
the whole number. The proportion of marriages in 1806 to the
population among the natives administered by the friars was
one to every hundred and twenty, which is higher than England,
Germany, or any European country. The number of baptisms
exceeded the deaths by more than two and a half per cent, a
greater proportion than in our own land. Compare this with
Hawaii and one feels what a farce is the promise of increased
prosperity held out by the American Press as the result of the
expulsion of the Spanish friars. It is not easy to compare
accurately the intellectual development of the Catholic
Filipinos with American or European standards. The ideals of
civilization of the Catholic missioners were different from
those popular with English statesmen and their American
admirers. The friars did not believe that the accumulation of
wealth was the end of civilization, but the support of a large
population in fair comfort. There are no trusts and few
millionaires in the islands, but their population is six times
greater than that of California after fifty years of American
government. The test so often applied of reading and writing
among the population finds the Filipinos fairly up to the
standard of Europe at least. Of highly educated men the
proportion is not so large as in Europe, but it is not
inconsiderable, and neither in science nor in literature are
the descendants of the Malay pirates unrepresented in their
remote islands. The native languages have developed no
important literature of their own, but they have a fair supply
of translations from Spanish works in history, poetry, and
philosophy. In that they are superior to the Hindoo of British
India, though spoken by nearly a hundred millions. These are
facts that throw a strange light on the real meaning of
civilization as planted by the Spanish friars among a
barbarian race. Compare them with the fate of the Indian races
on our own territory and say what benefit the Filipinos may
expect from the advent of 'Anglo-Saxon' civilization."

_Bryan J. Clinch
(American Catholic Quarterly Review,
volume 24, page 15)._

These opposing views are suggestive of the seriousness of the
problem which the subject offers to the new authority in the
Philippines. The American Commission now studying such
problems in those islands has presented its first views
concerning the Spanish friars in a lengthy report, written by
Judge Taft, and transmitted to Washington as part of the
general report of the Commission, bearing date November 30,
1900. The passages quoted below contain what is most essential
in the interesting document:

"Ordinarily, the Government of the United States and its
servants have little or no concern with religious societies or
corporations and their members. With us, the Church is so
completely separated from the State that it is difficult to
imagine cases in which the policy of a Church in the selection
of its ministers and the assignment of them to duty can be
regarded as of political moment, or as a proper subject of
comment in the report of a public officer.
{398}
In the pacification of the Philippines by our Government,
however, it is impossible to ignore the very great part which
such a question plays. Excepting the Moros, who are Moslems,
and the wild tribes, who are pagans, the Philippine people
belong to the Roman Catholic Church. The total number of
Catholic souls shown by the Church registry in 1898 was
6,559,998. To care for these in that year there were in the
archipelago 746 regular parishes, 105 mission parishes and 116
missions, or 967 in all. Of the regular parishes all save 150
were administered by Spanish monks of the Dominican,
Augustinian, or Franciscan orders. Natives were not admitted
to these orders. There were two kinds of Augustinians in these
islands, the shod and the unshod. The latter are called
Recolletos, and are merely an offshoot from the original order
of St. Augustine.

"By the revolutions of 1896 and 1898 against Spain, all the
Dominicans, Augustinians, Recolletos, and Franciscans acting
as parish priests were driven from their parishes to take
refuge in Manila. Forty were killed and 403 were imprisoned,
and were not all released until by the advance of the American
troops it became impossible for the insurgents to retain them.
Of the 1,124 who were in the islands in 1896, only 472 remain.
The remainder were either killed or died, returned to Spain,
or went to China or South America. There were also in the
islands engaged in missions and missionary parishes, 42
Jesuits, 16 Capuchins, and six Benedictines, and while many of
these left their missions because of disturbed conditions they
do not seem to have been assaulted or imprisoned for any
length of time. In addition to the members of the monastic
orders, there were 150 native secular clergymen in charge of
small parishes who were not disturbed. There were also many
native priests in the larger parishes who assisted the friar
curates and they have remained, and they have been and are
acting as parish priests. The burning political question,
discussion of which strongly agitates the people of the
Philippines, is whether the members of the four great orders
of St. Dominic, St. Augustine, St. Francis, and the Recolletos
shall return to the parishes from which they were driven by
the revolution. Colloquially the term 'friars' includes the
members of these four orders. The Jesuits, Capuchins,
Benedictines, and the Paulists, of whom there are a few
teachers here, have done only mission work or teaching, and
have not aroused the hostility existing against the four large
orders to which we are now about to refer. …

