The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 9, 1898, Page 22

[+ (&) N FRANCISCO <€ALL, -SU OCTOBER 9,- 1898 SHALL WE KEEP THE' PHILIPPINES? Destiny of the Islands From a Filipino's Standpoint. Ramon Reyes Lala Declares That @Annexation or Ultimate Independence Is the Only Solution That Will Be Considered by the Insur- gents Ramon Reyes Lela, is now v native of in and He with the the Philippines in the United State two dele- gates v ire on ‘their way to present th before the Paris i Le - and in- fluential n. and v Manila, / natives, he of his to_char result vears ago. He is a_repre inded Filipinos, and his s of the people most inte Mr. Lela is at present ensga O much has been written about the Philippi rely de- seripti suppose some This a few of the problems that will - solution at the hands of the es in a p that I pre of ther s to deal with lieve opportunit for wealth and « but also for h tion. Though Ma hands of the of Luzon a: are held by also taken Iio other c! mission appoi <aid, what is to be This at lea to decide, it with the island the idea of the hatever the co de, I, as a Fillptno—with : knowledge of my countryme the conditi t that of this com sion can in fect the destiny of the This may seem a strange but it is nevertheless true. that the Amer ide to ke islands, which are now virtually by right of conquest and S the nativi I re of Spar erty all oppo tiny and in line ts. Should, however, t lieve me, t impossible by tives them inhabi might be paid and would probably lands can nev the y was for ! found that when s as good Thus the b 600,000 mer 1 that their country shall be and keep it In sub e tasted the ts of !lberty and the frui of vi They will not and cannot be de- have . broken have ever trusted. ling toward who are now regarded as their deliverers h bondage. But if the give the islands back to Spain, v, as well as the Spaniards, will in cur the eternal hatred of the islanders. Now this is what the Filipinos want, and this I know is what they consider themselves entitled to have—in fact, it is commonly understood in the islands that the following has been guaran- teed them by their American allies: Independence from Spanish rule shall be proclaimed. A protectorate shall be established with a government designated by the "American representatives and approved by ihe insurgent leaders. This government will recognize such temporary adjustments as may be made by the American or Euro- pean commissioners. If a protectorate be established, it will be of the same kind and nature as arranged for Cuba. The ports of the Philippines shall be opened free to the commerce of the world. Precautionary measures shall be adopted against Chinese immigra- tion, so as to regulate their compet{- tion, with the natives, who at pres- ent suffer severely thereby. The corrupt judicial system at present existing in the islands shall be promptly reformed—such reform to be intrusted to competent Ameri- can officials. The complete liberty of speech, of association and of the press shail be declared and maintained. Religious toleration must be made the by Ameri- general throughout the islands; but the friars or religious corporations, of whom there are about 5000, who have been a cancer in the body poli- tic, and who have ever ruled the provinces with an iron hand, de- moralizing the civil administration and blasting every reform, must be expelled root and branch. The parish priests, whose pres- ence is most necessary and bene- ficial, must remain undisturbed in the performance of their sacred ealling. Measures conducive to the dis- covery and developmentof the great natural resources of the country must be adopted and at once en- forced. The existing obstacles to the forming of commercial enterprises and investment of foreign capital shall be takén away and encourage- meit shall be given tc every indus» v The new government shail- keep puMlic order and prevent every act of reprisal against Spaniards. The development of the publie weaith shall be facilitated, together with the openin~ of roads and road- ways Restoration to the natives of the lands held by the religious orders, except where lawfully acquired by the latter. | No arrest without a judge's war- rant. Pl London, cials shall be al- Spain, 1and and exy ould in liberty became & g mings and government is Span- vould if need are well usually the tre is apparent Hawaii and n Amer her no competitor. possessi mselves of > the Americ I put enterpri al into sug inery ¢ nd oppr reap by to cat wealth, slow but de enor- while the: sure methods forty sple hould th . There {8 no Id not be an- a0 should not yion. This is Amers a’s opportunity and our True, many problems z for solu- tion. It will také diplomatic manipu- lation to reconcile the race differences among my countrymen. But it can be