THOUSANDS OF LIVES SAVED 185 effusions, is one of the more important causes of death among Filipinos and Chinese, and is especially prevalent among the poorer classes. Very few cases of it occur among whites; there were three hundred and thirteen deaths from it during the year, but no white person was attacked. The City of Manila has been brought into a sanitary condition never approached under the previous administration, and its death-rate has been so reduced as to compare favorably not only with that of other tropical cities, but even with that of many cities of the United States. It is hoped that eventually these results will appeal to the popular mind. Sanitary inspection has been maintained under the direction of the chief health inspector by an average force of 145 regular and emergency sanitary inspectors. During the year 1,954,990 inspections and reinspections of houses were made; 241,806 houses were cleaned as a result of sanitary inspection; 1,196 houses were whitewashed and painted; 7,336 houses were disinfected; 82 houses were condemned and removed; 11,256 cesspools and vaults were cleaned; 161,447 cleanings of yards were carried out; 1,757 yards were repaired, repaved, etc.; 534 cholera cases, 71 smallpox cases, and 185 plague cases were reported; 5,479 sanitary orders were complied with by householders; and 246 persons were convicted for violation of food prohibition orders. A high death-rate among infants is the chief factor in the general mortality, 41.23 per cent. of the total number of deaths having occurred in infants under one year of age. For the month of June the deaths reported from "convulsions of children" alone exceeded the combined mortality from Asiatic cholera, bubonic plague, smallpox, malarial fevers, typhoid fever, and beriberi. "This shocking infant mortality," say the health officers, "is largely the result of ignorance concerning their proper care and feeding and of difficulty in obtaining suitable food for those who cannot be nursed by their mothers." Much trouble has been caused the Board of Health by the floating population of Manila, consisting of about fifteen thousand people who live upon cascos, lorches, launches and other small vessels plying on the river, the esteros and the bay. They are an unruly set and difficult to keep under supervision on account of the constant movements of their floating habitations. It has not proved practicable to prevent their polluting the river and the esteros with refuse, nor can they be restrained from using infected waters for drinking, cooking and bathing. Cholera has occurred among this class to a larger extent than among any other class of the population. Only too often they hurry their sick ashore and abandon them, or weight the bodies of the dead and drop them into the water at night, in order to escape having their crafts disinfected. The sanitary problems presented by this population are very difficult of solution. They cannot well be compelled to take up their residence on shore, nor can their vessels be obliged to anchor in the bay. An adequate supply of good drinking water should be made available for them at convenient points, so that they may have no excuse for drinking river water. CHAPTER XX THE AMERICAN TEACHER A The Ladrones Respect the Instructor-Church and NEW army of occupation entered Manila Bay on August 23, 1901, when the transport Thomas arrived from San Francisco having on board five hundred and forty-two American teachers. No single feature of work by Americans in the Philippines has been more heroic or productive of better results than that done by these teachers. Many of them were married, but the majority were single. The military were met on their arrival with armed resistance; in some places the Civil Government has been viewed with distrust or jealousy. Not so the American teacher-armed only with the simplest of English text-books, he has led the Filipinos captive without a struggle; women teachers in the provinces far from Manila have been as safe as those under the protection of Fort Santiago. From the beginning the relations of the American teacher have been pleasant and agreeable. Even in provinces where there was more or less disturbance and ladronism, the almost sacred regard in which the teacher was held exempted him from violence, and the school authorities know of no one who came to grief, except four who were killed while traveling in the mountains, where their status was unknown; one of them being mistaken for the provincial treasurer and stabbed to death to secure the money which it was thought he carried, another losing his life while leading an armed party against the ladrones, and one being robbed of his watch and money, but not otherwise molested. So clearly have the people manifested their predilection for the American instructor that a failure on his part to maintain a warm local interest in the success of his school is usually attributed by the Department rather to some cause personal to himself than to any popular sentiment against the school. Several have died from smallpox, cholera and tropical diseases. When the members of the Civil Commission in 1900 were leaving the United States, President McKinley, who appointed them, announced that one of their duties would be "to promote and extend, and, as they may find occasion, to improve the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities. In doing this, they should regard as of first importance the extension of a system of primary education which shall be free to all and which shall tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship, and for the ordinary avocations of a civilized community. Special attention should be at once given to affording full opportunity to all the people of the islands to acquire the use of the English language." The instructions of President McKinley have been so thoroughly carried out that it is probable, as the authorities assert, that more English was spoken in the islands, three years after the American teachers |