The Inhabitants of the Philippines Part 25

Undoubtedly the manufactures and industries of the Philippines are in a primitive condition, but the tax called the Contribucion Industrial has discouraged improvements, for as soon as any improved machinery or apparatus was adopted, the tax-gatherer came down upon the works for an increased tax. Thus any sort of works employing a steam-engine would be charged at a higher rate. This tax, if it cannot be abolished, should be reformed.

There is a great future before the manufactures of the Philippines, for the people are industrious, exceptionally intelligent, painstaking and of an artistic temperament, so that an ample supply of labour is always available for any light work if reasonably remunerated. They will not need much teaching, and only require tactful treatment to make most satisfactory operatives.

CHAPTER XVIII.

COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL PROSPECTS.

Philippines not a poor man's country--Oscar F. Williams' letter--No occupation for white mechanics--American merchants unsuccessful in the East--Difficulties of living amongst Malays--Inevitable quarrels--Unsuitable climate--The Mali-mali or Sakit-latah--The Traspaso de hambre--Chiflados--Wreck of the nervous system--Effects of abuse of alcohol--Capital the necessity--Banks--Advances to cultivators--To timber cutters--To gold miners--Central sugar factories--Paper-mills--Rice-mills--Cotton-mills--Saw-mills--Coasting steamers--Railway from Manila to Batangas--From Siniloan to the Pacific--Survey for ship ca.n.a.l--Bishop Gainzas' project--Tramways for Luzon and Panay--Small steamers for Mindanao--Chief prospect is agriculture.

The commercial prospects of the Islands are great, even if we do not instantly take for gospel the fairy tales we are told about Manila becoming the centre of the trade of the Pacific. There can be no doubt that if peace and an honest administration can be secured, capital will be attracted and considerable increase in the export of hemp, tobacco, and sugar will gradually take place as fresh land can be cleared and planted. As I have elsewhere said, the Philippines in energetic and skilful hands will soon yield up the store of gold which the poor Spaniards have been so mercilessly abused for leaving behind them. But the Philippines are not and never will be a country for the poor white man.

A white man cannot labour there without great danger to his health. He cannot compete with the native or Chinese mechanic, in fact he is not wanted there at all. For my part, I would never employ a white man there as a labourer or mechanic, if I could help it, more especially an Englishman or an American, for I know from experience what the result would be. As foreman or overseer a white man may be better, according to his skill and character.

Now let me, as soon as possible, expose the absurdity of a mischievous letter, which I fear may already have done much harm, but I hope my warning may do something to counteract its effects. I quote from the Blue Book so often mentioned: pp. 330-1.

Mr. Williams to Mr. Day.

U. S. S. Baltimore, Manila Bay, July 2nd, 1898.

Sir,

If long occupation or possession on the part of our government be considered, I believe early and strenuous efforts should be made to bring here from the United States men and women of many occupations--mechanics, teachers, ministers, ship-builders, merchants, electricians, plumbers, druggists, doctors, dentists, carriage and harness makers, stenographers, type-writers, photographers, tailors, blacksmiths, and agents for exporting, and to introduce American products natural and artificial of many cla.s.ses. To all such I pledge every aid, and now is the time to start. Good government will be easier the greater the influx of Americans.

My despatches have referred to our present percentage of export trade. If now our exports come here as intestate, duty free, we have practical control of Philippine trade, which now amounts to many millions, and because of ingrafting of American energy and methods upon the fabulous natural and productive wealth of these islands, can and probably will be multiplied by twenty during the coming twenty years. All this increment should come to our nation and not go to any other.

I hope for an influx this year of 10,000 ambitious Americans, and all can live well, become enriched....

(Signed) O. F. Williams, Consul.

I venture to say that the man who wrote this astonishing letter, taking upon himself the responsibility of advising "early and strenuous efforts" to send from the United States thousands of men and women of many occupations to Manila, and of a.s.suring them that "all could live well and become enriched," knew nothing at all about the state of the Philippine Islands, and is a most unsafe guide.

