reluctantly compelled to pay the higher
price which the American spontaneously elected to give. Labour, food,
house-rent, and all the necessaries of life rose enormously. [294]
The Colony soon became converted from a cheap into an expensive place
of residence. Living there to-day costs at least three times what
it did in Spanish times. Urban property and lands were assessed at
values far beyond those at which the owners truly estimated them. Up
to 1904 it was not at all uncommon to find the rent of a house raised
to five times that of 1898. Retailers had to raise their prices;
trading-firms were obliged to increase their clerks' emoluments,
and in every direction revenue and expenditure thenceforth ranged on
an enhanced scale. It is remarkable that, whilst pains were taken by
the new-comers to force up prices, many of them were simultaneously
complaining of expensive living! Governor W. H. Taft, with an annual
emolument of $20,000 gold, declared before the United States Senate
that the Gov.-General's palace at Malacanan was too expensive a place
for him to reside in. The lighting of the establishment cost him $125
gold a month, and his servants' wages amounted to $250 monthly. He
added that he would rather pay his own rent than meet the expenses
of the Malacanan residence. [295]

Two and a half years later General Leonard Wood reported:

"There has been a great increase in the cost of living and in wages
in this (Moro) as in other provinces--an increase which has not been
accompanied either by improved methods or increased production. The
cause of the increase can be traced, in most cases, to the _foolishly
high prices paid_ by army officials for labour." [296]

Wages steadily advanced as a natural consequence of the higher cost
of living, and, under the guidance of a native demagogue, the working
classes, for the first time in Philippine history, collectively began
to grumble at the idea of labour-pay having a limit. It was one of
the abuses of that liberty of speech suddenly acquired under the new
dominion. On February 2, 1902, this person organized the malcontents
under the title of a "Labour Union," of which he became the first
president. The subscription was 20 cents of a peso per week. The
legality of peacefully relinquishing work when the worker felt so
inclined was not impugned; but when the strikers sought to coerce
violently their fellow-men, the law justly interfered and imprisoned
their leader. The presi