"The truth is that the whole government of Spain in these
islands rested on the friars. To use the expression of the
Provincial of the Augustinians, the friars were 'the pedestal,
or foundation, of the sovereignty of Spain in these islands,'
which being removed, 'the whole structure would topple over.'
… Once settled in a parish, a priest usually continued there
until superannuation. He was, therefore, a constant political
factor for a generation. The same was true of the Archbishop
and the bishops. The civil and military officers of Spain in
the island were here for not longer than four years, and more
often for a less period. The friars, priests, and bishops,
therefore, constituted a solid, powerful, permanent, well
organized political force in the islands which dominated
policies. The stay of those officers who attempted to pursue a
course at variance with that deemed wise by the orders was
invariably shortened by monastic influence. Of the four great
orders, one, the Franciscans, is not permitted to own
property, except convents and schools. This is not true of the
other three. They own some valuable business property in
Manila, and have large amounts of money to lend. But the chief
property of these orders is in agricultural land. The total
amount owned by the three orders in the Philippines is
approximately 403,000 acres. Of this 121,000 acres is in the
Province of Cavité alone. The whole is distributed as follows:
Cavité, Province of Luzon, 121,747 acres; Laguna, Province of
Luzon, 62,172 acres; Manila, Province of Luzon, 50,145;
Bulacan, Province of Luzon, 39,341; Morong, Province of Luzon,
4,940; Bataan, Province of Luzon, 1,000; Cagayan, Province of
Luzon, 49,400; Island of Cebu, 16,413; Island of Mindoro,
58,455. Total, 403,713. …

"It cannot admit of contradiction that the autocratic power
which each friar curate exercised over the people and civil
officials of his parish gave them a most plausible ground for
belief that nothing of injustice, of cruelty, of oppression,
of narrowing restraint of liberty, was imposed on them for
which the friar was not entirely responsible. His sacerdotal
functions were not in their eyes the important ones, except as
they enabled him to clinch and make more complete his civil
and political control. The revolutions against Spain's
sovereignty began as movements against the friars. … Having in
view these circumstances, the statement of the bishops and friars
that the mass of the people in these islands, except only a
few of the leading men of each town and the native clergy, are
friendly to them cannot be accepted as accurate. All the evidence
derived from every source but the friars themselves shows
clearly that the feeling of hatred for the friars is well nigh
universal and permeates all classes. In the provinces of
Cavité, Laguna, and Bulacan, as well as in the country
districts of Manila, the political feeling against the friars
has in it also an element of agrarianism. For generations the
friars have been lords of these immense manors, upon which,
since 1880, they have paid no taxes, while every 'hombre'
living on them paid his cedula, worked out a road tax, and, if
he were in business of any kind, paid his industrial impost. …

"In the light of these considerations it is not wonderful that
the people should regard the return of the friars to their
parishes as a return to the conditions existing before the
revolution. The common people are utterly unable to appreciate
that under the sovereignty of the United States the position
of the friar as curate would be different from that under
Spain. This is not a religious question, though it concerns
the selection of religious ministers for religious
communities. The Philippine people love the Catholic Church. …
The depth of their feeling against the friars may be measured
by the fact that it exists against those who until two years
ago administered the sacraments of the Church upon which they
feel so great dependence and for which they have so profound a
respect. The feeling against the friars is solely political.
The people would gladly receive as ministers of the Roman
Catholic religion any save those who are to them the
embodiment of all in the Spanish rule that was hateful.
{399}
If the friars return to their parishes, though only under the
same police protection which the American Government is bound
to extend to any other Spanish subjects in these islands, the
people will regard it as the act of that Government. They have
so long been used to have every phase of their conduct regulated
by governmental order that the coming again of the friars will
be accepted as an executive order to them to receive the
friars as curates with their old, all-absorbing functions. It
is likely to have the same effect on them that the return of
General Weyler under an American Commission as Governor of
Cuba would have had on the people of that island.

"Those who are charged with the duty of pacifying these
islands may therefore properly have the liveliest concern in a
matter which, though on its surface only ecclesiastical, is,
in the most important phase of it, political, and fraught with
the most critical consequences to the peace and good order of
the country, in which it is their duty to set up civil
government. … It is suggested that the friars, if they
returned, would uphold American sovereignty and be efficient
instruments in securing peace and good order, whereas the
native priests who now fill the parishes are, many of them,
active insurgent agents or in strong sympathy with the cause.
It is probably true that a considerable number of the Filipino
priests are hostile to American sovereignty, largely because
they fear that the Catholic Church will deem it necessary, on
the restoration of complete peace, to bring back the friars or
to elevate the moral tone of the priesthood by introducing
priests from America or elsewhere. But it is certain that the
enmity among the people against the American Government caused
by the return of the friars would far outweigh the advantage
of efforts to secure and preserve the allegiance of the people
to American Sovereignty which might be made by priests who are
still subjects of a monarchy with which the American
Government has been lately at war, and who have not the
slightest sympathy with the political principles of civil
liberty which the American Government represents.

