Show f FT QUESTIONED BY COMMITTEE ft t f- f r V- V I fr By Associated Press c WASHINGTON Feb 1 Gov Taft today continued his statement concernIng concerning concern concern- ing conditions in the Philippine archi- archi i r pelago before beCore the S Senate nate Committee on c the he Philippines lp He Re I resumed his account ac ac- ac- ac count fount of his last years year's tour of the j i provinces He said that next to Manila Manila Ma Ma- I nila nUa Cebu Cebil came caine nearer to being a city 4 in point of f population and manner of r i improvement provement than any other place Inthe In Inthe inthe the archipelago 9 uThe The e i island l nd pf Cebu he said is the m most st d densely nely settled of the group it It I had 4 be been n. n a a. question whether a civil I. I government should be established in Cebu Just before the arrival of the commission m the insurgents having fired ip Into g the e capital l site but the people had If I dand the organization had been effected d 1 Speaking generally Gov Taft said there were no roads in the Philippine islands under the Spanish but that t since the establishment of American t control had been appropriated I for road improvements both for strategic strategic strate strate- gb gic and commercial purposes Most of ofA A 4 the towns are on the seacoast and the greater part of the travel for any distance distance dis dis- tance Is by boat He also said that 1 the wheels of such vehicles as are used are areso so narrow that they cut up the toads roads badly I r Moreover 1 the frequent fresh freshets ts in inthe p. p the streams render it difficult to maintain main maln- I tam tain the roads In most I if not ajl aU the V islands Gov Taft said there Is a mountain mountain moun moun- tam tain backbone which is practically im im- im- im passable Gen Hall had succeeded in crossing the Luzon mountains but his I men were almost dead when they emerged In his tour Gov Taft had found the I industries In progress though much interrupted largely account of ot the destruction of the water buffalo the work cattle of the island This animal he described as the beast of burden the family friend the wealth of the In Individual InS In- In f S and the object of all the robber robber rob rob- ber bel bands of f the mountain districts S In the last two years about 75 per percent percent percent cent of these brutes had been killed off by a disease called and their price had Increased from 30 to per I head Agriculture also had been Interrupted interrupted inter inter- by insurrection but in the vi vicinity vicinity vi- vi of Manila this was not true to to- to day In the city where the streets are rough lough the witness said the water buffalo lab falo moves so slowly as to block the streets and he thought mules should be imported He expressed the opinion that producing milk animals might be imported to advantage There are fine cattle ranges langes but to his knowledge no milk is produced on the islands Resuming the thread of his narrative Gov Taft said that the Island of Cebu was not long organized into a civilized government until it was found necessary necessary necessary sary to return to military control He had been informed Just before his departure departure de de- do- do for the United States that three or four hundred insurgents on the island had surrendered red and the island had been entirely tranquilized This statement led Senator Hale to toas as ask a question Within Vi thin the past ninety days he said I have observed by the newspapers pers pel'S that there were one forty-one small fights within the space of thirty days days- where do they occur The reply was that most of these en encounters encounters encounters en- en counters had taken place In Lav Lagna na Mindoro i Bohol Samar Cebu and a few other places Most of the troops are in those provinces Referring Referring- to the l Gov Taft said they had always been at war with their ne neighbors that they had Iad ad for for- merly melly been friends friends' of the Spaniards and that when the transfer of the country was made they also had transferred transferred trans trans- their allegiance alleg to the United States He thought th there re were or of them You sp speak al said Senator Culberson as the tho witness progressed of disagreements disagree disagree- ments between the civil and military authorities as to whether there should be a civil or military control of a certain tam tain district in such cases who determines determines determines deter deter- mines as to what shall be done That replied Gov Taft Is a question question question ques ques- tion of instructions or rather of construction construction construction con con- of Instructions but we have gotten along so far without radical I disagreement One difficulty of this kind was submitted to Washington and we w v were r rd told that we ve must reconcile our differences if we could We did so and have had no other material difficulties dim dim- cuI ties of the kind He promised to ed to speak more extensively extensively extensively exten exten- on this question at a later time |