CHAPTER XXIII

CORRIGENDA

I trust that the foregoing incomplete outline of what has been accomplished toward bettering the condition of the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines has at least sufficed to convey some idea of the nature of the task which has confronted us and of the spirit in which it has been approached. Before considering further the difficulties which have been successfully met and the problems which still remain unsettled, I will correct some of the numerous misstatements which have been made relative to the unimportance of the non-Christian tribes, the nature of the work done for them, and the motives of some of those who have engaged in it.

I once heard it said that the trouble with Blount's book was that it contained five thousand lies, that the correction of each would require, on the average, two pages of printed matter, and that no one would read the resulting series of volumes!

I have not counted the misstatements of this author. They are sufficiently numerous to make it impracticable to answer them all in detail. It is hard to know just what to do in such a case, as one must run the risk of giving undue importance to them by noticing them, or of creating the impression that they cannot be answered by ignoring them.

Under all the circumstances it has seemed to me well to reply somewhat fully to his more important allegations relative to non-Christian tribe matters, for the reason, among others, that many of his statements embody the more important claims of the Filipino politicians relative thereto; and to add that it would be equally easy to riddle his contentions relative to most other matters which he discusses. He says:--

"Professor Worcester of the Philippine Commission has for the last twelve years been the grand official digger-up of non-Christian tribes. He takes as much delight at the discovery of a new non-Christian tribe in some remote, newly penetrated mountain fastness, as the butterfly catcher with the proverbial blue goggles does in the capture of a new kind of butterfly." [31]

I have never had the good fortune to discover even one new tribe, the net result of my explorations and studies having been to reduce the number of such tribes claimed to inhabit the Philippines from eighty-two to twenty-seven, and to throw serious doubt on the validity of several of those which I still provisionally recognize. Blount adds:--

"Professor Worcester's greatest value to President Taft, and also the thing out of which has grown, most unfortunately, what seems to be a very cordial mutual hatred between him and the Filipinos, is his activities in the matter of discovering, getting acquainted with, classifying, tabulating, enumerating, and otherwise preparing for salvation, the various non-Christian tribes." [32]

It is quite true that the Filipino politicians have bitterly resented my making known the facts relative to the existence of numerous uncivilized peoples in the islands, but to the charge that I hate the Filipinos I must enter an emphatic denial.

Fifteen years ago I expressed my opinion of them in the following words:--

"The civilized native is self-respecting and self-restrained to a remarkable degree. He is patient under misfortune, and forbearing under provocation. While it is stretching the truth to say that he never reveals anger, he certainly succeeds much better in controlling himself than does the average European. When he does give way to passion, however, he is as likely as not to become for the moment a maniac, and to do some one a fatal injury.

"He is a kind father and a dutiful son. His aged relatives are never left in want, but are brought to his home, and are welcome to share the best that it affords to the end of their days.

"Among his fellows, he is genial and sociable. He loves to sing, dance, and make merry. He is a born musician, and considering the sort of instruments at his disposal, and especially the limited advantages which he has for perfecting himself in their use, his performances on them are often very remarkable.

"He is naturally fearless, and admires nothing so much as bravery in others. Under good officers he makes an excellent soldier, and he is ready to fight to the death for his honour or his home.

"With all their amiable qualities it is not to be denied that at present the civilized natives are utterly unfit for self-government. Their universal lack of education is in itself a difficulty that cannot be speedily overcome, and there is much truth in the statement of a priest who said of them that 'in many things they are big children who must be treated like little ones.'

"Not having the gift of prophecy, I cannot say how far or how fast they might advance, under more favourable circumstances than those which have thus far surrounded them. They are naturally law-abiding and peace-loving, and would, I believe, appreciate and profit by just treatment.