"We have set forth the facts upon this important issue because
we do not think they ought to be or can be ignored. We
earnestly hope that those who control the policy of the
Catholic Church in these islands with the same sagacity and
prevision which characterize all its important policies, will
see that it would be most unfortunate for the Philippine
Islands, for the Catholic Church and for the American
Government to attempt to send back the friars, and that some
other solution of the difficulties should be found. … The
friars have large property interests in these islands which
the United States Government is bound by treaty obligations
and by the law of its being to protect. It is natural and
proper that the friars should feel a desire to remain where so
much of their treasure is. … It would avoid some very
troublesome agrarian disturbances between the friars and their
quondam tenants if the Insular Government could buy these
large haciendas of the friars, and sell them out in small
holdings to the present tenants, who, forgiven for the rent
due during the two years of war, would recognize the title of
the Government without demur, and gladly accept an
opportunity, by payment of the price in small instalments, to
become absolute owners of that which they and their ancestors
have so long cultivated. With the many other calls upon the
insular treasury a large financial operation like this could
probably not be conducted to a successful issue without the
aid of the United States Government, either by a direct loan
or by a guaranty of bonds to be issued for the purpose. The
bonds or loans could be met gradually from the revenues of the
islands, while the proceeds of the land, which would sell
readily, could be used to constitute a school fund. This
object, if declared, would make the plan most popular, because
the desire for education by the Filipinos of all tribes is
very strong, and gives encouraging promise of the future
mental development of a now uneducated and ignorant people.
The provincials of the orders were understood in their
evidence to intimate a willingness on the part of the orders
to sell their agricultural holdings if a satisfactory price
should be paid. What such a price would be we are unable
without further investigation to state. If an agreement could
not be reached it is probable, though upon this we express no
definite opinion, that there would be ground in the
circumstances for a resort to condemnation proceedings."

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901.
Act of the United States Congress increasing army and
authorizing the enlistment of native troops.
Rejection of the proviso of Senator Hoar.

See (in this volume)
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA:
A. D. 1901 (FEBRUARY).

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901 (February-March).
Congressional grant of military, civil and judicial
powers for the government of the Islands to persons whom the
President may appoint.
The so-called "Spooner Amendment."

During the first session of the 56th Congress the following
bill was introduced in the U. S. Senate by Mr. Spooner, of
Wisconsin, but received no action:

"Be it enacted, etc., That when all insurrection against the
sovereignty and authority of the United States in the
Philippine Islands, acquired from Spain by the treaty
concluded at Paris on the 10th day of December, 1898, shall
have been completely suppressed by the military and naval
forces of the United States, all military, civil, and judicial
powers necessary to govern the said islands shall, until
otherwise provided by Congress, be vested in such person and
persons, and shall be exercised in such manner as the
President of the United States shall direct for maintaining
and protecting the inhabitants of said islands in the free
enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion."

Half the following session of Congress passed before any
disposition to take the action proposed by Senator Spooner was
shown. Then the matter was brought to notice and pressed by
the following communication to the Secretary of War, from the
Commission in the Philippines:

"If you approve, ask transmission to proper Senators and
Representatives of following: Passage of Spooner bill at
present session greatly needed to secure best result from
improving conditions. Until its passage no purely central
civil government can be established, no public franchises of
any kind granted, and no substantial investment of private
capital in internal improvements possible." This was repeated
soon afterwards more urgently by cable in the message
following:

{400}

"Sale of public lands and allowance of mining claims
impossible until Spooner bill. Hundreds of American miners on
ground awaiting law to perfect claims. More coming. Good
element in pacification. Urgently recommend amendment Spooner
bill so that its operation be not postponed until complete
suppression of all insurrection, but only until in President's
judgment civil government may be safely established."

The request of the Philippine Commission, endorsed by the
Secretary of War, was communicated to Congress by the
President, who said in doing so: "I earnestly recommend
legislation under which the government of the islands may have
authority to assist in their peaceful industrial development."
Thereupon the subject was taken up in Congress, not as
formulated in Senator Spooner's bill of the previous session,
but in the form of an amendment to the Army Appropriation
Bill, then pending in the Senate. The amendment, as submitted
to discussion in the Senate on the 25th of February, 1901, was
in the following terms:

"All military, civil, and judicial powers necessary to govern
the Philippine Islands, acquired from Spain by the treaties
concluded at Paris on the 10th day of December, 1898, and at
Washington on the 7th day of November, 1900, shall, until
otherwise provided by Congress, be vested in such person and
persons and shall be exercised in such manner as the President
of the United States shall direct, for the establishment of
civil government and for maintaining and protecting the
inhabitants of said islands in the free enjoyment of their
liberty, property, and religion: Provided, That all franchises
granted under the authority hereof shall contain a reservation
of the right to alter, amend, or repeal the same. Until a
permanent government shall have been established in said
archipelago full reports shall be made to Congress, on or
before the first day of each regular session, of all
legislative acts and proceedings of the temporary government
instituted under the provisions hereof, and full reports of
the acts and doings of said government and as to the condition
of the archipelago and its people shall be made to the
President, including all information which may be useful to
the Congress in providing for a more permanent government."

