The Philippines: Past and Present | Page 7

it at something, can appreciate
as keenly as I do the manifold blessings which attend the life of a
private citizen.
I trust that I have said enough to make clear my view point, and now a
word as to subject-matter. It is my intention to correct some of the very
numerous misstatements which have been made concerning past and
present conditions in the Philippines. I shall quote, from time to time,
such statements, both verbal and written, and more especially some of
those which have recently appeared in a book entitled "The American
Occupation of the Philippines, 1898-1912," by James H. Blount, who
signs himself "Officer of the United States Volunteers in the
Philippines, 1899-1901; United States District Judge in the Philippines,
1901-1905."
Judge Blount has indulged so freely in obvious hyperbole, and has
made so very evident the bitter personal animosities which inspire

many of his statements, that it has been a genuine surprise to his former
associates and acquaintances that his book has been taken seriously.
It should be sufficiently evident to any unprejudiced reader that in
writing it he has played the part of the special pleader rather than that
of the historian. He has used government records freely, and as is
usually the case when a special pleader quotes from such records, the
nature of the matter which he has omitted is worthy of more than
passing attention. I shall hope to be able to fill some of the gaps that he
has left in the documentary history of the events which he discusses
and by so doing, very materially to change its purport.
As public documents have been so misused, and as a new
administration is bestowing on Filipinos political offices, and giving
them opportunities, for which they are as yet utterly unprepared, thus
endangering the results of years of hard, patient, self-sacrificing work
performed by experienced and competent men, it becomes necessary to
strike home by revealing unpleasant facts which are of record but have
not heretofore been disclosed because of the injury to reputations and
the wounding of feelings which would result from their publication. In
doing this I feel that I am only discharging a duty to the people of the
United States, who are entitled to know the truth if the present
possibility of Philippine independence is to be seriously considered,
and to the several Filipino peoples who are to-day in danger of rushing
headlong to their own utter and final destruction.
At the outset I shall discuss the oft-asserted claim that the Filipino
leaders were deceived and betrayed by American officials whom they
assisted, and that this unpardonable conduct led to the outbreak of
active hostilities which occurred just prior to the arrival at Manila of
the first Philippine Commission.
I shall then show that these leaders never established a government
which adequately protected life and property, or gave to their people
peace, happiness or justice, but on the contrary inaugurated a veritable
reign of terror under which murder became a governmental institution,
while rape, inhuman torture, burying alive and other ghastly crimes
were of common occurrence, and usually went unpunished. The data

which I use in establishing these contentions are for the most part taken
directly from the Insurgent records, in referring to which I employ the
war department abbreviation "P.I.R." followed by a number.
I next take up some of the more important subsequent historical events,
describing the work of the first Philippine Commission, and showing in
what manner the government established by the second Philippine
Commission has discharged its stewardship, subsequently discussing
certain as yet unsolved problems which confront the present
government, such as that presented by the existence of slavery and
peonage, and that of the non-Christian tribes. For the benefit of those
who, like Judge Blount, consider the Philippines "a vast straggly
archipelago of jungle-covered islands in the south seas which have
been a nuisance to every government that ever owned them," I give
some facts as to the islands, their climate, their natural resources and
their commercial possibilities, and close by setting forth my views as to
the present ability of the civilized Cagayans, Ilocanos, Pampangans,
Zambals, Pangasináns, Tagálogs, Bicols and Visayans, commonly and
correctly called Filipinos, to establish, or to maintain when established,
a stable government throughout Filipino territory, to say nothing of
bringing under just and effective control, and of protecting and
civilizing, the people of some twenty-seven non-Christian tribes which
constitute an eighth of the population, and occupy approximately half
of the territory, of the Philippine Islands.
I wish here to acknowledge my very great indebtedness to Major J. R.
M. Taylor, who has translated and compiled the Insurgent [4] records,
thereby making available a very large mass of reliable and most
valuable information without which a number of chapters of this