Mr. UNDERHILL. That is exclusive of salaries?
Mr. ROXAS. Yes.

Mr. UNDERHILL. That reaches a total of about $12,000,000 that the United States spends in the Philippine Islands for maintenance, according to your figures; maintenance of the Army and the Navy.

Mr. CROSS. I have the figures for the year 1930. I have it here (indicating) that the military forces kept on duty there cost annually $11,169,738; public health and coast and geodetic survey cost $524,142; and the Asiatic Fleet, which, of course, would not cover just that area, costs $16,692,960, or a grand total of $28,387,841.

Mr. UNDERHILL. What I was getting at was the total amount spent in the Philippines. It amounts to about a dollar per capita.

THE SO-CALLED MORO PROBLEM

Mr. Roxas. The last subject which I shall touch upon in this presentation of Philippine conditions is that which concerns the Moros and other non-Christians. I already stated in the first part of my testimony, when speaking of our population, that the Mohammedan population of the Philippines number a total of about 4 per cent of our total population occupying an area equal to 8 per cent of our total area. The other non-Christians number about the same as the Mohammedans, which is around 400,000. The census of 1918 of the Philippine Islands contains figures showing the number of Mohammedan, Pagan, and Christian inhabitants in the so-called special provinces under the bureau of non-Christian tribes. These statistics also show the total number of Christian Filipinos in Mindanao, and I request permission to insert it in the record.

Speaking of the Moros or Mohammedan Filipinos, it is important at the very outset to know that the Mohammedan Filipinos do not differ racially from other Filipinos; they are different from them only in religion. They are Mohammedans while we are Christians. Authorities which I shall quote for the record prove this statement. For example, Fr. Merton I. Miller, former chief ethnologist of the Bureau of Science of the Philippine Íslands, said:

With the exception of a few scattered Negritos, the people of the PhilippinesPagan, Moro, and Christian-are one, racially.

James LeRoy, in "Philippine Life in Town and Country," says:

That the native stock of the Philippine Islands is Malayan is one of those things that have been recognized always, everywhere, and by all. But in the writings, especially of recent years, so many fantastic strains of blood have been introduced into the archipelago, and so many purely hypothetical and often unreasonable conjectures as to diversity of tribal origin have been evolved in the treatises of library workers or globe trotters, that the underlying homogeneity of the inhabitants of the archipelago has often been obscured.

Let me quote former Governor Forbes:

But the fact is that the people are reasonably similar in type, generally so in religion; have the same ideals and characteristics and are imbued throughout with a great pride in their race and desire for its advancement which would make them capable, under a common language, of being welded into a united and thoroughly cohesive body politic.

These authorities show that the Filipinos, the Christian Filipinos and the Mohammedan Filipinos, are racially united. It is often said in this country by casual visitors to the Philippine Islands that the

greatest problem in the Philippines is the Moro problem. We have studied Philippine conditions for many years, and just what is meant by the so-called Moro problem is something we have not yet discovered. If the Moro problem concerns the government of the Mohammedan Filipinos, that problem has been solved for many years. The Moros bave submitted to orderly civil government. Of course, if the problem is to christianize the Mohammedan Filipinos, that problem has not been solved and will not be solved by anything the government can do. In fact, that problem was rendered more difficult, and much of the fighting that occurred in Mindanao long after the Spanish-American War, and long after the PhilippineAmerican War, was the result of the attempt, which in all frankness we Filipinos considered a mistake, to force western civilization, western culture, western standards of morality upon the Mohammedan Filipinos. This proved futile. Why did the Mohammedan Filipinos resist the government in the early days? Because the Philippine Commission passed a law making it compulsory for every child to go to the schools. The Government tried to stamp out polygamy by law. The government tried to compel the girls and the women of the Moro population to enter the schools, something that was fundamentally contrary to their religion.