Strenuous opposition was made, firstly to the hasty grafting
of so profoundly important a measure of legislation on an
appropriation bill, and secondly to the measure itself, as
being a delegation of powers to the President which did
violence to the Constitution and to all the precedents and
principles of the American government, and also as having
objects which would not only do flagrant wrong to the people
of the Philippine Islands, but bring dishonor on those of the
United States. The military authority already exercised by the
President in the Philippines sufficed fully, it was contended,
for every purpose of temporary or provisional government
there, except in its lack of ability to grant franchises and
to dispose of the public lands. Hence it was freely charged
that the controlling influences which pressed this measure on
the government came from capitalists and speculators who were
reaching after valuable franchises, mining rights and land
grants in the archipelago. Said Senator Daniel in the debate:
"So far as any legislation which looks forward to the opening
of the way to civil government may be involved to the
softening of the conditions which exist, to the amelioration
of the distresses which are upon the Philippine people, I
would give most cheerful acquiescence. But because we desire
to do these things in a good spirit, in a resolute and
patriotic spirit, let us not permit the provocation of
difficult conditions to lead us into enacting any kind of
provision of law that is not necessary to these ends. Let us
not undertake to give to the President of the United States
any power of disposing of the permanent assets of the
Philippine people; let us not put him in the attitude of being
a franchise giver or a franchise seller or a franchise lessor.
The franchises of those islands—their rivers, their ferries,
their streets, their roads, the thousand and one privileges
which are granted by public authority—are as important and as
valuable to that people and as permanently associated with
their happiness and their prosperity as are their fields or
their mines or their fisheries or anything else which belongs
to their country. … It is true there is the reservation of the
right to alter, amend, or repeal, but while that is legally
broad enough for any remedial legislation whatsoever to
follow, we know that practically it is of very small
consequence. If capital goes in and invests itself in
improvements which are in themselves of a permanent nature, if
railroads are constructed, telegraph lines run, telephones
established, ferries built, steamers and boats, gas
establishments, electrical establishments—if those things are
disposed of, the man who once gets in will never be gotten
out. In all such affairs possession is nine points of the law
before they get into court, where it is generally made the
tenth."

Senator Hoar called attention "to the fact that the report of
the Taft commission urges that power be given to sell the
public lands at once, as it is necessary for their
development, and a large amount of capital is there now
clamoring to be invested," and he remarked: "So I suppose that
one of the chief purposes of this is that the public lands in
the Philippine Islands may be sold before the people of the
islands have any chance whatever to have a voice in their
sale." He then quoted the following passages from the report
of the Taft commission:

"The commission has received a sufficient number of
applications for the purchase of public land to know that
large amounts of American capital are only awaiting the
opportunity to invest in the rich agricultural field which may
here be developed. In view of the decision that the military
government has no power to part with the public land belonging
to the United States, and that the power rests alone in
Congress, it becomes very essential, to assist the development
of these islands and their prosperity, that Congressional
authority be vested in the government of the islands to adopt
a proper public-land system, and to sell the land upon proper
terms. There should, of course, be restrictions preventing the
acquisition of too large quantities by any individual or
corporation, but those restrictions should only be imposed
after giving due weight to the circumstances that capital can
not be secured for the development of the islands unless the
investment may be sufficiently great to justify the
expenditure of large amounts for expensive machinery and
equipments.
{401}
Especially is this true in the cultivation of sugar land. …
Restricted powers of a military government referred to in
discussing the public lands are also painfully apparent in
respect to mining claims and the organization of railroad,
banking, and other corporations, and the granting of
franchises generally. It is necessary that there be some body
or officer vested with legislative authority to pass laws
which shall afford opportunity to capital to make investment
here. This is the true and most lasting method of
pacification." "In other words," said Senator Hoar, "the
leading, principal, bald proposal on which this amendment
rests is that before those 10,000,000 people are allowed any
share in their own government whatever their property is to be
sold by Americans to Americans in large quantities, as on the
whole the best means of pacification—that the best way to
pacify a man is to have one foreign authority to sell his
property and another to buy it." An amendment to the
amendment, offered by Senator Bacon, reserving to Congress the
right to annul any grant or concession made, or any law
enacted, by any governmental authority created under the
powers proposed to be conferred on the President; another
offered, by Senator Vest, providing that "no judgment, order,
nor act by any of said officials so appointed shall conflict
with the Constitution and laws of the United States," and
still others of somewhat kindred aims, were voted down; but
the influence of Senator Hoar prevailed with the Senate so far
as to induce its acceptance of the following important
modification of the so-called "Spooner Amendment":

"Provided, That no sale or lease or other disposition of the
public land, or the timber thereon, or the mining rights
therein, shall be made: And provided further, That no
franchise shall be granted which is not approved by the
President of the United States, and is not, in his judgment,
clearly necessary for the immediate government of the islands
and indispensable for the interests of the people thereof, and
which can not, without great public mischief, be postponed
until the establishment of a permanent civil government, and
all such franchises shall terminate one year after the
establishment of such civil government."

With this proviso added, the "Spooner amendment" was adopted
by the Senate on the 26th of February (yeas 45, nays 27, not
voting 16), and agreed to by the House on the 1st of March
(yeas 161, nays 136, not voting 56).

_Congressional Record,
February 25-March 1, 1901._

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901 (March).
Organization of provincial governments.
Establishment of a department of public education.
Proposed tariff.
Date fixed for cessation of military regime.

