. Philippine life in town and country. thsuch a government as their ideal, it would beentirely premature to talk of a political evolutionof the masses in the Moro territory. It is quitesignificant, however, that the tendencies of theAmerican Government are toward assuring to the Influences toward Disunion 271 humble Moro more nearly an equal opportunitywith his lord and master. In developing this theme, statements which areon their surface somewhat contradictory of eachother have here and there been made. This issimply an indication of the fact that the Filipinos,to repeat a statement of the i
. Philippine life in town and country. thsuch a government as their ideal, it would beentirely premature to talk of a political evolutionof the masses in the Moro territory. It is quitesignificant, however, that the tendencies of theAmerican Government are toward assuring to the Influences toward Disunion 271 humble Moro more nearly an equal opportunitywith his lord and master. In developing this theme, statements which areon their surface somewhat contradictory of eachother have here and there been made. This issimply an indication of the fact that the Filipinos,to repeat a statement of the introductory chapter,are in a transitional state. It will not do to dog-matise in one direction or another. Underneath,we may feel quite sure, there is racial homogene-ity in the Philippines. The Christian Filipinos,nine-tenths of the total population, of both highand low estate, have been powerfully stirred bythe events of the past seven to nine years, andhave achieved a feeling of racial unity, if we willnot quite say of CHAPTER IX TRADE AND INTKRNAI, DEVELOPMENT THE Philippine Islands are not bound to provean Eldorado simply because the Americanflag has been hoisted over them. There seemsto have been a sort of unconscious tendency onthe part of a good many Americans to as-sume that this would be the case, quite asthere was a very evident tendency at the outsetto disregard the accumulated experience andwritings of the long Spanish rule and to treatthe islands virtually as undiscovered and virginterritory. It is true, however, that the natural resourcesof the archipelago are to-day comparatively un-developed. The chief natural source of wealth isagriculture, and will almost certainly always beagriculture. Yet, of the 75,000,000 acres com-prised within the islands of the entire archipelago,less than 6,000,000 were estimated by Spanishstatistics as being held in private ownership dur-ing the period of Spanish rule. The Spanishestimates, which were only estimates, re
Size: 2268px × 1102px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidphilippinelifein00lero