done. On account of the great number of islands and the multitude of races— whom theré Is a strong feel- Jealo -1 am afraid that a : republic at paesent would end 1 But give wus.a Philippine protectora to which r prese fves from ev. race and from province can be sent— ipino will have his own repre and this prob- lem will be to a proper ns control within = twenty-f tho of investors v y flock to the colony, a network of rail- ways will be spread over the principal isiands, and new ports will be oy The result will be that the produecti ness of the (‘r:!nr\( will be greatly aug- mented, and its de with the outside world reased ténfold. At the s es themselves will self-reliance and and truest seif-go ] In addition ey will be contented, free while their American pro- he repaid a thou- * the expense and trouble w sand fold { of their occup: It is Americ therefore, as well as her oppor My country- men need a helping hand in this new path that they have chosen. Wil Brother Jonathan help us? or will he stand by whi our ancient enemy again despoils us? When the United States shall assume control over the group—and I have shown, 1 think, that no other solution of the question Is possible, and when she shall have instituted the various reforms mentioned above, she will find 71 /"%/![/ ard them outside plotting to Kill us, so wez sat with our guns in hand ail night.” Explains Why. a hearty co-operation on the part of my who will as a rule be found do and obedient. ¥ It will, howeve! greatly simplify 5 one with tact and »pointed governor of the many petty jeal- —many things to , for tk to be ov s not to be expected ‘vmen will accept at once civilization and We self-assertivene: in its entirety. Such acceptance must be gradual, and will be a work of many years; but if anism—modified by the i and by the complex condi- ast—flourish there ‘after efully nurtured for a century, d States will have accomplish- t work for the good of the I have alreadv spoken of the material benefi to be derfved fr I, and vet I have h » 1 req a standing army ans to keep the natives g each other, and that E e which wiil al profits of the be true. Such ary for a year, s will event- for civil protec 1d tor defensc against toreign ag / ~ oy ST -\ J?\‘:{”‘t‘ N T e vision and application of law will be found necessary, should the office of provincial governor, as well as that of representative to the congress, be made elective, when the native the franchise, which I be based upon both an educational and property qualification. The minor offices should all be filled by natives. By this tem the skeleton of the pr ent government would be maintained and there would be no violent changes. A democratic despotism—if such a paradox is permissible—is what the col- ony needs before it can be made ready for all the functions of true democratic government. The church should be left alone where it does not interfere with the functions of government. I have heard tha siderable activity has been mani by some of the American Prot churches, who are getting ready for a “Christian_ propaganda’” among the “*heathen 08.” This activity, I think, is entirely un- called for. We are, and profess to be, Christians, and it is just as necessary and as logical for American Protest- ants to christianize American Catho- lics as the Catholics of the Philip- pines. Inde: is my belief that Cathc its ritualism and gorgeous ceremonials, is more suited to the character of the natives than the colder forms of Protestant belief, which have never flourished on Oriental soil. The friars should be expelled. for they are religious corporations have no soul and that are unas: and irresponsible, but the churc its excellent stem of parish spiritual government and its gentle, refining in- fluence on the native character, should bejmaintained Inviolate, though the separation between church and state should be made complete. I will conclude by saying a few words about my countrymen. We have had, as all the world knows, but few opportuni- t and yet I challenge any other na- tive colonial race—the people of Java and of British India not excepted—to show a finer people than the best Phil- ippine product. All visitors testify to their refinement, honesty and hospital- Z N W\ INTERVIEWED A CANNIBAL CHIEF. Remarkable Adventures of a Scientist. Explorer von Brenner Penetrated the Wilds of Su- matra and Discussed Cannibalism With the Head Men -Odd Explanations They Gave for the Custom. Spectal to The Sunday Call. ERLIN, Oct. 3, 1898.