Evening Star Newspaper, December 15, 1935, Page 9

-_— THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., DECEMBER 15, Japanese Colonization on Island of Mindanao Threatens Ultimate Clash With Philippines Material Necessary for Explosion Is Already Present, dAmericanCongress’ Lack of Wisdom Displayed. Note—This is the sixth in a series of articles by Mr. McKelway on the Philippine situation. The seventh will appear tomorrow. BY BEN McKELWAY, 8taft Correspondent of The Star. MANILA, P. I.—Davao, a city of | 80,000 persons, located in the province of the same name in Southeastern Mindanao, may become an interna- tionally known date line one of these | days as the locale of one of those “incidents” involving the rights of Japanese nationals and perhaps the destiny of the Philippine Islands. It has already become to many the sym- bol of Japan's peaceful economic con- cevenes Japanese ‘saw the opportunity and made the best of it, which seems to Land Lease Issue Background for Controversy. |Freedom Seen Start for Economic Conquest. sublease it to Japanese, who would furnish the capital and the labor and develop it as a hemp or coconut plantation. He would pay the Fili- pino 10 or 15 per cent of the profits ‘nnd the Pilipino would not have to | work. | Government Consented. | Although plainly in violation of the Philippine land laws, the government | at Manila tacitly permitted, and is | reported even to have encouraged the | development. . Politicians, it is report- jbe in keeping with a national trait | €d, would occasionally become exer- of. character. When the American troops finally | subdued the Moros on the island of | cised over the situation, go down to Davao and end up by taking out a lease themselves and subletting it to quest of the islands and of the lack | pindanao the soldiers were encour- | the industrious Japanese. The prac- of wisdom displayed by the American | aged to take out land through home- | tice was not confined to hemp lands, Congress in giving broad powers t0 | steaq sites in this wonderfully rich | Put extended to forest lands, and the the commonwealth government at Manila, while leaving the responsibil= ity with the American Government. The members of Congress who vis- | ited Manila for the inauguration of more about Davao and Japanese col- onization than any other single sub- ject, and they were undoubtedly im- pressed by what they heard. Certainly the material is assembled there now for what might easily become an ex- plosion. Davao is a comfortable day’s journey from Manila by plane. In the munici- in a country that was wilderness, pop- : the commonwealth undoubtedly heard ‘; ulated mni};fly by members of pth! | grown on their plantations, of the pality there are between 13,000 and | 15,000 Japanese. In the province, with a total population of 120,000, the number of Japanese is estimated as from 15,000 to 20,000. But the Jap- anese are not only in virtual control of the city, but of the province of | Davao, through their large hemp and coconut plantations and their lumber | holdings. Davao a Japanese Village, “wild tribes,” who lived chiefly on fighting and fishing. Americans Raised Abaca. ‘The Americans carved plantations out of the wilderness and began rais- | ing abaca, or hemp, from which comes | the finest fiber for making rope—a | product, by the way, that apparently | grows better in the Philippine Islands | than anywhere else in the world. The | Americans were doing fairly well with their plantations when the war sent the price of hemp to high levels, which | attracted the Japanese to Davao. | They began coming in 1916 with ready cash, which they spent in buying and | of the Philippine national budget. | o far. otherwise securing land from the | They have made this part of the| | Americans. As the Philippine land | | laws prevent acquisition of public land | Jai | have acquired, and promising country and to stay | JaPanese have come into possession there. They did not want to come in contact with the Moros and they final- ly settled around the Gulf of Davao of fine stands of timber which they are cutting and shipping to Japan. The majority of their hemp trade is with the United States, and hemp | highest quality, goes into the rope | used by the United States Navy. They according to figures } furnished me, 85 per cent of Davao's hemp production, which in turn amounts to 45 or 50 per cent of the Philippine Islands’ production, plac- ing them In a fair way to get a | monopoly on the product when they choose to do it. In addition they have built rail- roads for their lumber, roads for their plantations which are more ex- tensive than Philippine-built roads, and