The Philippine Problem 1898-1913

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1913. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM IN 1898 Situation and extent of the Islands--Brief history.--The friars the real government--Commerce discouraged as a policy--Tribute exacted from all natives--No system of justice--Natives purposely kept ignorant--Tagalogs not the Filipinos--Study of the different races with degree of civilization and literacy--Less than one tenth could read and write in any tongue--But one per cent could read and write in any language in which there were books of general knowledge or newspapers--The rebellion against Spain in 1898--The leaders induced by Spain to leave the Islands for a money consideration, all of which is secured by Aguinaldo--The American occupation begins. The Philippines were discovered by the people of the United States upon May Day, 1898, when Commodore Dewey met the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay. Before that, probably not one American in a hundred even recollected the Archipelago's existence. And yet the Philippines, with an area of 115,029 square miles, occupy more land surface than all New England and New York combined. They number 3141 islands, of which only 1668 have been named.? The group lies in an almost perfect triangle, with its most acute angle reaching up to a north latitude of 210, which is that of Honolulu, of Vera Cruz, and the center of the Sahara. This apex is a round thousand miles southwest of Japan, and five hundred southeast of Hongkong. The western side of this triangle, eleven hundred miles long, rests upon Borneo. Its eastern side, of about the same dimension, runs to the Celebes Islands, between which and Borneo we may construct the base, with a line through the Celebes and Sulu Seas, a length of about seven hundred miles, 6 above the equator, which is the latitude of the northern boundary of Brazil, t...