"In the four months which separate May 1, 1898, from the day when the manuscript for this volume leaves my hands, important events have crowded on each other's heels as never before in the history of the Archipelago. Whatever may be the immediate outcome, it is safe to say that, having learned something of his power, the civilized native will now be likely to take a hand in shaping his own future. I trust that opportunities which he has never enjoyed may be given to him. If not, may he win them for himself." [33]

This opinion, which I trust will not be considered unkindly, has not been modified in its essentials as a result of many additional years of life in the Philippines. I have unexpectedly had a hand in giving to the Filipinos opportunities which they had never before enjoyed. I drafted the act under which the municipalities of these islands to-day govern themselves; the act creating the College of Medicine and Surgery where young Filipino men and women may receive the best of theoretical and practical instruction; the act creating in the Bureau of Lands a school of surveying as a result of which the present dearth of Filipino surveyors will soon end; the provision of law creating and providing for the Philippine Training School for Nurses, which is preparing hundreds of young Filipino men and women to practise a useful and noble profession. I drafted the legislation which created a forest school, where many bright Filipino lads are now being trained for the government service. I drafted the provision of law which gives to all Filipinos the right to make personal use of timber from the government forests without paying a cent therefor, and the act which makes it possible for municipalities to have communal forests, reserved for the special and exclusive benefit of their citizens.

I fought for eight years to get the money for the Philippine General Hospital, where nearly ninety thousand patients, the vast majority of whom are Filipinos, are treated annually either in beds or at the several clinics; I have approved, and indeed compelled, the appointment of a staff for that institution largely made up of Filipinos, and I have steadily supported the Filipino members of that staff when insulted or unjustly accused, as I regret to say they sometimes have been, as a result of race prejudice with which I have no sympathy.

I am the official ultimately responsible for the establishment and maintenance of a health system which indisputably saves the lives of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos every year, and has practically rid their country of smallpox, plague and cholera.

All of the employees of the Weather Bureau, which comes under my executive control, are Filipinos.

I could name a score of other important measures, having for their sole object the betterment of the condition of the Filipinos, and extension to them of increased opportunity to demonstrate their capacity, which I have originated. I have never knowingly opposed a measure which would produce this result.

I frankly admit that I have declined to approve the appointment of a Filipino to any position under my control simply because he was a Filipino. I have insisted that appointees have higher and better reasons to claim consideration, among which may be mentioned decent character and ability to do the work of the positions to be filled. No living man entertains more genuinely kindly feelings toward the peoples of these islands, Christian and non-Christian, than do I. An allegation that I hate the Filipinos comes with especially bad taste from a man who himself never ceased to criticize them, and to denounce them as utterly incompetent and worthless throughout his Philippine career, but who finally experienced an eleventh-hour conversion on the eve of a presidential election which was likely to bring into power another political party.

Blount has worked out a theory, peculiarly his own, to the effect that the non-Christian peoples have been set aside as a field for purely Protestant missionary activities, and that I am a party to this scheme. In this connection he says:--

"It seems that the Catholic and Protestant ecclesiastical authorities in the Islands get along harmoniously, a kind of modus vivendi having been arranged between them, by which the Protestants are not to do any proselyting among the seven millions of Catholic Christians. So this field of endeavour is the one Professor Worcester has been industriously preparing during the last twelve years. [34]

"Obviously, every time Professor Worcester digs up a new non-Christian tribe he increases the prospective harvest of the Protestants, thus corralling more missionary votes at home for permanent retention of the Philippines. [35]

"But neither Bishop Brent nor any one else can persuade him [36] that it is wise to abandon the principle that Church and State should be separate, in order that our government may go into the missionary business. Since it has become apparent that the Philippines will not pay, the Administration has relied solely on missionary sentiments....

"The foregoing reflections are not intended to raise an issue as to the wisdom of foreign missions. They are simply intended to illustrate how it is possible and natural for President Taft to consider Professor Worcester 'the most valuable man we have on the Philippine Commission.' The Professor's menagerie is a vote-getter." [37]

The first passage quoted has the merit of being ingenious, and embodies a half truth. Bishop Brent deems it inadvisable to try to proselytize Catholic Christians, and outside of Manila his co-workers confine their efforts to the conversion of persons other than Filipinos. They conduct missions for non-Christians at Sagada and Bontoc in Bontoc, at Baguio in Benguet, and at Zamboanga in the Moro Province.

In Manila they conduct a mission for Filipinos in connection with a hospital which does most valuable work, but they mean to leave Catholic Filipinos alone.

The Catholics recognize no corresponding limitations. They conduct missions for the Benguet-Lepanto Igorots at Baguio, Itogon, Kabayan, Cervantes and elsewhere; for the Bontoc Igorots at Bauco and Bontoc and for the Ifugaos at Quiangan.

The other Protestant denominations having missions in the Philippines work chiefly among the Catholics.

I have absolutely no connection with any such enterprises except that I have helped to make them possible in the wild man's territory by the establishment of law and order there, and have sometimes made both Catholic and Protestant missionaries my agents for administering simple remedies to sick persons who might otherwise have perished miserably.