their investment is placed at $25,~ 090,000 to $30,000,000, about the size | island prosperous and their Filipino 50 constables could do against 4,000 Japanese. “What did the Japanese say?” I asked, “They say they will die first,” he answered. ‘What happened when the eviction was ordered, according to the story given me in Davao, was that 4,000 or 5,000 Japanese marched to Davao and held a mass meeting, at which they declared that if evicted from the land only their dead bodies would be taken Off. The government agent took the next boat home and the Japanese re- mained. The Manila government is making another investigation of the situation, and Secretary Rodriquez in Manila told me that he saw no alternative to enforcing the law in Davao, unless the Philippine Legislature chose to pass a law ‘validating existing leases for ‘the unexpired term and permitting no new ones. President Quezon says that he does not know enough about the situation to discuss it in detail, but the law will be enforced and justice will be done to both sides. But from what I could learn in Davao, if any eviction is at- | tempted there will be trouble. The Japanese consuls at Manila and Davao have been vigorous in their assertions that Japanese rights must be pro- tected Americans in Mindanao with whom | T talked were inclined to sympathize | with the Japanese, pointing out that | | they had been permitted to take out | the leases and their labor and in- | | genuity had developed the land. The American State Department, as far | as anybody knows, has kept hands | | off, regarding the matter as purely | | local between the Philippine govern- | ment and individual Japanese who ' may have circumvented the law. Pre- cipitate action by the Filipino offi- cials might involve the State Depart- ment quickly enough, however, | Japanese Occasionally Killed. !‘ A possible source of trouble lies in | the fact that a Japanese occasionally meets death at the hands of a na- tive who kills him with a spear and disappears in the wilderness. Since the colony began, a Filipino official told | me, there have been about a thousand violent deaths among the Japanese, some of them resulting from trouble | with the natives. Such incidents still | occur. The Japanese government | could make an incident out of one | of them any time it chose, although |1t has chosen to ignore the situation Americans who live in Mindanao |and feel that it is one of the rare | to whether the Japanese colony at Davao is increasing. The American consul at Negasaki, Japan said he had been sending between 1,500 and 2,000 Japanese a year to Davao, with about the same number going from Kobe, but that the migration was net as heavy as before and that many Jap- anese were coming home. From an- other source I was told that the net increase in Davao was about 200 a year. But a second generation of Japanese is growing up in Davso. Even in Northern Mindanao, in the small villages and towns, the Amer« icans reported a slow but steady in- crease in the number of Japanese mer- chants. And without being accused of seeing things under the bed, it may be stated on good authority that every Japanese in a responsible posi- tion in the Philippines is a reserve officer; every Japanese over 21 years old who comes to the Philippines has been trained as a soldier. TWO MOTORISTS FINED Pay $100 Each After Convictions on Traffic Charges. Two men were fined $100 each on |start.at 8 o'clock, officers, directors traffic charges in Police Court yes- terday. James E. McKinney, 814 Forty- fourth street northeast, paid a fine after conviction by a jury on a charge of driving while drunk. It was his second offense. The other fine was paid by Joseph Allen, 311 Eye street southwest, on & reekless driving charge after his con- viction before Judge Isaac R. Hitt in Traffic Court. e B e T LIVE XMAS TREES ; - Enjoy their beauty indoors during the holidays. Plant them after- i | | % green in these measurements. Loeaiz. i5le ..