On the 3d of March, the President of the Philippine
Commission, Judge Taft, addressed a cable despatch to the U.
S. Secretary of War in which he reported: "Commission has last
three weeks organized five provincial governments—Pampanga,
Pangasinan, Tarlac, Bulacan, Bataan—last two are Tagalog
provinces. Attended each provincial capital in a body; met by
appointment Presidentes, Councillors, and principal men of
towns; explained provisions general provincial act and special
bill for particular province and invited discussion natives
present of both bills. Conventions thus held very
satisfactory; amendments suggested, considered, special bills
enacted, appointments followed. … In three large provinces
natives appointed provisional Governors. In Bataan, on
petition, eight out of nine towns, volunteer officer
appointed. In Tarlac feeling between loyal factions required
appointment American. … In compliance with urgent native
invitations leave March 11 for south to organize provinces
Tayabas, Romblon, Iloilo, Capiz, Zamboanga, such others are
ready. Returning shall organize Zambales, Union, Cagayan,
Ilocos Norte. Military Governor has recommended organization
Batangas, Cavité, Laguna, Nueva Ecija, but shall delay action
as to these until return from northern and southern trips."

On the 18th of March it was announced from Washington that a
number of recent Acts of the Philippine Commission had been
received at the War Department, among them one which
establishes a general department of public instruction, with a
central office at Manila, under the direction of a general
superintendent, to be appointed by the commission, at a salary
of $6,000 a year. "Schools are to be established in every
pueblo in the archipelago where practicable, and those already
established shall be reorganized where necessary. There are to
be ten school divisions in the archipelago, each with a
division superintendent, and there is to be a superior
advisory board, composed of the general superintendent and
four members to be appointed by the Philippine Commission, to
consider the general subject of education in the islands and
make regulations. The English language, as soon as
practicable, shall be made the basis of all public
instruction, and soldiers may be detailed as instructors until
replaced by trained teachers. Authority is given to the general
superintendent to obtain from the United States 1,000 trained
teachers, at salaries of not less than $75 nor more than $100
a month, the exact salary to be fixed according to the
efficiency of the teacher. The act provides that no teacher or
other person "shall teach or criticise the doctrines of any
church, religious sect or denomination or shall attempt to
influence the pupils for or against any church or religious
sect in any public school." Violation of this section is made
punishable by summary dismissal from the public service. It is
provided, however, that it may be lawful for the priest or
minister of the pueblo where the school is situated to teach
religion for half an hour three times a week in the school
building to pupils whose parents desire it. But if any priest,
minister or religious teacher use this opportunity "for the
purpose of arousing disloyalty to the United States or of
discouraging the attendance of pupils or interfering with the
discipline of schools," the division superintendent may forbid
such offending priest from entering the school building
thereafter. The act also provides for a normal school at
Manila for the education of natives in the science of
teaching. It appropriates $400,000 for school buildings,
$220,000 for text books and other supplies for the current
calendar year, $25,000 for the normal school, $15,000 for the
organization and maintenance of a trade school in Manila and
the same amount for a school of agriculture.

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The new tariff for the Islands, which the Commission had been
long engaged in framing, was submitted, in March, to the
government at Washington for approval. "In his letter of
transmittal Judge Taft says that the proposed bill follows
largely the classification of the Cuban tariff, 'but has been
considerably expanded by the introduction of articles
requiring special treatment here by reason of different
surroundings and greater distance from the markets.' Judge
Taft says also that the disposition of the business interests
of the islands is to accept any tariff the commission
proposes, provided only that the duties are specific and not
ad valorem. The question of revenue was kept steadily in view
in the preparation of the schedules, but it was not the only
consideration. Raw materials of Philippine industries, tools,
implements and machinery of production, materials of
transportation, the producers and transmitters of power and
food products are taxed as lightly as possible. … Export
duties are levied on only six articles—hemp, indigo, rice,
sugar, cocoanuts, fresh or as copra, and tobacco. The free
list admits natural mineral waters, trees, shoots and plants,
gold, copper and silver ores, fresh fruits, garden produce,
eggs, milk, ice and fresh meat, except poultry and game. There
is also a list of articles conditionally free of duty. The
importation of explosives is prohibited, but that of firearms
is not."

It is announced from Washington that "Judge Taft and General
MacArthur have agreed upon July 1 as the date for the
establishment of civil government in the Philippines. The
military regime in the islands will therefore cease on June
30, when General Chaffee will relieve General MacArthur of the
command, and Governor Taft will be inaugurated the next day
with considerable ceremony."

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: A. D. 1901 (March-April).
Capture of Aguinaldo.
His oath of allegiance to the United States.
His address to his countrymen, counselling peace.