To this extent, and to this extent only, has our government gone into the missionary business.

I am proud to count Bishop Brent and Archbishop Harty among my personal friends. I am in complete sympathy with the purposes which actuate both of them in prosecuting Christian missions. I have sometimes disapproved, personally, of methods employed by their subordinates in this work, and have felt free to tell them so!

Blount complains bitterly over the exhibition of members of non-Christian tribes at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. For a wonder he admits that Tagálog and Visayan Filipinos were also exhibited. He fails to record the fact that a commission of highly educated and cultured Filipino men and women were sent to the exposition and travelled quite widely in the United States, so that they were seen, and heard of, by great numbers of people who never visited St. Louis at all. Of the exhibition of wild men, he says:--

"I think no deeper wound was ever inflicted upon the pride of the real Filipino people than that caused by this exhibition, the knowledge of which seems to have spread throughout the islands." [38]

And he rather ingeniously gives it to be understood that I was responsible for this exhibition, although he carefully avoids stating that this was the case.

I am quite as strongly opposed to the exhibition of members of the Philippine non-Christian tribes as is Blount himself, but for very different reasons hereinafter set forth. As such peoples constitute an eighth of the population of the Islands, I also object to the attempt of certain Filipino politicians to conceal the fact of their existence, and to the efforts of certain misguided Americans to minimize the importance of the problems which their existence presents. Let us look the facts in the face. The Moros are as "real" as the Tagálogs.

The average Filipino does not object in the least to the exhibition of wild people. On the contrary, he is just as much interested in them as is the average American, and goes to see them whenever the opportunity offers. It is only the Filipino politician who pretends to see any actual immodesty in scanty costumes worn with the innocence with which Adam and Eve were endowed before the fall. The truth is that the politician himself does not really object to this semi-nudity, to which he is already sufficiently accustomed among his own people in his own native town, but he plays it up for political effect.

The pedigree of the average Filipino politician very frequently runs back to white or Chinese ancestors on the father's side. In his heart of hearts he resents his Malay blood, and he particularly objects to anything which reminds him of the truth as to the stage of civilization which had been attained by his Malay ancestors a few centuries ago.

If he be a member of the Philippine Assembly, he further and bitterly resents his lack of authority to legislate for the Moros and other non-Christian tribes, and is ever ready to support his frequently reiterated demand for such authority by arguing the unimportance of these peoples, and that of the problems which their existence presents. Up to the time when the assembly was established and was denied the power to legislate for the non-Christians, my occasional illustrated lectures on the wild peoples, given at Manila, were very liberally attended by Filipinos, not a few of whom I am glad to say still continue to patronize them when occasion offers.

My own attitude toward the exhibition of non-Christians, and my reasons therefor, are set forth in the following official correspondence, with which I will this phase of the subject:--

(Telegram.)

"Pack [39] Bontoc, Manila, Dec. 4, 1909.

"Schneiderwind is back with his Igorots some of whom have as much as two thousand pesos due them. Am trying to arrange to have this money put in postal savings bank to protect them from themselves. Schneiderwind is after another party of wild people to take to Europe. Has asked about Ifugaos and Apayaos. Have told him strongly opposed to taking these people to other countries for exhibition purposes and will place all possible obstacles in his way if he attempts to do so. If after this warning he enters Mountain province to secure people for exhibition purposes give him no assistance but use every legitimate means to prevent his getting them. Give proper and seasonable instructions to your subordinates.

"Worcester."

On April 22, 1910, in returning to the Governor-General a petition dealing with the exhibition of wild people I placed upon it this indorsement:--

"Respectfully returned to the Honourable, the Governor-General.

"The undersigned is strongly opposed to the sending of members of wild tribes to the United States or to other civilized countries for exhibition purposes. Apart from all other considerations experience shows that the men and women thus taken away from their natural surroundings are apt to be pretty thoroughly spoiled and to be trouble makers after their return.

"The undersigned has recently informed Mr. R. Schneiderwind that he would, if necessary, do everything in his power to prevent the latter gentleman from taking another set of Igorots away from the Philippines for exhibition purposes. This, too, in spite of the fact that Mr. Schneiderwind has apparently been very considerate in his treatment of the Igorots whom he has taken to the United States for exhibition purposes.