-1.00 to 2t 3 ft. 41t 1935—PART ONE. FETETOMORROW FORD. C. OFFICIALS Commissioners, Judges and Others to Be Guests of Trade Board. The District Commissioners, justices of the District Court of Appeals and the District Supreme Court, judges of the Police and Municipal Courts, members of the Public Utilities Com- mission and other District officials will be honor guests of the Washington Board of Trade at a buffet supper meeting at the Willard Hotel tomorrow night. An entertainment program which will include several selections by the Russian Gypsy Chorus of the Club Volga Boatman wilf follow the supper. Several of the prominent guests are expected to speak. Preceding the meeting, which will and chairmen of the Board of Trade will hold a reception fér the Dis- trict officials. Board of Trade officials said this probably will represent the first time in the history of the District that all its executive and judicial officials have been gathered together at one time. | coming increasingly popular in British ward for their beauty to your grounds, Trees including tubs painted American electrical equipment is be- Malaya. Qv 1.50 Ad. BOOK REVIEW SERIES PLANNED BY LIBRARY A series of book reviews will be given in the community room of the Northeastern Branch of the Public Library at Seventh street and Mary- land avenue northeast, it was an- nounced yesterday by Dr. George P. Bowerman, librarian. The meetings, free to the public, will be held on alternate Fridays at 8 p.m., begin- | ning this week. Miss Alethea T. Alderson, readers’ adviser in fiction at the Central Li- | brary, will open the series Friday | with a discussion of Christmas sug- | gestions in fiction and poetry. Cecil | J. McHale, librarian of the Mount Pleasant Branch, will discuss books | of adventure for men. | On January 3 Miss Frances S. Os- | borne, librarian at the Southeastern | Branch, and Mrs. Catherine M. Houck of the circulation department at the Central Library, will discuss travel books of distinction. | The reviews will be continued bi- weekly throughout January and February, with various members of | the library staff speaking. | CONCERTS AT STORE . Chevy Chase Woman’s Club to Give Second Thursday. The music section of the Chevy Chase, Md., Woman's Club will present a second concert 1t the Palais Royal department store at 10 am. Thurse day. The first concert was given at 10 a.m. yesterday under direction of Louis Potter. Mrs. 8. J. McCathran accompanied the club chorus at thg piano and Mrs, J. A. Logan played the violin accome paniments. STRIKINGLY LOW PRICES \ CASH JEWELERS 61545™ ST. N,VL.'GIH ™ SLAW. SEE OUR WINDOWS bor is well satisfied, preferring to | garden spots of the whole world, with | by individuals who are not Filipinos } work for Japanese, rather than Amer- | its fine climate, rich soil and plenti- | 5ft........1.50 to 2.00 In Davao one gets the impression of being in a Japanese village. The Japanese have their own schools, their own monuments, their own stores and restaurants and parks. One meets there the courtesy and politeness of which only a Japanese is capable, and in Davao itself thq most imposing residence in town is the home of the cousul and the compound, with the tall pole from which the Japanese flag floats in the breeze. The Japa- nese buy what they need from Japan and send what they make back to Japan. The story of what the Japanese have done at Davao is a tribute to their tremendous energy and willing- ness to work. What they have done | nese. The Filipino, for the cost of 70 | carry out his orders. He shrugged his anybody might have done—but the centavos, could lease public land and | shoulders expressively and asked what | or Americans, or by corporations in which the majority stock is not held by Americans or Filipinos, the Japa- nese began expanding their holdings by subleasing land from Filipinos or setting up corporations with dummy directors—sometimes their Filipino laborers—holding 60 per cent of the stock. The leases on land would run from 10 to 15 years, at the end of which time the land and all the im- provements would revert to the Fili- pino lessor, unless the Japanese in the meantime had acquired ownership through marriage or some other device. The scheme proved mutually bene- | ficial to the Filipinos and to the Japa- | icans or Europeans. | ful rainfall, drawn, the Japanese economic con= | quest of the island will begin in earn- holding fllegal leases must be re.|®st- I could get nothing definite as moved. Of the estimated 140,000 | ~— = T | acres under control of the Japanese, o'"‘ | 72,000 were said to be illegally held. ° J n - M oERFORMANC | of commerce and agriculture, Eulogio | Rodriguez, decided that the Japanese A Filipino government agent came | to Davao and issued lease-cancella- tion orders affecting some 4,000 Jap- anese tenants, and the Filipino con- stabulary officer, commanding a com- | pany of 50 constables at Davao, was | ordered to evict the Japanese. When I was in Davao I asked the constabulary officer why he didn't COLUMBIA | regard it as inevitable | Last Fall the Philippine secretary : that when the American Flag is with= | N E NN 2N BREDERERVEVERERVERVERDERIVERGRVERLERER OUR GIFT IS THE MONOGRAM! 