ppines
is as they are bein' run by folks as don't know anythin' about the place
they're runnin' an' don't know nothin' about runnin' for anythin' but
places. The man in the book says the Philippines ain't very well off
being pacified, an' that the Americans ain't no great success pacifyin'
'em, for it seems as they made five thousand expeditions after 'em in
one year, an' only got hold of five thousand natives in all. That's a
expedition to a man, an' I will say, Mrs. Lathrop, as it's small wonder
we're taxed an' they're taxed, with some of our new fellow citizens as
hard to grab as that. To my order of thinkin' it'd be wisest to let 'em
chase each other for ten or twenty years first an' then when they was
pretty well thinned out we could step in an' settle with the survivors;
but accordin' to the man who wrote the book you can't never tell a
American nothin', an' I must say that my own experience in this
community has proved as he knows what he's sayin' all straight enough.
He says the Philippines is in a very bad way, an' so is their roads, but
he says that all the folks in this country is so dead satisfied with
their way an' poor roads that they ain't goin' to do nothin' to help
either along any."

"Did--" asked Mrs. Lathrop.

"He says," continued Susan, "that the United States is just so happy
sittin' back an' observin' the Philippines, an' the Philippines is so
far off that if they die of starvation while being observed no one'll
ever be the wiser. He says the United States is payin' for the army, an'
the Philippines is tryin' to live with it, an' seein' as they don't work
much an' the Chinese is forbidden to work for 'em, he don't see no help
nowhere. What he said about the Chinese was very interestin', for I
never see one close to, an' it seems they're a clean race only for
likin' to raise pigs in their garrets. It seems, too, as if you let 'em
into any country they'll work very hard an' live very cheap an' pay most
of the taxes with the duty on opium as they've got to eat, an' games as
they've got to play."

"I sh'd think--" said Mrs. Lathrop, looking startled.

"Well, I should, too," said Susan, "but accordin' to the book the
Philippines ain't to be allowed any such luxury as havin' the Chinese to
develop their country an' pay their taxes. No sir, they've all got to go
to school an' learn English first, an' although he says right out plain
that the Philippines needs Chinese an' good roads a deal worse 'n th