A stratagem, executed with great daring by General Funston of
the American forces, accomplished the capture of the Filipino
leader, Aguinaldo, on the 23d of March. From intercepted
correspondence, it had been learned that Aguinaldo, then
occupying his headquarters at Palanan, Isabela Province, was
expecting to be joined by some riflemen, whom his brother had
been ordered to send to him from central Luzon. On this,
General Funston conceived the plan of equipping a number of
native troops who should pass themselves off as the expected
reinforcements, several American officers going with them
ostensibly as prisoners, the hope being that Aguinaldo might
thus be reached and taken by surprise. General MacArthur
approved the scheme, and it was carried out with success. The
party was made up of 78 Macabebe scouts, four Tagalogs who had
formerly been officers in the insurgent army, and General
Funston, Captain Newton, Lieutenants Hazzard and Mitchel, who
acted the part of prisoners. They were taken by gunboat from
Cavite to a point above Baler, whence they made their way on
foot, sending a message in advance that the expected
reinforcements were on the way and had captured some prisoners
en route. The following brief narrative of what occurred
subsequently is taken from a newspaper account of the
expedition:

"For six days the expedition marched over an exceedingly
difficult country, covering 90 miles. When the men reached a
point eight miles from Aguinaldo's camp they were almost
exhausted from lack of food and the fatigue of the march. They
stopped at this place and sent a message to Aguinaldo,
requesting him to send food to them. The ruse thus far had
worked with the greatest success, and on March 22d, when
Aguinaldo sent provisions, it was seen that he did not have
the slightest suspicion. With the food he sent word that the
Americans were not wanted in his camp, but instructing their
supposed captors to treat them kindly. On March 23d the march
was resumed, the Macabebe officers starting an hour ahead of
the main body of the expedition. The 'prisoners,' under guard,
followed them. When the party arrived at Aguinaldo's camp a
bodyguard of 50 riflemen was paraded, and the officers were
received at Aguinaldo's house, which was situated on the
Palanan River. After some conversation with him, in which they
gave the alleged details of their suppositious engagement with
an American force, they made excuses and quietly left the
house. They at once gave orders in an undertone for the
Macabebes to get in position and fire on the bodyguard. The
order was obeyed with the greatest rapidity, and three volleys
were delivered. The insurgents were panic-stricken by the
sudden turn in affairs, and they broke and ran in
consternation. Two of them, however, were killed and eighteen
wounded. Simultaneously with the delivery of the volleys the
American officers rushed into Aguinaldo's house. Major
Alhambra, one of Aguinaldo's staff, had been shot in the face.
He, however, was determined not to be captured and he jumped
from a window into the river and disappeared. Two captains and
four lieutenants made their escape in a similar manner.
Aguinaldo, Colonel Villa, his chief of staff, and Santiago
Barcelona, the insurgent treasurer, did not have time to make
an attempt to get away before General Funston and the others
were upon them, demanding their surrender. Seeing that the
situation was hopeless, they gave themselves up. Aguinaldo was
furious at having been caught, but later he became
philosophical and declared that the ruse by which he had been
captured was the only one which would have proved successful
if the Americans had tried for 20 years. One of the Macabebes
was wounded. The party stayed two days at the camp and then
marched overland to the coast, where the Vicksburg, whose
arrival was excellently timed, picked them up and brought them
back to Manila."

On the 2d of April, a despatch from General MacArthur to the
War Department announced that Aguinaldo, on the advice of
Chief Justice Arellano, had taken the following oath of
allegiance to the United States: "I hereby renounce all
allegiance to any and all so-called revolutionary governments
in the Philippine Islands, and recognize and accept the
supreme authority of the United States of America therein; I
do solemnly swear that I will bear true faith and allegiance
to that government; that I will at all times conduct myself as
a faithful and law abiding citizen of the said islands, and
will not, either directly or indirectly, hold correspondence
with or give intelligence to an enemy of the United States,
nor will I abet, harbor or protect such enemy; that I impose
upon myself these voluntary obligations without any mental
reservations or purpose of evasion, so help me God."

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On the 19th of April, Aguinaldo issued the following address
to his countrymen: "I believe I am not in error in presuming
that the unhappy fate to which my adverse fortune has led me
is not a surprise to those who have been familiar with the
progress of the war. The lessons taught with a full meaning,
and which have recently come to my knowledge, suggest with
irresistible force that a complete termination of hostilities
and lasting peace are not only desirable, but absolutely
essential to the welfare of the Philippine Islands. The
Filipinos have never been dismayed at their weakness, nor have
they faltered in following the path pointed out by their
fortitude and courage. The time has come, however, in which
they find their advance along this path to be impeded by an
irresistible force, which, while it restrains them, yet
enlightens their minds and opens to them another course,
presenting them the cause of peace. This cause has been
joyfully embraced by the majority of my fellow countrymen who
already have united around the glorious sovereign banner of
the United States. In this banner they repose their trust and
believe that under its protection the Filipino people will
attain all those promised liberties which they are beginning
to enjoy. The country has declared unmistakably in favor of
peace. So be it. There has been enough blood, enough tears and
enough desolation. This wish cannot be ignored by the men
still in arms, if they are animated by a desire to serve our
noble people, which has thus clearly manifested its will. So
do I respect this will, now that it is known to me. After
mature deliberation, I resolutely proclaim to the world that I
cannot refuse to heed the voice of a people longing for peace,
nor the lamentations of thousands of families yearning to see
their dear ones enjoying the liberty and the promised
generosity of the great American Nation. By acknowledging and
accepting the sovereignty of the United States throughout the
Philippine Archipelago, as I now do, and without any
reservation whatsoever, I believe that I am serving thee, my
beloved country. May happiness be thine."