As to the relations between Christian and non-Christian Filipinos, they sit side by side in the legislature and vote together on all important questions. Practically all government activities, public works, and social services in Mindanao are supported from taxes collected and paid by Christian Filipinos. In other words, Christian Filipinos support government activities having to do with our Mohammedan brothers. Out of the nine so-called non-Christian Provinces, there are now only three with American governors. In the other Provinces there are either appointed Filipino governors or governors elected by the voters of the Province. But let there not be an impression that there are still American governors in these three Provinces-Lanao, Sulu, and the Mountain Province-because the people will not accept Christian Filipino governors, for at one time or another in our recent political history those provinces have been governed by Filipinos to the credit of the Philippine government and to the enduring benefit of the population therein residing. Mohammedan and other nonChristian Filipinos themselves, attest to the excellence of the work done by these Filipino governors. In the Province of Lanao, in the heart of the Island of Mindanao, where the most recalcitrant part of the Mohammedan population lives, a Filipino acted as governor for nine years. Official records will show that during his incumbency there prevailed not only a better feeling, and better relations between the Mohammedan and Christian Filipinos but even among the Mohammedan Filipinos themselves. The official records will show that during those nine years there occurred fewer disturbances in that section that at any time before or after.

Mr. UNDERHILL. Have there ever been any Mohammedan governors?

Mr. ROXAS. No. The governors are appointed by the GovernorGeneral. As to their representatives in the legislature, we can not make them elective because the Jones Act does not give us that power. If we had the authority to do so, we would have done it

many years ago.

In some books published on the Philippines the statement appears that the Province of Jolo has never been under a Filipino governor. Jolo is where the Sultan of Sulu lives. This statement is not correct. During the absence of Governor Moore from the Island of Jolo, for over six months a Christian Filipino acted as governor, and the same harmony, cordiality, and friendly relations between the Mohammedan and Christian Filipinos continued as before. Thus the rumors that are being circulated in this country that the Moros have a traditional hatred for the Christian Filipinos have absolutely no foundation.

Mr. HOOPER. If that is a rumor that is being circulated, it has been widely circulated during the last 15 or 20 years. I have read that statement in many books, that there was a deep-seated hatred on the part of the Mohammedan Filipinos for their Christian neighbors. Many of these writers compare the situation there to the strife between the Mohammedans and the Hindus in India.

Mr. ROXAS. That is why I have referred to this fact, because I consider it so important. It is our honest belief that there is no truth to such assertions. Writers will tell you there is this traditional hatred because the Koran teaches that when a Mohammedan is able to kill a Christian he goes straight to heaven without stopovers. But if that were the foundation for this animosity, then there must be as much ground for a hatred of Mohammedans against all Christians, including Americans, as there is against the other Filipinos.

Mr. UNDERHILL. That is not a general practice?

Mr. ROXAS. No.

Mr. GILBERT. I am reliably told that the author of the "Isles of Fear" never got off the boat at Sulu and thereafter wrote a book about the Philippine Islands and devoted much space to Sulu.

Mr. Roxas. That is the way many books have been written.

Mr. GILBERT. Everybody that spends a week in Manila writes a book on the Filipinos.

Mr. ROXAS. Without criticizing the author of that book I will say that her book on the Philippines had exactly the same effect in the Philippine Islands as the book that the same author wrote on India had in India.

Mr. CROSS. You spoke of one of your islands being near Formosa. How far is that island from Luzon?

Mr. ROXAS. Not over 200 miles.

Mr. CROSS. Luzon is only 205 miles, is it not?

Mr. Roxas. I really can not say. I believe the gentleman may know better.

Mr. CROSS. Is Ibayat one of your islands?

Mr. ROXAS. I believe it is.

Mr. CROSS. There are 7,083 of those islands and I think Ibayat is put down as one of them.

Mr. ROXAS. In order to prove that the unity and solidarity of our people, especially as regards the Mohammedan Filipinos, has existed for many years, I want to make mention of the fact that during our war for freedom against Spain, Mohammedan Filipinos fought alongside their Christian brothers. We fought side by side against Spain for liberty.

The CHAIRMAN. Can you give the number of Moros who fought with you in those campaigns?

Mr. ROXAS. Frankly, I could not give you those statistics now, but the history of our revolution against Spain contains that information. One more fact I would like to mention in regard to the Moros. That is their participation in and support of our movement for independence. I shall admit in all fairness and frankness that some Moros have signed statements expressing themselves against independence. I feel, however, that those statements do not represent the true and real sentiments of the Moros themselves. It would be unnatural for Moros not to wish to govern themselves. Just as an example of the declarations often attributed to Moros, I should like to read a paragraph from the book written by former Governor-General Forbes of the Philippine Islands, concerning a resolution said to have been approved by Moro leaders to which a great deal of importance has been given. He says, on page 47 of that book:

A very interesting document signed by most of the leading datus in the Sulu Archipelago was presented to the Wood-Forbes Mission in 1921 requesting absolute separation_of_their_territory from the Philippine Islands and permanent annexation to the United States. The first names in this document are those of Americans, and it is obvious from a study of it that it was prepared by American and foreign residents in the islands. Many of the Moros signing it did so with their thumb-marks, as they were unable to write and presumably unable to read, so that it is a matter of opinion as to whether or not they were correctly informed as to the contents of the paper.

