k all night with
their guns beside them, alternately bandaging wounds and firing on
savages. In telling me good-bye a young Westerner sends regards to all
America. "Even a piece of Arizona desert would look good to me," he
declares; "anything that's U.S.A." A young veterinarian describes the
government's efforts to exterminate rinderpest, a disease which in
some sections has killed nine tenths of the _carabao_. A campaign as
thorough and far-reaching as that which the Agricultural Department at
home is waging against cattle ticks is in progress, but the ignorant
farmers cannot understand the regulations, and are greatly hindering a
work which means so much of good to them.

Such are a few snapshots of Philippine life.

{161}

Of the vast natural resources of the Philippines there can be no
question. With a fertile soil, varied products, immense forest wealth,
and possibly extensive mineral wealth; with developing railway and
steamship lines; with the markets of the Orient right at her doors and
special trade advantages with the United States--with all these
advantages, the islands might soon become rich, if there were only an
industrious population.

Unfortunately, the Filipino, however, doesn't like work. Whether or
not this dislike is incurable remains to be seen. Perhaps as he comes
into contact with civilization he may conceive a liking for other
things than rice, fish, a loin-cloth, and shade--plenty of shade--and
proceed to put forth the effort necessary to get these other things.
Already there seems to have been a definite rise in the standards of
living since the American occupation. "When I came here in '98," Mr.
William Crozier said to me, "not one native in a hundred wore shoes,
and hats were also the exception; you can see for yourself how great
is the change since then."

Moreover, in not a few cases Americans who have complained of
difficulty in getting labor have been themselves to blame: they tried
to hire and manage labor the American way instead of in the Filipino
way. The _custombre_, as the Spanish call it--that is to say, the
custom of the country--is a factor which no man can ignore without
paying the penalty.

I am having to prepare this article very hurriedly, and I must
postpone my comment on the work of the American Government until
later. In closing, however, I am reminded that just as the old proverb
says, "It takes all sorts of people to make a world," so I am seeing
all sorts. A