"The undersigned would assume the same attitude toward any other person endeavouring to obtain Igorots for exhibition purposes."

The advocates of the "united people" theory for these islands are forced to insist on the unimportance of the non-Christian tribes and it is needless to say that Blount does this. His contentions on the subject are rather concisely stated in the following passage:--

"You see our Census of 1903 gave the population of the Philippines at about 7,600,000 of which 7,000,000 are put down as civilized Christians; and of the remaining 600,000 about half are the savage, or semi-civilized, crudely Mohammedan Moros, in Mindanao, and the adjacent islets down near Borneo. The other 300,000 or so uncivilized people scattered throughout the rest of the archipelago, the 'non-Christian tribes,' which dwell in the mountain fastnesses, remote from 'the madding crowd,' cut little more figure, if any, in the general political equation, than the American Indian does with us to-day." [40]

If there were ten million American Indians who were in undisputed occupation of half the territory of the United States, this statement might in a way approximate the truth. Blount's ten-year-old population figures are a trifle out of date, but before demonstrating this I wish to show certain peculiarities in his method of manipulating them. He says:--

"That the existence of these wild tribes--the dog-eating Igorrotes and other savages you saw exhibited at the St. Louis Exposition of 1903-4--constitutes infinitely less reason for withholding independence from the Filipinos than the American Indian constituted in 1776 for withholding independence from us, will be sufficiently apparent from a glance at the following table, taken from the American Census of the Islands of 1903 (vol. ii., p. 123):--

Island Civilized Wild Total

Luzón 3,575,001 223,506 3,798,507 Panay 728,713 14,933 743,646 Cebu 592,247 592,247 Bohol 243,148 243,148 Negros 439,559 21,217 460,776 Leyte 357,641 357,641 Samar 222,002 688 222,690 Mindanao 246,694 252,940 499,634

"I think the above table makes clear the enormity of the injustice I am now trying to crucify. Without stopping to use your pencil, you can see that Mindanao, the island where the 'intractable Moros' Governor Forbes speaks of live, contains about a half million people. Half of these are civilized Christians, and the other half are the wild, crudely Mohammedan Moro tribes. Above Mindanao on the above list, you behold what practically is the Philippine archipelago (except Mindanao), viz. Luzón and the six main Visayan Islands. If you will turn back to pages 225 et seq., especially to page 228, where the student of world politics was furnished with all he needs or will ever care to know about the geography of the Philippine Islands you will there find all the rocks sticking out of the water and all the little daubs you see on the map eliminated from the equation as wholly unessential to a clear understanding of the problem of governing the Islands. That process of elimination left us Luzón and the six main Visayan Islands above as constituting, for all practical governmental purposes all the Philippine archipelago except the Moro country Mindanao (i.e. parts of it), and its adjacent islets. Luzón and the Visayan Islands contain nearly 7,000,000 of people, and of these the wild tribes, as you can see by a glance at the above table constitute less than 300,000, sprinkled in the pockets of their various mountain regions. Nearly all these 300,000 are quite tame, peaceable and tractable, except, as Governor Forbes suggests, they 'might possibly mistake the object of a visit.'" [41]

This is all very well unless you take the Judge at his word and turn to the page of the census report referred to, but if you do this a rude shock awaits you, for instead of the table above quoted the following is the table which you will find:--

Table 1.--Total Population, Classified as Civilized and Wild, by Provinces and Comandancias.