6 ft. ceee---2.00 to 2.50 Delivered Free o Washington, D. C. and Vicinity. Open Every Day, Including Sunday, Until 8 P. PHONE AND MAIL ORDERS FILLED PROMPTLY LEISSLER'S NURSERIES E. Falls Church. Va. LANDSCAPE CONI{RACTORS Phone Clar. 1306 DRIVE OVER KEY BRIDGE Turn righ 31, miles B AR FERERERERERERR Washington Comes to Meyers A Washington gift, whether from one Wash- ingtonian to another, or sent to some one in a distant place, must have some special air about it. We submit a collection of gifts, which will make this a truly “Merry Christmas.” The Monogram Is Our Gift SHIRTS The gift that bears the masculine stamp of ap- proval, well styled, well tailored, woven of lus- trous fabrics, they are recommended for every man’s wardrobe, $1.65 to $3.50 BRITISH STRIPES A lively collection of shirts featuring this new London idea. Men who want the newest will be grateful for such a gift. Monogrammed free. Whether you give shirts, Ppajamas, or anything that can be grammed, we be prepared to for Finest render Monogram service late but it is to your ad- vantage to do your Christmas shopping early. THE FABLED RO BE OF SILK HAS GLOVES INTERWOVEN SOCKS Look to his socks for the final touch . . . they must have the diversity of col- o and pattern and that soft comfortable touch . . . Lisles, Silks and Wools. 35¢ to $1.50 A handsome gift. Dress or sport gloves in all leathers. Pigskin, chas and Copesl Mo- n all colors, also ghves with fur or wool linings. $1.95 to $5.00 PAJAMAS How about giving him pajomas . . . for his pri- vate night life ... You'll be surprised ot the many $1.65 to $12.50 PURE SILK PAJAMAS, in blue, canary, maroon a: white with contresting pipings. _SPECIAL AT ITS MODERN COUNTERPART Through the ages the Robe of Silk has expressed luxury, No less luxurious + « « but not at all extravagant . . . its modern counterpart remains the matchless for @ man on Christmas Day. Modern interpretations of this traditional gift are here in plain and brocaded silks’ of as many colors as Joseph’s Coat—and flonnel robes in plain and two-toned effects. The robe and its off- g, the cocktail , is a regol Christmas gift. A stirring assnrtment ot $8.50 Here is just the thing for those long winter nights . . . the silk robe « luxurious, yes, but practical too. $9.95 to $35.00 Smoking Jackets, rich smart diog- warmly of the giver. A most appreciated and practical gift. . $5.95 to $25.00 ¢ 3 Months to Pay : Nothing down for anything you pur- chase. One-third in thirty days, one-third in sixty days, one- in ninety days. That's all; no extras. MENS SHOP 1331 F STREET Let Us Cash Your Christmas Savings Checks: 2 Hours' Free Parking, Copital Garage . _ 4 Our booklet, “Gifts for Men,” is full of suggestions that any man should appreciate, be he Husband, Brother, Son, Sweetheart or Father. Phone or stop in for your copy! TIES HE'LL WEAR The newest in neck- wear, in perfect- knotting silks and wools; stripes, plaids, small figures and solids, the highlights of cravat fashions . . . a gift always ap- preciated and long remembered. $1.00 to $5.00 MUFFLERS A neck-warming (and heart - warm- ing) gift ... all-wool mufflers in the sea- son’s newest pat- terns and colors. Great to wear with that new overcoat. $1.50 to $5.00 The white silk muf- fler for evening wear or for daytime; there’s no muffler as smart as these pat- terned all-silk ones. $1.50 to $5.00 LEATHER SLIPPERS As easy on your pocketbook as they'll be on his feet. Some plain and others in striped effects. $2.50 to $4.50 NUNN-BUSH SHOES A thoughtful gift for any man, whether he already is enjoying NUNN-BUSH qual- ity and style, or not. New models in black and brown are $7.50-to $11.00 JEWELRY The most popular styles in men’s jew- elry, for both his day and night life. $1.00 to $15.00 Trade-in Allowance for your old range, regardless of type or the condition it’s in! (Depending upon the cost of the Magic Chef you choose) mx' 'BEAUTIFUL Magic Chef gas range for Christmas’ What woman wouldn'’t be thrilled to receive a gift that adds so much to the beauty and convenience of the kitchen—her workshop? It's a gift that says “"Merry Christ. mas” in many ways—every day Magic Chef ranges are smartly for many years. styled, and complete with all advanced features, including: Red Wheel Oven Regulator; Non-clog Top Burners that light themselves; Grid-pan Broiler; Fully-insulated Oven; Sanitary High Burner Tray; Minute Minder Clock; and other important features. To the woman, this means freedom from cooking drudgery —more time for rest and leisure—and a more up-to-date kitchen. To the family, it means better-cooked, more de- licious meals and savings on gas bills and foods. Be a smart Santa Claus this year. Give her a Magic Chef. Each year of ownership will emphasize anew the wisdom Tt . 1 Main Floor—Electrical Arcade c€ooK FASTER BETTER