—The first scientific study of cannibals and cannibal- ism is shortly to be published as a result of the experfences of an Aus- trian scientist and explorer, Joachim Freiherr von Brenner, who recently returned from Sumatra, where he has been for several years engaged in the study of the native blacks. Included in the equipment with which he started out was a camera, with which he has taken several hundred very striking and Interesting photographs to illustrate every Although Von Brenner's work was undertaken for the sake of its value in the fields of geography, history will include much that is of popular Interest and entertainment. ed, it was an undertaking of some hardihocd to study readily beli of cannibals at close range, and when the young burpose he met with considerable opposition Who freely prophesied that he would never retur Even after his arrival in Deli, th had had some experience with the haif-civilized nativ persuade him to give up his project, and " secured an outfit with which to penetrate into of all lands known to white men, Von Brenner's account of his experien: tion, though told in plain and modest language, shows thal riends and advisers were not altogether ungrounded. had with natives on the subject his undertaking. s where alone, practiced. frie F rom conversations he Explorer von Brenner came to the conclusion that except point ¢f his story. scientific and anthropology, his experiences n As may be a tribe Austrian announced his from his friends and associates, urn to announce the result of e Dutch residents, who es, did their best to it was with great difficulty that he the interior of the country, cannibalism is still regularly ces after leaving civiliza- t the fears of his of cannibalism among the very low- est and most degraded of the savages with whom he came in camggx,‘fizjn?ei. balism was caused not so much by the liking for human flesh as by thie de- sire to complete the humillation and destruction of enemies. E e reported by Von Brenner as the result of J s through a country inhabited by more than 200,000 primitive sa oms and strange legends a Journ ages, but there is nothing in all his notes quite view with a cannibal on cannibalism—doubtles SET out on my trip to the land of the Bataks after having secured by inducements, which to them ap- ctraordinary, a caravan of rriers. There was but one European in the party besides my- self. We were conducted by a native guide from one of the hill tribes, who w recommended as a thoroughly trustworthy man, and who indeed proved inv as time went on. Our cour: the high mountains which lie a back from the coast at Del land of the £ I have been able to find, no European had hitherto set foot. For the purpose of ingratiating myself with the blacks 1 of all kinds of E ves and vari- Iiy a sort of 1 border, which the highly. rtially civilized tribes that I came across in the earlier stages of my journey afforded many opportunities for \teresting study, and our progress was therefore sl for I reasoned that the more thoroughly I understood the cus- toms and ways of these people the bet- ter I should be able to understand those Many curious o0 extraordinary as his inter- s the first ever published. a hammock, with a most uncanny ef- fect. Among the natives whom I first en- countered 1 was an object of mild but intensely curious interest. It seemed to give them great delight to i1 crowds and watch me whenever I we in bathing. The sight of a man bathing was not new to them, but it was ap- parently the first time they had ever seen such a thing as a cake of soap, and the lather produced by it was a marvel to all beholders. But it was impossible to get any of them to try its effects. The natives laughed at my custom of eating with a knife and fork, and ex- plained over and over again that it was much easier to use the finge: By using the passport provided by many gifts of cloths and beads to the tribal chiefs, my progress was ccm- paratively easy, until we entered the territory of one tribe which was at war with its neighbors. These would mnot permit our caravan to pass until the impending battle was fought. This gave me an excellent opportunity to observe the native manner of carrying on war, and I watched the battle in company with the women and children of the tribe, from the top of a shboring hill. It was a strange sight, several thousand naked Malays advancing in irregular lines, in semicircles, to meet “They danced shouting around him brandishing their weapons.” ‘ gression, and such army can be sup- ported entirely by home taxation. Nor need such tax be onerous. With an ef- ficient and economic administration the colony should be self-supporting in five vears after the Americans assume en- tire control. Even under the inefficient, corrupt and disastrous Spanish regime (before the recent revolution had made a large army necessary) the cclony was administered with but littie aid from the home government. 