What on earth would all these tradespeople find to do in the Islands? Where could they be housed? How could they be supported? If they came in numbers, the doctors and druggists might indeed find full employment prescribing and making up medicine for the many sufferers from tropical ailments, especially the typhoid fevers, that would attack the unacclimatised immigrants and the ministers could earn their daily bread by reading the Burial Service, whilst the type-writers would be busy typing letters to friends at home announcing the deaths that occurred; and warning them against coming to starve in Manila. But I defy any one to explain how the ship-builders, electricians, plumbers, tailors and blacksmiths are to make a living. As regards merchants or agents for exporting, I may say that Americans have not been very successful in Manila in this capacity. The great and influential firm of Russell & Sturgis came to grief through over-trading, and another noteworthy firm, Messrs. Peele, Hubbell & Co. failed from rash speculations in sugar, and not from any persecutions by the Spanish authorities, as has been falsely stated in a magazine article. I speak with knowledge on the matter, as I was well acquainted with this firm, having been their Consulting Engineer for the construction of the Slipway at Canacao for which they were agents. I think it only right to say that the gentlemen who were heads of these American firms were worthy upholders of the high reputation of their country. They failed, but no imputations rested on the characters of the partners, and I have always heard them spoken of with great respect, especially amongst the natives.

Those of them who were personally known to me were men who invariably showed every courtesy and consideration to all who came in contact with them, whether Europeans or natives. Notwithstanding their misfortunes they were a credit to their country, and they did a good deal towards the development of the trade of the Philippines.

I believe that the estates of Russell & Sturgis when realised, paid all their liabilities in full, and besides left considerable pickings in the hands of the liquidators and their friends. Two or three firms were built up out of their ruins. Some Chinese half-castes and natives had received heavy advances from this firm, especially about Molo and Yloilo. One well-known individual had received $60,000, and when summoned before the court he claimed the benefit of the 'Laws of the Indies,' by which his liability was limited to $5. The judge, however, ordered him to repay the princ.i.p.al at the rate of a dollar a month! I had this information from the judge himself.

Curiously enough, American merchants have been equally unsuccessful in other parts of the Far East. Many will remember the failure of Messrs. Oliphant & Co., the great China merchants, agents for the American Board of Missions, [16] notwithstanding their desperate effort to retrieve their position by reviving the coolie trade with Peru, and in later days Messrs. Russell & Co. of Hong Kong also came to grief.

I can give no explanation of the reasons for these four great failures, but I conjecture that all these firms were in too much of a hurry, and tried to "hustle the East." Yet in face of this calamitous experience, Oscar F. Williams advises more to come, "pledges every aid," and predicts that "trade can, and probably will, be multiplied by twenty during the coming twenty years."

For my part, I should think it great progress if the exports and imports of the Philippines could be doubled in twenty years. The idea of sending plumbers to Manila where lead pipes are not used, is a comicality only matched by the suggestion that tailors are wanted amongst a population dressed in cotton shirts and trousers, and where the white people wear veranda-made white duck suits.

Both notions are more suitable for a comic opera than for an official doc.u.ment.

There is only one more paragraph in this letter that I need comment on.

Mr. Williams says: "Good government will be easier, the greater the influx of Americans."

To those who know the East there is no necessity to argue on this point. I therefore state dogmatically that the presence of white settlers or working people in the Islands would add enormously to the difficulties of government. This is my experience, and during the Spanish Administration it was generally admitted to be the case.

In British India the Government does not in the least degree favour the immigration of British workmen. The only people who are recognised as useful to that country are capitalists and directors of Agricultural or Industrial enterprises.

A large number of American mechanics turned loose amongst the population would infallibly, by their contempt for native customs, and their disregard of native feeling, become an everlasting source of strife and vexation. Impartial justice between the parties would be unattainable; the whites would not submit to be judged by a native magistrate, and the result would be a war of races.

It may be taken as probable that there is no crime, however heinous, that could be committed by an American upon a native, that would involve the execution of the death penalty on the criminal. [17] On the other hand, I can quite believe that natives laying their hands upon Americans, whatever the provocation, would be promptly hanged, if they were not shot down upon the spot. The natives, it should be remembered, are revengeful, and will bide their time; either to use the bolo upon one who has offended them, to burn down his house, set fire to his crop, or put a crow-bar in amongst his machinery. I fear that American brusqueness and impatience would often lead to these savage reprisals.

I think, therefore, that the American Administration of the Philippines should be empowered to prevent or regulate the immigration of impecunious Americans or Europeans whose presence in the Islands must be extremely prejudicial to the much-desired pacification. No, the poor white is not wanted in the Islands, he would be a curse, and a residence there would be a curse to him. He would decay morally, mentally, and physically. The gorgeous East not only deteriorates the liver, but where a white man lives long amongst natives, he suffers a gradual but complete break-up of the nervous system. This peculiarity manifests itself amongst the natives of the Far East in the curious nervous disorder which is called mali-mali in the Philippines and sakit-latah amongst the Malays of the Peninsula and Java. It seems to be a weakening of the will, and on being startled, the sufferer entirely loses self-control and imitates the movements of any person who attracts his attention. It is more prevalent amongst women than men. I remember being at a performance of Chiarini's Circus in Manila, when General Weyler and his wife were present. The clown walked into the ring on his hands, and a skinny old woman amongst the spectators who suffered from the mali-mali at once began to imitate him with unpleasing results, and had to be forcibly restrained by the scandalised bystanders.

