AMERICA'S DANGER.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXVIX, Issue 8116, 10 April 1906, Page 7

AMERICA'S DANGER.

FURTHER RISING FEARED IN THE PHILIPPINES. du a recent issue of the Daily Chronicle, a writer said: • "AH is not well with American iiile in the Philipipnes. By reason of their proximity to the islands, Australians are often in a position to loaru facts with regard to America's latest colonial posession which are oarefully concealed from the public in Europe and the States. Within the last few days 1 have had a long interview with a gentleman who has just returned from a six months' stay at Manila. His story is to say the least, startling, but I may add that I have every oonfideuoo in his judgment. Pat in n nutshell, what my informant tells mo is that the Filipinos are no more wedded to American rule now than they were in August. 1898, when the ARMIES OF THE REPUBLIC first closed their grip on the islands. In short, to quote his own words, "the Filipinos, having been betrayed by a promise of autonomy which has never been f ultiiled, hate every white face in the islands with a steady, bitter, and uudeviating hatred." Although to the outer world the insurrection in the group appears to have been suppressed, the truth is that it is still iu progress within twenty miles of the capital, and to cope with it it is necessary to maintain an army of 10,000 American soldiers in constant aotivity in cne part or other of the islands. So serious is the position that the civilian residents declare that at any time within the next two years they FEAR A WHOLESALE RISING, with Jesuits and with incidents which will only be comparable to those connected with the Indian Matiny. "It will then be," says my informant, "a bullet in the head or a knife in the back for every white man, and those who aro suspected of being friendly to the Republic, especially if they be clergymen, will go first." INCREASED TAXATION. The military authorities at Manila scoff at these fears, and say that the continued fighting is but the aplutteriug of a few raiding bands of Moroa, who will in course of time be cowed or annihilated. To this the civilians of Manila—who include a colony of about 250 Australians—reply that the military aathoi rities are as children in the bands of the Filipinos. American espionage, for example, is as child's play to that of the natives. There are other reasons besides that of national feeling, it appears, to account for the failure of the Americana to pacify, let alone to , conciliate, the islanders. Taxation under their rule has risen in the group from 2 l / 2 per oe nt - °f tne average income of the inhabitants to 32 per cent. The war, the transition FROM SPANISH TO AMERICAN RULE and the insurrection partly account for this enormous increase. But the Filipino says that, bad as it was, he would prefer Spanish rule to that of America at such a price. It mast be remembered that the dominant race in the Philippines, the Tagallos, which uumbois between five and six million souls, is a highly intelligent people, capable of a high development in civilisation. This race is the backbone of the revolutionary movement. This race feels] that its amour propre has been wounded by the FAILURE OF THE AMERICANS to keep their promise of autonomy. Nationalists to a man, the Tagallos will eventually dominate the whole of the Filipinos, oouoiliate the six or seven other races, and produce such a wave of national consciousness that, whether they like it or not, the Americans will be com P9lled to either grant autonomy or enter upon a war of extermination. Australians are naturally interested in the future of the Philippines, and this may be said without any DANGER OF DISCOUNTING , * the statements of my informant, in whose probity, I may repeat, I have every confidence. But it is easy to gee what the establishment of the promised autonomy in the islands would mean for the Commonwealth. Many necessaries of life cannot be produced there, and under a system of freer commercial intercourse the Philippines would be able to draw fresh and cheap supplies from the fields and runs of Australia to the great benefit of both countries.