That describes the nature of the many so-called resolutions approved by Moros in the Philippine Islands and which have been círculated and given publicity in the United States by opponents of our independence who want to show that the Moros are against independence. Even Mr. Forbes was misled by these statements, for, in his book he gives great weight to the statement made by a certain very prominent leader of the Moro people whose name is Datu Facundo Mandi and who lives in the Province of Zamboanga. We Filipinos never gave importance to such statements because we knew that Datu Mandi was at all times in favor of independence. What is the truth? Only very recently Datu Mandi held a very big public demonstration at Zamboanga, leading his Mohammedan brothers in a demand for independence, and the latest papers from the Philippines publish the text of the resolution publicly approved on that occasion wherein the Moros of Zamboanga express themselves in favor of complete and absolute independence of the Philippine Islands. copy of this resolution is in the hands of the chairman of this committee among those which have been transmitted by the President of the United States.

A

There is another fact which requires attention in relation to the Moros. It is frequently said that the United States can not grant independence to the Philippine Islands because the American Government has certain responsibilities which it assumed with relation to the Moro population. To support this assertion they point to the Bates treaty, concluded in the early days of American occupation between General Bates and the Sultan of Sulu. This is what Governor Forbes says of the Bates treaty:

On the 20th of August, 1899, Brig. Gen. John C. Bates, who had been sent to Jolo for that purpose, negotiated with the Sultan of Sulu and certain datus of the vicinity an agreement, known as the Bates treaty, which established amicable relations between the American authorities and the Sulu Moros during the period of armed insurrection in Luzon and the Visayas. This agreement in effect defined the status of the sultanate as a protected sovereignty under the United States. Article XIII included the proviso: "The United States will give full protection to the Sultan and his subjects in case any foreign nation should attempt to impose upon them."

That treaty has been interpreted by opponents of Philippine independence as a commitment on the part of the United States to protect the Moros against the other Filipinos. How that can be deduced from the terms of the treaty is hard to understand. However, even if that construction were permissible, it should be borne in mind that the treaty was never legally adopted. President Roosevelt abrogated that treaty because the Sultan violated its provisions and because the United States did not desire to give the Sultan the recognition of an independent sovereign. Moreover, the Sultan's authority is only recognized in the Island of Sulu. Two-thirds of the Mohammedan Filipinos do not recognize the authority of the Sultan. It is also said that the Philippines should not be granted independence because the United States, when the American Government disarmed the Moros, promised them that they would be protected against the Christian Filipinos. There is no truth in that statement. General Pershing, who first advised against such a course, states that no promises were made. A total of about 5,000 rifles, I think, were collected from the Mohammedan Filipinos. Governor Carpenter, whose work among the Moros in Mindanao has deserved the commendation, praise, and gratitude of the Filipinos, probably more than any man, knows the history of these people. He is quoted by Governor Forbes with reference to this question as follows:

Governor Carpenter asserts that at no time during the seven years of his residence and association with the Moros did he hear any of them claim that they had submitted to disarmament on the assurance the Filipino officials would not be placed over them, nor any other assurance except that the Government would undertake to protect their lives and property against outlaws.

Another statement which appears in this book by Governor Forbes says:

In carrying out the disarmament, no authoritative representation was made to the Moros that Philippine officials would not be placed over them.

Probably, it would be interesting to the committee to know that the representatives of the American Government entered into an agreement with the Sultan of Sulu, like England did with the same Sultan regarding Borneo. By this agreement the Sultan was awarded a yearly gratuity, and this sum, which amounts to $250 a month, is being paid by the Philippine government to compensate the sultan for his renunciation of his temporal power over his subjects.

With regard to the island of Mindanao, I would like to insert into the records a statement showing that more Christian Filipinos than Mohammedan Filipinos are residing there now. These statistics show that the proportion is about 2 to 1.