PHŒNICIANS, The:
Modified estimates of their influence upon early
European civilization.

See (in this volume)
ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH: CRETE.

PILLAGER INDIAN OUTBREAK.

See (in this volume)
INDIANS, AMERICAN: A. D. 1898.

PLAGUE, The Bubonic.

For years the plague has "continued to breed in various inner
parts of Asia, and in 1894, coming from the Chinese province
of Yunnan, it invaded Canton, taking there 60,000 victims in a
few weeks. Thence it spread to Hong Kong, reached next year
the island of Haïnan and Macao, invaded Formosa in 1896, and
in the autumn of the same year appeared at Bombay. In the big
city of India it found all necessary conditions for breeding,
unchecked, for several months in succession: famine,
overcrowding, and the absence of all preventive measures; and
from Bombay it was carried by rail and road, to different
parts of India. … Happily enough, the plague is no longer the
mysterious, revengeful being which it used to be for our
ancestors. Its cause and modes of propagation are well known.
It is an infectious disease with a short period of incubation.
From four to six days after infection takes place, a sudden
loss of forces—often a full prostration, accompanied by a high
fever-sets in. A bubo appears, and soon grows to the size of
an egg. Death soon follows. If not—there is a chance of slow
and painful recovery; but that chance is very small, because
even under the best conditions of nursing, the mortality is
seldom less than four out of each five cases of illness. As to
the means of propagation of the plague, they are many. The
poison may infect a wound or a scratch; it may be ingested in
food; it may be simply inhaled. Dust from an infected house
was sufficient to infect healthy rats; and when healthy rats
were shut up in one cage with unhealthy ones, all caught the
disease and died. Already in 1881 Netten Redcliffe and Dr.
Pichon indicated that before the plague attacks men it
destroys mice and rats. This was fully confirmed in 1894 by
the Japanese and French bacteriologists Kitasato and Yersin,
at Hong Kong, and by Dr. Rennie, of the Chinese Customs, at
Canton. Masses of dead rats were seen in the streets of the
infested parts of Hong Kong, and the keeper of the west gates
of Canton collected and buried 24,000 of these animals. Dr.
Rennie also pointed out that among those inhabitants of Canton
who lived in boats on the river there were no cases of plague,
except a few imported from town, so that even rich Cantonese
took to living in boats; and he explained the immunity of the
boat-dwellers by the absence of infection through rats. The
worst is, however, that swine, and even goats and buffaloes,
snakes and jackals, are attacked by the plague. …

"As soon as the plague broke out at Hong Kong, the great
Japanese bacteriologist Kitasato and the French doctor Yersin,
who is well known for his work with Roux on the serum
treatment of diphtheria, were already on the spot. Yersin
obtained from the English authorities permission to erect a
small straw hut in the yard of the chief hospital, and there
he began his researches. Both Kitasato and Yersin had no
difficulty in ascertaining that the plague buboes teemed with
special bacteria, which had the shape of tiny microscopic
sticklets, thickened at their ends. To isolate these bacteria,
to cultivate them in artificial media, and to ascertain the
deadly effects of these cultures upon animals, was soon done
by such masters in bacteriology as Kitasato and Yersin. The
cause of the plague was thus discovered. It was evident that
infected rats and swine—especially swine with the Chinese, who
keep them in their houses—were spreading the disease, in
addition to men themselves. The same bacteria teemed in the
dead animals. As to men, the discharges from their buboes, and
even, in many cases, their expectorations, were full of plague
bacteria. Besides, Yersin soon noticed that in his
'laboratory,' where he was dissecting animals killed by the
plague, the flies died in numbers. He found that they were
infested with the same bacteria, and carried them about:
inoculations of bacteria obtained from the flies at once
provoked the plague in guinea-pigs. Ants, gnats, and other
insects may evidently spread infection in the same way, while
in and round the infested houses the soil is impregnated with
the same bacteria. As soon as the pest microbe became known,
experiments were begun, at the Paris Institut Pasteur, for
finding the means to combat it; and in July 1895 Yersin,
Calmette, and Borel could already announce that some very
promising results had been obtained."