Province or Comandancia Total Population Civilized Wild Philippine Islands 7,635,426 6,987,686 647,740 Abra 51,860 37,823 14,037 Albay 240,326 239,434 892 Ambos Camarines 239,405 233,472 5,933 Antique 134,166 131,245 2,921 Basilan 30,179 1,331 28,848 Bataán 46,787 45,166 1,621 Batangas 257,715 257,715 ---- Benguet 22,745 917 21,828 Bohol 269,223 269,223 ---- Bulacán 223,742 223,327 415 Cagayán 156,239 142,825 13,414 Cápiz 230,721 225,092 5,629 Cavite 134,779 134,779 ---- Cebú 653,727 653,727 ---- Cotabato 125,875 2,313 123,562 Dapitan 23,577 17,154 6,423 Dávao 65,496 20,224 45,272 Ilocos Norte 178,995 176,785 2,210 Ilocos Sur 187,411 173,800 13,611 Iloílo 410,315 403,932 6,383 Isabela 76,431 68,793 7,638 Joló 51,389 1,270 50,119 La Laguna 148,606 148,606 ---- La Union 137,839 127,789 10,050 Lepanto-Bontoc 72,750 2,467 70,283 Leyte 388,922 388,922 ---- Manila City 219,928 219,928 ---- Marinduque [42] 51,674 51,674 ---- Masbate 43,675 43,675 ---- Mindoro 39,582 32,318 7,264 Misamis 175,683 135,473 40,210 Negros Occidental 308,272 303,660 4,612 Negros Oriental 201,494 184,889 16,605 Nueva Ecija 134,147 132,999 1,148 Nueva Vizcaya 62,541 16,026 46,515 Pampanga 223,754 222,656 1,098 Pangasinán 397,902 394,516 3,386 Paragua 29,351 27,493 1,858 Paragua Sur 6,345 1,359 4,986 Rizal 150,923 148,502 2,421 Romblón 52,848 52,848 ---- Sámar 266,237 265,549 688 Siassi 24,562 297 24,265 Sorsogón 120,495 120,454 41 Surigao 115,112 99,298 15,814 Tarlac 135,107 133,513 1,594 Tawi Tawi 14,638 93 14,545 Tayabas [43] 153,065 150,262 2,803 Zambales 104,549 101,381 3,168 Zamboanga 44,322 20,692 23,630

From this it will be apparent to the reader that the Judge takes some rather unusual liberties even with such information as was available nine years before he finished his book. I have quoted the actual table in full, as it is useful for reference.

In the middle of the page referred to by Blount there begins another table showing "Total Population, Classified as Civilized and Wild, by Islands." This table occupies four and one-half solid pages, and therefore does not closely resemble the one foisted on the public by him.

It includes 323 islands, from which the Judge has selected eight which happened to suit his purpose, giving it to be clearly understood that the islands which he has not included are "rocks sticking out of the water" and "little daubs you see on the map" "eliminated from the equation as wholly unessential to a clear understanding of the problem of governing the Islands."

Among the "rocks" and "little daubs" thus eliminated are Mindoro with an area of thirty-eight hundred fifty-one square miles, and Palawan with an area of four thousand twenty-seven square miles. Of the islands included, Leyte has twenty-seven hundred twenty-two square miles; Cebu, seventeen hundred sixty-two square miles; and Bohol, fourteen hundred eleven square miles. Incidentally, neither Leyte, Cebu nor Bohol have any non-Christian inhabitants at all, while all of Mindoro and Palawan, with the exception of narrow broken strips along the coast are populated by wild people, hence it is convenient for him to ignore them.

In spite of his suggestion that it is not necessary to use the pencil in connection with his table, I ventured to do so, in connection with his statement that "Luzón and the Visayan Islands contain nearly 7,000,000 of people." On his own showing they contain 6,158,311.

And now for the real facts. At the time the census enumeration was made Apayao had been crossed by a white man only once and that more than a hundred years ago. Extensive portions of Ifugao and Bontoc, and the greater part of Kalinga, were unexplored, as were the interior of Mindoro and most of the interior of Palawan, to say nothing of immense regions in Mindanao. As a matter of fact, we do not to-day know with any accuracy the number of Mangyans in Mindoro, nor the number of Tagbanuas in Palawan, but it has been conclusively demonstrated that the latter were greatly underestimated by the census enumerators. There will be found in the appendix [44] a table giving in detail the present accepted estimate of the non-Christian population of the islands, which numbers at least a million seventy thousand.

It is reasonably certain that the necessary corrections in the figures for several provinces for which the present estimates are admittedly too low will raise the total slightly.

Blount has made a further statement relative to the non-Christian population of Luzón which is indeed extraordinary. He says:--

"Of the 7,600,000 people of the Philippines almost exactly one-half, i.e. 3,800,000, live on Luzón, and these are practically all civilized." [45]

The table on the opposite page, giving the census estimate of the non-Christian population of Luzón and the present accepted estimate, shows how erroneous is this statement.

It will be seen that the census estimate of non-Christian inhabitants in the province of Luzón was 224,106 and the present accepted estimate is 440,926.