Running amok marks a climax of nerve disturbance, when the sufferer, instead of committing suicide, prefers to die killing others.

He usually obtains his wish, and is killed without compunction, like a mad dog.

Both natives and white residents are at times in rather a low condition of health, and if after exercise or labour they fail to get their meal at the proper time, when it comes they cannot eat. In its lighter form this is called desgana or loss of appet.i.te, but I have seen natives collapse under such circ.u.mstances with severe headache and chills. This more serious form is known as traspaso de hambre, and is sometimes the precursor of fever and nervous prostration.

The Roman Catholic Church has had the wisdom to recognise and make allowance for the liability of residents and natives of the Philippines to this serious disorder, and has relaxed the usual rules of fasting, as being dangerous to health.

Amongst the Europeans who have been long in the Islands, many are said to be "chiflado," a term I can only render into English by the slang word cracked. This occurs more particularly amongst those who have been isolated amongst the natives.

It is not easy to account for, but the fact is undeniable. I have heard it ascribed to "telluric influence," but that is a wide and vague expression. Perhaps the explanation may be found in the extreme violence of the phenomena of nature.

The frequent earthquakes, the almost continuous vibration of the soil, the awe-inspiring volcanic eruptions, with their sooty black palls of ash darkening the sky for days together, over hundreds of miles, the frightful detonations, [18] the ear-splitting thunder, the devastating rage of the typhoons, the saturated atmosphere of the rainy season, and the hot dry winds of Lent, with the inevitable conflagrations, combine with depressing surroundings and anxieties to wreck the nerves of all but the strongest and most determined natures. If to all this the white resident or sojourner in the Philippines adds the detestable vice of intemperance, or even indulges in a liberal consumption of spirits, then instead of merely shattering his nerves, he is likely to become a raving maniac, for it takes much less whisky to bring on delirium tremens there, than it does in a temperate climate.

Long sojourn in some other lands appears to act in a different manner. In tropical Africa it seems to be the moral balance that is lost. The conscience is blunted if not destroyed, the veneer of civilisation is stripped off, the white man reverts to savagery. The senseless cruelties of Peters, Lothaire, Voulet, Chanoine, and of some of the outlying officials of the Congo Free State are not mere coincidences. They must be ascribed to one common cause, and that is debas.e.m.e.nt by environment. The moral nature of a white man seems to become contaminated by long isolation amongst savages as surely as the physical health by living amongst lepers.

If a poor white man wishes to sink to the level of a native, he has only to marry a native woman, and his object will be fully attained in a few years. But he will find it very much to his pecuniary interest, for she will buy cheaper and sell dearer than he can, and will manage his house and his business too, most economically. Some of her relations will come and live with him, so that he will not feel lonely, and a half-caste family will grow up round about him, talking the dialect of their mother, which he, perhaps, does not understand. But if the poor white man takes out a white wife, he will probably have the pain and distress of seeing her fade away under the severity of the climate, which his means do not permit him to alleviate. White women suffer from the heat far more than men. Children cannot be properly brought up there after the age of twelve. They must either be sent home to be educated, or allowed to deteriorate and grow up inferior to their parents in health, strength, and moral fibre. When I think of these things, I feel amazed at Oscar F. Williams' presumption in writing that letter. I hope that not many have taken his advice, and that any who have will call on him to fulfil his imprudent pledges.

However, now I have done with the poor white man. Capital is the great necessity of the Philippines. The labour is there if Generals Otis and McArthur have left any natives alive.

More banks are wanted. At present there are three important banks in Manila, and two of them have branches in Yloilo. The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation has the largest resources; next comes the Chartered Bank of India, Australasia, and China, and lastly the Banco Espanol Filipino. The first two give the most perfect facilities for business. I was only interested in importing, but certainly nothing more could be desired by an importer than their system of opening credits against shipping doc.u.ments; for practically he only had to pay for the goods when they arrived in Manila. All their business was done in the most expeditious manner, and I could suggest no improvement on their methods.

The Banco Espanol Filipino was in a measure under government control, its procedure was consequently very slow, and its ways those of bygone days.