_P. Kropotkin,
Recent Science
(Nineteenth Century, July, 1897)._

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Of the first appearance of the plague in India, at Bombay, and
the early stages of its spread in that country, the Viceroy,
Lord Elgin, made the following report to the Secretary of
State for India, on the 27th of January, 1897: "The first
official intimation of the outbreak which reached us was in a
telegram from the Government of Bombay, dated the 29th
September 1896. The disease was then reported to be of a mild
type, and at first it showed no tendency to increase. …
Throughout the months of October and November the disease made
little or no progress, and the number of deaths reported a day
averaged nine. Early in December there was a marked increase,
and the number of deaths reported daily from the 2nd to the
23rd (inclusive) was about 32. From the 24th December onwards
there was another marked increase, and the number of deaths
reported from that date to the 14th January (inclusive)
averaged about 51. The next week shows a further increase, the
reported number of deaths averaging 74 a day. The total number
of deaths reported during October was 276; during November,
268; during December, 1,160; and from the 1st to the 25th
January, 1,444. The total number of deaths reported from the
beginning of the outbreak thus amounts to 3,148. We have
reason to fear that all deaths from the plague have not been
reported as such, and that the true mortality from the disease
is higher than is shown by the above figures. … For a
considerable time, except for a few imported cases in some
towns in Gujarat, the outbreak was confined to Bombay itself,
but on the 23rd of December we learnt from the Government of
Bombay that the plague had broken out in Karachi. … The total
number of deaths that have been reported in Karachi, from the
beginning of the outbreak up to the 24th January, is 608. It
will be observed that the disease has been very malignant in
Karachi, and that almost all the cases reported have been
fatal. As soon as the Surgeon General with the Government of
Bombay reported to that Government that he had seen cases of a
mild type of bubonic plague in the city, preventive measures
were adopted and a Committee of medical experts were appointed
to report on the disease and the situation. The Municipal
Corporation have from the outset required the infected
quarters to undergo a thorough and systematic cleaning and
disinfection; and they have also pushed on vigorously other
sanitary measures, such as the improvement of house
connections and the construction of surface drains in quarters
where the drainage was defective. A house-to-house visitation
by medical officers has also been instituted. The Corporation
have sanctioned liberal measures towards these ends, and the
executive officers have displayed great energy in carrying
them out. … We have informed the Government of Bombay that we
consider it necessary that the plan of removing all persons
from infected houses, and thoroughly cleansing and
disinfecting the buildings, should be carried out, and we have
asked His Excellency in Council, if he agrees, to report the
measures that are adopted to bring the plan into general
effect."

To the above suggestion that all persons be removed from
infected houses, the government of Bombay replied, on the 12th
of February: "His Excellency is advised that, to give full
effect to such a proposal, at the lowest computation, 30,000
persons belonging to different races, castes, and creeds would
need to be provided with temporary dwellings. There is no site
within the limits of the Bombay municipality which would
accommodate a tenth of this number. Great difficulty has
attended all attempts at the segregation of healthy inmates of
infected houses hitherto made, and very limited success bas
been achieved. From the beginning of the outbreak of this
disease it has been found that the native inhabitants of the
city are very reluctant to leave their houses or to allow any
member of their family afflicted with the disease to be taken
away. Indeed, their dread of the disease itself appears to be
hardly so powerful as their horror of being removed from their
houses. Ignorance and superstition prevent them from
discerning either that removal to a hospital is good for the
sick or removal [from] infected dwellings good for the
healthy, and they are far more easily moved by fear of the
municipal and police authorities than by any realisation of
the benefits that will accrue from a sensible course of
action. It is estimated that not less than 300,000 persons
have already fled from Bombay, moved so to do, not only by
fear of the plague, but quite as much, if not more, by an
unfounded and unreasonable fear of what might happen to them
at the hands of the police and municipal authorities were they
to remain."

Contending with such obstacles to the use of the most
effective measures for checking the spread of the disease, the
authorities at Bombay and elsewhere, who seem to have worked
with energy, saw little to encourage their efforts for some
time. In a second report to the Secretary of State for India,
made February 10, Lord Elgin was compelled to write: "We much
regret that we are unable to report that the plague shows any
signs of abating. In both Bombay and Karachi there has been an
increase in the daily number of seizures and deaths since the
beginning of the current month." But, a month later, on the
10th of March, the Viceroy reported that "the position of
affairs in Bombay is distinctly better. There has been a
decrease in the reported number of plague seizures and deaths,
and the total daily mortality from all causes shows a marked
diminution. During the week ending the 22nd February, the
average daily number of seizures and deaths was 115 and 117,
respectively; during the following week the daily average fell
to 107 and 99, whilst during the period March 2nd to March 8th
it has been 99 and 84. … Persons are now returning to the
quarters of Bombay, which are comparatively free from plague,
from the more infected outlying suburbs, and the Government of
Bombay have therefore found it necessary to watch persons
entering as well as those leaving Bombay. In the suburbs of
Kurla, Bandora, and Bhiwandi the plague continues to be
severe. Outside Bombay in the Presidency proper the number of
indigenous cases has increased, and the disease shows a
tendency to spread, especially in the Thana and Surat
districts. … Outside Karachi the plague shows no tendency to
spread in Sind, and Sukkur is the only other place from which
indigenous cases have been reported."

_Great Britain, Parliamentary Publications
(Papers by Command: C.-8386, 1897; and C.-8511, 1897)._

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