In explanation of his extraordinary statement that practically all of the people of Luzón are civilized Blount has inserted the following foot-note:--

"223,506 is the total of the uncivilized tribes still extant in Luzón, Philippine Census, vol. ii., p. 125, but they live in the mountains, and you might live in the Philippines a long lifetime without ever seeing a sample of them, unless you happen to be an energetic ethnologist fond of mountain climbing." [46]

Province or Census Present Accepted Subprovince Estimate Estimate

Abra 14,037 14,037 Albay 892 892 Amburayan -- 10,191 Ambos Camarines 5,933 5,933 Apayao -- 23,000 Bataan 1,621 1,621 Batangas 000 000 Benguet 21,828 28,449 Bontoc -- 62,000 Bulacan 415 415 Cagayan 13,414 15,000 Cavite 000 000 Ilocos Norte 2,210 2,210 Ilocos Sur 13,611 13,611 Ifugao -- 125,000 Isabela 7,638 (?) Kalinga -- 76,000 La Laguna 000 (?) La Union 10,050 000 Lepanto -- 31,194 Lepanto-Bontoc 70,283 000 Nueva Ecija 1,148 862 Nueva Vizcaya 46,515 6,000 Pampanga 1,098 1,098 Pangasinán 3,386 3,386 Rizal 2,421 2,421 Sorsogon 41 41 Tarlac 1,594 1,594 Tayabas 2,803 2,803 Zambales 3,168 3,168 Total 224,106 440,926

Also you might live in the Philippines a long lifetime and never see anything but wild people. The question of where they live is not intimately connected with that of their number, which is the point under discussion.

Blount devotes considerable space to alleged newspaper accounts of "a speech" said by him to have been delivered by me in the Y. M. C. A. auditorium at Manila. I delivered two illustrated lectures there, entitled respectively "The Non-Christian Tribes of the Philippines," and "What has been done for the Non-Christian Tribes under American Rule."

In the course of the latter discourse I made the point that Filipinos who claim that conquest confers no right of sovereignty are hoist with their own petard, for the simple but sufficient reason that the Negritos were the aborigines of the Philippines and were later conquered and driven out of the lowland country into inaccessible, forested mountain regions by the Malay invaders who were the ancestors of the present Filipino claimants not only to the territory thus conquered, but to territory which was held up to the time of the American occupation by wild tribes whom they now propose to conquer and rule if given the opportunity!

My shaft struck home and called forth a howl of rage from the politicians, which was the louder because I further expressed with entire frankness my firm belief that the Filipinos were unfit to govern the non-Christian tribes, whether or not they were fit to govern themselves.

In the course of further reference to the above-mentioned lecture, Blount says:--

"Another of the Manila papers gives an account of the speech, from which it appears that the burly Professor succeeded in amusing himself at least, if not his audience, by suggestions as to the superior fighting qualities of the Moros over the Filipinos, which suggestions were on the idea that the Moros would lick the Filipinos if we should leave the country. (The Moros number 300,000, the Filipinos nearly 7,000,000.) The Professor's remarks in this regard, according to the paper, were a distinct reflection upon the courage of the Filipinos generally as a people." [47]

Here, as is so often the case, he finds newspaper statements more suited to his purpose than cold facts. I yield to no one in my admiration for the courage of Filipinos, and have expressed it on a score of occasions. In my first book on the Philippines I made the following reference to it:--

"I once saw a man in Culion who was seamed and gashed with horrible scars from head to foot. How any one could possibly survive such injuries as he had received I do not know. It seemed that his wife and children had been butchered by four Moros while he was absent. He returned just as the murderers were taking to their boat. Snatching a machete, he plunged into the water after them, clambered into their prau, and killed them all. When one remembers the sort of weapons that Moros carry, the thing seems incredible, but a whole village full of people vouched for the truth of the story." [48]

This was not the only tribute which I paid to the courage of the Filipinos [49] and I have never made a statement intended to reflect on it in the slightest degree. It is true that their fighting ability is on the average far below that of the Moros, and I may add that the same thing holds for Americans on the average.

It is really funny to see how Blount sometimes tells the truth in spite of himself. He takes me to task for amusing myself "by suggestions as to the superior fighting qualities of the Moros over the Filipinos," and here is what he says on the same subject:--

"Again, because the Filipinos have no moral right to control the Moros, and could not if they would, the latter being fierce fighters and bitterly opposed to the thought of possible ultimate domination by the Filipinos, the most uncompromising advocate of the consent-of-the-governed principle has not a leg to stand on with regard to Mohammedan Mindanao." [50]

"Consistency, thy name is not Blount!"

