74,504
White foreigners 1,000
Moros 309,000
Heathen 880,000

Total 7,832,719

Finally, the secretary's office of the archbishopric of Manila offers
us the following enumeration with respect to the Catholics existing
in the archipelagoes of Filipinas, Marianas, and Carolinas, in the
year 1898, according to the following lists:

Number of souls by dioceses

In the archbishopric of Manila 1,811,445
In the bishopric of Cebu 1,748,872
In the bishopric of Jaro 1,310,754
In the bishopric of Nueva Segovia 997,629
In the bishopric of Nueva Caceres 691,298

Total number of Catholics 6,559,998

To whom is due this increase of Catholicism, and this growth of the
population of Filipinas in general, from the time of the conquest by
the Spaniards? It is due to the regular and secular clergy. One can
scarcely ascribe any importance to the immigration into Filipinas
during the lapse of years. The Chinese, and the Europeans (including
the Spaniards themselves), can be considered, as a general rule,
as birds of passage, who come to live here for a few years and then
return to their own country. The Filipino population has increased,
thanks to the organization and good government at the centers [of
population], which were established chiefly by missionary action,
at the time when the natives of the evangelized territories became
Christians. The secular power, even when aided by arms, has not even
attempted to form villages of the heathen; neither have the military
posts become well populated or stable settlements. The center of
attraction and of coherence in Filipino villages has always been,
and is still, the church and the convent. The parish priest (who is
not a bird of passage) is, as a rule, the most respected authority,
the chief guarantee of order and peace, and the most careful guardian
of morality--an indubitable and most important cause of increase in the
population of every country. The numerous and important settlements,
which have now other powerful roots and elements of cohesion, began and
were formed thus. If the center of union of which we are speaking be
removed from them, especially if they are recent and young, one