1 would suggest that the American Government appoint an administrative advisory council or cabinet of nine- teen, composed of a native irom every civil province who is conversant with the conditions there. Let the provincial governors for the present also be Americans—not politi- clans, but jurists of ability and renown, for the office combines judicial as weil ity, and not a few have shown remark- able artistic talent, as, for instance, the Luna brothers, whose genius took all Madrid by storm, and Dr. Rizal, poet, scientist and patriot. We have our merchant princes too, and our great lawyers who have shown exceptional. ability and judicial integrity, under the most demoralizing and discouraging circumstances. And the victories of IZmilio Aguinaldo and his army of natriots, have demon- strated to the world what the Filinino is capable of in the field of war. RAMON REYES LALA. —_—————— Among coin collectors, one of the most sought after colonial pieces is the Highly copper. They are of several va- rieties and were struck in 1737 by Sam- uel Highly, who was a physician and a blacksmith at Granby, Conn. He ob- tained the copper from a mine near by as executive functions, end much rah\and shaped the coins at his forge. in the wilderness beyond, which was our ultimate destination. One peculiar custom, which was na- turally among the first to impress itself upon me and which apparently prevails among all the natives of the island, is the method of preserving the dead. The body is burned but the head is placed in a small basket on top of a bamboo pole as thick as a man's arm, and thatched over the top with the leaves of the sugar palm. Here it is left to bleach and dry and the sight of these ghastly slgn posts which we frequently came across was anything but reassuring. In some places the head is not detached, but the entfre body is hung up in a sort of wicker-work wrapping, suspend- ed between two posts several feet above the ground, and it is possible to view through the interstices in the basket- work the ghastly remains which the breezes swing to and fro as they would upon an open plain. Each party had guns bought from native traders, who had: introduced them from the Dutch settlements, but they were used almost as effectively as the Spaniards use theirs. The savages advanced with terrific shouts, trying to frighten their cppo- nents. Each man had loaded his gun with a tremendous cnarge of powder, which he fired when he was ready. As the gun went off he fell howling to the ground from the “kick” of the heavy load. This nolsy firing, harmful to the owners of the guns alone, continued for about half an_hour, when a shower came up and all the combatants rushed back to their huts for shelter. The battle was cver. Although the tribe with which I hap- pened to be admitted itself beaten by the greater noise of the enemy (there was not a soul killed or wounded), they and gave up the night to singing and feasting. The battle was to be renewed next day, so a war dance took place, but the women, not the warriors, did the dancing. When the whole tribe had gathered a middie-aged woman rose and began to stamp the ground in time to the rude muslic of the drum and cala- bash. Her movements became quicker and quicker, she loosened her hair, her eyes flashed, she seemed to be a raging witch. The chief joined the dance for a few minutes, and as he resumed his seat three other women dashed forward and joined the wild -dance, shrieking and jumping as if possessed. Suddenly the music ceased, the dancers paused, deathlike stiliness prevalled. The lead- ing dancer was given a mixture of palm wine and camphor to refresh her. She danced again more wildly until she fell exhausted to the ground, where she lay repeating visions of victory on the mor- row. At the village of Lontong I was made a prisoner, along with my carriers, The chief had been very friendly when we appeared, and we had no means of knowing why he had made us captives, but the prospect was very discouraging. From where I was seated in the native hut which served as a prison, and which was guarded by two stalwart blacks armed with jagged war clubs, I could overhear an earnest discussion going on among the warriors who had gathered a short distance awa The guide who w beside me told me that they were discussing the fate of their prisoners, and as the babble oi conversation went on he interpreted such remarks as ‘“We must overcome them while they sleep, slay and eat them.” It is needless to say such a prospect was sufficient to banish every thought of sleep. The guide inform- ed me that there were two parties to the discussion; one wished to kill n}'{d eat us and the other to let us pass. We had no means of knowing which would prevail, and we sat all night with our seven guns loaded and ready for in- stant use, and our pistols by our sides. There was a tumult in the early morn- ing and we gripped the guns, ready to sell our lives as dearly as possible. There were cries of “The enemy! the