The Moros are religious fanatics. I have known one when bayoneted to seize the barrel of the gun and push the bayonet through himself in order to bring the man at the other end within striking distance, cut him down, unclasp the bayonet and, leaving it in the wound to prevent hemorrhage, go on fighting. I have known two Moros armed with bamboo lances to attack a column of two thousand soldiers armed with rifles. It is an historic fact that Moro juramentados [51] once attempted to rush the walls of Joló and kept up the fruitless effort until they blocked with their dead bodies the rifle slits, so that it became necessary for the Spanish soldiers to take positions on top of the walls in order to fire. I have known a Moro, shot repeatedly through the body and with both legs broken, to take his kriss in his teeth and pull himself forward with his hands in the hope of getting near enough to strike one more blow for the Prophet.

The Filipinos are afraid of the Moros and they have the best of reasons to be. The relative numerical insignificance of this little Mohammedan tribe of desperate fighters has little to do with the question under consideration. Their number has for centuries borne substantially the same proportion to the total population of the Philippines which it now bears, yet no one can deny that it is but a short time since they harried the archipelago from south to north and from east to west. The shores of Northern Luzón and the neighbouring islands are to-day dotted with the forts which were built for defence against them. The town of Polillo, on the northernmost island off the east coast of Luzón, is still surrounded by a high wall built to protect its inhabitants from the Moros. The churches at Cuyo, Agutaya, Culion, Linapacan and Taytay stand inside of strong stone fortresses in which the people took refuge when the Moros descended on their towns. Back of Bacuit a cave high up in a cliff was kept provisioned that it might serve a similar purpose. Not only were the Filipinos unable to protect themselves against these bloodthirsty pirates of the south, but the Spaniards were for nearly two and a half centuries unable to afford them adequate protection. When I was in Tawi Tawi in 1891 the Moros of that island were still actively engaged in taking Filipino slaves and selling them in Borneo.

With all of our resources we have not as yet been able to establish a decent state of public order in the little island of Jolo. No serious minded person, familiar with the facts, with whom I have ever talked, believes for a moment that the Filipinos could establish an effective government over the Moros, or could keep them at home. They are wonderful boatmen and when once at sea in the little crafts of their own building are liable to strike the coast of the Philippine Islands at any point. When it is remembered that this coast is longer than that of the continental United States, the impossibility of adequately protecting the whole of it becomes immediately manifest. It would be always possible, under Filipino rule, for the Moros to strike defenceless towns, and where they struck the only resource of the inhabitants, whether Filipinos, Europeans or Americans, would be in speedy flight. It should be borne in mind that one Mohammedan who is earnestly desirous of being killed while fighting Christians can chase a good many unarmed citizens into the tall timber, brave though they may be!

I venture here once more to express the deliberate opinion that if American control were withdrawn from these islands and some other civilized nation did not interfere to restore a decent state of public order, the Moros would resume the conquest of the Philippines which they were so actively and effectively pushing when the Spaniards compelled them to abandon it, and would slowly but none the less surely carry it through to a successful termination.

The inaccuracy of Blount's statements regarding matters covered by absolutely conclusive documentary evidence is well typified by the following:--

"The Philippine Assembly, representing the whole Filipino people, and desiring to express the unanimous feeling of those people with regard to the Worcester speech, unanimously passed, soon after the speech was delivered, a set of resolutions whereof the following is a translation." [52]

The resolution which he quotes was never passed by the Assembly which on February 3, 1911, four months after my Y. M. C. A. lecture, [53] and while I was absent in the United States, passed another and quite different one criticizing language "ascribed" to me, without ever making any effort to ascertain from me what was really said. I might quote the two in parallel columns, but I grow weary of showing the details of Blount's false or mistaken statements, and refer those interested to the official records which he perhaps did not take the precaution to consult.

I gave the Assembly and every one else interested in the matter a chance to attack me by incorporating in my annual report for 1910 every important statement made at the lecture in question and by adding various new ones for good measure, but there was no response! It is a time-honoured procedure, but one of somewhat doubtful real value, to build up a man of straw in order to have the pleasure of tearing it to pieces. I must decline to assume responsibility for statements which I did not make.

Blount says he thinks that Nueva Vizcaya is my

"'brag' province, in the matter of non-Christian anthropological specimens, both regarding their number and their variety." [54]

With regret I must call attention to the fact that he thinks wrong. In Nueva Vizcaya as originally constituted there were representatives of three non-Christian tribes, to wit, the Ifugaos, numbering approximately a hundred and fifteen thousand; the Ilongots numbering perhaps five thousand; and the Isinayes, who were numerically unimportant.

Years before Blount wrote his book the number of wild tribes was reduced to two and that of their individuals to approximately seven thousand by changes in the provincial boundary. As we have seen, there are slightly more than one million non-Christian inhabitants in the archipelago. These facts are of interest chiefly for the reason that they show how grossly unreliable are his statements.

Finally he seeks to convey the impression that the hill people are a rather harmless and lamb-like lot. He says:--

"... while I was there, [55] though we knew those people were up in the hills, and that there were a good many of them the civilized people all told us that the hill tribes never bothered them. And on their advice I have ridden in safety, unarmed, at night, accompanied only by the court stenographer, over the main high-road running through the central plateau that constitutes the bulk of Nueva Vizcaya province, said plateau being surrounded by a great amphitheatre of hills, the habitat of the Worcester pets." [56]

Had Blount taken this ride before the time when the American government established control over the Silipan Ifugaos there might have been a different story to tell needing some one else to tell it, for the Ifugaos were not by any means the gentle and harmless people that one would infer them to have been from reading the above-quoted statement.

At Payauan, a strongly held point within the plateau referred to, they annihilated a Spanish garrison. At Aua, further back in the hills, they did the same thing. The Spaniards never established control over the Ifugao country, into extensive portions of which they never even temporarily penetrated. On the main trail which connected the town of Bagabag, in Nueva Vizcaya with the nearest town in the province of Isabela, over which Blount rode, the Spaniards found it necessary to maintain two garrisons. There were also garrisons at the terminal towns on this trail and it was prohibited to travel it without military escort. Even so, parties were repeatedly cut up by the Silipan Ifugaos, and the very soldiers who constituted their guard were again and again caught sleeping and butchered.

It is only very recently that the murderous raids of wild men on the Filipinos of Isabela have been finally checked.

Many a time have the Filipinos of Bagabag, in Nueva Vizcaya, thanked me for making their lives and property safe by quieting the Ifugaos. Ilongots killed Filipinos in the outskirts of Bayombong, the capital of Nueva Vizcaya, long after Blount left the province, and during a period shortly preceding his arrival conditions were very bad throughout the Cagayan valley.

On August 29, 1899, the Insurgent governor of Nueva Vizcaya reported [57] that he had only a few rifles, that the "Igorrotes" were preparing to attack the towns, and that he had been forced to kill and wound a number of them. On September 6, General Tirona in Cagayan asked that General Tinio be ordered to give him some of his rifles to protect the people, as the "Igorrotes" were cutting off heads and the towns were in danger. Tirona said that he had nine hundred rifles; Tinio thought that he himself had some two thousand and could spare two hundred as the conditions along the coast were not as serious as the conditions inland with the savages preparing to attack. [58]

In July, 1899, the governor of Benguet asked that orders should be given prohibiting "Igorrotes" from leaving their own towns as they were growing restless and would probably soon become dangerous. The Benguet people are the most pacific of all the hill men.

In October, 1899, the Ilocanos of Lepanto petitioned Aguinaldo to send them arms with which to defend themselves against the people of the hills, who objected to being forced into paying what the governor of Benguet Province called "voluntary contributions" for the support of the war. When an attempt was made to collect, they abandoned their towns and took refuge in the hills. Next to the Benguet Igorots, those of Lepanto have the best reputation for quiet and orderliness.

From Simeon Villa's diary, heretofore referred to, we learn that Aguinaldo's armed escort was attacked again and again by Ifugaos, Kalingas and Bontoc Igorots when he passed through their country.

The people of these three tribes, and the Ilongots, and the wild Tingians of Apayao, were fierce, war-like, unsubdued head-hunting savages at the time of the American occupation.

Friendly as is our present relationship with the former head-hunters of Luzón, and excellent as is now the condition of public order in their territory, we still often have the fact brought home to us that the blood-lust of these sturdy and brave fighters is only dormant. A steady hand must be held on them for many a year to come.

The problems which the primitive peoples of the Philippines present are neither few nor simple. We shall not get far by ignoring them or misrepresenting them. Let us look them squarely in the face.

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