enemy!” and soon it appeared that a neighboring tribe had attacked the vil- lage, carrying off two of its women. A little later the chief called to see me and said: “What if we keep you to work in our fields for a year or two?" I answered, “You would not do such a thing,” and to prove that I did not fear him, 1 gave the chief a handsome pistol, which delighted his savage heart and apparently restored him to the great- est friendlfhes Seeing that I had made an impression, I added: “If you dare to touch a hair of our heads, our brothers will come and kill all of you.” The chief immediately declared that he had no intention of injuring me, that, in fact, he took me under his protection. The next tribe that we fell in with was the one I had come so far to study. They received me good naturedly be- cause their chief had just overcome the head of a rival tribe, and they had en- Joyed a great feast. These natives in the interior of Su- matra are, I believe, as degraded can- nibals as ever lived. A man will steal upon.an enemy when he is asleep, and. with a sharp, scimiter-like sword, strike off his head at a single blow. Then ne will strip the head of flesh and bury it on some trail, so that even the friends of the dead man will step upon him and lose his good will in the other world. Afterward the skull is dug up and kept as a trophy, the rank of each prince being fixed according to the number, of skulls he can display. During my stay I saw one man eat- en. He had been made captive in a raid against a hostile tribe, and when I saw him he was bound to a tree. The rajah, or chief, first approached the victim and cut off the flesh from the inner side ' of the forearm and the cheek, two portions esteemed a great delicacy. The chief drank some of the blood and then roasted the flesh slight- ly by the fire and ate it. Thereafter the rest of the warrfors fell upon the victim and stripped the flesh from his bones, roasted and ate it. Generally, cannibalism is an act of vengeance upon captured enemies. but among/the Popaks the taste for human flesh has become so much d=veloped that they often eat harmiess slives and o0ld women. A Popak Prince in Pen- ganibatan told me that he had just given a feast at which eleven Chinese had been eaten, and he added that they were very good. This Prince, by name Si Gallak, was very rich, having his teeth gilded and wearing a ha :dsome Jjeweled collar, in the center of which a tooth was set, the tooth of an enemy whom he had slain and eaten. But he himself soon fell a victim to his foes, as evidenced by the skull and half- burned hand which I found some weeks later in possession of a Batak chief. Then a conversation took place some- what after this fashion: “Where did you get that skull and hand that you carry?” “They belonged to an enemy who fell into our hands.” Did you eat him “Yes. My brother-in-law and his peo- ple ate him. His name was Si Kemat Si Gallak. He had fled from his country, in which he was rajah, with his brother, his wife and his mother. He called himself a_wizard, and sought to become ruler of Pantjo, where my brother-in- law was chief. My brother-in-law de- clared war against him and captured him.” “Was there a battle?"” “No. We took him prisoner. We lay in ambush in the rice fields, and when we saw him pass through alone we leaped unon him and brought him to the chief.” “And his brother?"” ““We shot him at night while he was asleep. The ball hit him in the right arm, and he stood up holding a knife in his left hand; but we were victorfous, for we were many; we knocked him down and sent his head to the chief. Don’t you call that war.” “What happened to his body?"” “That—we ate it. The head? Our chief put that in front of Si Kemat that he might know what to expect.” “Couldn’t he ransom himself?"” “Ransom? Impossible; he had to die.” “Didn’t he ery?” 'Oh, yes, but that did no good; he as bound fast.” ‘“And then?" “We ate him up, of course. The next day when the sun ceased to rise and had not begun to set (noon) we brought Si Kemat out, threw him on the ground with his face down, and my brother-in- law cug his head off. He received the heart and as much of the flesh as he wanted, and whoever else wanted any took and roasted it over the fire. What was left we cooked with pepper and salt and ate it at home. The large bones were tied together, and on the follow- Ing day we buried his head in the path so that even his friends should tread on it and make him their enemy." ?Vhilié ]l:lppt:ned to his wife?"” “I sol er at market for m; - ln‘—_l%v{]. Ar.flt:;ward we ate hgr,b {g‘t’l;.e_r y are there so sku'll‘l?" few teeth in the “‘The people broke them o s rate their collars, so that ‘::h::x dtetf:y strike these teeth it is the same as if returned @s if they had been victorious they hit Si Kamet on the mouth.”